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 | 4,021 | -63.25 |
| Oil (WTI) | 80.77 | -0.43 |
| 10 year government bond yield | 3.59% | |
| 30 year fixed rate mortgage | 6.39% |
Stocks are lower this morning after the jobs report came in better than expected. Bonds and MBS are down.
The economy added 263,000 jobs in November, which was better than the 200,000 street estimate. The unemployment rate stayed steady at 3.7%. Wage inflation continues to increase, with average hourly earnings rising 0.6%, faster than the upward-revised 0.5% in October. The labor force participation rate and the employment-population ratio both declined 0.1%.
To tie this into what Powell was saying Wednesday at Brookings, the biggest component of core inflation – services ex-housing – is driven by wage inflation. The other two – goods and housing services – are less of an issue going forward. Services ex-housing is the result of an extraordinarily tight labor market, and the Fed would like to see the supply / demand imbalance in the labor market get more in balance.
There are two ways to do that. The first way is for the Fed to cool the economy with rate hikes, causing a recession and lowering the demand for workers. The other way is for workers who left during COVID to return. The latter method is preferable since it will fix the imbalance naturally. Unfortunately, the Fed doesn’t have any way to influence that. The long-COVID sufferer who decides to re-enter the labor force isn’t going to care what the Fed Funds rate is.
The imbalance in the labor force is perplexing. The most likely outcome is that it stems from two areas – a decline in immigration and an increase in early retirements. The latter one might be a long-COVID effect. Assuming long COVID isn’t a permanent state of affairs, the labor force participation rate should be ticking up over time.
The Fed Funds futures ticked slightly more hawkish on the jobs report, but we are still looking at a consensus of 50 basis points. The only other major report would be the CPI coming in on the morning the Fed begins their meeting.
Stocks and bonds sold off on the employment number. The stock market reaction seems odd, but we may be in a “good news is bad news” environment for stocks which are fearing further rate hikes. The bond market’s reaction makes more sense. The yield curve is heavily inverted, back towards levels not seen since the early 1980s. The yield curve is typically positively slopes, which means it usually costs more to borrow for 10 years than it does for 2 years. There is a mean-reversion element too, which means you could think of the spread as a rubber band, and the further you get from normalcy, the greater the tension. In other words, with the two year being driven primarily by the Fed Funds projection and the 10 year being driven by market sentiment, further declines in long term rates will be more difficult to come by, and will be more fleeting.
The Atlanta Fed trimmed their GDP Now estimate to 2.8% from 4.3% in their latest model run. The ISM Manufacturing Survey, which has been in contraction mode for months, simply wasn’t comporting with a 4.3% expected GDP growth estimate.
Regardless, mortgage rates have been falling and are now back at levels last seen in mid-September.
Given my rubber band analogy they will want to be pulled higher, so the market is letting you back in.
Filed under: Economy |
All Things in Moderation 
Lol!
LikeLike
Sorry Max, all flights to DC are booked.
LikeLike
He’ll connect in via Zoom.
LikeLike
Musk gives Taibbi the dirt on Twitter’s censorship of the Biden laptop story. Good thread:
LikeLike
It’s interesting he chose Tiabbi.
LikeLike
I’m glad he did.
LikeLike
Easier way to read it:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1598822959866683394.html
LikeLike
Yes, that is much better.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Nailed it.
LikeLike
Taibbi describes the Monk debate about the trustworthiness of today’s journalism. It is entertaining and makes me want to see the full thing all the more.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/mainstream-media-slain-in-canada
I particularly like this Taibbian description of one of his opposition, Malcolm Gladwell, who had apparently been insinuating all night that Taibbi is a racist.
I watched this performance with awe. If douchebaggery were an ice cream cone, the guy would be melting all over the stage. I almost felt bad.
LikeLike
I want to watch it too. Taibbi said he’s going to post a transcript.
Gladwell’s point seemed to be heading towards an argument that you can only trust news generated and presented by those who share your identity.
Sort of “speaking your truth” taken to it’s logical conclusion.
I do think it’s unfortunate that the actual point was never engaged as Taibbi noted in his write up. They really needed a real debate here.
Edit: Transcript is up
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/transcript-from-the-munk-debates?r=5mz1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
LikeLike
You can watch it here:
https://vimeo.com/munkdebates/review/775853977/85003a644c
edit: Just watched it. Taibbi’s description of Gladwell as a douchebag is spot-on. What a complete tool.
And BTW, the star of the show was definitely Douglas Murray. I have seen him before (including in person) and he is a spectacular orator and debator. And Taibbi is definitely a better writer than talker. There are many points that I suspect he would have made much better (or even at all) had he been writing responses rather than speaking them.
LikeLike
I think Murray was better at the back and forth in the rebuttals, but Taibbi was better at the prepared introduction.
His introduction set the framing and I don’t think the con side really countered their initial argument.
LikeLike
Also Scott, if they were quicker on the other side they would have noted that the “villain framing” that Taibbi alludes to here is also a bias:
“In the American context, if the facts tell you the Republicans were the primary villains in this or that disaster, you write that story. If the facts point more at Democrats, you go that way. If it turns out they’re both culpable, as was often the case for me across nearly ten years of investigating Wall Street and the causes of the 2008 crash for Rolling Stone, you write that.”
Sometimes, the story isn’t about villains and victims.
LikeLike
Who’da thought?
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/weapons-delivered-to-ukraine-beginning-to-filter-to-africa:
Musta been the reason Zelensky banned the Orthodox Church.
LikeLike
I’m sure it was an honest mistake.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/14/rudy-giuliani-will-not-face-criminal-charges-in-foreign-lobbying-case-prosecutors-say.html
As well as being initiated in good faith.
No harm, no foul.
LikeLike
This would have happened to whoever represented Trump. The left wants to make Trump unrepresentable.
Of course, since every R presidential nominee is Literally. Hitler. this will be par for the course going forward.
LikeLike
Considering the current make-up of the R electorate with Trump on the ballot versus when he’s not, I doubt they’ll be another R POTUS for the near future, so the most we’ll get is the next R-nominee being treated like Romney was.
LikeLike
They fucking better!
https://time.com/6227993/white-women-perfection-anti-racism/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_term=ideas_&linkId=192229535
Cause right now, they’re just the worst!
Do better white broads!
LikeLike