All Things in Moderation

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Markets are higher this morning on no real news. Yesterday’s technical support at 1345 on the S&P 500 held, and perhaps we are just having an oversold bounce. Bonds and MBS are down as well. The Spanish government seized Bankia, the county’s largest real estate lender 

Initial Jobless claims for last week came in at 367k, more or less in line with estimates. 

Hey, Fannie Mae made some money! And they don’t need a check this quarter either.

The National Association of Realtors released their latest quarterly report yesterday, noting that improving sales and declining inventory are creating more balanced conditions. The inventory of homes for sale fell to 2.37MM existing homes from 3.03MM in Q111. The median home price fell slighlty to $158,100 from $158,700. This drops the median home price to median income ratio to 3.075, the lowest level since 1976, and below its historical range of 3.15 – 3.55. Prices after a bubble tend to overcorrect, and it certainly is possible that prices could go lower – however we are officially in “overcorrection” mode.

Chart:  Median House Price to Median Income:

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Another sloppy morning as people watch the Greeks try and form a governing coalition which may well reject the austerity measures agreed to with the EU. The Greek 10 year is yielding 23.3% and the Athens Stock Exchange Index is now touching 20-year lows. The turmoil in Greece has investors nervously eyeing Spain and Portugal.

This has put pressure on the S&P futures, and a bid under Treasuries. The 10-year traded below 1.8% this morning. I am watching the 1345 level in the S&P 500, which is the 200 day moving average and the low of early March. We came within a couple of points yesterday. Mortgages are rising, but not as much as Treasuries.

Corelogic released its March 2012 Home Price Index yesterday, which showed prices flat YOY. Excluding distressed sales, prices increased overall. The top markets were Wyoming, Virginia, Arizona, North Dakota, and Florida. The worst were Delaware, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia, and Nevada.

FHA foreclosures increased in March, and it released an interesting statistic – that half the mortgages it modified entered into foreclosure a year later. Speaking of mods, Bank of America is offering principal reductions to 200,000 homeowners as part of the State AG settlement.

University of Chicago economist Raghuram Rajan has an interesting paper discussing the best way forward to improve the economy. He points out that for the past 20 years, the US has attempted to address inequality through the credit mechanism. If we can’t do something directly for the middle class, we can allow them to do cash-out refis to spend as if they weren’t middle class. Ideologically, there will be something for everyone to love and something for everyone to hate. It provides an excellent historical background on how we got here in the first place. Good read.

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Markets are generally lower this morning on follow-through from the weekend elections in Europe. German industrial output rose more than forecast, suggesting that Germany may avoid a recession. German GDP growth was negative in Q4, however as an exporter, they benefit form Euro weakness. Such is they symbiotic relationship between the North and South – the Southern European countries benefit from their ability to borrow at lower rates than they otherwise would, while the Northern European countries benefit from the currency weakness that results. Bonds and MBS continue to rally, and the 10-year yield has cracked 1.85% 

The National Federation of Independent Businesses released its Small Business Optimism Report this morning. The report contained an interesting statistic – nearly half of the respondents hired or tried to hire in the last three months, and 3/4 of them said they had “few” or “no” qualified applicants. Hard-to-fill job openings rose, and are typically a leading indicator to a drop in unemployment. Capital Expenditures have increased from the record lows of August 10, but are still below “normal” levels, indicating spending is in maintenance mode, not expansion mode.  Contrary to public perception, access to credit remains low on the list of concerns. Earnings are pushing to cyclical highs. Anyway, it is an interesting report. RTWT.

Wells Fargo made nearly 34% of the $385 billion of mortgages originated in the first quarter. Their next closest competitor was JP Morgan at 10.6%.  Should the Federal Trade Commission start preparing an antitrust lawsuit?  Probably not, as the reason for their increased market share was due to their competitors scaling back the business.

It is looking more like Ally will put its Residential Capital unit into bankruptcy and Treasury will support the decision if it happens. Treasury wants to put Ally on the block and recoup their money, but the liability stream from ResCap is making that impossible. The end result could be an acceleration of putback claims.

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Global markets are weaker this morning after the far left won elections in France, and Greece voters rejected austerity measures. Greek bond yields have blown out 240 basis points this morning. French yields have taken the election in stride. The CAC-40 (French stock market) is actually up. The S&P futures were initially down 20 points on the Asian open, but have largely recouped their losses. Bonds and MBS are flat / up.

Pundits will be trying to read the tea leaves in the European election. Needless to say, Paul Krugman is delighted. Mohamed El-Arian is cautious.

Robert Samuelson sums up the debate going on in the academic community over how to address the current recession. Paul Krugman has been urging the Fed to target increased inflation in order to decrease unemployment. Ben Bernake considers Krugman’s prescription to be reckless.  FWIW, I side with Bernake here. With so much slack in the labor force, we are seeing zero upward pressure on wages, and the Fed’s profligacy has created a bull market in commodities. Stagnant wages plus higher food and energy costs are a recipe for more consumer misery, not less.

The Obama administration has released its April Housing Scorecard. Punch Line: The housing market remains fragile and the administration remains committed to try and prevent avoidable foreclosures and to stabilize the housing market. It more or less reads like a campaign ad.

This week is Loanapalooza – the Mortgage Bankers Association Secondary Conference, which is being held in NYC. Certainly the top issues will be the CFPB, the return of the private label market, and the new regulatory environment.

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Markets are flat this morning after disappointing economic data out of Europe. Eurozone PMI data was solidly below 50, indicating business conditions are getting worse, not better. Equity markets recovered after initially selling off on the payroll data. Bonds and MBS are down slightly. 

Payroll data is out – 115k jobs were added in April, well below the 160k estimate. The unemployment rate fell to 8.1%, and the labor force participation rate fell to 63.6%. Average hourly earnings were flat. By all accounts, this was a disappointing report, and the markets sold off on the number, but then recovered. I suspect that predicting market reactions to economic data are going to become more difficult as disappointing numbers raise the possibility of QEIII.  

Lender Processing Services has put out its full report on March foreclosures. Delinquencies are continuing to decline (lowest level since Aug 08), while the foreclosure inventory is still at all-time highs, especially in judicial states. 

More data on the Facebook IPO.  The pricing range is $28 – $35 for a company that earned 43 cents a share last year. 81x trailing earnings. Click to Like.  

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Apologies for the late report.  I am working in the San Diego office this morning and have been having technology issues.

Markets are generally weaker this morning on the back of weak unemployment numbers in Germany and a disappointing ADP report. Factory Orders were down 1.5%, a post-crisis low, and are showing a definite downward trend. Bonds and mortgage backed securities were stronger.

The New York ISM report showed that business conditions remain strong in the New York City area, although they slowed slightly from the March pace. The April index came in at 61.2 vs 67 in March. An ISM number above 50 indicates expansion, while below indicates contraction.

Beazer Homes reported a disappointing first quarter loss. That said, Beazer did report a marked improvement from Q111.  New orders were up 29%, closings were up 49%, backlog was up 39%, and average price was up 4%. They remain “hopeful, but cautious” about the prospects of a sustained market recovery. Beazer is concentrated in the South and Southeast.

The Treasury is considering issuing floating rate notes. Part of the rationale is that it would decrease borrowing costs today, plus it would help insulate the government from funding hiccups if it has to roll over a lot of debt at once. Still, it seems strange for the government to consider floaters with interest rates so low. It is akin to taking out an ARM to save a handful of basis points on your mortgage payment.

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World equity markets are down slightly this morning as Spain officially entered a recession, although the GDP report was better than expected. Merger Monday is back, with a deal in the energy space (Sunoco) and the healthcare space (Gen-Probe). Bonds and MBS are up small.

Personal income came in at +.4%, and personal consumption came in at +.3%.  The Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) indices indicate inflation is well under control. The National Association of Purchasing Managers – Milwaukee showed business conditions are improving slightly overall for companies in the Northern Midwest. 

No, they didn’t just do a reverse split. Barnes and Noble has doubled this morning on a strategic deal with Microsoft. The new company (NewCo – clever name) will involve the digital and College businesses of B&N and involve a Nook application for Windows 8. This looks like the culmination of B&N’s strategic alternative review announced earlier this year.

Tomorrow (May 1) is New Year’s Eve for the Left. Expect disruptions in the City and overseas.

No M.R. tomorrow as I will be traveling. Wed and Thurs MRs will be late.

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Markets are generally flat this morning after the release of Q1 GDP, which came in light. The economy expanded at a 2.2% annual rate in Q1 vs expectations of 2.5% and lower than the 3% number in Q4. This more or less confirms the slowdown we have been seeing in other data as well. Yesterday, initial jobless claims came in at 388k.

Yesterday, the National Association of Realtors released their March Pending Home Sales Index, which is a forward-looking index of housing activity based on contract signings. The first quarter’s activity was the highest in five years. Supply and demand are becoming more balanced.  It will be interesting to see whether the banks start letting more REO go to meet the increased demand of if they continue to drip out inventory gradually.

Bill Gross continues to bet that Operation Twist continues as a mortgage play. Further, he believes that QEIII is a possibility, especially if the employment numbers weaken. Interestingly, he is also looking at this trade as a volatility bet – if you are long mortgages, you are short bond volatility – and is betting that the 10 year has more or less found its level for the next couple of years. 

A pet peeve of mine is this whole idea that the repeal of Glass-Steagall somehow caused the financial crisis. It turns out that Tim Geithner agrees with me that GS didn’t play a material role. No other country in the world (EU, Japan, UK, Canada) separates commercial and investment banking, or even draws a distinction between the two for that matter. Glass-Steagall was instituted because investment banks were stuffing their sister commercial banks with poorly underwritten bonds after the market crashed in 1929. If the investment bank couldn’t sell the paper to public at par (or close to it), they sold it to their captive banks who bought it at par and marked it there until bank runs exposed the fact that these bonds were worthless. The investment banks did the same thing with the insurance companies, which is why insurance companies were included. The point of G-S was to prevent this sort of thing and to ensure that these transactions would be arm’s length.

The financial crisis didn’t occur because JP Morgan was selling suspect bonds to Chase at the end of a gun barrel. Or Citi selling worthless paper to Travelers for that matter. The cause of the financial crisis was a deflating real estate bubble, which hit banks with large derivatives exposure (Bank of America and Citi) as well as small community banks that were in the very ordinary business of making mortgages, car loans, and business loans. It turns out that the smaller banks are the ones who can’t repay TARP. If we didn’t have a real estate bubble, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.Why did we have a real estate bubble?  There were a lot of contributing factors, but the biggest was the Fed and a psychological belief on the part of the public that real estate was a one-way bet.

People forget the reason why we repealed Glass-Steagall in the first place. The main reason was that the big international investment banks like UBS and Deutsche Bank were able to undercut the US investment banks because they were able to borrow at zero, while Goldman and Merrill had to fund their balance sheets at LIBOR. “Wall Street” was turning into Nomura, Barclay’s, Credit Suisse, and ING. Second, there were a couple of commercial banks who had become hybrids – JP Morgan and Bankers Trust – with Citi and Bank of America close behind. Glass-Steagall was becoming irrelevant anyway and the repeal was more or less an acknowledgment what had already happened.

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Markets are higher this morning on Apple’s earnings. Hard to believe a half-a-trillion dollar company could move up 10% in a day, but there you go. Bonds and MBS are lower as we await the FOMC decision this afternoon. No one anticipates a change in policy, but the market will focus on clues about QEIII. 

Speaking of the Fed, Krugman has some advice for Ben Bernake. Hint:  He’s not doing enough.

Durable Goods orders fell 4.2% YOY in March, the biggest drop in 3 years. Ex transportation, they fell 1.1%. This was far below expectations. There was also a marked buildup in inventories in the last 6 months, which portends a manufacturing slowdown. There has been nothing in the economic data in the last couple of months that indicates the economy is accelerating – everything points to a deceleration. This is mainly due to overseas weakness. The UK is officially in recession, while Europe and China are slowing.

Mortgage applications fell last week after a huge jump the week before. The 10-year spent all of last week below 2%, so maybe the refi activity is starting to dry up – meaning everyone who can refi at 3.75% has already done so.

Lender Processing Services has released its first look for March foreclosures and delinquencies. The total US loan delinquency rate is just over 7%, which is down almost 9% YOY. The number of properties in foreclosure totaled 2.06MM, the number 90D+ was 1.6MM and 30D+ was 3.5MM, for a total of 5.6MM delinquent. The full report will be released on May 1.

FWIW, Mark Zandi thinks the bottom in real estate is in. Bob Schiller isn’t so sure.

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