Don’t Panic! NASDAQ Plunges 5% As 10Y T-Note Yield Rises +16.1 BPS (NASDAQ Simply Back To Before Fed Announcement, But Treasury Rates Higher)

The headline screamed “NASDAQ PLUNGES 5%!

True, it did, but it simply lost the gain’s from yesterday’s surprisingly mild Fed announcement.

But the 10-year Treasury yield is rising faster than my blood pressure. The 10-year Treasury yield is up to 3.09%.

Cryptos? Bitcoin is down -7.27% and Dash is down -8.23%.

Watch out mortgage rates!!

Don’t panic … about the NASDAQ. EVERYBODY PANIC about rising mortgage rates.

Medusa Touch! US Labor Productivity For Q1 CRASHES To LOWEST Since 1947 As Energy Prices And Inflation Skyrocket

Here’s some simple Medusa math for you: negative growth + payroll gains = negative productivity. Negative productivity + high labor costs = very high unit labor costs. That’s not a pretty picture for the economy or for companies, and the Q1 figures were even worse than expected — productivity fell by 7.5%, pushing unit labor costs up by 11.6%. Nasty.

In fact, labor productivity fell to the lowest level since 1947 and President Harry Truman.

Of course, Biden’s green energy policies have led to crushing inflation.

So, after Fed Chair Powell (aka, Jay The Revelator) said yesterday that “No Signs US Economy ‘Vulnerable’ To Recession”, we saw the S&P 500 index dive 1.5% and the 10-year Treasury yield break through the 3% barrier.

Biden’s policies are a Medusa-touch on the economy.

The new logo for the Biden Administration.

Fear The Talking Fed! Fed Jacks Target Rate Up By 50 BPS, 9 More Rate Hikes A Comin’ (Yield Curve Rises)

Well, the Fed’s talking heads have been saying a 50 basis point hike was coming in May … and it appeared!

And it looks like 9 rate hikes are a comin’ by February 2023.

The Fed’s Dot Plots shows a cooling of Fed rate hikes by 2024 and beyond.

Here is the path of Balance Sheet peel-off.

The US Treasury actives curve is up by 14 bps at the 10-year tenor and up 17 bps at the 2-year tenor.

The plan will see $30 billion of Treasuries and $17.5 billion on mortgage-backed securities roll off. After three months, the cap for Treasuries will increase to $60 billion and $35 billion for mortgages.

I could read the Fed’s speech on their decision, but since The Fed has been so highly politicized, I don’t really care what they say. Only what they do.

Simply Unaffordable! Mortgage Purchase Applications Rise 5% From Previous Week, But Remains DOWN 11% From One Year Ago As Fed Tightens (ARM Share Rises To 9.3%)

Simply unaffordable! US housing, that is. As The Federal Reserve tries to fight inflation caused by Biden’s Medusa-like policies, mortgage rates are soaring and we are seeing an INCREASE in mortgage purchase applications ahead of Fed tightening. Panic in (Fed) Needle Park!

Mortgage applications increased 2.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 29, 2022.

The Refinance Index increased 0.2 percent from the previous week and was 71 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 5 percent compared with the previous week and was 11 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) share has risen to 9.3% along with mortgage rates.

Between Biden’s energy policies, Congressional Covid relief and seemingly perpetual monetary stimulus from The Fed, we have 20% growth in home prices despite mortgage rates soaring.

And as The Fed is expected to tighten, mortgage rates hit 5.50%.

Is the US housing market addicted to gov? We will find out if and when The Federal Reserve actually tightens monetary policy.

Bond Rout! Treasury Curve Settles In At 20BPS (10Y-2Y), SOFR Coupons Slow To Adjust To Fed Rate Hikes, While Mortgages FAST To React (CoreLogic March Home Prices UP 20.0% YoY In March)

The U.S. Treasury market is showing signs of stress that may have implications for whether the curve keeps steepening.

Over the past month the curve has retraced from an inversion to a steepening driven by a surge in yields on benchmark 10-year bonds. That has led to interesting outlier indications, as traders weigh the outlook for Federal Reserve interest rate increases and inflation.

The US Treasury yield curve has settled-in at 20.383 bps (effectively zero) as The Fed continues its war on inflation.

On the SOFR front, we see SOFR Coupons being slow to benefits from Fed rate hikes. So, SOFR Coupons are behaving like Stouffer’s lasagna, frozen and tasteless.

On the other hand, mortgage rates continue to soar on EXPECTATIONS of Fed rate hikes.

Meanwhile, CoreLogic revealed that March 2022 home prices were still sizzling at 20.9% YoY.

Phoenix AZ leads the top ten at 30.4% with Washington DC lagging at 9.9%.

So, its official. The Federal Reserve is best exemplified by former Yankee/Mets first baseman “Marvelous” Marv Throneberry. When players presented Mets’ manager Casey Stengel with a birthday cake but neglected to give piece of cake to Throneberry, Stengel replied to Throneberry when asked why no cake, “Because I was afraid your were going to drop it.”

Just like The Federal Reserve, the honorary Marv Throneberry of the the global economy.

Here is Marv’s baseball card from better days with the Yankees before they figured out that Marv was a terrible fielder. And strikeout quite a bit, like The Federal Reserve.

10Y Treasury Yield Hits 3% Then Retreats, Europe Suffers A Flash Crash (US Dollar Rises As Powell & The Gang Signal Tightening)

Today we saw the 10-year Treasury Note yield break through the 3% barrier, then retreat as is there was a reflecting barrier at 3%.

And in Europe, we saw a flash crash allegedly caused by Citi’s trading desk.

The selloff was triggered by a large erroneous transaction made by the U.S. bank’s London trading desk, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. A knee-jerk selloff in OMX Stockholm 30 Index in five minutes wreaked havoc in bourses stretching from Paris to Warsaw toppling the main European index by as much as 3% and wiping out 300 billion euros ($315 billion) at one point.

The US Dollar rose again as expectations of Fed monetary tightening due to inflation become a reality.

Bond Rout Boogie by Powell and The Gang!

Is YET another Fed error in the making??

Already Gone! U.S. Manufacturing Index Falls to Lowest Since 2020 As Fed Signals Removal Of Monetary Stimulus (As 10Y Treasury Yield Tries To Breech 3% Barrier)

What happens when the massive Fed stimulus is gone? Its Already Gone … or going.

A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity unexpectedly dropped in April to the lowest level since 2020 as growth in orders, production and employment softened.

The Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of factory activity fell to 55.4 last month from 57.1, according to data released Monday. The Manufacturing Prices index remained elevated.

As the 10-year Treasury yield tries to breech the 3% barrier.

And as The Fed continues to threaten tightening of their monetary follicies, the S&P 500 index is down 14% since Dec 31, 2021.

And the NASDAQ had it worst monthly loss since 2008.

The Great Reset … In Housing? Typical Buyer’s Monthly Payment Up 39.4%—The Biggest Annual Gain on Record (Mortgage Rates SOARING With Anticipated Fed Monetary Tightening)

We now have the proverbial double whammy happening … soaring home prices AND soaring mortgage rates.

The theory is, of course, that The Federal Reserve will slowly remove its staggering monetary stimulus leftover from 1) the financial crisis of 2008 and 2) the Covid recession of 2020. As you can see, the sheer volume of monetary stimulus remains outstanding and it is the EXPECTATIONS of The Fed tightening that is caused the 30-year mortgage rate to rise.

So, The Federal Reserve is participating in The Great Reset by helping send mortgage rates to the moon. But with soaring mortgage rates and still red-hot home price growth, a typical buyer’s monthly payment is up 39% —the biggest annual gain on record.

While I used the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index YoY, Redfin shows more contemporaneous home price data with April 24 median home sales price at 16.8%.

Thanks to The Fed, we are seeing homebuyer mortgage payments are up 39.4% YoY.

As inflation continues to damage America’s middle-class and low- wage workers, we may see regulations going into effect from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau protecting consumers from … themselves.

Consumer Sentiment For Home Buying Crashes To Lowest Level Since 1982 As Bear Sentiment Takes Hold In Stock Market

Rising home prices and The Fed signaling an end to the perpetual punch bowl have resulted in the University of Michigan buying conditions for houses to hit the lowest level since 1982.

While bearish sentiment in markets highest since 2009 in the stock market.

I don’t get why Biden created a “Disinformation Control Board” led by Nina Jankowicz – a disinformation spewer. We already have disinformation media outlets like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, etc., so why create a Federal control board? All in time for the midyear elections!!

If this move by Biden doesn’t terrify you, then you didn’t study history.

Q1 US Employment Costs Skyrocket Most In History Helping To Increase Already Soaring Inflation (PCE YoY Rises To 40-year High of 6.60% YoY)

Not only has The Federal Reserve driven M2 Money Velocity to near historic lows, but now we find out that the Employment Cost Index just rose to a historic high.

Of course, a variety of minimum wage laws have helped drive up employments costs. Don’t tell lawmakers that minimum wage laws lead to higher inflation since they typically deny responsibility for anything. But I can almost picture the 4 Horsemen of the Inflation Apocalypse (Powell, Biden, Pelosi, Schumer) sitting around asking “What we can do to make inflation worse?”

We did see the PCE Deflator YoY rise to 6.6%, the highest since 1982, the highest in 40 years.

Personal spending increased to 1.1% in March, probably panicking buying over further inflation.

A PCE Deflator of 6.60% leads to a Taylor Rule estimate of 9.05% for The Fed Funds Target Rate.

The Federal government and Federal Reserve trying to solve inflation reminds me of Parks and Recreation’s Jerry Gergich trying to celebrate his retirement.