The Fed is expected to raise their target rate to 2.875% by February 2023. With that expectation, mortgage rates (yellow line) are soaring. And with that, University of Michigan’s Buying Conditions for housing has plunged to 43, the lowest levels since 1982 as the US was trying to recover from high inflation.
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index just plunged to the LOWEST LEVEL in history on inflation and Fed’s reaction.
Average REAL wage growth has now declined to -2.11% YoY.
Pennies from Heaven. That is what the bottom 50% received from The Federal Reserve’s massive doses of monetary stimulus (or stimulypto).
There was one big dose of monetary stimulus in late 2008 surrounding the financial crisis and housing bubble burst, another doses (aka, QE 2 and QE3) then the biggest dose of all with the outbreak of Covid in early 2020.
President Biden should have mentioned on Jimmy Dimmel last night that The Federal Reserve has helped the bottom 50% with its endless monetary stimulus.
But if you were fortunate enough to own a home (the top 1% are likely homeowners), then you benefited from The Fed’s monetary stimulypto.
And I noticed that Biden didn’t mention plunging REAL average weekly earnings YoY.
The Federal Reserve’s monetary “policies” have benefited the top 1% and homeowners relative to the bottom 50% (who often rent and got clobbered with 20% growth in rents).
Great job, Fed! Making housing more unaffordable for rents (combine rising rents and declining REAL wages and we have a real affordability problem).
Home affordability for first time homebuyers?
And what is with Biden’s ear lobes? As inflation is rising, his ear lobes are shrinking.
The inflation numbers are out tomorrow. I noticed that Biden and Jimmy Dimmel only discussed gun control, not the sad state of the economy under Biden.
This is not the legacy that will endear President Biden to voters. Regular gasoline prices have risen 101% under Biden.
But it not just gasoline and diesel that are soaring (while the rest of us are sore!), CRB Foodstuffs are up 58% under Biden while the 30-year mortgage rate is up 89% under Biden.
And this morning, WTI crude futures are up +1.71%.
And up 142% under Biden.
Prices are sizzling and clobbering the American middle class and low wage workers. But former Federal Reserve Chair and current US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen never saw it coming.
Biden’s just killing us. And Powell is making up for Yellen’s keeping monetary stimulus too high for too long. Price? Mortgage rates are soaring.
I have never seen two Federal entities make such a mess in my life. The Federal Reserve and The Federal government.
The good news? The 10-year Treasury yield is down -12.9 BPS this morning generally resulting in lower 30-year mortgage rates. Of course, the reason why the 10-yield is falling is generally bad news.
The bad news? US New Home Sales fell -16.6% MoM in April as mortgage rates skyrocketed.
Since the installation of Joe Biden as President, new home sales have plunged -31.2%, mortgage rates are up 88.9%, and framing lumber prices are up 29.2%.
Biden is out there bragging about rising energy prices which he views as a necessity to force the conversion of America to electric cars and trucks. Biden is the first President in history to gloat over the suffering of American households.
Under Biden, regular gasoline prices are up 92%, diesel prices are up 111%, and CRB Foodstuffs are up 61%.
Say, framing lumber for housing is cheaper than food. Maybe Biden will suggest Americans transform to being beavers and gnaw on wood.
Mortgage rates have increased dramatically under “Middle Class Joe” as The Federal Reserve attempts to choke-off inflation caused by … The Fed coupled with Biden’s energy policies (hope you are enjoying those high gasoline and diesel prices!) and the Federal government’s staggering spending spree under Pelosi, Schumer and McConnell.
Thus far, The Federal Reserve has leveled-out out their Treasury Note and Bond purchases, increased their Agency Mortgage-backed Securities (AgMBS) holdings, but strangely have reduced their holding of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) in the face of rising inflation.
And while The Fed Funds Target rate is a lowly 1%, it is projected to rise to 2.890% by the February 1, 2023 FOMC meeting. That should send mortgage rates up.
As if mortgage rates haven’t skyrocketed already, thanks to The Fed’s jawboning about having to raise rates and extinguish inflation.
With sizzling mortgage rates (cooling a bit as the global economy slows), home mortgage payments have risen +43.4% YoY.
Now we have President Biden trying to scare us about the Monkey Pox, yet leaves the southern border wide open. One would think that Biden would shut the borders (as if the surge in Fentanyl, sex trafficking and other diseases aren’t reason enough. But I do predict another massive spending bill from Biden/Congress to combat Monkey Pox and the resurgence of Covid variants.
Meanwhile The Fed jawbones fighting inflation with monetary tightening in the future, even if they jawboning causes mortgage rates to soar and mortgage payments to spiral.
We have a double whammy facing investors, The Federal Reserve wanting to take away the monetary punch bowl and Federal energy policies that are crushing middle-class households and lower-wages workers.
But how do you hedge against The Federal Reserve tightening and Biden’s reckless energy policies?
Take a look at investing in commodities (S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust and the Bloomberg Commodity Index) versus the S&P 500 Total Return index since The Fed began signaling that they would take away the monetary punch bowl.
Yes, commodities like food and gasoline/diesel prices are up dramatically under Biden’s energy policies (not to mention the USA’s proxy war with Russia).
The Fed seems determined to remove the Fed “Snake juice” from the economy.
The inflation that is crushing Americans is due to energy and food price increases. That is, the non-core inflation. Under Biden, food is up 63%, gasoline is up 92% and diesel prices are up 112%. But The Fed doesn’t consider food and energy prices, per se.
If we look at the Taylor Rule considering fighting inflation including food and energy, The Fed would have to raise their target rate to … 21.38%.
Now, The Fed can clearly cool-off the housing market by raising rates. In fact, my fear is that they go too far and crash the housing market. The Fed will NEVER get to 20% again like we last saw under Volcker in 1981. 20% rates certainly cooled home prices back then and Fed rate hikes helped crash the housing market in 2008.
So, when The Fed says they want to be the inflation-fightin’ Fed, we must be aware what The Fed can and cannot do. They can’t tame the inflation beast in the form of food and energy prices (unless they crash the economy), but they can crush home prices.
Most of us are painfully aware of rising food prices, particularly with the US fighting a proxy war with Russia. Wheat prices have doubled under Biden and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But inflation is everywhere. Rising home prices, rising gasoline and diesel prices, etc. When Jeep can see a Wagoneer for $100,000+, you know we have inflation.
The surprise this morning was retail sales, up 0.9% MoM (though still less than expected), despite rising prices. Odd since REAL wage growth is negative.
But the other bit of good news this AM is that US industrial production rose +1.1% MoM in April. And US Capacity Utilization is rising dangerously towards 80%, it is at 79% in April.
You will notice that Fed monetary tightening occurs when capacity utilization hits 80%, indicating an overheated (or OVERSTIMULATED) economy. Yes, we still have The Fed Funds Target Rate (Upper Bound) at only 1% and The Fed Balance Sheet still near $9 trillion. So, Fed stimulypto is still in play.
Meanwhile, M2 Money Velocity is near its historic low and M2 Money YoY is still sizzling at 9.85% YoY.
Wheat prices have doubled under Biden, and you can see how wheat futures soared when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Goldman Sachs Senior Chairman Lloyd Blankfein urged companies and consumers to gird for a US recession, saying it’s a “very, very high risk.”
I am not surprised. Take a look at The Fed’s Overnight Reverse Repo operations. As inflation surged in 2021 and 2022, banks are parking more funds at The Fed. Fear?
We are seeing the S&P 500 futures down today after a nice rally on Friday. The &P 500 forward 12-month P/E ratio is back to pre-Covid, pre Federal spending surge, pre Fed monetary Stimulypto of 2016.
Goldman Sachs see the 10-year Treasury yield rising to 3.3%. That bodes ill for 30-year mortgage rates, perhaps push mortgage rates up another 40 basis points to 5.80%.
Nothing has been the same since Covid and The Federal Reserve’s massive overreaction to the government shutdowns of the economy.
Notice how the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (white line) has plunged since Covid and the ensuing rise in inflation. University of Michigan’s Buying Conditions for Houses has also plunged to new depths.
Rising inflation (highest in 40 years) and hottest home price bubble (even hotter than the infamous housing bubble of 2005-2007) AND rising mortgage rates have placed a damper on home buying sentiment.
Confounded Interest - Anthony B. Sanders 
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