Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Memetrics
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktVital Statistics:
| Last | Change | |
| S&P futures | 2888.5 | -0.25 |
| Eurostoxx index | 376.66 | 1.28 |
| Oil (WTI) | 70.21 | 0.93 |
| 10 year government bond yield | 2.97% | |
| 30 year fixed rate mortgage | 4.64% |
Stocks are flat this morning as the East Coast braces for Hurricane Florence. Bonds and MBS are flat.
Mortgage Applications fell 1.8% during the Labor Day week as purchases increased 1% and refis fell 6%. The refi index is now at an 18 year low. We saw a 5 basis point increase in rates, which drove the drop in refis. As rates rise, cash-outs, fixed-for-ARM, and FHA for conventional are about the only game in town.
Despite tariffs and increases in raw materials prices inflation at the wholesale level remains under control. The producer price index fell 0.1% last month but rose 2.8% on an annualized basis. Ex-food and energy, the number was down 0.1% MOM and up 2.3% YOY. So, despite the increase in wages we saw in the jobs report, inflation overall remains subdued.
Yesterday’s JOLTs report showed the quits rate (which is considered a leading indicator for wage inflation) hit the highest level since early 2001. Construction job openings increased to set another post-bubble high. Hurricane Florence will only exacerbate the labor shortage as workers get drawn into repair jobs. This probably means disappointing housing starts numbers for the rest of the year.
Below is a chart which shows that average hourly earnings and the quits rate tend to correlate pretty closely.
Here are some things that homeowners in the path of Florence can do in order to prepare for impact. Note that the hurricane is expected to stall out once hit hits land, so you should expect some flooding inland. Servicers should prepare for an uptick in delinquencies.
Redfin has a good retrospective on the top lasting impacts from the financial crisis. Probably the biggest surprise was that a leftist president presided over a huge jump in inequality. Given that Fed policy in the aftermath of the crisis was aimed at supporting asset prices, this shouldn’t be a surprise. The other big surprise was the complete drop off in housing construction despite a tight housing market. 10 years down the road, it is still a head-scratcher. Everyone has a theory about the driver, from gun-shy builders, to labor shortages, to zoning restrictions. The places where the demand is greatest (CA and Seattle) have tight restrictions on building, and such an expensive market that businesses are relocating somewhere cheaper. On the other side of the coin, the Rust Belt is growing again, and that area has a surfeit of housing already built.
Filed under: Economy, Morning Report |
The left hates free speech..
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-bosses-constitution/
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Scholars and lawyers worry that, if spending money and transferring data are forms of speech, nearly any transaction might be constitutionally protected in an economy where everything is information and everything is for sale.
Holy shit, scholars and lawyers are worried?
We’re fucking doomed, boys!
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In a 1971 memo to the US Chamber of Commerce, future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell—then a lawyer practicing corporate law in Virginia—captured the spirit of the decade’s libertarian turn.
The seventies had a libertarian turn?
The seventies!?!
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The left is really, really butthurt that The Weekly Standard is allowed to fact check along such “nonpartisan” outlets as Snopes, Politifact, Factchecker.org and AP..
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/151171/facebook-uses-weekly-standard-fact-check
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Brent:
The left is really, really butthurt that The Weekly Standard is allowed to fact check along such “nonpartisan” outlets as Snopes, Politifact, Factchecker.org and AP..
The ironic part is that the Trumpian right hates The Weekly Standard and thinks it is in league with the left.
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The left simply cannot stand the fact that they no longer have sole possession of the megaphone…
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“The left is really, really butthurt ”
i’m coming to the conclusion that such a feeling is the entire point
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Not everyone is crazy:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/thinkprogress-weekly-standard-facebook-fact-check-kavanaugh.html
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TWS is biased and ideological. But those guys at ThinkProgress think they’re not also biased. they really do.
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Is it that they don’t think they’re biased or they fight every battle, hammer and claw? To me, it seems the latter, that it’s their mandate.
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I bet that article was not well-received. I imagine there have been a lot of angry emails to the editor, since it doesn’t have commenting. 😉
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That’s also a pretty big yawn.
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The term “butthurt” maybe. I find the dispute about what factcheckig really is kind of interesting.
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Glen made me laugh with this headline.
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/307373/
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