All Things in Moderation

Stocks are lower after Q4 GDP disappoints. Bonds and MBS are up.

Fourth Quarter GDP came in at 2.6%, lower than the 3% estimate from the Street. Consumption came in better than expected, which is a bright spot. Inflation remains nowhere to be found, as the core PCE Index (the inflation measure preferred by the Fed) came up zero.

The Employment Cost Index fell to 0.6% in Q4, matching expectations.

Overseas, rates are lower again. The Great Bund / JGB convergence trade continues, with the spread under 5.5 basis points. On the other side of the coin, Greek yields continue to rise, with the Greek 10 year now yielding 10.8%.

Household formation grew 4x to 1.7 million in Q4 from a year ago. Granted, the vast majority of these are renters, but they probably will buy houses at some point. Think of what 1.7 million housing starts would do for the economy. That is just an indication of how much pent-up demand there is in the housing sector.

The homeownership rate fell to 64% in the fourth quarter, however the lowest since the mid 1990s, when we began this huge experiment in social engineering via housing policy.

So far, we are not seeing much of a slowdown in the energy patch states as a result of lower oil prices. This was echoed by builders Horton and Pulte. Of course it is still early in the game.