A net 39.4% of US banks say they are tightening lending standards. This started rising in late 2021. The unemployment rate looks set to follow it higher.
3/9
Treasury bills have risen from 0% to 5.45%, and it happened in a speedy manner. The next thing to head higher is initial jobless claims.
4/9
The end of Fed tightening cycles tends to point to peaks in the percentage of unemployed who are willing job leavers. These are people who chose to leave their job because they are confident that they can find another one. This is deteriorating.
5/9
The "Jobs Plentiful" question in the Conference Board survey is also falling. The boldness of the move from 56.7 to 40.3, or about 16 points, is more than the amount that was needed to trigger prior recessions.
6/9
Running a business during Covid was tough, because employees were always quitting. Companies would hire a ton of people as "insurance." This hoarding of workers has ended. The Challenger survey shows us this.
7/9
There has been a collapse in both home DEMAND and also home SUPPLY. Because the housing market is so broken, the data for the supply of New Homes has spiked due to a disappearance of buyers. The Housing Freeze is your key macro theme. Unemployment will rise.
8/9
Meantime, New Housing Starts peaked way back in Spring 2022. When building activity starts falling like this, it shows up in the labor data thereafter. This cycle should witness much of the same. Note: the right axis is inverted.
9/9
Finally, there is a notion that the Services sector will hold the economy together even though manufacturing has been in recession. The deep inversion of the yield curve tells a different story. ISM Services looks set to sink below 50 in due time, indicating contraction.
END
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RV sales for May were -38.8% over the last year; total YTD shipments are -49.7%. A bit misleading, really, because the 2022 quantity was so high due to Covid money. This thread isn't about RVs; it's about front-loaded demand and the subsequent hangover.
2/5
Beyond RVs, think about dishwashers, a 2nd family car, new earrings. These were purchased because of the trillions dished out during Covid. The old dishwasher was still functioning, but a new one was purchased because of Covid money. Now, credit card vigorish is 20%.
3/5
This person won't buy another dishwasher until 2030, especially since they aren't moving houses now that mortgage rates are 7%. There is no catalyst for another purchase. Much of this reminds me of 2009's Cash For Clunkers program, when fully functional cars were destroyed.
2/ The amount of income you need to qualify for a mortgage has doubled since Covid. The US housing market is officially dysfunctional.
3/ With a bond market that is so skittish that these mortgage rates are 2.97% higher than the benchmark Treasury rate. The last time the gap between mortgage rates and Treasury rates was this high was during the Global Financial Crisis.
1/4 This is such a quagmire in housing. Of the scant quantity of homes that are for sale, 29% are new ones. That's because so many existing homes are occupied by people who refinanced at <3.0% when the Fed was on tilt. They're stuck, and so are the buyers. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
2/4 People don't pay for a team to come in and fix bricks, or at least most people don't make that phone call, unless a home inspector writes up a report that points out a problem with the bricks. It's just that simple. Housing-related jobs...
3/4 ...are numerous. Water damage in the wall? Maybe you didn't even know you had water damage. But you know who does know? The home inspector. No home being sold means no home inspection, which means no phone call to the drywall guy and the plumber. This is an employment issue.
The MSCI Japan index is +11.4% in 2023, beating the 9.9% return on the S&P 500. Indexes that hedge JPY are up even more, owing to the yen’s weakening. At ¥138, the competitive dynamic is notably changed from the ¥103 that persisted a couple years ago.
More on JPY later.
3/8
Let’s look at some assets.
Miami apartments: 68bps over Treasuries
US Stocks' Earnings: 157bps over Treasuries
Japanese Stocks' Earnings: 647bps over JGBs
The metrics point to job losses and rapidly declining inflation.
THREAD
2/9
A ton of job openings now, but the NFIB survey of small businesses tells us it goes down next. Maybe sharply.
3/9
Struggling companies fire people. It’s hitting Tech hard. Banks make logical sense for layoffs now, given the insolvency and bailout of Silicon Valley Bank.