Mortgage Purchase Applications Fall 4% From Previous Week, Mortgage Refi Applications Fall 5.35% With Increasing Mortgage Rates

Mortgage applications decreased 5.1 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 2, 2021.

The Refinance Index decreased 5 percent from the previous week and was 20 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 5 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent compared with the previous week and was 51 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

Mortgage refinancing applications SWDA are down 5.35% from the previous week due to mortgage rate increases.

FHA mortgage purchase applications were flat for the week for 4/2/21 while VA mortgage purchase applications were down -6..234% for the week of 4/2/21.

But the FHA Purchase Applications index is 24.7% higher than the same week last year while the VA Purchase Applications index is 16% higher.

Reversal Of Fortune! Gold Rises As Bitcoin And Ethereum Fall Along With The US Dollar, Hindenburg Omen Nonexistent With Fed Money Pumping

It is a slow economic news and equity markets are flat. But we are seeing activity in cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin and Ethereum) and Gold. Gold is up and Bitcoin/Ethereum are down.

Is this a reversal of the trend over the last year?

And the US Dollar is going down.

And the infamous Hindenburg Omen is nowhere in sight, thanks to The Fed.

The German airship Hindenburg flying over Wall Street.

Topsy-Turfy! Fed’s Assets At $7.7 Trillion, Up $3.5 Trillion in 13 months, 10Y T-Yield UP, Gold Down, Bitcoin Up

Financial markets are topsy-turfy after the Covid panademic struck.

The Federal Reserve rode to the rescue and increased their balance sheet by $3.5 trillion in just 13 months (white line). While some would think that the US Treasury 10-year yield would fall, … it has been going up from 0.543% on March 9, 2020 to 1.726% today (blue line).

Gold initially shot up in price following The Fed’s massive asset purchases (gold line), but has tapered off. While Bitcoin (electric green line) has risen to $57,664.77.

And the S&P500 index is soaring with Fed stimulus.

Gold is up, the Dollar is down.

With the Biden/Pelosi multi-trillion dollar spending spree under way, look for The Fed’s balance sheet to absorb much of the Biden/Pelosi spending spree.

Ain’t that a lot of …

Ethereum Skyrockets As Bitcoin Hits A Reflecting Barrier At $60,000 (Home Prices Growing Like Ethereum?)

The cryptocurrency Ethereum is skyrocketing as its competitor Bitcoin seems to be hitting a reflecting at $60,000.

Yes, Ethereum is skyrocketing, but so are home prices along with money growth.

Is housing the new cryptocurrency? Or are asset prices blowing out of control?

The Scream! Buffett Indicator Sky High Along With Home Prices As Money Printing Has Goes Wild!!

The Scream! Out-of-control money printing, dead money velocity and collapsing purchasing power of the dollar.

(Bloomberg) — With U.S. equity indexes rising to fresh records again this week, one of Warren Buffett’s most-famous catchphrases comes to mind: Investors should “be fearful when others are greedy.”

Any Buffett disciple who checks in on the billionaire investor’s favorite market valuation metric these days may get the urge to shriek in terror.

And then there are home prices at 38% higher than the peak during the 2005 housing bubble.

Here is what causing me to shriek in terror. Out-of-control money printing, dead money velocity and collapsing purchasing power of the dollar.

Home Price Growth Accelerates To 11.2% YoY As Fed Throws Gas On The Housing Bubble (Lumber Prices Have Over TRIPLED In 1 Year)

S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for January (“January” is a 3 month average of November, December and January prices).

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported an 11.2% annual gain in January, up from 10.4% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 10.9%, up from 9.9% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted an 11.1% year-over-year gain, up from 10.2% in the previous month.

Phoenix, Seattle, and San Diego continued to report the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in January. Phoenix led the way with a 15.8% year-over-year price increase, followed by Seattle with a 14.3% increase and San Diego with a 14.2% increase. All 20 cities reported higher price increases in the year ending January 2021 versus the year ending December 2020.

Las Vegas NV is the slowest growing city in terms of prices, but still at 8.5% YoY. Even tax-heavy Chicago posted an 8.9% YoY gain in prices.

Yes, The Federal Reserve is throwing gas on the housing bubble.

And lumber prices have over tripled in the last year.

And then there is FHFA purchase-only home price index growing at 12% YoY.

US Pending Home Sales Decline -10.6% MoM In February (And -2.7% YoY) As Mortgage Rates Rise

Well, the data for pending home sales is for February (the dead of winter).

But US pending home sales MoM fell -10.60% and -2.70% on a YoY basis. As mortgage rates start their long-predicted rise.

Let’s hope that March is better. And UCLA beat Michigan in NCAA basketball (March Madness), so things are looking up!

MML: US M1 Money Stock Growing At 357% Year-Over-Year With Velocity Of 1.22 (M2 Growing At 27.1% Year-Over-Year With Velocity Of 1.135)

MML stands for Modern Monetary Lunacy.

M1 money stock is growing at a whopping 357% year-over-year as M1 velocity has collapsed to an anemic 1.22.

M2, a broader measure of money, is growing at 27.1% year-over-year with a dismal velocity of 1.135.

Since velocity equals GDP divided by money, The Federal Reserve had better hope that GDP does increase with the trillions that the Biden Administration is throwing at the problem. But since higher taxes won’t be realized for at least a year, there will be even more money printing.

Biden and Yellen must feel that they are flush with cash like Jean Ralphio from Parks and Recreation.

Maybe Biden, Yellen and Powell watched Parks and Recreation and took it literally. Here is how Biden et al will spend all that stimulus money.

Biden’s Snake Juice?

Welcome To (Treasury) Thunderdome! Overnight Reverse Repo Facility Surges To $104.7 Billion As Investors Seek Shelter From Negative Rates

The Treasury markets are getting blasted like in Mel Gibson’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

(Bloomberg) — The popularity of one Federal Reserve overnight deposit facility has surged as investors look for shelter from negative rates in short-term markets, which are under unusual pressure over quarter-end thanks to the flood of cash in the system.

Usage of the overnight reverse repurchase facility surged to $104.7 billion on Tuesday, the most since last April, according to data from the New York Fed. It pays an overnight rate of 0% — well above the minus 0.05% available at Tuesday’s close in the general collateral market — helping to temporarily reduce the quantity of reserve balances in the banking system.

The overnight GC govt repo rate is negative.

Look at the yield on near-term Treasury bills.

And Treasury RETURNS are negative to boot.

And the 10Y-3M Treasury curve slope is zooming upwards. Welcome to another edition of Treasury Thunderdome!

Negative Treasury yields and returns abound. Powell and Yellen are the money blasters!!