After breaking the 6% barrier back in June 2022, Bankrate’s 30-year mortgage rate has backed-off to 5.28% despite Federal Reserve rate hikes.
The reason for the decline in the US Treasury 10-year is, amongst other things, a global economic slowdown (partly due to the US and Europe “going green” and cutting the supply of fossil fuel-based energy). Instead of “The Great Reset,” I call it “The Great Economic Suicide.” The 10-year US Treasury yield and Bankrate’s 30-year mortgage rate are declining with declining global GDP.
US inflation, based on June’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) deflator, rose to its highest level since 1982. The PCE Deflator YoY rose to 6.8% while the core PCE deflator (less food and energy, the two things more households care about) rose to 4.8% YoY in June.
In order to fight inflation, The Federal Reserve is going to have to raise their target rate to … 17.78% based on 6.80% PCE deflator YoY. We are currently at 2.50%.
The US Misery Index remains elevated.
Based on the PCE Deflator YoY and U-3 unemployment, the misery index remains elevated compared to before Covid and The Fed’s/Federal government hyper-stimulypto to counter the Covid economic shutdowns. We never fully recovered.
S&P 500 2023 EPS expectations falling off a cliff (orange line).
My former colleague at Deutsche Bank, Joe Carson, said recently that the US economy is not in a recession, but corporate profits are in a recession. While I cling to the traditional definition of recession (two consecutive quarters of negative real GDP growth), there is another component of the US economy that is in recession: consumer sentiment.
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index rose slightly in the latest release, but remains depressed at 51.5. University of Michigan Buying Conditions for House also rose to 47.0, also a depressed reading.
While unemployment remains low, the price of gasoline is crushing the wallets of American households helping to cause a recession in consumer sentiment.
Biden feebly attempts to explain why 2 consecutive quarters of negative real GDP growth (better known as contraction) is NOT a recession.
The May Case-Shiller home price indices are out and they’re a doozy. The national home price index rose 19.75% YoY. Why? You can thank The Fed’s “slowhand” approach to withdrawing the Covid-related stimulypto.
Where are home prices booming? Everywhere.
Miami, Tampa, Dallas and Phoenix (red states) are growing at over 30% YoY. Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Portland and Washington DC (blue states) are all growing at over 10% YoY. Cleveland is a blue city in a mostly red state while San Diego is a red city in an almost blue state.
Jerome “Slowhand” Powell is not shrinking The Fed’s balance sheet.
Hold on, The Fed is coming! To raise their target rate by 75 basis points at Wednesday’s FOMC meeting. Will this stem the tide of rising inflation?
Under Biden, we have seen regular gasoline prices rise 82% despite recent declines. Diesel fuel is up 121% and foodstuffs are up 46%. And house rents keep rising at a staggering 14.75% YoY. The recent declines is more due to the global economic slowdown and central bank rate increases than anything Washington DC is doing.
(Bloomberg) Investors are skeptical that the Federal Reserve can tame the worst inflation in four decades without driving the economy into a recession.
That’s bad news for Americans, who face the prospect of a downturn as their bills for food, rent and fuel swell. But to bond investors hit by deep losses this year, it may mean any further pain will be short-lived, as a recession will spark the US central bank to cut rates next year. That’s according to the results of the latest MLIV Pulse survey.
Over 60% of 1,343 respondents in the survey said there’s a low or zero probability that the US central bank can rein in consumer-price pressures without causing an economic contraction. The survey was conducted July 18-22 and included retail and professional investors.
US inflation may be close to a peak, but it’s very likely to stay above 8% through year-end. Bloomberg Economics’ model assigns zero probability to a drop below 4% in 2023. Taken together with increasing recession risks, the Fed faces a tough balancing act as it attempts to bring stubborn price pressures under control without tipping the economy into contraction.
Of course, The Federal Reserve doesn’t really consider energy or food inflation, which are typically higher than core inflation. But going into Wednesday’s meeting, we see the US Treasury 10Y-2Y curve remains inverted (a signal of impending recession) and the Atlanta Fed GDPNow Q2 tracker at -1.6% after a negative Q1 reading.
Will raising the target rate (or ACTUALLY shrinking their balance sheet) reduce inflation? We shall see, but it has got to be better than Lawrence Summer’s suggestion to reduce inflation: raise taxes. Wait a minute, Larry. Inflation was caused by 1) overstimulus by The Fed combined with 2) massive Covid spending by Biden, Pelosi, Schumer and 3) Biden’s anti-fossil fuel policies. So instead of suggesting a decrease in Federal spending, Summer’s wants to give MORE of your money to Biden and Congress to spend. What an unbelievable nitwit.
Here is a picture of Larry Summers, Jay Powell and Janet Yellen attending the FOMC meeting in Washington DC.
Mortgage rates are rising in part thanks to The Federal Reserve trying to control inflation (caused by Biden’s energy policies and spending). But mortgage rates are down slightly today.
Bear in mind that REAL wage growth is negative, thanks to Bidenflation.
The US is short on supply of housing for a myriad of reasons (high costs, Not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) local zoning laws, etc), but The Fed’s cranking up interest rates isn’t helping.
US housing starts, a measure of supply, declined -6.3% YoY in June as The Fed cranked up rates.
1-unit (aka, single family detached) starts dropped -8.05% MoM in June while 5+ unit (aka, multifamily) starts rose 15% MoM.
1-unit permits dropped -8% MoM in June while 5+ unit starts were up 13% MoM.
The reason? REAL weekly earnings growth declined -4.4% YoY in June thanks to Bidenflation.
The dollar’s gain is the world’s pain — and based on its current trajectory, the world may be in for a whole lot more discomfort.
Concerns over global growth have recently sent the US Dollar Index to the strongest level on record, with the greenback hitting multi-decade highs against currencies like the euro and the yen.
But the move risks becoming a self-reinforcing feedback loop given that the vast majority of cross-border trade is still denominated in dollars, and a stronger US currency has historically translated into a broad hit to the world economy.
Against the backdrop of higher-than-expected inflation and still-elevated commodities prices, the concern is that we’re in for a dollar ‘doom loop’ like never before, according to Jon Turek, the founder of JST Advisors and author of the Cheap Convexity blog.
With the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates at the fastest pace in decades, he says, it’s much less clear what could break the feedback loop in the next few months.
The Dollar Doom Loop with US inflation causing The Fed to tighten
Under Biden’s policies, inflation hit a 40-year high (blue line), and the US Dollar (green line) is strengthening. Then we have The Fed raising the target rate (purple line) and the probability of recession rising with Fed tightening.
Is a US recession coming? The US Treasury 10Y-2Y yield curve is inverted at almost -20 basis points.
There is a Fed open market committee meeting in one week and they are expected to raise their target rate by 75 basis points according to Fed Fund Futures data. Inflation keeps rising as does the probability of a US recession. So, The Fed will keep on tightening.
Face it. The Biden Administration has little interest in trying to increase the supply fossil fuel energy which would anger his “green” base (like building more refineries or allowing for more crude oil and natural gas exploration). So, the burden of “inflation fighting” falls on the frail shoulders of The Federal Reserve.
Given today’s US Producer Price Index Final Demand prices rising +11.3% YoY in June, it seems that The Fed has not been able to extinguish the “Tower of Inflation.” But, Fed Funds Futures are pointing to a near 100 basis point (or 1%) increase in The Fed Funds target rate at the July 27th Fed Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
The Fed Funds Futures Data points to a +0.920 (almost 1%) increase at the July 27th FOMC meeting. Followed by rate cuts.
And with the fear of a near 100 basis point increase, today’s stock markets are a sea of red.
It is up to Fed Chair Jerome Powell and policy error brigade to extinguish price increases caused by 1) bad Biden energy policies and 2) too much spending by Biden and Congress. It is like trying to wave-down the Super Chief train with a cigarette lighter.
Yet, the Frail Fed will try to waive down The Super Chief inflation engine with Fed Fireballs. Aka, rate increases of 100 basis points.
Confounded Interest - Anthony B. Sanders 
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