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 | 4,134 | 6.8 |
| Oil (WTI) | 61.59 | 0.17 |
| 10 year government bond yield | 1.54% | |
| 30 year fixed rate mortgage | 3.15% |
Stocks are higher as we round out the week. Bonds and MBS are up small.
New Home sales rose 21% MOM and 69% YOY to a seasonally-adjusted average of just over 1 million homes. The increases are exaggerated by bad weather in February and COVID lockdowns last year.
The MBA updated its forecasts for 2021, with total originations expected to fall 14% from a record $3.8 trillion in 2020 to a still-robust $3.28 trillion. This would be the third highest on record. Purchase originations are expected to increase to $1.78 trillion. Refis are expected to fall by a third.
Exiting home sales fell 3.7% from February to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.01 million units. The median home price rose a record 17.2% to $329,100. Inventory rose slightly to 1.07 million units, but is still down 28% on a YOY basis. Lack of inventory was the constraint on sales, and it represents about a 3 month supply. We are at record lows for inventory since NAR started tracking this data in 1982.
The typical 30 year mortgage rate rose 27 basis points in March to 3.08%, according to Freddie Mac’s survey. Higher prices and higher mortgage rates are definitely affecting affordability.
Joe Biden proposed raising the capital gains tax to 39.6% for Americans earnings $1 million or more. The money would go to fund childcare and community college and would be separate from the $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are working on a scaled down $600 billion infrastructure plan.
The Conference Board Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 1.3% in March. “The U.S. LEI rose sharply in March, which more than offset February’s slightly negative revised figure,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Senior Director of Economic Research at The Conference Board. “The improvement in the U.S. LEI, with all ten components contributing positively, suggests economic momentum is increasing in the near term. The widespread gains among the leading indicators are supported by an accelerating vaccination campaign, gradual lifting of mobility restrictions, as well as current and expected fiscal stimulus. The recent trend in the U.S. LEI is consistent with the economy picking up in the coming months, and The Conference Board now projects year-over-year growth could reach 6.0 percent in 2021.”
Homebuilder D.R. Horton reported that earnings per share increased 93% to $2.53 per share in the quarter ending March 31. Revenues rose 43%, and homes closed rose 36%. Backlog increased 85%. D.R. Horton’s focus in on homes in the $200k – $500k range, so it is really a barometer of the entry-level and move-up markets. Gross margins rose to 24.6%, so it is clear that the company is able to pass on increased input costs like lumber and labor.
Filed under: Economy, Morning Report |
All Things in Moderation 
Good read:
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jnc:
Good read
Yup. It is really hard to overstate how despicable the Democratic Party and their mouthpieces in the corporate media are.
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I’d have once considered that hyperbole. But at present it is very difficult to do give them any benefit of the doubt.
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KW:
They are not just stoking but indeed creating racial strife and division. It’s hard to imagine they don’t know what they are doing. It permeates the Democratic Party from Joe Biden down, and is amplified by their corporate media microphones. I don’t see how this ends in any way other than very badly.
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We need more of this guy.
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We do. Unfortunately academia, the media, Hollywood, the Democrats/progressives, the sports media, Big Tech and at least half of the GOP don’t want more voices like his, or maybe any voices like his, and to the degree they are allowed through at all it is and has been to have “just enough” to claim “we aren’t partisan/this isn’t censorship/blah blah blah”.
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And also worth noting:
https://news.yahoo.com/the-postal-service-is-running-a-running-a-covert-operations-program-that-monitors-americans-social-media-posts-160022919.html
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I am about an hour into Hells Angels, and it sounds like the press back then pulled the same sort of stuff.
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The press has always been kind of shitty and narrative-shaping but I don’t feel like they used to hate the average citizen quite so much. Some, sure. But not so much.
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nova/jnc:
Is this true? Virginia is apparently eliminating from its curriculum all accelerated math courses prior to 11th grade. Again, all in the name of….”equity”.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/04/23/virginia-eliminates-accelerated-math-courses-because-equity/
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I’m unaware of this, but I don’t have kids in early high school math either.
The stories all appear to be sourced off of the same Facebook post of one school board member in Loundoun county. The only thing that I’ve heard of is that they added a “cultural competency” requirement for the teacher recertifications but that doesn’t go into effect until next year I believe.
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I laughed.
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While he’s busy weighing in on events from 100 years go.
We all know that Trump would have been roundly condemned for doing anything like this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/armenia-genocide-biden-turkey/2021/04/24/b0f2394a-a46a-11eb-8a6d-f1b55f463112_story.html
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I think it’s indicative of the out-of-touchness of the Biden administration. The rest of the world leaders understand that being masked up, especially in such a controlled environment, would make them look weak. Frail, even. Shouldn’t have done it. But then to talk about how bad America is . . . meh. Kind of like the worst parts of Obama on steroids, IMO.
But we get what we get I suppose.
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I wouldn’t necessarily go with weak. It makes Biden look ignorant. Which he’s probably not on this subject, but at this point mask wearing in the US isn’t about stopping the spread of COVID. It’s about virtue signalling, like everything else.
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Internet was a mistake.
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Follow up:
https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/virginia-department-of-education-contests-news-reports-about-math-equity-proposals/article_5d62ea89-103c-57c7-9fed-13ad6f6a0559.html
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Scott, news piece on the next controversy in Virginia education changes, ending advanced diplomas. Much bettered sourced this time.
https://wset.com/news/local/vdoe-exploring-options-to-consolidate-standard-and-advanced-diplomas
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