Fed’s Snakejuice And Winners/Losers From T-Curve Flatterning (Winners: Real Estate, Financials, Information Tech, Losers: Industrials, Retail, Metals And Mining)

At the annual Jackson Hole (aka, J-Hole) Economic Symposium, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that the Fed is in no hurry to either taper asset purchases immediately or aggressively. Additionally he made crystal clear that even when the Fed does eventually start tapering asset purchases (likely November or December), it should not be taken as signaling interest rate hikes will follow on some preset course. Indeed, Fed Chairman Powell continues to claim that inflation is transitory. Finally, he said that part of the mandate (employment) is still far from being achieved. So, expect more SNAKE JUICE.

The shape of the yield curve has been highly influential recently in relative performance trends between various areas of the market. From last summer through May of this year, the steepening of the yield curve coincided with healthy outperformance of cyclical stocks. Since May, the flattening of the curve has coincided with more defensive (or at least high quality) leadership out of the tech and health care sectors. The logic goes, therefore, that a re-steepening of the curve should coincide with a shift back to cyclicals. Indeed, that shift may be in the early innings.

Let’s take a look at the US Treasury 10Y-2Y curve slope over the past twelve months against the Citi Economic Surprise Index for the US. You can see curve fatigue starting in April 2021 as the Citi Economic Surprise Index turns negative.

The the more cyclical and smaller skewed S&P 500 equal weight index has started to outperform the S&P 500 again, right on queue with the yield curve re-steepening.

Industrial stocks are under-performing the broader S&P 500 index as the curve flattens.

Real estate stocks? They are outperforming the broader S&P 500 index.

Mining stocks like gold mines? They are underperforming the broader S&P 500 index.

Financial stocks? Not surprisingly, The Fed’s dovish behavior is causing financial stocks to outperform the broader S&P index.

Likewise, information technology stocks are outperforming the broader S&P 500 index.

So, by Powell delaying any balance sheet slowdown and rate increases, we have clear winners (real estate, financials, information tech) and clear losers on a relative basis (industrials, retail, metals and mining).

Pure snake juice.

The Others! Due to volatility differences, I wouldn’t over-interpret this chart. But Bitcoin as a ratio of the S&P 500 index is “kicking ass!” Gold and housing as a ratio of the S&P 500 index seemingly can’t keep up with the S&P 500 index.

DOVE Alert! S&P 500, Gold, Bitcoin Rise After Powell Goes Full DOVE, UST 10Y Yield Falls

Well, I was expecting a little more guidance than Fed Chair Powell gave today at the J-Hole conference. In fact, failing to give a hard date on paring back the balance sheet and raising rates is downright dovish. A regrettable incident.

As a result of Powell’s dovish talk, GOLD, BITCOIN and the S&P500 index rose.

The S&P 500 index rose almost 1% today while the 10Y Treasury yield dropped 4 bps.

Fed’s George Says Time to Get Taper Started, Despite Delta Risk (Too Much Stimulus With Q2 GDP Growth Of 6.6% QoQ And Personal Consumption Of 11.9%)

Policy makers should “get started” and begin to slow asset purchases even though the delta variant poses a risk to the U.S. economic outlook and to job growth, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George said.

“The economy continues to grow at a strong rate,” George said, adding that in terms of the potential risk of the delta variant, “you can imagine that it might slow down some of the returns to the labor market. But I don’t expect at this point that it will derail the economy as we saw last year when we first had to deal with the virus.”

Yes, US GDP QoQ just checked in at a whopping 6.6% with personal consumption growing at 11.9% for Q2.

Of course, The Federal government and Federal Reserve have over stimulated the economy and financial markets. Compare the collected benefits (unemployment, pandemic, extended, etc.) compared to before Covid struck in March 2020.

And compare The Fed’s monetary stimulus since Covid struck in March 2020.

Although Esther George is not a voting member of the FOMC, I think she has a good point. There is too much monetary stimulus in the market.

Will the Open Market Committee heed George’s warning? Or will they treat her like Ohio State great Eddie George as just another voice?

Treasury And Mortgage Rates In A Never-Ending Balance Sheet World (REAL Mortgage Rates NEGATIVE With Skyrocketing Home Prices)

Headline! “Fed’s Kaplan says delta variant could cause him to rethink his tapering view”

Face it, the Federal Reserve may alter its growth path on asset purchases of Treasuries and Agency Mortgage-backed Securities, but it is doubtful that they will pare back their balance sheet. Call it “A Never-ending balance sheet for you” world.

Why? Seemingly never-ending Covid crisis, etc.

Let’s look at US Treasury yields today. The 10-year Treasury yield is up slightly to 1.25% as of 10am EST.

Here is a chart of the 10-year Treasury yield, Fed Funds effective rate, Fed Balance sheet and reverse repos since the Covid outbreak and Fed massive intervention. Bottom line, the have repressed the short-term interest rates and put downward pressure on the 10-year Treasury yield.

As the 10-year Treasury yield remains repressed DESPITE HIGHEST INFLATION RATE SINCE 2008, the Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate remains repressed as well. Yes, that mean NEGATIVE REAL MORTGAGE RATES.

This produces a REAL mortgage rate of -2.56%.

The spread of mortgage rates over the 10-year Treasury yield is about 173 basis point since 1971.

Where will Treasury yields go from hear? If we believe technical analysis like the Ichimoku Cloud, the 10-year Treasury rate will likely rise.

And The Fed’s Dots project also see rates rising (at least on the short-end.

Negative real mortgage rates and blistering home price growth?

Will the attendees at the KC Fed Jackson Hole conference discuss these matters? Or will it just be a Federal Reserve Soul Shake (dance)?

Fed Minutes: Taper Begins IFF Covid Doesn’t Harm Economy, Or An Arquillian Battle Cruisier Or (Fed Reverse Repos Keep Climbing)

To quote Tommy Lee Jones from the film Men In Black “There’s always an Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or a Corillian Death Ray, or an intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable little planet, and the only way these people can get on with their happy lives is that they DO NOT KNOW ABOUT IT!”

That is what The Fed essentially said in their minutes, but not in so many words.

The minutes of the July Fed meeting suggest officials may signal an impending start to asset purchase tapering at the September gathering — provided jobs numbers remain on track in the interim — and make an announcement in November.

Rising infections counts have not spurred an uptick in new jobless claims. High-frequency data show some customers are shying away from eating out, but the overall impact on restaurant reservations is limited. The bigger challenge for many companies is retaining and hiring enough workers to meet strong demand, evident in low layoff counts and persistent mention of labor shortages.

In other words, IFF Covid doesn’t cause further economic damage (or governments don’t shut down economies), then The Fed will consider a mild taper of their balance sheet.

But as of this morning, The Fed’s reverse repo facility keeps on rising along with The Fed’s balance sheet. At least M2 Money Supply growth has leveled off.

That should result in an increase in Treasury yields and mortgage rates, all things being equal. And assuming the Biden Administration and governors don’t panic and go into economic lockdown … again.

The US Treasury curves since the Covid recession of 2020 have shown optimism in recovery … then reality dawned.

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors meeting

Bubble? UMich Buying Conditions For Houses (Good) Collapses To 32%, Fed O/N Reverse Repos Breach $1 Trillion

The University of Michigan survey of consumers is out and their buying conditions for housing (good) was a disasters. Only 32% on consumers view buying conditions for a house as good. That means that 68% think buying conditions are not good. Why? With the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index growing at a scorching 16.6% YoY making housing simply unaffordable for many Americans.

On a different note, The Fed’s overnight reverse repo facility (aka, the slosh” just breached the $1 trillion mark.

Then we have this tantalizing headline on Bloomberg: “Traders Pile Into Tail-Risk Bets That Fed Won’t Hike at All”.

Treasury yields are rising amid optimism over the global recovery but there has been a run on Eurodollar options betting the Federal Reserve will opt not to raise interest rates at all.

Traders this week have been busy snapping up Eurodollar call options on underlying March 2025 futures that target three-month Libor to fix below 0.5%. These pay off if markets price the Fed keeping its benchmark at its lower bound until then. Futures markets are currently anticipating Libor will rise to about 1.47% by the first quarter of 2025.

So, it looks like The Fed (aka, Greenman) may not be going anywhere.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Inflation Alert! US Producer Prices Come In Hotter Than Expected (+7.8% YoY), Annualized Run Rate Is 12%!

Well, economists were expecting a 7.2% YoY print of the Producer Price Index – Final Demand. But July’s print came in hot … at +7.8% YoY. Compare that with the Core Consumer Price Index YoY of +4.3%.

The month-over-month PPI Final Demand is showing a run rate of 12%! (1% in July x 12 months).

Alarm! Gold And Cryptos Rise As Covid Spreads (Again)

The Covid Delta Variant seems to be picking up steam, we are seeing “flight to safety” assets other than Treasuries rising.

Gold and Silver experienced some serious corrections last week, perhaps because things were looking up. Then we saw Anthony Fauci scaring everyone about Covid … again. So, there is enormous uncertainty about how this will play out. In other words, ALARM!

Bitcoin and Ethereum have been climbing since Gold and Silver corrected last week. But both are up this week, particularly Gold.

The US Dollar is down slightly since the same time last year and M2 Money Stock growth has slowed.

Here is a chart showing another fear factor: the rise of the Covid Delta Variant. Deaths are only 1.7% of confirmed cases (if we believe the actual cause of death).

New York City MSA Rents Fall YoY For First Time Since 1958 (And Ike!) Northern NJ And Long Island Too

Rents in the New York City metropolitan statistical area — which also encompasses northern New Jersey and Long Island — dropped in the 12 months through July for the first time since 1958, according to monthly data on consumer prices published Wednesday by the Labor Department. Before that, the series indicates rents in the region hadn’t fallen on a year-over-year basis since 1934. The figures underscore the historic nature of the pandemic and its impact on the U.S. economy.

On the other hand, New York City home prices are growing at a +15.3% YoY pace.

Apparently, in 1958 Americans liked Ike, but didn’t like living in New York City.

Mortgage Purchase Applications Rise 1% From Previous Week, But Down 18% From Last Year Thanks To Unaffordable Home Prices

Simply unaffordable is what singer Robert Palmer would say. Homes, that is.

Mortgage applications increased 2.8 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 6, 2021.

The Refinance Index increased 3 percent from the previous week and was 8 percent lower than the same week one year ago. But recent declines in mortgage rates have produced a mini-refi wave (pink box).

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 18 percent lower than the same week one year ago. But rapidly rising home prices have cooled mortgage purchase applications since the beginning of 2021.