Marko Bjegovic Profile picture
Jun 2, 2023 11 tweets 6 min read Read on X
May employment report came in mixed with both NFP and UR increasing.

Again, no Wall Street analyst came nowhere close to guessing the headline number with the highest estimate missing it by 129K.

What does that all mean for the #Fed?

A thread.

1/11
NFP rose for the 29th M in a row with +339K which is 149K above consensus (+190K).

Apr number was revised up by 41K from +253K to +294K.

Total gain in Apr and May is +633K, 190K higher than expected (+443K).

#employment

2/11
At the same time UR jumped from 3.4% (cycle low) to 3.7%, the highest since Feb 2022 and the same as in Aug and Oct 2022.

#unemployment

3/11 Image
0.3 pp jump in UR is highly intriguing.

It is literally the highest jump in UR since Apr 2020 when the #economy was in a deep #recession caused by lockdowns.

Before that we had 1M jumps of that magnitude in 2008, before that in 2001... you get the pattern.

#unemployment

4/11 Image
In the details, gains were almost across the board with only manufacturing and IT recording net layoffs.

There was a noticeable pick-up in construction, transportation, education and health, leisure and hospitality, and government.

#employment

5/11 Image
AHE were up +0.3% or +3.96% annualized while Apr was revised down from +0.5% or +5.8% annualized to +0.4% or +4.7% annualized.

As I expected a M ago, they did end up revising Apr number down.



6/11 Image
AHE is now closer to where the #Fed wants it to be, maybe a still a bit above the desired level.

However, there is a possibility we end up seeing further downside revisions in AHE sometime in the M ahead.

7/11 Image
What does that all mean for the #Fed?

This report supports a pause bc +0.3 pp upside in UR can be worrisome, especially if it persists.

As I explained in my macro/market analyses (Marko's Brain Daily),

I don't think the #Fed will use this report when deciding rates.

8/11
Still, I think they will pause in 2W due to some other reasons mostly related to balancing a tricky path trying not to break anything in the coming W and M.

Now we come to the most important Q of them all - what will the #Fed do later in the year?

9/11
These threads take a lot of time and effort to make.

If you like the content, please love and retweet tweets in this thread to help me spread the message.

Thank you!

10/11
I'm currently writing my premium

Marko's Fed Report

where I'll, among other things, offer a detailed overview of the #Fed's actions going forward as well as when will the MP lags finally bite into the economy.

If you want to get it, message me.

11/11 Image

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More from @MBjegovic

Dec 12, 2024
Nov #CPI came in line with expectations ydy, but both headline and core printed at +0.3% MoM.

Some have suggested that #inflation is picking back up, but that's not true.

Inflation is much lower than pre-2020.

I'll explain why in a CPI thread.

1/10
My Nov #CPI estimates were:

Headline CPI
+0.28% MoM, -3 bps below the actual +0.31%
+2.72% YoY, -3 bps below the actual +2.75%

Core CPI
+0.35% MoM, +4 bps above the actual +0.31%
+3.36% YoY, +4 bps above the actual +3.32%

You can check them out at this link (no paywall):

#inflation

2/10arkominaresearch.substack.com/p/nov-2024-cpi…
Headline #CPI went up from +2.6% to +2.7% YoY (+2.75% almost got rounded to +2.8%), while +0.3% MoM is the highest (and first above +0.2%) read in 7 months.

The only reasons why we didn't get +0.2% headline and +0.1% core are Shelter and SA.

Let me explain.

#inflation

3/10Image
Read 10 tweets
Dec 9, 2024
I'm a bit late in analyzing the Nov Employment Report, but I think you'll find what I'm about to share quite interesting.

While +227K NFP and 4.2% UR appear strong, there is much more underlying weakness than the headline figures indicate.

I'll explain why in this thread.

1/11
NFP came in at +227K, a bit higher than expected (+200K consensus) which seems pretty strong.

At the same time, Oct was revised up from +12K to +36K.

Oct was heavily disrupted by the weather, and now it seems the number is slightly higher than initially reported, which is what I assumed would happen (x.com/MBjegovic/stat…).

The 2-month avg is currently +132K, slightly weaker than the 6-month avg of +153K before Oct.

One can conclude that the job gains are weakening but not falling off a cliff.

However, the numbers are likely notably weaker than that.

If we factor in that in 12 months ending in Mar 2024, payrolls were overstated by 818K or 68K p/mth on avg, and assume the same thing happened from Apr 2024 onwards, suddenly +64K on average in Oct and Nov doesn't look nearly as strong.

2/11Image
In 2024 the NFP has been mostly revised downward by an avg of -35K p/mth.

If we assume that Oct remains at +36K, but Nov gets revised down by the YTD avg, we could be looking at an even slightly lower 2-month average of +114K.

Then again, if we factor in payrolls being overstated by an avg 68K p/mth, +46K on avg in Oct and Nov doesn't look too compelling.

This would certainly be more in line with the latest #Fed Beige Book, which stated that "employment levels were flat or up only slightly", than the current +227K NFP number for Nov.

3/11Image
Read 11 tweets
Nov 14, 2024
Oct #CPI yesterday came in line with market expectations.

After seeing both headline and core CPI rise YoY some concluded that the #inflation progress has stalled or that inflation is picking back up.

None of that is true.

Here is why.

A CPI thread.

1/12
Compared to my estimates Oct #CPI was:

Headline
+0.24% MoM, +4 bps above my estimate
+2.60% YoY, +5 bps above my estimate

Core
+0.28% MoM, +2 bps above my estimate
+3.33% YoY, -2 bps below my estimate

My Oct CPI estimates were published 2 days before
the actual CPI print and are available (no paywall) at this link:

2/12open.substack.com/pub/arkominare…
Headline #CPI came in at +0.24% MoM, the highest MoM read in 6 months, but still enough to be rounded to +0.2% and even below what was typical pre-2020.

#inflation

3/12Image
Read 12 tweets
Nov 2, 2024
Many believe hurricanes and strikes are making the Oct Employment Report look weaker than it actually was.

However, that's not what the data is telling us.

I will explain why in a thread.

1/12
+12K NFP is the weakest job growth since the last negative print in Dec 2020.

This is also the 2nd lowest read since Apr 2020 (last official #recession).

Again we saw some big negative revisions for prior 2 months which totaled -112K.

In the first 9 months of this yr NFP were revised down by a total of -405K or -45K on avg.

7 out of 9 months in 2024 were revised down.

The only exceptions are Mar and Jul.

Jul number had hurricane Beryl effect.

Since Oct number was most likely affected by 2 hurricanes (Helene and Milton), maybe we will also see some upward revisions for Oct in the coming months.

Even so, Oct could end up negative after all revisions are done.

How is that possible?

I will explain further in the thread.

2/12Image
Image
Strikes likely had a negative effect of around -40K (33K $BA workers on strikes + potentially some workers in other firms involved directly in BA's manufacturing process).

However, this effect is unlikely to get revised away in full, if at all.

Regarding hurricanes, we know that 512K workers (NSA) did not show up for work in Oct due to the bad weather (hurricanes Helene and Milton), which is a bit more than in Jul (461K) during the hurricane Beryl.

Jul was revised up by +30K which could mean that Oct might get revised up by a bit more, say by around +40K.

If that's the case, the Oct NFP could end up somewhere in the 50Ks.

And if that happens, we have a serious risk of the number actually ending up negative after annual revisions.

Remember that the last revisions for Apr 2023 - Mar 2024 showed that job gains were overstated by about 68K per month on avg so applying that to Oct NFP gets us to a negative number even AFTER the likely upward monthly revisions.

3/12Image
Read 12 tweets
Oct 13, 2024
I'm late to address Sep #CPI but I'm sure you'll love what you're about to see.

Some have suggested #inflation may be reaccelerating due to which the #Fed should pause cuts, but the details show there are no signs of reacceleration.

I'll explain why in a CPI thread.

1/12
Sep #CPI was not far for my MoM estimates, but it came higher than my YoY estimates.

That said, consensus estimates were further away than my forecast.

Headline
+0.18% MoM vs +0.15% my estimate so +3 bps above
+2.44% YoY vs +2.31% my estimate so +13 bps above

Core
+0.31% MoM vs +0.33% my estimate so -2 bps below
+3.31% YoY vs +3.20% my estimate so +11 bps above

My estimates were published a day prior to the official CPI release on Substack (a week before in Marko's CPI Report) and can now be accessed for free on this link:
arkominaresearch.substack.com/p/sep-2024-cpi…

#inflation

2/12
Let's start with a positive thing.

Headline #CPI at +0.18% MoM marks a 5th low MoM (sub-0.20%) read in a row which hasn't happened since the 2010s.

Furthermore, over the past 5 months headline MoM was even lower than in 2019.

#inflation

3/12 Image
Read 12 tweets
Oct 7, 2024
By now you've probably heard a lot about how great Sep Employment Report was.

However, the data disagrees with that telling us not only it wasn't "great", but it was so weak that it points to a #recession.

I'll explain why in a thread.

1/11
+254K NFP in Sep coming after +159K in Aug which was revised upward from initial +142K, seems like a great jobs growth.

This means the economy is still going strong, everything is fine, the labor mkt is nowhere near falling off a cliff, right?

Not so fast.

When looking under the hood, we are talking about #recession-ary NFP.

Yes, you read that right.

Explanation follows.

2/11Image
Namely, the seasonal factor in Sep 2024 was the highest of any Sep on record (data going back to 1939).

The reported NFP of +254K is clearly far from actual.

How far?

As far as a pie in the sky.

If the seasonal factor in 2024 was the same as Sep 2023, NFP would be +145K (that's more than -100K below the reported number).

If the seasonal factor in 2024 was the same as the 2007-2019 avg, NFP would be +35K (that's more than -200K below the reported number), which is among the lowest reads during that period.

The lowest ones were negative reads 2008-2010 and if the seasonal factor in 2024 was the same as the 2008-2010 average, NFP would be, prepare yourself, NEGATIVE -78K, which is well #recession-ary and more than -300K below the reported number.

And that's before normal (likely downward) revisions we will likely see in the coming months and quarters.

If we would factor in likely downward revisions (monthly + annual), we could easily be looking at close to -200K in Sep, yes you read that right.

Is that a "great" jobs growth like almost every1 described it?

Not by any stretch of the imagination.

3/11Image
Read 11 tweets

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