The US Producer Price Index (Final Demand) printed at a higher than expected 8.5% YoY, throwing cold water on the notion that inflation is “transitory.”
A key US inflation measure due Thursday is set to return to a four-decade high, underscoring broad and elevated price pressures that are pushing the Federal Reserve toward yet another large interest-rate hike next month.
The so-called core consumer price index that excludes food and energy is projected to rise 0.4% in September from the prior month and 6.5% from a year earlier, matching the rate seen in March that was the highest since 1982.
The overall CPI, however, is expected to decelerate to a still-rapid 8.1% annual pace, restrained by a decline in gasoline prices, based on the median estimate.
Mortgage applications decreased 2.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 7, 2022. As mortgage rates soar with Federal Reserve tightening.
The Refinance Index decreased 2 percent from the previous week and was 86 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 39 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
I feel sorry (sort of) for people like White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre who has to read ridiculous scripts in defense of awful Federal policies. For example, yesterday she touted Biden’s “accomplishments” of rising real disposable US income and declining gasoline prices. What? Doesn’t she read Confounded Interest?? /sarc
First, REAL disposable personal income growth for the US is NEGATIVE and has been since Biden and Congress embarked on their green energy crusade driving US inflation to its highest level in 40 years. Not exactly a great sales point for the midyear elections.
If we look at REAL average hourly earnings growth, a similar measure, we see that it is negative also. So, what on earth is Jean-Pierre talking about?
She also mentioned that gasoline prices are falling. Except that they are rising again. Apparently her talking points were from September.
Then we have diesel fuel prices, the backbone of the shipping industry, rising like crazy as Biden drains the strategic petroleum reserve.
Meanwhile, The Federal Reserve is tightening their uber-loose monetary policies (thanks Bernanke, Yellen and Powell). Will The Fed pivot to help with the midterm elections OR will The Fed keep trying to extinguish inflation by raising rates and withdrawing Fed monetary stimulus?
I feel like I am living in the horror movie “Saw”. The Federal Reserve is tightening their BIG green bag of money to fight inflation … caused by Biden’s energy policies and massive Federal government spending.
(Bloomberg) Stocks fell, pressured by rising Treasury yields and signs that company earnings were set to disappoint. A gauge of the dollar climbed to the highest this month.
European shares declined for a fifth straight session as bond yields jumped amid concerns of persistently high inflation as well as the impact of hawkish central bank policies on global growth. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.6%, with futures on the S&P 500 down by about the same magnitude, pointing to another risk-off day on Wall Street.
The mood is fragile ahead of Thursday’s US inflation data, with the case for another 75 basis-point rate hike likely to be strong if the reading comes in higher than than forecast. Fed officials until now show little sign they are in a mood to pause the rate-hiking cycle despite the potential hit to economic growth.
As The Fed tightens, the MSCI Global Technology index had the worst month since October 2008.
And the NASDAQ Composite index continues to fall with Fed removal of money. Hold on to your lugnuts! Because The Fed hasn’t stopped tightening.
Both ARKK and PayPal have gotten clipped by The Fed too.
Sweet home DC! At least for the ruling elites. For the rest of us mortals, Bidenflation is crushing our finances.
To combat Bidenflation, The Fed has signaled that they will continue to raise interest rates. But at what cost?
(Bloomberg) — The world’s leading central banks are finally pushing their interest rates into restrictive territory, causing fears of overkill in financial markets and stoking chatter that policymakers may need to pivot at some point.
And with the withdrawal of monetary stimulus comes the slowdown of US M2 Money growth (green line). And with that slowdown, we see a declining stock market and an inverted US Treasury yield curve.
Of course, Biden could reverse his green energy agenda and allow for oil and natural gas exploration … again. Or begin building nuclear power plants again. But nooooo.
Another peril is rising mortgage rates.
Here is the S&P 500 against global liquidity.
Speaking of Freddie King, here is Joe Biden’s favorite song: hideaway.
As the Biden Administration touts “affordable housing,” we are seeing the 30-year mortgage rate rise above 7% as The Federal Reserve fights inflation … caused by the Biden Administration. Meanwhile, US home prices are falling.
The Biden Administration launched a war on domestic energy production, resulting in crude oil prices rising 74% under Biden and regular gasoline prices rising 62.4%.
As Biden pleaded with OPEC to increase oil production, he was embarrassingly rejected. Hence, West Texas Crude Oil prices have begun to rise again along with gasoline prices (pink box).
How about unemployment and the 10yr-2yr yield curve?
Yesterday, I told my family “The good news is that Rotolo’s Pizza tastes even better reheated in the morning. The bad news? I ate the only two piece left.”
Which brings me to the September jobs report. The good news is that 263k jobs were added to the US economy. That means 10,521k jobs have been added in the 21 months under Biden! (Bear in mind that 12,100k jobs were added in the 7 months under Trump following the Covid economic shutdown, yet no media outlet trumpeted that accomplishment).
The bad news? While nominal average hourly earnings grew by 5% YoY, when I subtract Bidenflation from that number I get -3.06% growth. Or should I say that REAL wages are shrinking under Biden.
Now for the “Biden Miracle” of jobs being added. Here is a chart of NFP jobs added (white line) against M2 Money and headline inflation. Both The Fed and the Federal government pumped trillions into the economy leading to the highest inflation rate in 40 years. Once governments stopped with their Covid shutdown nonsense, jobs would return regardless of who was President. BUT Federal spending and Fed money printing went off the rails in early 2020.
As Paul Harvey used to say, “Here is the rest of the story.” Labor force participation fell in September and the U-3 unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5%.
But labor force dropouts increased leading U-3 unemployment to decline. The number of people NOT in the labor force grew to nearly 100 million. Nothing has been the same since Covid.
So what will The Fed do? According to Fed Funds Futures data (WIRP), The Fed will keep raising rates until March ’23 then slowly start lowering interest rates again.
And with that “positive” jobs report, The Dow is down almost -500 points and the NASDAQ is down over -3%.
And with Fed tightening, we are seeing a collapse in M2 money supply.
Bloomberg’s market pulse gauge is signalling panic.
The Bloomberg market pulse index quantifies sentiment using 6 factors — price breadth, pairwise correlation, low vol performance, defensive vs. cyclical sector performance, high vs. low leverage performance and high yield spreads.
In addition to creating the highest inflation rate in 40 years, we are now seeing the highest mortgage rate in 16 years. I feel like we are all on a chain gang.
(Bloomberg) — US mortgage rates jumped to a 16-year high of 6.75%, marking the seventh-straight weekly increase and spurring the worst slump in home loan applications since the depths of the pandemic.
In fact, mortgage application just fell to the lowest level since May 1997.
The contract rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose nearly a quarter percentage point in the last week of September, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday. The steady string of increases in mortgage rates resulted in a more than 14% slump last week in applications to purchase or refinance a home.
Over the past seven weeks, mortgage rates have soared 1.30 percentage points, the largest surge over a comparable period since 2003 and illustrating the abrupt upswing in borrowing costs as the Federal Reserve intensifies its inflation fight.
The effective 30-year fixed rate, which includes the effects of compounding, topped 7% in the period ended Sept. 30, also the highest since 2006.
The Refinance Index decreased 18 percent from the previous week and was 86 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 13 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 13 percent compared with the previous week and was 37 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
Here is today’s table of MBA mortgage applications and its ugly.
Unfortunately for the US chain gang, gasoline prices are rising again as the US drains its petroleum reserve. Because, that’s the way … uh-huh … they like.
On the real estate side, Bankrate’s 30-year mortgage rate dropped to 6.85% as the 10-year US Treasury yield drops.
On the home price front, according to the Black Knight Home Price Index (HPI), median home prices fell 0.98% in August, only marginally better than July’s upwardly revised 1.05% monthly decline July. August 2022 marked the largest single-month price declines seen since January 2009 and rank among the eight largest on record. The monthly rate of home price decline is now rivaling that seen during the Great Recession – the question is how long it will continue to do so, and how far off peaks prices will fall.
Now, will The Fed pivot to correct the plunging M2 Money growth?
Confounded Interest - Anthony B. Sanders 
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