Yellen Expects High Inflation Through Mid-2022 Before Easing (The Incredible Janet Yellenstone!!)

And with a wave of her magic wand, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (aka, the Incredible Janet Yellenstone) will make inflation magically return to less than 2% after mid-2020.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she expects price increases to remain high through the first half of 2022, but rejected criticism that the U.S. risks losing control of inflation.

Inflation is expected to ease in the second half as issues ranging from supply bottlenecks, a tight U.S. labor market and other factors arising from the pandemic improve, Yellen said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. The current situation reflects “temporary” pain, she said.

“I don’t think we’re about to lose control of inflation,” Yellen said, pushing back on criticism by former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers this month. “Americans haven’t seen inflation like we have experienced recently in a long time. But as we get back to normal, expect that to end.”

On Friday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sounded a note of heightened concern over persistently high inflation as he made clear that the central bank will begin tapering its bond purchases shortly but remain patient on raising interest rates.

The S&P 500 Index posted its first decline in eight days, while benchmark Treasuries rallied to send 10-year yields down by the most in more than two months. Inflation expectations remain elevated — the 10-year breakeven rate of 2.64% is within 15 basis points of the record high reached in 2005 — and rates traders maintained bets the Fed will hike at least once within a year.

Powell said policies are “well-positioned” to manage a range of outcomes.

So Janet, are you saying that home price growth is going to slow to 2% YoY after mid-2022? Or that the Biden Administration is going to build the Canadian pipeline to help ease energy costs? Or that west coast ports get magically unclogged? Or that chips for cars will magically begin appearing?

I forget. The Fed doesn’t consider housing or energy prices in their inflation measurements. So, Yellen and The Fed ignore that most important expenditures for households.

The Fed’s breakeven inflation rates are considerably lower than current core inflation (green line).

No wonder Yellen and Powell can make inflation magically disappear. Don’t count it!

Even former Fed chair Alan Greenspan sees sustained inflation well above The Fed’s 2% target rate.

US New Home Sales Rise 14% In September As Median Prices Rose 20.1% YoY (Fed Pumping Trillions Into Clogged Economic System)

US new home sales rose a whopping 14% in September as the median price of new home sales rose 20.1%.

Existing home sales still remain low allowing median prices to soar with Fed money printing.

New home sales surged as The Fed turns a blind eye to out-of-control inflation in prices.

Thanks to The Fed, new homes under $150,000 have disappeared and new homes over $500,000 have grown to 31% of all new homes. Where have all the starter homes gone?

Between Fed stimulypto and massive over-spending by Congress and the Biden Administration, the economic system is clogged like an interstate toilet, driving construction prices soaring.

Apparently Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have never experienced clogged plumbing in their homes. And President Joe Biden has probably forgotten.

I can’t wait to hear if Biden’s press secretary Jen Psnarki attempts to put a positive spin on this debacle.

US Home Prices Still Soaring! Case-Shiller National HPI UP 19.84% YoY In August As Fed Stimulus Remains (Phoenix AZ UP 33.31%)

Between The Federal Reserve’s unorthodox monetary policy and insane spending from Congress and Biden Administration, we are seeing a near 20% rise in home prices for August.

Please note that pre-COVID the Case-Shiller home price index (national) was growing at 4%. Thanks to Fed Stimulypto, home prices are roaring at near 20% YoY.

Phoenix AZ home prices are growing at a 33.31% pace. The slowest growing? The US “shoot ’em up” capital, Chicago, is growing at 12.72% and is the slowest growing Case-Shiller 20 city.

I feel like I am living in the movie “Cloverfield” with The Federal Reserve as the uncontrollable monster.

UPDATE: Columbus Ohio as of Q2 2021 is growing at a 13% YoY pace.

Are The Fed And Biden’s Vax Policies Creating A New Mortgage Tilt Effect? (Inflation-induced Unaffordability Problem)

The Federal Reserve is helping to create inflation, particularly since their unorthodox surge in money supply around the Covid outbreak in early 2020. Home prices as of the latest Case-Shiller report are rising at nearly 20% year-over-year.

To add to the problem of The Fed’s overzealous money printing we have The Biden Administration (and puppy-torturer/killer Anthony Fauci) issuing Covid vaccine edicts that are wreaking havoc in labor markets further clogging the economic pipelines.

Between The Fed ZIRP policies and Biden/Fauci’s vax mandates, we are starting to see the rise (again) of the infamous MORTGAGE TILT EFFECT!

The Tilt Effect comes about as expected inflation gets priced into mortgage rates, the mortgage payment rises as the mortgage rate rises (of course), but the higher mortgage payment occurs with EXPECTED inflation in the future.

But not quite yet. Despite CPI inflation growing at 5.4% YoY, Freddie Mac’s 30-year mortgage survey rate is only 3.01% … for now.

As inflation continues to rise (thanks to ongoing Fed ZIRP policies and governments mandating Covid vaccine in order to keep your job, we should eventually see mortgage rates rise … leading to a return of THE TILT EFFECT. Which in turns make housing even MORE unaffordable.

We have tried numerous mortgage contracts in the past (mostly to offset Carter-era inflation) such as the PLAM (price-level adjusted mortgage) and the GPM (graduated payment mortgage). Now we have the PLUM (price level unadjusted mortgage) which is subject to the TILT EFFECT.

Homebuyer Demand Outstrips Supply As Mortgage Rates Creep Up (Demand Has Grown 15X Faster Than Supply Since 2019 And The Entrance Of The Fed And Federal Stimulus)

https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-update-pending-sales-up-47pct-from-2019/According to Redfin, forty-four percent more homes are pending sale than at this time in 2019, but only 3% more homes recently hit the market—down from 12% growth over 2019 just 7 weeks prior. As a result of the severe imbalance between the number of homes for sale and the number of buyers, the pace of the market is picking up at a time when it typically slows. A third of homes are finding buyers within a week of hitting the market, up from 30.8% at the end of the summer. This week, we’re comparing today’s market with the pre-pandemic fall market of 2019 to highlight how hot the market remains, even as most measures are settling into typical seasonal patterns.

“Comparing today’s sales and new listings numbers to the 2019 levels helps to reveal the stark shortage of supply we are facing,” said Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr. “The boost of housing supply that came on the market during the summer has already faded away, even as demand tapers off as we expected it to in the fall. Relative to the last ‘typical’ fall of 2019, demand remains steady and strong thanks to the increased urgency many buyers have as mortgage rates inch up. Rising rates also make buyers more price sensitive, so homes that are priced right are increasingly likely to receive offers right away.”

Shortage of supply, indeed. It is a mystery to me why the supply of homes for sale is not matching the demand.

But what happened after 2019? COVID and the entrance of massive Federal Reserve and Federal government stimulus. With limited supply hitting the market, home prices soared with the government stimulus.

We are likely to see rising prices until Federal Stimulypto stops or at least slows.

Powell Flags Rising Inflation Risk While Playing Down Rate Hikes (US Dollar, 10Y Treasury Yield, Gold Fall With Powell’s Comments)

Like the old EF Hutton ads, “When Powell speaks, people listen.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sounded a note of heightened concern over persistently high inflation as he made clear that the central bank will begin tapering its bond purchases shortly but remain patient on raising interest rates.

“The risks are clearly now to longer and more persistent bottlenecks, and thus to higher inflation,” Powell said Friday during a virtual panel discussion hosted by the South African Reserve Bank and moderated by Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua.

“I would say our policy is well-positioned to manage a range of plausible outcomes,” he said. “I do think it’s time to taper and I don’t think it’s time to raise rates.”

Good luck with that, Jay! You are going to raise the short-end of the yield that will lead to a flattening of the Treasury yield curve. But you are going to continue to buy Treasuries and Agency MBS in order to monetize the rampant spending by Congress and the Biden Administration? C’mon man!

You can see where Powell spoke today. It is when gold tanked along with the 10-year Treasury yield. Both rebounded a bit, but the 10-year Treasury yield continue its fall to 1.6324%.

The US dollar (green) fell when Powell opened his pie-hole. But Bitcoin (blue) fell in advance as if they knew what Powell was going to say.

Fed Inferno? Mortgage Purchase Applications Rise 1.87% From Previous Week, But Down 10% From Same Week Last Year

Yes, the super-heated housing market is showing signs of slowing down.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage purchase applications rose 1.87% from the previous week. However, purchase applications are down 10% from the same week last year.

Refinancing applications dropped -.48% from the previous week as the 30-year mortgage contract rate rose from 3.14% to 3.18%. Refi apps are up 6% from the same week last year.

As rates begin to rise, mortgage refi applications will decline.

With the Atlanta Fed GDP tracker showing GDP growth slowing to 0.5%, we are starting to see the beginning of a Fed inferno.

Here is Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki!

705742? Bitcoin Hits 63983 As US Treasury Curve Steepens (As Mortgage Rates Rise?)

I have no idea why Jack Dorsey tweeted “705742.” But I do know that Bitcoin hit 63,982.92 this morning as the US 10Y-3M curve has been steepening.

Since the 3-month Treasury yield has been repressed to near zero, the 10Y-3M curve is pointing to rising 10-year yields. Which likely means that 30-year mortgage rates will be rising too.

UPDATE! Bitcoin hits 66,615 as Proshares Bitcoin Strategy E rises as well.

Goin’ Down! US GDP Nosedives To 0.5% On Bubbles And Bottlenecks

Goin’ down! GDP, that is.

The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2021 is 0.5 percent on October 19, down from 1.2 percent on October 15. After recent releases from the US Census Bureau and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the nowcasts of third-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth and third-quarter real gross private domestic investment growth decreased from 0.9 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively, to 0.4 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively.

US real GDP nosedived to 0.5% according to the Atlanta Fed GDPNow real-time tracker.

Again, The Fed and Federal government pumped trillions of stimulus into an unprepared economy resulting in massive bottlenecks. So, we are getting declining GDP and rising inflation.

Yesterday’s industrial production dove leading to the 0.5% GDP figure. Today’s housing starts didn’t impact GDP in a meaningful way.

And she was.

US Housing Starts Drop 1.58% In September (Permits Drop 7.67%) As Interest Rate Increases And Inflation Loom

US housing starts slowed in September to at a -1.58% MoM rate. Permits dropped 7.67% MoM.

Now that interest rates are expected to rise … in late 2022, we may be a slowing in the housing market.

Here are the numbers.

The US Treasury 10Y-3M slope is rising as inflation rises (that inflation curve looks like the ARCTAN function from prepayment modeling!)