Inflation Nation! Commercial Real Estate Returns UP 22% YoY For Q4 2021 (Versus 19.66% YoY For Case-Shiller National Home Price Index)

Inflation is burning out of control. While home price growth has been off the cherts (as Jean-Ralphio would say), commercial real estate has jumped incredibly at 22% YoY. The Bloomberg charting function hasn’t updated for the Q4 NCREIF report yet so I had to manually write-in 22% on the following chart.

To quote Dean Martin, “Ain’t that a kick in the head.” Commercial real estate returns are now higher than house price growth.

So, what will happen IF The Fed follows through with its monetary stimulus reduction? JPMC’s Jaime Dimon warns that The Fed could hike 7 times in 2022 and not be ‘sweet and gentle’.

But The Fed seems to be stuck in underworld and doing a terrible job at signalling their intentions if Dimon thinks that The Fed could raise rates 7 times in 2022.

UMich Housing Sentiment “Rises” To 83 As Inflation Hurting Retail Sales (Industrial Production Declines -0.3%)

That Bidenflation is really hurting Americans.

Start with the UMich Buying Conditions for Houses. It “rose” to 83. Unfortunately, 100 is the baseline and any number below 100 is bad. The reason? The massive increase in US home prices since 2020.

But retail sales are hurting thanks to higher prices. Retail sales less food services and auto are DOWN 3.1% MoM.

Meanwhile, US industrial production fell to -0.3%.

Shipping Blues! Cass Freight Index Expenditures Rose 43.6% In 2021 While Baltic Dry Index Has Crashed Since October 2021 (Omicron Strikes!)

Ever wonder why prices are rising so fast? One reason is that with rapidly rising energy prices under the Biden Administration, the costs are getting passed-through to consumers in the form of higher prices.

According to the Cass Corp Freight Index, the total spent in December on shipping goods to their customers in the US spiked by 43.6% from December 2020 to December 2021. Not surprising since energy prices over the past year have soared by almost 50%.

But at the same time, the Baltic Dry index (The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) is a shipping and trade index created by the London-based Baltic Exchange. It measures changes in the cost of transporting various raw materials, such as coal and steel) is crashing thanks to FEAR created by Omicron.

And yes, energy prices are surging again in 2022 after cooling off in Q4 2021.

Covid strikes!

Mortgage Rates in the U.S. Soar to the Highest Since March 2020 (3.45% Nominal Rate, -3.59% REAL Rate)

Mortgage rates in the U.S. rose for a third straight week, reaching the highest point in almost two years.

The average for a 30-year loan was 3.45%, up from 3.22% last week and the highest since March 2020, Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday.

Rates tracked a jump in yields for 10-year Treasuries, which climbed to levels not seen since early 2020, before the pandemic roiled financial markets. Signs point to borrowing costs rising further as the job market improves and the Federal Reserve steps up its efforts to tame inflation.

That would increase the burden on homebuyers who are already stretching to afford a purchase. Rates for 30-year mortgages tumbled to a record low of 2.65% a little more than a year ago.

Cheap loans have helped fuel a housing rally that’s still running hot even as home prices soar out of reach for many Americans.

But wait! The REAL 30-year mortgage rate (nominal 30-year rate – CPI YoY) is -3.59%.

Lael Brainard, Biden’s nominee to be Vice Chairman of The Federal Reserve, has been one of the “inflation is transitory” crowd. US Senator Toomey is questioning Brainard in today’s hearing. From Toomey’s opening statement:

Last year, Governor Brainard repeatedly insisted that inflation was transitory. We have now had nine consecutive months where inflation has been more than two times the Fed’s 2% target. That makes it pretty clear that inflation is not transitory. Yesterday’s CPI release of 7.0%—the highest in 40 years—confirms that.

Inflation is a tax that is eroding Americans’ paychecks every day. Even though wages are growing, inflation is growing faster and causing workers to fall further and further behind.

At least the REAL mortgage rate is negative!

I hope Senator Toomey shows Brainard this chart of “transitory” negative wage growth.

Negative wage growth and negative REAL mortgage rates. What a total mess!

Inflation Nation! US PPI Final Demand Soaring At 9.7% YoY As CPI Soared 7.0% YoY (Energy Prices Lessened In Q4 But Are Surging Again In 2022)

Yesterday’s inflation report was the worst in 40 years. But at least today’s Producer Price Index Final Demand is down slightly from November. But PPI Final Demand YoY is still roaring at 9.7%.

The producer price index for final demand increased 0.2% from the prior month and 9.7% from a year earlier, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The annual advance was the largest in figures back to 2010.

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the PPI climbed 0.5% in December and was up 8.3% from a year earlier.

Too much Federal government spending, too much Fed monetary stimulus, Omicron helping created labor shortages, etc. But the real killer has been ENERGY prices. Note that natural gas, gasoline and WTI crude oil were falling in November/December helping to slow PPI growth by a smidge. BUT energy prices are skyrocketing in January. So … look for higher PPI in January.

Here is the painting by Thomas Hart Benton that drove “Brokeback Biden” to try to destroy fossil fuel production. Or at least this is Washington DC’s idea of what Oklahoma and Texas are like.

Waiting For Godot: US Inflation Jumps To 7% YoY As Real Hourly Earnings Growth Crashes To -2.32% (Taylor Rule Now 17.84% Versus Current Fed Funds Target Rate Of 0.25%)

This is like the Samuel Beckett play “Waiting For Godot.” Except we are waiting for Jerome Powell and The Federal Reserve to do something.

December’s consumer price index (CPI) is out and its a doozy, though expected. The CPI year-over-year (YoY) rose 7% in December.

If we exclude food and energy, CPI rose by 5.5% YoY.

Thanks to Biden’s assault on the energy sector, energy prices are up nearly 50% YoY.

REAL average hourly earnings YoY? It has crashed to -2.32%.

And with 7% inflation, the Taylor Rule model suggests a Fed Funds Target rate of … 17.84%. Bear in mind that the current target rate is 0.25%.

Meanwhile, grocery store shelves remain empty like we are living in Venezuela. Bidenzuela??

Meanwhile, we are waiting for ~~Godot~~ Powell to start taking action instead of jawboning.

Mortgage Purchase Applications Rise 51.2% From Previous Week Despite Rising Mortgage Rates (Refi Apps Up 42.77%)

US mortgage purchase applications rose 51.2% from previous week, despite mortgage rates rising.

Of course, the first weeks of most years see large increases in mortgage purchase applications.

Mortgage refinancing applications were up 42.77% from the previous week.

Here is the MBA data.

So, the US housing market is off to a fast (and hot) start to 2022.

Birds Of War? Goldman Now Expects Four Fed Hikes, Sees Faster Runoff in 2022 (Negative Treasury Z-Scores)

Are The Fed voting members REALLY hawks? Or doves? Or just Birds of War?

(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve will likely raise interest rates four times this year and will start its balance sheet runoff process in July, if not earlier, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Rapid progress in the U.S. labor market and hawkish signals in minutes from the Dec. 14-15 Federal Open Market Committee suggest faster normalization, Goldman’s Jan Hatzius said in a research note.

“We are therefore pulling forward our runoff forecast from December to July, with risks tilted to the even earlier side,” Hatzius said. “With inflation probably still far above target at that point, we no longer think that the start to runoff will substitute for a quarterly rate hike. We continue to see hikes in March, June, and September, and have now added a hike in December.”

In its December meeting minutes, Fed officials signaled they are preparing to move quicker than the last time they tightened monetary policy in a bid to keep the U.S. economy from overheating amid high inflation and near-full employment. These conditions — along with a larger balance sheet that’s suppressing longer-term borrowing costs — “could warrant a potentially faster pace of policy rate normalization,” the minutes said.

Officials also saw the timing of reducing the $8.8 trillion balance sheet as likely “closer to that of policy-rate liftoff than in the committee’s previous experience,” according to the minutes.

While Goldman sees 4 rate hikes in 2022, The Fed Funds Futures market only sees 3 rate hikes and the Fed Funds target rates hitting 1% by Feb 2023.

An increase to 1%? The Fed Funds target rate hit 5.25% during the housing bubble in 2006/2007 and markets are worried about an increase to 1%??

So, Goldman thinks that there will be faster “run-off” than expected. This simply means that The Fed will allow Treasuries and Agency MBS to mature rather than actually sell securities.

With the expectation of Fed activity, z-scores for Treasuries are negative across the board.

So we shall see if The Fed Open Market Committee are hawks, doves or “birds of war.”

Now, About Biden’s Employment Claim Of Most Jobs Created (Trump Added 2x More Jobs Post Covid-recession Than Biden)

Recently, the White House claimed that the Biden Administration created more jobs (per month) than Trump, Obama, George W Bush, George HW Bush, Clinton and Reagan.

It always helps to be elected President after a recession when the economy naturally snaps back from the economic doldrums (like Obama after the financial crisis, Clinton after the first Gulf War, Reagan after Carter).

So let’s look at job totals under Trump, the COVID lockdowns, the ensuing economic damage, and the Biden “rebound.” In a brief two months in early 2020 thanks to COVID and lockdowns, the US economy lost 22.362 MILLION jobs. But the snap-back effect under Trump was 12.342 MILLION jobs added back by the time Biden was sworn-in as President.

Under his term as President, Biden has benefited from “Snap-back inertia” and saw 6.215 MILLION jobs added in just a year. Pretty impressive, except that it is about half the snap-back effect experienced under Trump.

How about REAL wage growth (nominal wage growth less inflation)? Real wage growth was higher under Trump and has been declining under Biden. Strange that the White House isn’t bragging about declining real wage growth under Biden.

Let’s see how Omicron impacts the labor market and whether Biden/Psaki will take credit for the snap-back from Omicron.

Call this the Biden malaise (or Ka-malaise) for wage growth. Where inflation nukes positive wage gains.

Here is Vice President Ka-mailse singing “He’s me pal!” about Biden’s fantastic jobs recovery.

Home Ownership More Affordable Than Renting in Majority of U.S. Housing Markets (Except Where I Live, Of Course)

According to Attom, US home prices are growing faster than rents in nearly 90 percent of the nation; but prices are still more affordable in almost 60 percent of U.S. markets; Renting remains more financially viable in most-populous urban areas.

If we look at Attom’s map of affordability, you can see that in western states, it is more affordable to rent. And in megalopolis (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC). And Miami. But elsewhere in the eastern states, it is more affordable to buy than to rent.

Of course, any where I live like Phoenix, Fairfax VA, Chicago IL, and Columbus OH it is more affordable to rent than to own.

You will notice that the areas where buying is more affordable than renting tend to be smaller towns with slower growth, while larger cities tend to be more affordable to rent.