US Existing Home Sales Plunge -22.64% YoY In February As Fed Withdraw … For The Moment (Median Prices Decline -0.2% YoY)

I have good news bad news for you.

The good news? US existing home sales SOARED in February. Up 14.5% MoM in February to 4.58 million units SAAR sold.

The bad news? On a year-over-year basis, existing home sales plunged -22.64%.

And the median price of existing home sales declined slightly to -0.2% YoY.

Dr. Jill Biden gets a professional clothing designer to rate her wardrobe.

Fed Panics, Announces “Coordinated” Daily US Dollar Swap Lines To Ease Banking Crisis As 2-year Treasury Yield Drops -10 Basis Points (Again)

Its the start of a new week after the closure of several US banks (SVP, Signature) and the failure of Credit Suisse. But swaps spreads have calmed down a bit and are no where near the credit crisis highs of late 2008. Or the plain vanilla swap between fixed and variable contracts (white line) has simmered down a bit. BUT was never as high as it was during the financial crisis. Panic by The Fed and FDIC much?

And the 2-year Treasury yield dropped -10 basis points … again.

… and at exactly 5pm the Fed announced “coordinated central bank action to enhance the provision of U.S. dollar liquidity” by opening daily Dollar Swap lines with all major central banks, in a carbon copy repeat of the Fed’s panicked post-covid crisis policy response playbook.

The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank are today announcing a coordinated action to enhance the provision of liquidity via the standing U.S. dollar liquidity swap line arrangements.

To improve the swap lines’ effectiveness in providing U.S. dollar funding, the central banks currently offering U.S. dollar operations have agreed to increase the frequency of 7-day maturity operations from weekly to daily. These daily operations will commence on Monday, March 20, 2023, and will continue at least through the end of April.

The network of swap lines among these central banks is a set of available standing facilities and serve as an important liquidity backstop to ease strains in global funding markets, thereby helping to mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses.

And once the USD swap lines are reopened, the rest of the cavalry follows: rate cuts, QE (the real stuff, not that Discount Window nonsense), etc, etc. In fact, we have already seen a near record surge in reserve injections:

The Fed may as well formalize it now and at least preserve some confidence in the banking sector, even if it means destroying all confidence left in the “inflation fighting” Fed, with all those whose were in charge handing in their resignation for their catastrophic handling of this bank crisis.

The bank bailout express!

US Treasury Yields Drop -26 Basis Points As Fed Expected To Drop Fed Rate To 4.7% (Regulators Suddenly Awaken And Panic, Biden Calls For MORE Regulations)

The Silicon Valley Bank failure (along with NY’s Signature Bank) are sending shock waves through the global economy. Not because of the incompetence of bank regulators, but because of the reaction function from the FDIC and Fed.

The 10-year Treasury yield is down -26 basis points in the AM. And the Fed Funds Target Rate is expected to drop to 4.7%.

Its not just the US Treasury yield that declined -26 basis points. European sovereign yields are down too (Germany 10-year is down -32.9 basis points).

Look at the 2-year Treasury yield. Its down -54.6 basis points.

On a sad note, Resident Biden is calling for stricter regulations for the banking industry, already one of the most regulated sectors of the economy. How about less politics and just make them do their ^*T^R jobs!

US Mortgage Rates Rise To Over 7% As Fed Tightens Monetary Noose (Is Powell Chanelling Volcker?)

Yesterday’s inflation report (in the form on skyrocketing labor costs) helped lead Bankrate’s 30-year mortgage rate to over 7% … again.

Here is yesterday’s horrible unit labor costs YoY chart showing the fastest growth in labor costs since 1982 and Fed Chair Paul Volcker. Jerome Powell, the current Fed Chair is trying to reduce the Bernanke/Yellen/Powell monetary stimulypto (with an extra dose of “sugar” from the Covid outbreak).

The good news is that the 10-year Treasury yield is down -7.3 basis points this morning.

Here is The Fed’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) trying to summon Paul Volcker to help them figure out how they got inflation so wrong.

Dazed And Confused! Treasury Flows Show Bullish $2.5 Billion Shift to ST Sovereigns Versus S&P 500 (Credit ETFs Hammered by Record Outflows of Almost $12 Billion As Fed Worries About Inflation)

The Federal Reserve is dazed and confused about inflation.

As The Federal Reserve reaffirms their draining of the monetary punch bowl, we are seeing investors flock towards the bond market. Particularly the iShares Short Treasury ETF. $2.5 BILLION to be exact.

Meanwhile, credit ETFs are hammered by record outflows of almost $12 Billion.

The reason why? Inflation remains elevated which is leading The Fed to keep their foot on the monetary brake pedal.

I’m an economist.

My Kuroda! BOJ’s Kuroda Shocks Markets By Loosening Rate Band (Final End To Uber-loose Japanese Monetary Policy)

My Kuroda!

(Bloomberg) — Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda just gave investors a glimpse of what to expect when the world’s boldest experiment with ultra-loose monetary policy comes to an end.

In the face of sustained market pressure, Kuroda shocked markets Tuesday by saying he’ll now allow Japan’s 10-year bond yields to rise to around 0.5%, double the previous upper limit of 0.25%.

Whether this is a strategic tweak to buy time for his yield-curve control settings until his decade-long term ends in Aprilor the start of the end for his unprecedented monetary easing remains to be seen.

Here are the BOJ’s rate. bands being widened.

The yen?

And with the ECB, Fed and now Bank of Japan all tightening, we are seeing sovereign yields rising across the board.

The Japanese sovereign yield curve is upward sloping unlike the humped US Treasury yield curve.

Will the US Treasury Secretary Janet “Statist” Yellen comment?

Pre-Fed Status: 100% Probability Of US Recession In 2023, Mortgage Rate Steady (US Yield Curve Now Inverted For 116 Straight Days, Implied Rate Hike Of +50 BPS To 4.50%)

Fun week ahead. US inflation numbers are out on Tuesday (forecast? CPI YoY = 7.3%, Core CPI YoY = 6.1%) and The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) rate decision is on Wendesday.

So, where are we sitting on Monday?

First, the US Treasury 10Y-2Y yield curve has been inverted (a precursor to recession) for 116 straight days). Second, the likelihood of recession in 2023 is 100%. Third, with the forecast of core inflation at a still numbing 6.1%, The Fed seems dead set on raising their target rate by 50 basis points to 4.50% on Wednesday.

dddd

So, as The Fed debates recession versus fighting inflation (partly caused by The Fed), we have Kevin Malone from The Office debating Angela versus double-fudge brownies:

“I hear Angela’s party will have double fudge brownies. But it will also have Angela. Double fudge.. Angela.. double fudge….. Angela. Hmm..” I am betting on risking a recession by raising the Fed’s target rate by 50 basis points.

Bad Sign! What Interest Rates Are Telling Us (US 10Y-2Y Curve Inverts To -80 Basis Points, Euro 10Y Yields Falling, Fed Funds Rate Priced At 2.301% By January 2024)

What interest rates are telling us is a bad sign.

With an impending railroad strike that can torpedo the US economy (but if that is possible, why is the Biden Clan vacationing in Nantucket for Thanksgiving weekend when Joe should be talking with railroads and the unions to not let this happen?), let’s see what interest rates are telling us.

First, the US Treasury 10Y-2Y yield curve continues to descrend into the abyss (now at -80 basis points).

Second, the latest Fed Dot Plot (from September, new one will be issued during December) show that The Fed thinks that their target rate, while rising in 2023, will likely start falling again in 2024.

Third, since it is Thanksgiving Day, US bond markets are closed. But in Europe, the 10-year sovereign yields are falling, a sign that the ECB is reversing course by increasing monetary stimulus and/or a European are slow down.

Fourth, US mortgage rates have cooled since peaking (locally) at 7.35% on November 3, 2022 and now sit at 6.81%, a decline of 54 basis points. A clear sign of cooling.

Fifth, how about Fed Funds Futures data? It is pointing to a peak Fed Funds Target rate of 4.593% at the June FOMC meeting. Then a decline in rates to 2.301% by January 2024.

Now, go and enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family (up 20% since last year), courtesy of Jerome Powell, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

US Treasury Yield Curve Slips Into Darkness (Implied Yield On 3M T-Bills In 18 Months – 3M T-Bill Yield Inverts) Slippin’ Into Darkness

The US economy is Slippin’ Into Darkness.

The Fed’s favorite yield curve measure, the implied yield on 3-month T-Bills in 18 months less the 3-month T-bill yield has inverted. Note that this curve inverts prior to a recession.

The new face of reckless Fed policy and Federal spending. 19 straight months of negative REAL earnings growth as America re-elects the same irresponsible fools that are turning the US into Venezuela.

Deceleration Nation! US Home Price Growth Slows Most On Record In August As Fed Hits Brakes, But Still Growing At 12.99% YoY (US Treasury 10-yr Yield DOWN -17 BPS Today)

Alarm! US home prices are decelerating as inflation rages and The Fed tightens.

Home price growth in the US slowed the most on record as a doubling of borrowing costs (thanks to the US Federal Reserve) has sapped demand.

A national measure of prices increased 13% in August from a year earlier, but is down from 20.79% in March, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index showed Tuesday. That’s the biggest deceleration in the index’s history.

The housing market has started to slump as the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates to curb the hottest inflation in decades. Even with the deceleration, prices remain high compared to last year. Coupled with mortgage rates that are edging closer to 7%, many would-be buyers have been shut out, while some sellers have retreated.

While 13% growth sounds good, it is not good for renters looking to buy a home.

According to S&P/CoreLogic/Case-Shiller, Southern (red) cities Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami and Tampa all still grew at over 20% YoY. Other cities like blue cities Detroit, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC are grew at UNDER 10% YoY.

It looks like some people have taken three steps and left blue states for red states.

On related news, I always said in my classes that +/- 10 basis point in the US Treasury yield is a big deal. This morning, the US Treasury 10-year yield is DOWN -16.1 bps. In fact, the 10-year yields are down across the board globally.