Category: Dodd-Frank

Strange Days! US Mortgage Rate Falls To 6.97% As Banking Crisis Persists (Yellen, Bank Consolidations, Bailouts And The Return Of QE)

Strange days, indeed.

Despite endless promises from Washington DC that there would never be another bank bailout, the Biden Administration bailed out Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) by removing the $250,000 cap on deposit insurance. Then Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen added that in the future, only banks that posed SYSTEMIC RISK to the economy will be bailed out. Translation: only the big four Too Big To Fail (TBTF) banks will be bailed out. Meaning that the Biden Administration prefers big banks to community banks. “Middle-class Joe” loves BIG Pharma, BIG defense, BIG tech, BIG media and now BIG banks. He should rename himself “Big Joe” Biden for the 2024 Presidential election.

Of course, we are aware of The Fed’s about face on shrinking their balance sheet (green line). While Bankrate’s 30-year mortgage rate has now declined below 7% to 6.97%, it has only fallen -15 basis points since the recent peak of 7.12% on 3/2/2023 when the 10-year Treasury yield was 4.056%. So, the 10-year Treasury yield has fallen -62.7 basis points since 3/2/2023 while the 30-year mortgage rate dropped only -15 basis points.

On the European banking front, Credit Suisse is kaput and both Swiss Bank and Deutsche Bank are considering buying the assets of Credit Suisse. In other words, MORE bank consolidation.

Here is a chart of US bank consideration as of 2009 with 37 banks in 1990 shriveling to 4 mega, TBTF banks in 2009 that remain today. But will the now unprotected community and local banks be absorbed into the 4 superbanks? Time will tell, but if history is repeated, the answer is yes.

The KBW bank index continued to fall despite the bailouts of SVB and Signature Banks. But at least total returns on Treasuries and MBS that banks hold increased with the return of QE!

Yellen and Biden compete for the Knucklehead Of The Century Award. While not as sloppy as the sudden Afghanistan withdrawal, bailing out the Silicon Valley elites will not end well.

Fed Dead Redemption! Flight To Safety As US Treasury 10-Year Yield Drops -16 Basis Points And Fed Discount Window Soars (Wrong Way Yellen Strikes Again!)

Its crisis time again.

First, The Fed’s discount window soared to its highest level since … you guessed it … the previous financial crisis of 2008/2009.

Second, the 10-year Treasury yield declined -16 basis points this morning as investors flee to safety.

Bankrate’s 3-year mortgage rate rose to 7%, but with today’s decline in the 10-year Treasury yield we should see mortgage rates declining.

Yes, much of the blame belongs to The Fed’s leadership (Bernanke, Yellen, Powell) for leaving rates too low for too long, then suddenly try to lower inflation by raising rates. Now we have The Fed’s balance sheet INCREASING again as the use of The Fed’s discount window soars to highest level since Lehman Bros fiasco.

Argentina Raises Benchmark Leliq Rate By 300 Basis Points To 78% To Fight Inflation Of 102.5% (While Fed INCREASES Balance Sheet To Fight Banking Crisis)

Cry for Argentina! Their central bank boosted its benchmark Leliq rate by 300 basis points to 78%. The monetary authority’s board considered the increase in response to accelerating inflation and after leaving the key rate unchanged for several months. 

Of course, the US Federal Reserve is going in the opposite direction to combat the US banking crisis created by inflation and Yellen’s “Too low for too long” Fed policies.

I am beginning to wonder in Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot are the same person. Both complete Statist screw-ups.

Good News, Bad News! US New Home Sales Rise 2.3% In December, But DOWN -23% YoY (Median Price UP 7.8% YoY While M2 Money Growth Goes Negative)

The December new home sales report is good news and bad news.

The good news? US new home sales rose by 2.3% in December from November to 616k units sold SAAR. That is the good news.

The bad news? Since December of 2021, new home sales fell -23% year-over-year (YoY).

The median price of new home sales rose 7.8% YoY, but the trend as The Fed withdraws monetary stimulus (orange line) is not good.

Perhaps there is a communications breakdown between the Biden Administration and The Federal Reserve.

Alarm! Big Short Resurfaces in U.S. Bonds, Wary of ‘Convexity Trigger’

Alarm!

It was great to be a “Master of the Universe” (Treasury and MBS trader) since October 1981 when the US 10Y Treasury yield peaked at 15.84% and mortgage rates peaked at 18.63%. Treasury and mortgage rates have generally fallen ever since. But what happens if Treasury and mortgage rates rise?

Bond investors are piling back into short positions, motivated not only by the specter of inflation but also by the risk that yields are approaching levels that will unleash a wave of new selling by convexity hedgers. 

That level is around 1.60% in the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield, less than 10 basis points from its current mark, according to Brean Capital’s head of fixed income strategy, Scott Buchta. It’s the mid-point of “a key threshold” between 1.40% to 1.80%, an area “most critical from a convexity hedging point of view.”

Convexity hedging involves shedding U.S. interest-rate risk to protect the value of mortgage-backed securities as yields rise, slowing expected prepayment rates.

It’s already begun to pick up as yields stretched past the 1.40% level. Another wave is expected at around 1.6% — a point of “maximum negative convexity” in agency MBS, “where 25bp rallies and sell-offs should have an equal effect on convexity-related buying and selling,” Buchta says. 

Signs that short positions are accumulating include Societe Generale’s “Trend Indicator.” Among its 10 newest trades are short positions in Japanese 10-year debt, German 5-year debt futures, U.K. 10-year gilts, U.K. short sterling and U.S. 2- and 5-year notes. Meanwhile, CFTC positioning data for U.S. Treasury futures show asset managers flipped to net short in 10-year note contracts in the process of dumping the equivalent of $23 million per basis point of cash Treasuries over the past week. Hedge-fund shorts also remain elevated in the long-end of the curve, as measured by net positions in Bond and Ultra Bond futures. 

“Bond-bearish impulses remain in place,” says Citigroup Inc. strategist Bill O’Donnell in a note, citing tactical and medium-term set-ups. Traders should be aware of short-covering rallies in the meantime, however, he says. 

“Potentially extreme short-term positioning and sentiment set-ups could easily allow for a counter-trend correction under the right conditions,” he said.

U.S. 10-year yields topped at 1.57% this week, the cheapest level since June, spurring the breakeven inflation rate for 10-year TIPS to 2.51%, the highest since May. Friday’s September jobs report could add fuel to this inflationary fire, rewarding bond shorts. 

Here is a chart of the rising 10Y Treasury yield against The Fed’s 5Y forward breakeven rate.

Here is a Fannie Mae 3% coupon MBS. Note the rise in Modified Duration with an increase in interest rates.

Convexity for the FNMA 3% MBS?

There is something on the wing. Some-thing.

The Fed Helped Create Housing Bubble I And Then Helped Create Housing Bubble II: The Sequel (Case Study Of Phoenix AZ Home Price Bubble)

Phil Hall of Benzinga wrote a series of excellent articles in four parts for MortgageOrb (although “The Orb” has removed his name). Here are the links to his stories.

https://mortgageorb.com/the-fall-and-rise-of-the-housing-market-part-one

https://mortgageorb.com/the-fall-and-rise-of-the-housing-market-part-two

https://mortgageorb.com/the-fall-and-rise-of-the-housing-market-part-three

https://mortgageorb.com/the-fall-and-rise-of-the-housing-market-part-four

After re-reading these excellent articles on the housing bubble and crash, I thought I would take the opportunity to present a few charts to highlight the housing bubble, pre-crash and post-crash.

Here is a graph of Phoenix AZ home prices. Note the bubble that peaked in mid 2006. The Phoenix bubble correlates with the large volume of sub-620 FICO lending and Adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) lending. Bear in mind, many of the ARMs prior to 2010 were NINJA (no income, no job) ARM loans.

What happened? Serious delinquenices at the national levels spiked as The Great Recession set in and unemployment spiked.

Since the housing bubble burst and surge in serious mortgage delinquencies, The Federal Reserve entered the economy with a vengeance. And have never left, and increased their drowning of markets with liquidity.

The Fed whip-sawing of interest rates in response to the 2001 recession was certainly a problem. They dropped The Fed Funds Target rate like a rock, then homebuilding went wild nationally and home prices soared thanks to Alt-A (NINJA) and ARM lending. But now The Fed is dominating markets like a gigantic T-Rex.

Oddly, then Fed Chair Ben Bernanke never saw the bubble coming. Or the burst.

Speaking of pizza, Donato’s from Columbus Ohio is my favorite. Founder’s Favorite is my favorite, but they do offer the dreaded Hawaiian pizza (ham, pineapple, almonds and … cinnamon?)

Bleech!