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 | 3935 | -28.4 |
| Oil (WTI) | 63.33 | -1.32 |
| 10 year government bond yield | 1.75% | |
| 30 year fixed rate mortgage | 3.30% |
Stocks are lower this morning as rates head higher. Bonds and MBS are down.
The Fed maintained the Fed Funds rate at 0%, however the dot plot showed more voting members seeing rate hikes in 2022. You can see the change between December 2020 and March 2021 below:
The economic projections also changed a touch, with the 2021 GDP estimate increasing pretty markedly from 4.2% to 6.5%. They also see the unemployment rate falling to 4.5%, however inflation is expected to be above the Fed’s target by the end of the year. The forecast for headline PCE inflation is 2.4% and the forecast for core PCE is 2.2%. In December, they saw both inflation numbers at 1.8%, so the minutes will be an interesting read to see what has changed in their thinking.
Bonds initially rallied, sold off, and then rallied again after the meeting, however they are well lower this morning. European and Asian bond yields are up this morning, so perhaps the inflation numbers has investors spooked.
Lumber prices have tripled since last year, which is adding about $24,000 to the price of a house, according to the NAHB. COVID-19 related shutdowns in lumber mills drove the increase. “The elevated price of lumber is adding approximately $24,000 to the price of a new home,” Fowke said. “Though builders continue to see strong buyer traffic, recent increases for material costs and delivery times, particularly for softwood lumber, have depressed builder sentiment this month. Policymakers must address building material supply chain issues to help the economy sustain solid growth in 2021.” Not sure how policymakers i.e. government can address the issue aside from price controls and jawboning companies like Weyerhauser about “price gouging,” neither of which will do much.
I do wonder if the drop in February housing starts was driven by commodity / labor shortages or weather. Regardless, the price of new homes is rising, along with the cost of financing them. This is not going to help matters with the supply / demand imbalance.
Speaking of the supply / demand imbalance, 36% of home sales in February were above list, a record. “This is the strongest seller’s market since at least 2006,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “Buyers outnumber sellers by such a huge margin that many homeowners are staying put because they know how hard it would be to find a place to move to. It seems like the only move-up buyers who are confident enough to list their homes are those who are relocating to a more affordable area where they’ll have an edge on the local competition.” Biden’s proposed $15,000 first time homebuyer tax credit will help but not much.
Initial Jobless Claims rose to 770,000 last week. In order to really see a meaningful recovery, these numbers have to get back to normalcy, which is in the 200,000 – 300,000 range. That said, the unemployment rate can fall despite this since anyone who has been unemployed for 6 or more months doesn’t count in the BLS unemployment numbers. The stat to watch for improvement is the employment-population ratio.Posted onCategories
Filed under: Economy, Morning Report |
All Things in Moderation 
Wonder how this would be framed if it was Trump who was tying giving vaccines to Mexico with their stopping immigrant flows to the US.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/biden-mexico-immigration-coronavirus-vaccine/2021/03/18/a63a3426-8791-11eb-8a67-f314e5fcf88d_story.html
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Brent, I think lumber pricing will plummet by March, 2022, because the supply will no longer be restricted. Thanks to pent up demand it won’t drop to its pre COVID pricing, but a 50% drop may be realistic.
Actually I was glad to read your comment because I was imagining that the prices I was seeing at Lowes were driven by forest fires.
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Don’t get me started on lumber prices. My son is starting his Eagle Scout project which involves building a bunch of bog bridges on a hiking trail. Gonna cost me a lot….
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mine just made Tenderfoot.
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When I first read your comment I read it as “bong bridges” and thought, wow, the Scouts sure have changed!
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This generation is different. Don’t date, don’t drink, don’t smoke.
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As a parent that has to be a relief. Not sure how I feel about it though as there is a lot of creativity that comes out of rebelliousness along with a desire for independence – from parents and authority in general.
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The difference between me and my son’s teenage behavior couldn’t be more stark. And yes, i couldn’t be happier.
Though when i was growing up the drinking age was 18, so things were different
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Per the quote of the day:
“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues”.
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yeah, no vices are great.
but my concern is we’re raising a generation of narcs who would make a Stasi officer blush.
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I tend to agree with you on this.
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Presumably all the stories about the increased risk of nuclear war and what needs to be done to secure the nuclear launch codes from the President will be forthcoming:
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It’s interesting, the left’s hyper aggressive rhetoric regarding Russia, hasn’t caused something weird to happen sooner. From everything I’ve read, Putin is legitimately popular in Russia and at some point they’re going to get pushed to far. I’m guessing the price will be Latvia and Estonia as both have pretty substantial Russian populations. While I think that is inevitable I do think the Democrats have sped it up.
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Those are NATO members. I suspect Russia’s focus will continue to be Ukraine for the time being.
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I don’t think it’s going to matter to other NATO members or the US electorate. Pretty war weary and the Western Europeans are pretty keen on the Nordstream pipeline. I think they’ll be pretty aggressive considering that during Obama’s term they let the Russians do anything with no consequences. It’s the same crew now with Harris following Obama’s orders.
If I was China I’d increase the squeeze on Taiwan as well. What are we gonna do? No one in this country is going to support any kind of war right now.
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Bloomberg takes note of Canada’s Housing market:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-15/the-housing-sales-boom-that-never-ends-already-wiped-out-all-the-short-sellers
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