Escape From LA II? Corelogic Home Price Index UP 18% YoY, But Forecast To Slow To 1.9% YoY In 2022

Yes, home prices are still growing at a super-hot pace of 18%, according to Corelogic.

But the forecast for home price growth is for 1.9% YoY in 2022.

As home price growth crashes back to earth as wages don’t keep pace with home prices.

Home prices have been growing in most states out west where The Fed’s money pump has resulted in a boom in second homes and people escaping high tax California and Oregon for Nevada, Idaho, Arizona (again), Utah and Montana. The east coast is seeing the Carolinas booming along with Florida and Indiana. Escape from New York?

Escape from LA … to Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and Utah?

Taylor Rule Implies Fed’s Target Rate Should Be 8.52%, Not 0.25%

As we approach another Fed Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting (November 3rd), it is time to look at the Taylor Rule, created by Stanford economist John Taylor to help everyone understand what The Fed is likely to do. Unfortunately, The Fed doesn’t do what expected.

For example, look at the Taylor Rule using Greg Mankiw’s specification. It says The Fed Funds Target Rate should be 8.52%, not the lowly 0.25% it is today.

That is a big gap between where The Taylor Rule says we should be and where Powell and the FOMC is.

Will The Fed raise their target rate on November 3rd? Or at least start slowing the balance sheet?

Agita! Treasury Secretary Yellen Expresses Openness to Defusing Debt Ceiling Without GOP Votes (CDS At $15.97, So No One Is Really Worried, Janet!)

Somewhere over the Alps, T-Sec Janet Yellen is fearmongering over a possible US debt default if Republicans don’t kowtow to Democrat’s desires to raise the debt ceiling.

(Washington ComPost) — SOMEWHERE OVER THE ALPS — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said Democrats should be willing to approve a fix to the nation’s debt ceiling without GOP support if necessary, an approach senior Democrats ruled out during a recent standoff over the issue.

In an interview aboard a government airplane between Rome and Dublin, Yellen castigated Republicans for refusing to help raise the debt limit but acknowledged Democrats may be able to address the issue without GOP support through the Senate budget procedure known as reconciliation.

Senior Democratic leaders were adamant that the debt ceiling be resolved on a bipartisan basis last month. Senate Republicans have uniformly insisted that Democrats should alone be responsible for raising the nation’s debt limit. Congress probably will face a deadline of Dec. 3 to act, though the exact date is uncertain.

Well, Janet, the market (Credit Default Swaps for US) doesn’t seem to be worried about raising the debt ceiling.

Likewise, the CDX 5Y IG for the US investment grade corporate bonds is near historic lows. Even Yellen can’t make that rise.

The yield curve is flattening as The Fed gets ready to taper.

Only a career academic and politico Bambina like Janet Yellen would try to drum up agita about a US debt default when Democrats can cram down most anything through “budget reconciliation.”

Just relax Janet, put on some headphones, and listen to Redd Volkaert instead of your habit of fearmongering.

Ethereum Jumps to Record High As People Lose Faith In Central Banks To Control Inflation

Instead of Bonjovi singing “Keeping the faith,” they should sing “Losing the faith” with regard to central banks and inflation.

Ethererum, the cryptocurrency, is now at $4,298. It under $200 as the Covid crisis took shape in March 2020. Since Covid, The Federal Reserve went loco and massively increased their money supply and asset purchases. With that response (and economic bottlenecks), inflation has increased to 5.4% YoY.

The Fed’s new moto should be “Policy errors ARE our business!”

No, we don’t look to President Beavis to do much of anything positive about inflation.

ECB’s Lagarde Sees Higher Inflation; Pushes Back On Rate-hike Bets (ECB Keeps Foot On Monetary Gas Pedal Despite Inflation)

Its the same all over the world … insane central bank policies and resulting inflation.

I have discussed the US Federal Reserve in depth, but its time to focus on Europe’s European Central Bank (ECB) and their President Christine Lagarde.

FRANKFURT, Oct 28 (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde acknowledged on Thursday that inflation will be high for even longer but pushed back against market bets that price pressures would trigger an interest rate hike as soon as next year.

With central banks around the world signalling tighter policy amid rising prices, Lagarde said the ECB had done much “soul-searching” over its stance but concluded that inflation was still temporary, so a policy response would be premature.

Soul-searching? The ECB is just doing what Powell and the Fed (aka, Jerome Jett and the Blackhearts) are doing. Keeping the foot on the monetary gas pedal in the face of inflation.

Let’s start Eurozone inflation. It is now sitting a 4.10% YoY. And core inflation is sitting at 2.10% YoY. Inflation is now the highest since 2009 while core inflation is at the highest since 2001.

Like the Federal Reserve, the ECB still has its foot on the monetary accelerator pedal despite booming inflation.

So, Christine, 19 nations in “Europe” having negative 2-year sovereign yields isn’t low enough for you?

The ECB’s platform in Frankfurt reminds me of a bad TV quiz show where participants try to guess prices next year. Call it “The Price Is Wrong.”

Unless, of course, the ECB sees a massive depression ahead.

U.S. Employment Costs Rise at Record Pace as Wages Surge (Personal Income Declines -1.04%)

U.S. employment costs rose at the fastest pace on record in the third quarter as companies across a variety of sectors raised wages against a backdrop of labor shortages. 

The employment cost index, a broad gauge of wages and benefits, rose 1.3% from the prior quarter, according to Labor Department data released Friday. The gauge increased 3.7% from a year earlier.

Although there was a record jump in wages and salaries, personal income was reported to have dropped -1.04% in September. On a YoY basis, personal income fell to a 4.15% growth rate. Even more disturbing, the Case-Shiller national home price index is still rising at a near 20% pace.

Median U.S. Home Price Just Passed $400,000 For First Time Ever! (Prices Could Rise Another 16% By End Of 2022)

In the third quarter the median home price hit $404,700, jumping nearly 13% since third quarter of 2020, when the median sales price was $358,700.

Though it’s an eye-catching number, the market has been hot of late, and a lack of inventory and high demand means foretold the rise in home prices.

According to a recent note from Goldman Sachs, home prices could rise another 16% by the end of next year. Goldman economist Jan Hatzius pointed out that of all the pandemic shortages, the housing shortage might last the longest and that a crash is very unlikely.

Sure Jan. That’s what economists were saying in 2007 too before housing prices crashed and burned. Although this time its different: The Federal Reserve hadn’t gone insane buying Treasuries and Agency MBS before the housing bubble burst in 2008/2009.

U.S. Pending Home Sales Fell by More Than Expected in February (-7.19% YoY) With Sinking Real GDP Growth

US pending home sales declined -2.3% MoM and -7.19% YoY as US GDP sinks like a paralyzed falcon,

(Bloomberg) — The National Association of Realtors’ index of pending home sales decreased 2.3% in September from a month earlier to 116.7, largest drop since April, according to data released Thursday. 

The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 0.5% advance.

Compared with a year earlier, contract signings were down 7.2% on an unadjusted basis”

Forecast range from -4.6% to 4.5% from 30 economists surveyed

Signings declined in all four U.S. regions from the prior month, led by a 3.5% drop in the Midwest
Unlike existing-home sales, which are calculated when a contract closes, the index of pending home sales is based on contract signings

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen: “What, me worry?”

Stimulypto! US Q3 Real GDP Falls To 2% QoQ On Consumption Crash (Atlanta Fed GDPNow Falls To 0.195%)

Despite the staggering and unorthodox monetary stimulus from The Federal Reserve, US real GDP continues to fall. The Q3 real GDP report is out and real GDP QoQ fell to 2%. Not surprising given that the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow tracker is at a dismal 0.195% and falling.

The culprit? Personal consumption fell to 1.6% in Q3 after hitting 12% in Q2.

The GDP price index actually declined slightly from 6.1% to 5.7%.

Of course, Bloomberg blames the decline in GDP on supply constraints … which were created by The Fed and Federal government dumping trillions of dollars of stimulus. While the monetary stimulus is still raging, Federal government stimulus has worn out. To paraphrase BB King, “The fiscal stimulus is gone.”

Yes, The Federal Reserve and the Federal government reacted insanely to the Covid crisis and created a total mess (including ill-advised government lockdowns of the economy, stimulus to households who already were employed, etc.)

Bloomberg News headline of “U.S. Posts Weakest Growth of Pandemic Recovery on Supply Woes” misses the point that The Fed and Federal Reserve CAUSED the supply woes. It reminds me of an episode from the British comedy series “Blackadder” with Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry.

General Melchett:
[explaining why they can’t rescue Captain Blackadder] Now George, you remember when I came down to visit you when you were a nipper, for your sixth birthday? You used to have a lovely little rabbit, beautiful little thing, do you remember?

Lieutenant George:
Flossie.

General Melchett:
That’s right, Flossie! Do you remember what happened to Flossie?

Lieutenant George:
You shot him.

General Melchett:
That’s right! It was the kindest thing to do after he’d been run over by that car.

Lieutenant George:
By *your* car, sir.

General Melchett:
Yes, by my car. But that, too, was an act of mercy when you remember that that dog had been set on him.

Lieutenant George:
*Your* dog, sir.

General Melchett:
Yes, yes, my dog. But what I’m trying to say, George, is that the state young Flossie was in after we’d scraped him off my front tyre, is very much the state that young Blackadder will be in now: if not very nearly dead, then very actually dead!

For those of you who watched Blackadder, think of The Fed and Federal government as being populated by Baldricks.

Speaking of people acting like Baldrick …

Atlanta Fed GDPNow Tracker Falls To 0.2% Despite Massive Fed Stimulus

Despite monetary Stimulypto from The Federal Reserve (still growing!), US real GDP has fallen to almost zero.

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2021 is 0.2 percent on October 27, down from 0.5 percent on October 19. After the October 19 GDPNow update and subsequent releases from the US Census Bureau, the National Association of Realtors, and the US Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, a decrease in the nowcast of third-quarter real government spending growth from 2.1 percent to 0.8 percent was slightly offset by an increase in the nowcast of third-quarter real gross private domestic investment growth from 9.0 percent to 9.3 percent. Also, the nowcast of the contribution of the change in real net exports to third-quarter real GDP growth decreased from -1.56 percentage points to -1.81 percentage points.

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