Category: Credit

Tariff Town! Producer Prices Plunged Most Since COVID In March (US Dollar Decelerates!)

Washington DC is now Tariff Town.

Headline PPI fell (yes fell) 0.4% MoM (dramatically cooler than the 0.2% MoM rise expected), dragging the headline index down to +2.7% YoY.

The market is re-assessing the structural attractiveness of the dollar as the world’s global reserve currency and is undergoing a process of rapid de-dollarization.

Hello Hello! March US Consumer Prices Fall Most In 5 Years (Rent Inflation Back To Pre-Biden Levels)

Hello Hello pre-Biden inflation levels!

The normally crucial consumer price index measure of inflation printing today for March is likely to take a back seat to the next red flashing headline on tariffs on everyone’s Bloomberg terminal, but under the hood – with the Trump Put now exposed – can a cooler than expected CPI print raise the Powell Put strike enough to enable a true tradable bottom here?

Having dipped lower in the previous month (following a few straight months of re-acceleration), expectations were for both headline and core measures to continue trending lower on a YoY basis… and they were.

Headline CPI FELL 0.1% MoM (vs +0.1% exp), which dragged the YoY CPI to +2.4%, matching the September lows…

Source: Bloomberg

That is the weakest MoM print since May 2020.

Core CPI also printed cooler than expected (+0.1% MoM vs +0.3% MoM exp), pulling the YoY print down t0 +2.8% YoY – the lowest since March 2021…

Source: Bloomberg

Services inflation tumbled…

Source: Bloomberg

CPI breakdown:

Headline:

  • CPI decreased 0.1% after rising 0.2% in February, and below the +0.1% estimate. Over the last 12 months, CPI rose 2.4%, below the 2.5% estimate.
  • Energy CPI fell 2.4% in March, as a 6.3% decline in the index for gasoline more than offset increases in the indexes for electricity and natural gas.
  • Food CPI rose 0.4% in March as the food at home index increased 0.5% and the food away from home index rose 0.4 percent over the month.

Core CPI:

  • The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1% in March, following a 0.2% increase in February.
    • Indexes that increased over the month include personal care, medical care, education, apparel, and new vehicles.
    • The indexes for airline fares, motor vehicle insurance, used cars and trucks, and recreation were among the major indexes that decreased in March.

Core CPI details (MoM increase):

  • The shelter index increased 0.2% over the month.
    • The index for owners’ equivalent rent rose 0.% in March and the index for rent increased 0.3%.
    • The lodging away from home index fell 3.5 percent in March.
  • The personal care index rose 1.0%in March.
  • The index for education rose 0.4% over the month, as did the index for apparel.
  • The new vehicles index also increased over the month, rising 0.1%.
  • The index for airline fares fell 5.3% in March, after declining 4.0% in February.
  • The indexes for motor vehicle insurance, used cars and trucks, and recreation also fell over the month.
  • The household furnishings and operations index was unchanged in March.
  • The medical care index increased 0.2% over the month.
  • The index for hospital services increased 1.1% in March and the index for physicians’ services rose 0.3% over the month. In contrast, the prescription drugs index fell 2.0% in March.

Core CPI details (YoY increase):

  • The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.8 percent over the past 12 months.
  • The shelter index increased 4.0 percent over the last year, the smallest 12-month increase since November 2021.
  • Other indexes with notable increases over the last year include motor vehicle insurance (+7.5 percent), medical care (+2.6 percent), recreation (+1.9 percent), and education (+3.9 percent).

While goods inflation is flat (zero-ish), services cost inflation is fading fast…

Source: Bloomberg

Shelter and Rent inflation is slowing fast:

  • Shelter inflation +0.3% MoM, +3.99% YoY, down from 4.25% in February (lowest since Nov 2021)
  • Rent inflation +0.3% MoM, +3.99% YoY, down from 4.09% in February (lowest since Jan 2022)

The so-called SuperCore CPI – Services Ex-Shelter – dropped 0.1% MoM dragging it down to +3.22% YoY – the lowest since Dec 2021…

Source: Bloomberg

Source: Bloomberg

Drill Baby Drill (and tariffs recession fears) have dragged energy prices lower and pulled CPI lower with it…

Source: Bloomberg

Soothe Me? Q1 GDP Now At -2.8% As 10Y Treasury Yield Falls To 4.157% (Recession Jitters?)

Soothe me? As we move further away from Sleepy Joe’s horrid economic policies, we should see an improvement in GDP from the current Atlanta Fed GDP Now Q1 Forecast of -2.8%.

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2025 is -2.8 percent on March 28, down from -1.8 percent on March 26.

The alternative model forecast, which adjusts for imports and exports of gold as described here, is -0.5 percent. After recent releases from the US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the nowcast of the contribution of net exports to first-quarter real GDP growth declined from -3.95 percentage points to -4.79 percentage points in the standard model and from -1.92 percentage points to -2.53 percentage points in the alternative model.

The US Treasury 10Y yield has fallen to 4.157% as recession fears mount.

Simply Unaffordable! Multifamily Serious Delinquencies Soar To Highest Since 2000 (Home Prices UP 37% Under Biden, Rents UP 25%)

Housing and rental properties are simply unaffordable.

Freddie Mac Serious Delinquency Rate on Multifamily (Apartment) loans soared to highest rate since 2000. Since it is as of January 31, 2025, you can’t blame this on Donald Trump (although I am sure they will try).

Of course, home prices and rents soared under Biden. Home prices rose 37% under Biden and rents rose 25%. Simply unaffordable.

And The Fed will keep on printing money!

Credit has been deteriorating.

Won’t Get Fooled Again? New Homes For Sale Hits 500k (Glut), Existing Homes Inventory At 1.24 Million

Apparently, we DID get fooled again. In February, there were 500,000 new homes for sale.

While new home inventory hit 500k, existing home inventory rose to 1.24 million homes.

Cause? Home prices are too damn high. Thanks to Powell and The Fed.

Mortgage originations have dwindled under Biden/Harris.

Jerome Powell and the Blackhearts.

Eggs And Money? Eggs Prices Plummet For 3rd Straight Week As M2 Money Velocity Rises

New USDA data reveals a third consecutive week of price declines at supermarkets.

But the media is always willing to blame Trump for anything, including eggs prices.

Velocity of M2 Money is back to where is was when Trump left office the first time.

Eggs versus M2 Money.

Riding the Trump wave of economic optimism!

Subprime Crisis 2? Subprime Auto Delinquencies Soar Under Biden/Harris To 6.6%

Thank God President Auto Pen is out of office!

Inflation? Lower real wage growth? Excessive personal loan growth?? All resulting in historic subprime auto loan delinquency rate of 6.6%.

Auto Loan 60+ Day Delinquency Index

Der Kommissar! Germany’s 10Y Bund Swap Spread Turns Negative, Investors Sour On Debt

Der Kommissar!

German 10-year bond yields are trading above euro interest rate swaps for the first time in history (-12.62), a watershed moment for these markets that underlines just how much investors have soured on government debt.

Bund yields +30bps today – the biggest spike on record going back to 1990.

Is the US next?

Cabbage Rolls And Coffee! Mortgage Applications Increased 20.4 Percent From One Week Earlier

The mortgage market is back! Time to polka!!

Mortgage applications increased 20.4 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 28, 2025.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 20.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 22 percent compared with the previous week.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 9 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 12 percent compared with the previous week and was 2 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The Refinance Index increased 37 percent from the previous week and was 83 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

Thank God the adults are in charge in DC instead of the children we saw at Trump’s speech last night.