Life During Biden! Mortgage Rates UP 140%, Core Inflation UP 291% Under Unaffordable Joe (Fed Pausing Rate Hikes Even As Prices Continue To Soar)

Life under Biden.

Bankrate’s 30-year mortgage rate is down slighty to 6.89%, but that masks the reality that mortgage rates were only 2.88% when Biden was sworn in as President. That is a staggering increase of 140 in the 30-year mortgage rate.

In fairness to Unaffordable Joe, Congress went on a crazy spending spree with Covid, much of which had nothing to do with Covid. Green energy spending for the donor class is helping drive core inflation up 291% since Biden was installed as President.

And yes, The Fed is playing catch up for former Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s “Too low for too long (TLTL) monetary policy. So, now she is creating mayhem as US Treasury Secretary. And she was a terrible Fed Chair, now a terrible Treasury Secretary.

And yes, The Fed looks like they are pausing rate hikes.

US April Core Inflation Remains High At 5.5% YoY As Real Weekly Hourly Earnings Growth Declines -1.1% YoY For 25th Straight Month (Biden Economy Sucks For Middle Class)

Another dismal economic report under “Middle class” Joe Biden.

April’s inflation report is out and … it sucks. Core inflation (CPI less food and energy) remains elevated at 5.5% YoY, much higher than The Fed’s target rate of 2%. Even worse, US REAL average weekly wage growth is negative again at -1.1% YoY, negative growth for the 25th straight month.

Turns out that core inflation is higher than overall inflation. 4.9% YoY compared to core of 5.5% YoY.

Despite the hot core inflation report, Fed Funds Futures are pointing to declining rates over time.

While the US middle class is getting screwed, The Biden family are raking in millions …. from China.

Middle class Joe is now “Pay to play” Joe.

Unaffordable Joe! Housing, Food, Autos Are More Expensive Under Biden (Car Prices Rise 19% And Food UP 44% Under Biden, Interest Rates On Cars Highest Since 2008)

Biden’s approval ratings are terrible. Okay, Biden is the worst President in history, weak, can’t speak coherently and is letting chaos reign on the southern border. But from a consumer standpoint, he and crazy spending Congress have helped make America simply unaffordable for miillions.

Once again, Biden’s obsession with foolish green energy, Congress using Covid to spend trillions, then the green energy subsidy Act (aka, Inflation Reduction Act) where Biden and Congress agreed to make massive payoffs to big donors (the donor class). All this resulted in 40 year highs in inflation leading The Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to combat inflation.

For autos, the interest rate on an auto purchase has soared to it highest level since 2008. And car prices at up 19% under Biden’s Reign of Error.

And when we consider that US Real Average Weekly Earnings growth continues to be negative under Unaffordable Joe.

Housing? At least home price growth is slowing and even negative in some cities. But housing is still unaffordable for millions of Americans.

The housing situation will only get worse as Title 42 expires and millions of illegal immigrants invade the US. Texas Governor Abbot should ship all of them to Wilmington Delaware, home of Unaffordable Joe Biden. Let him suffer for once from his own folly.

Food? Don’t get me started. The Commodity Research Bureau is up 44% under Unaffordable Joe.

Okay, Biden is a useful idiot for BIG banks, BIG Pharma, BIG tech, BIG defense, and BIG government. He is popular with the 1% and people who watch “The View.” But many of the 99% are suffering under Unafforable Joe.

The Borg Identity! US Bank-Run Escalates, Deposit Outflows Top $360 Billion In Last 3 Weeks (Fed Rate Hikes To Combat Inflation Is Crushing Regional Banks)

Yes, the banking system under green zealots and spendiholics Biden, Pelosi and Schumer have helped drive inflation to 40 years highs leading The Fed to counterattack and raise interest rates and slow M2 Money supply.

The result? As Bank of America analysts said. Fed tightening ‘always breaks something’. And in this case it is regional and community banks. Or as BofA’s Harnett said, “The Fed Hiked Until It Broke The Regional Banks”.

Despite the attempts from The Fed and Treasury Secretary Janet “The Evil Hobbit” Yellen to mollify depositors, bank deposits contine to sink.

And they are sinking faster at smaller banks than larger banks.

Meanwhile, FDIC bridge loans are exploding in terms of useage.

We all know Biden gets bought off by China and big corporate America. Like The Borg (our Too-Big-Too-Fail or TBTF banks).

US Credit Default Swap Price 1Y Remains Elevated As Clueless Joe Defies Republican Budget Cuts, US Treasury 2Y-3M Yield Curve Inverts To Lowest In History

Ok, it is well-known that Biden was the stupidest man in the US Senate. And with Washington’s Patty Murray in the Senate, that is quite an accomplishment.

But Biden is President and is still stupid and spiraling down the dementia rabbit hole. He is blaming Republicans for their budget proposal to end the debt ceiling crisis despite saying previously that he would negotitate. Apparently, Biden’s puppet masters are telling him to risk default by playing the blame game.

So, US credit default swap (CDS 1Y, SR, EURO) price remains elevated which indicates that Biden, Yellen and Schumer may actually default on US debt.

As M2 Money growth crashes and burns, the US Treasury 2Y-3M yield curve inverts to lowest in history.

Jobs Friday! US Avg Hourly Earnings In April Increase To 4.4% YoY, Too Bad Core Inflation Is At 5.6% YoY (Jobs Revision Loses -149K Jobs)

The good news? The US economy added 253k jobs in April. The bad news? Last months jobs report of 236k jobs added was revised downwards to 165k jobs added.

US average hourly earnings year-over-year (YoY) rose in April to 4.4%. Too bad core inflation at the last reading also rose to 5.6% YoY.

Yes, Biden and his talking heads will talk about the 253k jobs added, but will ignore (of course) the huge downward revision of March’s jobs added. 236k revised downwards to a mere 165k.

And on the good jobs report, the 10-year Treasury yield jumped by 10.9 basis points.

And the US Treasury 2Y-3M curve has dropped off the end of the earth.

The Biden Economy: Challenger Job Cuts UP 176% YoY, Q1 Nonfarm Productivity Falls -2.7% QoQ, Unit Labor Costs Almost Double To 6.3% QoQ, Inflation Strengthens (Fed Pausing Rate Hikes Then Cutting)

Biden loves to brag about the greatest economy in history! Sure Joe. Life during Biden.

Challenger jobs cuts in April were 176% year-over-year. Non farm productivity in Q1 fell -2.7% QoQ. And unit labor costs in Q1 almost doubled to 6.3% QoQ, almost doubled from the Q4 2022 figure of 3.2%.

At least The Fed is going to pause it manic rate hikes. Then begin dropping them again.

The Highlander Banking System: PacWest Says in Talks With Potential Partners After Share Plunge (But Powell Promise That The Banking Crisis Is Close To Over)

As Connor MacLeod said in the film Highlander, “There can only be one!” The US banking system under Joe Biden’s Reign of Error is like the film Highlander: apparently, there can only be one bank. And it is likely JP Morgan Chase.

Take the JP Morgan Chase (JPMC) acquisition of First Republic Bank:

In Acquiring First Republic Bank, JP Morgan Has:

Bypassed laws against acquiring bank while controlling 10%+ of US deposits
Shared $13 billion in losses with the FDIC
Received a $50 billion loan from the FDIC
Effectively bought back its own deposits
Expects to profit $5 billion+ over the next 5 years

This crisis has taught us that rules don’t matter in times of panic, particularly to regulators.

And now we have PacWest Bancorp. Lender says it’s been approached by potential investors. Bill Ackman warns US regional banking system at risk.

The turmoil at PacWest shows how investor angst still remains elevated after a string of failures and deposit outflows in the sector despite Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s assurance Wednesday that authorities were closer to containing the crisis. It’s reignited the debate over whether more US regional lenders will fall after this year’s collapse of SVB Financial Group’s Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Capital Corp., Signature Bank and most recently First Republic Bank.

Smaller banks are under pressure after a year of interest-rate hikes hammered the value of their bond holdings and drove unrealized losses to an estimated $1.84 trillion. Trouble in commercial real estate is adding to the pain, while depositors take their money out to seek better returns elsewhere. These stresses have put the spotlight on these lenders, which typically have fewer resources to defend themselves.

We are seeing a consolidation of the banking system .. again as smaller and regional banks fail and get gobbled up by the Too-Big-To-Fail (TBTF) banks like … JP Morgan Chase.

Biden’s Reign of Error is not over yet. His campaign slogan (which was also Bill Clinton’s campaign reelection slogan) is “Finish the job!” With Biden’s idiotic mortgage idea of punishing borrowers with good credit and giving subsidies to those with bad credit, Biden is trying to finish off the US economy and banking system.

We are in for more hell.

Addicted To Gov! Biden Has Added $3.7 Trillion In Public Debt, Not Suprising That M2 Money Velocity Is Rising (But Still Below Pre-Covid Spending Splurge)

Under Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi (now Hakeem Jeffries), the US economy is addicted to gov … spending and debt.

Some are marvelling that M2 Money VELOCITY (GDP/M2) is rising as if this is a miracle. It isn’t. Under Biden, public debt has increased by $3.7 trillion. But as The Fed pulls back and M2 Money growth slows, M2 Money Velocity is rising. But still below historic levels.

Doctor, doctor (Yellen). We have a bad case of excessive and wasteful Federal spending and debt.

China doesn’t have to invade the US. Biden, Schumer and Jeffries are destroying the country on their own.

While Biden is bailing out banks and Ukraine (and taking bribes from China), I am struggling to buy a bottle of wine.

US Mortgage Demand Declines 1.2% From Last Week, Purchase Demand Still Down -32% From Same Week Last Year While Refi Demand Down -51% YoY

This is last data dump for mortgage demand (applications) before Biden’s idiotic woke mortgage policies go into effect (taxing those with good credit to subsidize those with lousy credit) take effect. I call this Bolshevik Biden’s Mortgage Market.

Mortgage applications decreased 1.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 28, 2023.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 0.4 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 1 percent from the previous week and was 51 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 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 32 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Bolshevik Biden.