Nick Gerli Profile picture
Mar 8 β€’ 14 tweets β€’ 4 min read
WARNING: the Money Supply is officially contracting. πŸ“‰

This has only happened 4 previous times in last 150 years.

Each time a Depression with double-digit unemployment rates followed. 😬
1) Contracting money supply + inflation is a nasty combination.

Because it means there are fewer dollars floating around in the system to pay for the higher prices. βŒπŸ’΅

At some point the system "breaks" & a deflationary crash occurs.
2) This is exactly what happened in the Depression of 1921. (NOT the Great Depression).

This occurred after WWI and the Spanish Flu. Where there were years of high inflation/money supply growth.

And then...WHAM. 11% Deflation and the unemployment rate skyrocketed.
3) All it took was a -2% contraction in the money supply in 1921 to cause that deflationary depression.

And we're already at -2% contraction today in 2023.

Suggesting that the resilience of our economy and the current inflation might not be as strong as people think.
4) Of course - there is still lots of money floating around in the financial system in 2023.

Money Supply, or M2, is about 35% higher today than it was pre-pandemic.

($15 Trillion --> $21 Trillion).
5) But historical record is clear: Depressions/Deflation don't need a "linear" decrease in money supply to occur.

It just needs to be a little bit. 2-4% contraction YoY. And then problems occurs.
6) Lots of people seem to think this Inflation will last forever. Like the one in the 1970s.

But remember: 1970s Inflation was bad because Money Supply kept growing.

It never contracted. Which is why we had a decade of inflation.

Now is very different.
7) Now the Fed is doing "Quantitative Tightening".

This QT is what's causing the money supply to contract in 2023.

Everyone's focused on rate hikes. But it's the QT/Money Supply they should be paying attention to.
8) Because if QT continues at its current pace, the money supply will contract by more.

+Just as all these big Recession warnings are piling up.

+Just as inflation continues to be a problem.

That's how you get a system meltdown. And a Deflationary Depression.
9) But of course - a Deflationary Depression in 2023-24 is not a guarantee.

The government will of course see what's happening.

And might attempt to print money again, send stimulus checks, and re-ignite inflation/economy.
10) History also shows that WARS are periods where the money supply grows a lot.

Like during WWI and WW2.

If the US were to get into a war (hopefully not), the money supply would grow again.

And inflation would last longer.
11) To summarize this tweet thread:

-The money supply is contracting in early 2023.

-Each time this happened before Deflation/Depression was the result.

-Stubbornly high inflation has made many blind to this risk factor.

-High chance Fed overtightens and causes Recession
12) Summary continued...

-If history repeats itself, we could be in a "Deflationary Recession/Depression"

-Prices of a lot of things would go down. Houses. Rent. Commodities. Maybe even wages.

-Unemployment Rate would likely skyrocket. Maybe to as high as 10%.
13) But gov't could also step in and "save the day"...

-More money printing. Like what happened during pandemic.

-Which would increase money supply growth and sustain inflation.

-A war would also be a situation where money supply growth and inflation would increase

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More from @nickgerli1

Feb 24
1-Yr US Treasury now pays 5%. πŸ“ˆ

More than 3x higher than the dividend yield on the S&P 500.

Makes it likely that stocks will crash at some point in 2023. As cash flow-driven, big money investors exit stocks for bonds.
1) It was the exact opposite situation for stocks from 2010 to 2021.

Because of Fed interest rate suppression, the 1-Year Treasury yielded nothing.

While the S&P 500 Dividend Yield was around 2%.

Making it a "no brainer" to buy stocks.
2) Which of course juiced stock valuations. πŸ“ˆ

And stock values in 2023, even with a correction over the last year, are still near the highest level EVER.

Adjusted P/E Ratio for stocks is 28.3 today.

Which is similar to right before Great Depression in 1929.
Read 10 tweets
Feb 22
Mortgage Applications to buy a house just collapsed to an index level of 147.πŸ“‰

That's the lowest level of buyer demand in 28 YEARS.

Lower than anything we saw in the 2008 Crash.

Down 41% from last year.

(Source: Mortgage Bankers Association)
1) Collapsing Mortgage Demand is a huge problem for the US Housing Market.

Because despite all the reports of "cash offers", they still only represent 29% of home sales.

The other 71% still require a Mortgage to complete the transaction.

(Source: NAR)
cdn.nar.realtor/sites/default/…
2) Why is Mortgage Demand collapsing so much?

Because both Home Prices AND Mortgage Rates are way too high.

Creating a situation where the monthly payment for a homebuyer (Mtg+Tax+Insurance) is now over $2,500/month.πŸ“ˆ

In the 2006-07 Bubble it peaked at $1,400/month.
Read 9 tweets
Feb 16
Wall Street Homebuyers are running out of money. ❌

In Pandemic Boom they raised $32 Billion to fund home purchases.🏠

Last 3 quarters? Only $3 Billion.

Very soon they will need to sell properties in order to fund new acquisitions.

That's when things will get fun. Image
1) My prediction is that Wall Street will begin liquidating houses in mid-2023.

Starting in markets like Phoenix and Vegas.

Because that's where rental vacancies are surging the most. Meaning it's less profitable to be a landlord.

Watch out if you're a homeowner in these… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
2) Especially if you live in one of the ZIP Codes where investors bought 50% of the homes sold in 2022.

Seriously: in certain neighborhoods these investor buyers were nearly half the purchases.😬

Means massive downside when they sell. Image
Read 8 tweets
Feb 3
Inventory on the Housing Market is exploding. πŸ“ˆ

Nashville, Austin, and Phoenix have 3x more homes on the market today compared to one year ago.

Expect home prices to continue crashing in the metros on this list throughout 2023.
1) Austin is a spectacle to behold.

Inventory surged from 1,762 to 6,350 in one year (+260%).

What's more - Inventory in Austin is now 34% above the long-term average for January over the last 7 years.
2) Salt Lake City is another beauty.

Inventory had nearly quadrupled YoY (+293%), going from 503 to 1,976.

Now also above the long-term average for January.
Read 8 tweets
Jan 31
Home Builders reporting 40% CRASH in Sales. πŸ“‰

Yet their stock prices are increasing. Near all-time highs.

Might be the biggest Stock Bubble out there right now. Check this out... Image
1) Homebuyer Demand for Builders (measured by Buyer Traffic) is hovering near the lowest levels EVER right now.

Comparable to 2007-12 Housing Crash.

And April 2020 when lockdowns meant no one could tour building sites. Image
2) This record low Buyer Traffic is now starting to show up in Builder Earnings Reports.

PulteGroup, the 3rd largest builder in America, just reported a massive -41% decline in sales in Q4 2022.

Very bad. Image
Read 7 tweets
Jan 17
This is scary. 😬

KB Homes, a large home builder, just reported a 68% CANCEL RATE.

Meaning that over 2/3 of Homebuyers walked away from their contracts in the quarter. Leaving KB Homes with a massive pile-up of inventory.

Last year the Cancel Rate was only 13%.
1) This type of Cancellation Rate is even worse than what happened in 2008 Crash.

Back then builders like DR Horton peaked at a 50% Cancel Rate.

And we already blew past that in late 2022.
2) The result is a massive pile-up of New Home Inventory.

Data from Zonda shows that National Quick Move-In Inventory is now around 32,000.

That's up 200% from one year ago.

And up 50% from pre-pandemic, 2019 levels.
Read 13 tweets

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