‘Fragile’ Treasury market is at risk of ‘large scale forced selling’ or surprise that leads to breakdown (Fed tighening to fight Bidenflation as a recession becomes imminent, Dow Futures UP 770 Points For Monday)

Things are getting interesting in DC, to say the least. The US is 100% likely to face a recession in the next 12 months while The Federal Reserve is on its crusade to fight inflation caused by … The Federal Reserve, Biden’s green energy shenanigans and massive, irresponsible Federal spending that even Former Obama economist Lawrence Summers warned would cause inflation. So what will The Fed do? Lower rates and expand their assets purchases to fight the impending recession OR keep tightening to fight Bidenflation? But where we are now is that the fixed-income market could be in big, big trouble.

According to MarketWatch, the world’s deepest and most liquid fixed-income market is in big, big trouble.

For months, traders, academics, and other analysts have fretted that the $23.7 trillion Treasuries market might be the source of the next financial crisis. Then last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged concerns about a potential breakdown in the trading of government debt and expressed worry about “a loss of adequate liquidity in the market.” Now, strategists at BofA Securities have identified a list of reasons why U.S. government bonds are exposed to the risk of “large scale forced selling or an external surprise” at a time when the bond market is in need of a reliable group of big buyers.

“We believe the UST market is fragile and potentially one shock away from functioning challenges” arising from either “large scale forced selling or an external surprise,” said BofA strategists Mark Cabana, Ralph Axel and Adarsh Sinha. “A UST breakdown is not our base case, but it is a building tail risk.”

In a note released Thursday, they said “we are unsure where this forced selling might come from,” though they have some ideas. The analysts said they see risks that could arise from mutual-fund outflows, the unwinding of positions held by hedge funds, and the deleveraging of risk-parity strategies that were put in place to help investors diversify risk across assets.

In addition, the events which could surprise bond investors include acute year-end funding stresses; a Democratic sweep of the midterm elections, which is not currently a consensus expectation; and even a shift in the Bank of Japan’s yield curve control policy, according to the BofA strategists.

The BOJ’s yield curve control policy, aimed at keeping the 10-year yield on the country’s government bonds at around zero, is being pushed to a breaking point.

Well. Bidenflation certainly isn’t helping, but Statist Economist and Cheerleader Janet Yellen can’t bring herself to blame green energy policies, rampant Federal spending or irresponsible Federal Reserve policies for the crisis.

You will note the differences between today and the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The financial crisis gave us a massive surge in government securities liquidity thanks to then Fed Chair Ben Bernanke imitating Japan’s Central Bank and buying US government securities. Fast forward to today and the liquidity index hasn’t budged much since 2010 (except for a little blip around the Covid Fed intervention of early 2020), but we are now seeing near 40-year highs in inflation and a barely declining Fed balance sheet. And M2 Money YoY (mostly commercial bank deposits) are crashing.

I am guessing that The Fed will pivot given that stock futures are way up for Monday. The Dow Jones mini is up 770 points and the S&P 500 mini is up 88.75 points.

Bond market futures (specifically the US Ultra Bond) is down for Monday, meaning yields will be climbing.

While perusing MarketWatch, I noticed this headline from the uber-attention whore Nouriel Roubini: “New Yorkers are ‘stupid’ for moving to Texas, Florida: Wall Street’s ‘Dr. Doom’.” Seriously? Nouriel, you aren’t talking to friends in a Bleeker Street bar. Like Bernanke.

I remember giving a speech at The Brookings Institute in Washington DC. Talk about stranger in a strange land. One person who I was debating got frustrated and said “You are such a … Republican!!!” As if that was the worst slur he could throw at me.

Turkey Prices UP 73% Since Last Year As Biden Takes Credit For Biggest Deficit Reductions In US History (Economy NOT “Strong As Hell!”, But Rapidly Approaching Recession)

Like virtually everything in Biden’s economy, the price of turkey (often the main staple for Thanksgiving dinner) is way up in price. Turkey prices are UP 73% since last year. The price per pound of an 8- to 16-pound turkey has risen to $1.99, a 73% increase from $1.15 last year, according to USDA data.

Speaking of turkeys, in recent speeches, President Joe Biden has been misleadingly taking credit for cutting federal deficits by historic amounts, though most of the reduction in deficits is the result of expiring emergency pandemic spending. Deficits fell between fiscal year 2020 and 2021 far less than initially projected after Biden added to them with more emergency pandemic and infrastructure spending.

And apparently Biden (or Jill) haven’t looked at the data recently. While there was a momentary budget surplus in April 2022, the Federal budget deficit has increased dramatically in September 2022 to the worst deficit since March 2021 shortly after Biden took office.

The only thing that is strong under Biden is the labor market. But even the accomplishment is grossly misleading. Under Trump, the U-3 unemployment rate was 3.5% in February 2020 just before Covid-13 struck and the Fauci-ites shut down the economy causing unemployment to rise to 14.7% in April 2020. Most of the reduction in the unemployment rate was the result of the economy slowly opening back up under Trump. When Biden took over, the unemployment rate was 6.4% and it is finally back to Trump’s 3.5% in September 2022. At least Biden didn’t screw that up, as Obama has said. Perhaps that should be his new midterm campaign slogan!

But Biden DID screw up the labor market with Bidenflation. REAL average hourly earnings growth (yellow line) is NEGATIVE..

And yes, the US is rapidly approaching recession which will result in a spike in unemployment. So much for Biden’s “Strong as hell!” economy.

Two turkeys taking a stroll, but I would rather listen to the shorter turkey. At least the speeches would be coherent.

My Kuroda! Dow UP 774 Points And 10Y Treasury Yield Down -2.2 BPS As Japan’s Central Bank Intervenes To Prop Up Currency (Options Expiration Likely Explanation For Stock Surge)

My Kuroda!

Wall Street saw another day of stunning reversals, with stocks rallying after a Treasury selloff sputtered. The yen jumped as Japan intervened again to prop up the currency.

After many twists and turns, the S&P 500 pushed solidly into the green and headed for its best week since June as 10-year yields fell from the highest since 2007.

Probably because The Fed is likely to pivot with impending recession. The Dow is up 774 points this Friday. And today was a huge option expiration day!!

And the 10-year Treasury yield fell -2.2 basis points.

Here is the result of Japan’s intervention.

But today’s numbers were largely monthly stock index option expiration.

Why did it fall upon Powell to be the wielder of the Fed tightening scimitar? Why didn’t Yellen? Because “Good Girls Don’t.” But Powell did.

Have a nice weekend. I will be rooting for Ohio State to annihilate the Iowa Hawkeyes at noon on Saturday.

Bloomberg Recession Probability Is 100% Over Next 12 Months, Conference Board Registers Third Straight Negative Read (Here Comes The Night!)

To quote Van Morrison, “Here comes the night.”

Bloomberg’s recession probability over next 12 months is … 100%.

And how about the Conference Board’s Leading index of 10 economic indicators YoY? Third negative read ALWAYS followed by recession.

The Federal Reserve may be forced to pivot. This may be one reason why the Dow is up 565 points today (+1.86%) as recession and pain become ever more likely.

Look at commercial banks deposits. Wonder why liquidity is drying up?

And to paraphrase Van Morrison, Biden/Pelosi/Schumer please go.

And to paraphrase Van Morrison, Biden/Pelosi/Schumer please go. Powell too.

Need to hear Them’s “Gloria” for the weekend.

Pension Fund Blues! Agency MBS Prices And Mortgage REITs Declining As Fed Withdraws Monetary Stimulypto (Duration Risk Increasing)

Pension funds have long been investing in “safe” agency mortgage-backed securities.

But as The Fed does its “tighten up”, we are seeing agency MBS prices falling and duration risk rising.

I remember showing my Fixed-income class at Chicago and George Mason the “MBS doom chart” showing the perils of The Fed pushing rates so low that the risk of rising rates becomes a serious problem when rates start to rise. Well, here we are … after I have retired from teaching.

Note the double whammy of Fed rate increases and the gradual shrinking of The Fed’s balance sheet as The Fed withdraws it ample stimulus. But while The Fed was overstimulating markets, it was quite a rush.

But the rush is gone … for the moment. But “Feddie Krueger” is waiting in the wings to do it all over again!

US Mortgage Rates Climb To 7.20% (Highest Since 2000) As Core Inflation And Diesel Prices Soar With The Fed Counterttacking (Mortgage Rates Likely To Rise To 9-9.25% By May 2023)

US 30-year mortgage rates rose to 7.20% yesterday, the highest rate since 2000. Why?

Core inflation is rising and its the highest since 1992. Diesel prices, the all-important fuel for the transportation industry, is rising again after a brief respite and is near the all-time high.

But will mortgage rates continue to rise? That depends on The Federal Reserve. Will they continue to try to combat inflation (largely caused by … The Federal Reserve and voracious Federal spending under Biden/Pelosi/Schumer (The Three Amigos).

As of today, investors in Fed Funds Futures are pointing to a peak of Fed tightening in May 2023, then a slow decline in rates.

While this is The Fed Funds rate, it is likely that mortgage rates will continue to rise to May 2023 then level out at 9%-9.25%.

I really miss teaching college students. An example of a test question I gave was the first chart: who was The President when all hell broke loose (pink box)? 1) Joe Biden, 2) Donald Trump or 3) Millard Fillmore?

The answer, of course, is Joe Biden.

Doesn’t Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States, look like actor Alec Baldwin after too many cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes at In-N-Out Burger?

Bear in mind that the are numerous wildcards in play, like the Russia/Ukraine war and the probability the China will invade Taiwan in the near future.

US 1-Unit Housing Starts Plunge -18.5% In September As Liquidity Grinds To A Halt (Multifamily Starts DOWN -13.11%)

Liquidity is a big deal for the housing and mortgage markets.

Unfortunately, M2 Money YoY (liquidity) is shrinking fast and 1-unit (single family detached) starts dropped -18.5% in September.

This is not surprising given the decline yesterday in the NAHB market index.

Even multifamily (5+ unit starts) were down -13.11% in September.

The B.I.D.E.N System! Biden Plans To Release Additional 10-15 Million Barrels Of Crude Oil From Strategic Petroleum Reserve (Regular Gasoline Prices UP 62% Under Biden And Diesel Fuel Prices UP 101.4%)

Joe Biden reminds me of Dennis Reynolds from “Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” And his D.E.N.N.I.S System. But Biden’s System is blatant politics. With the midterm elections in November and Democrats looking a bit behind, Biden is pulling out the political guns by 1) ramping up student loan forgiveness … again and 2) releasing 10-15 million MORE barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gasoline prices. Particularly after his failed attempts to get the Saudis to pump more oil (too bad Biden put the kabash on US energy exploration and cancelled the Keystone pipeline).

Having said that, we can see that BEFORE the latest SPR order, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, meant to cope with national emergencies like … Russia dropping a nuke on the US, has declined -36% under Nuclear Joe.

At the same time, regular gasoline prices are UP 62% under Biden and the all-important diesel fuel prices are UP 101.4% under Biden.

Of course, expect The B.I.D.E.N System to do everything in its power to destroy the economy if Republicans win the midterms. Including no more SPR release.

The B.I.D.E.N. System.

Pivot Powell? “Temporary” Cash Added To Banking System Seems Strangely Permanent Under Bidenflation (Will The Fed Break The Market?) Stocks UP Over 1% Today

Will The Fed break the … market?

I love to teach, but my students at Chicago, Ohio State and George Mason would fall asleep when I would discuss repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements (or REPOs and Reverse REPOs). But repos and reverse repos are a critical part of the banking system.

In short, the Repo market is a window into what’s going on behind the scenes.

As Bidenflation soars, and The Fed counterattacks, we see Fed’s repo market remains elevated. Note that The Fed’s balance sheet (orange line) is only slowly being reduced.

Right now, the risk lurking in the shadows is Balance Sheet Runoff. The Fed, the markets, the regulators, have limited experience with the Fed shrinking the balance sheet. Bottom line: there’s a risk that Balance Sheet Runoff will breaking something.

The global stock market is up again today, despite Fed tightening and a war in Ukraine. The Dow is up 1.38% and the S&P 500 is up 1.75%.

Likely cause? Rumors that The Fed and other global central banks will pivot sooner than later.

It is likely that The Fed will pivot to prevent a crash and the stock market in pricing in that pivot.

Bernanke, Yellen and Powell are NOT Paul Volcker. In fact, I am coining a new nickname for Fed Chair Jerome Powell: Pivot Powell.

The Empire Strikes Out! NY State General Business Conditions Tanks To -9.1 As Global Yields Plummet

The Empire Strikes Out!

The US Empire State Manufacturing Survey General Business Conditions SA index fell to -9.1 in October, continuing a downward trend along with the downward trend in Fed M2 Money stock growth.

And the global sovereign debt market is showing fear as 10-year sovereign yields drop -10 basis points. The UK 10-year is down -36.8 bps! The US is down only -6.6 bps this morning.

The Empire (State) strikes out.