All Things in Moderation

Markets are higher this morning as oil picks up a bid. Bonds and MBS are flattish.

The FHFA House Price Index rose .3% in January, lower than expectations. Prices are up 5.1% year-over-year and are now within 3.5% of their peak levels, which corresponds to December 2005 levels.

New Home Sales rose in February to a 539k pace from an upward-revised 500k pace in January. New Home Sales are hitting post bubble highs, but are still about 40% of previous peak levels, which were hit about 10 years ago.

On Lennar’s first quarter earnings conference call, CEO Stuart Miller had this to say about new home sales: “Pent-up demand is derived from a now multi-year production deficit that is continuing to grow even at current production levels (emphasis mine) At the same time, volume growth has been constrained by overly conservative lending standards, a regulatory environment that discourages mortgage lending and a negative consumer bias overhang against homeownership….While the relationship between pent-up demand, rental rates and mortgage availability continues to direct the housing market, it’s becoming more apparent that the mortgage market is loosening incrementally with time and enabling more demand to be realized as household formation begins to return to more normalized levels. We have believed and we continue to believe that the downside in the housing market is very limited and the upside is very significant (emphasis mine). We believe that the market is downside supported by the many years of production deficits that have yielded a limited supply of both rental and for-sale housing in the country. Any pullback in the housing market would be short-lived as there’s a need for shelter across the country and there’s very little inventory, and almost no likelihood of mortgage foreclosures (emphasis mine) given the stringent underwriting standards of the past years.

Inflation is still pretty much nowhere to be found, as the consumer price index rose .2% in February. On a year over year basis, it is flat, while ex-food and energy it is up 1.7%. Certainly if the Fed wants an excuse not to hike rates in June, the lack of inflation is giving them one. Note the Fed prefers to use PCE inflation, not CPI.

The Markit US Manufacturing PMI rose in March to 55.3 versus 55.1. Manufacturing continues to rebound, although it doesn’t employ as many people as it used to. Meanwhile one study shows that up to half of all jobs can be automated over the next 10 – 20 years.

The Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index fell to -8 from 0 last month.

Markets are higher this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are up.

Slow news day.

There is no economic data this morning and much of the Street will be exiting early ahead of yet another snowstorm.

Now that we no longer can rely on housing equity extraction to fund consumption, the correlation coefficient between spending and wages is higher than ever.  One more reason why the Fed will probably not begin raising rates too aggressively until we start seeing real wage growth. As of now, we are seeing about 2% annual wage growth versus slightly below 2% inflation. So real wages are in fact growing, just not by much.

Mortgage lenders are more optimistic about 2015 than mortgage consumers, according to the Fannie Mae quarterly survey of lender sentiment.

Stocks and bonds are lower after yesterday’s furious post-FOMC rally. MBS are flattish.

Initial Jobless Claims rose to 291k from 290k last week. Consumer comfort fell to 51.5 from 54, according to the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index. In other economic indicators, the Philly Fed Index was largely flat at 5, while the Index of Leading Economic Indicators was flat at .2%.

The Fed did indeed remove the word “patient” from the FOMC statement. However, they noted that growth moderated, which is unsurprising given the weather in the Northeast. They did take down their economic projections for unemployment, GDP, and inflation. 2015. GDP is now forecasted to be in the 2.3% – 2.7% range, which was revised lower from their 2.6% – 3.0% forecast at the December 2014 meeting. Unemployment was taken down to 5.0% – 5.2% from 5.2% to 5.3% in December, and inflation was taken down to 0.6% to 0.8% from 1.0% to 1.6%.

The dot graph was what got the markets all excited. The Fed is forecasting a flatter trajectory to higher rates than they were in December. In the march dot graph, it looks like the median projection by the members is 50 basis points for a year end Fed Funds rate.

It looks like the 2016 and the 2017 forecasts are slightly lower as well. These dot graphs are what got the market going (although a major bond rally in Europe yesterday probably contributed to the move). Note the makeup of the FOMC is different now than it was in December, and decidedly more dovish. The flatter trajectory for higher rates clearly calmed the markets. The Fed made no change in its plan to shrink its balance sheet. For the time being, they will continue to re-invest maturing proceeds back into Treasuries and MBS.

Stuart Miller, Chief Executive Officer of Lennar Corporation, said, “Despite severe weather conditions which constrained production and sales in parts of the country, the housing market continued its slow and steady recovery. Early signals from this year’s spring selling season indicate that the housing market is improving, and disappointing single family starts and permits numbers should rebound shortly. The sizable production deficit of the past years continues to drive demand improvement in spite of the constrained mortgage market.” 

Lennar will hold a conference call this morning around 11:00 am. The stock is up about a buck and quarter (or about 2.5%)

Stocks are lower this morning as we await the Fed’s decision at 2:00 pm. Bonds and MBS are higher as worldwide sovereigns mount a ferocious rally. Oil continues its slide, down $1.20 a barrel to $42.26.

While the Street will undoubtedly focus on the removal of the word “patient” from the FOMC statement, Janet Yellen will probably stress that this change in language merely opens the door for a June rate hike, and does not mean they have already decided to do so. The Fed will remain data-dependent and will probably want to see some sort of rebound from the weather-driven weakness of Q1. It is interesting to see the US exit ZIRP when countries like Sweden are implementing NIRP, where the Riksbank cut rates to -0.25%.

Mortgage Applications fell 3.9% last week. Purchases fell 1.5% while refis fell 5.2%. This was the week after the jobs report where interest rates spiked to 2.24% and then slowly came back.

Macroeconomic bellwether FedEx reported better than expected numbers this morning, however it took down 2015 numbers based on dollar strength. This will probably become a bit of a trend as we enter pre-announcement season and the big multinationals take down their full year forecasts. Earnings season is only two weeks away.

Markets are higher as oil continues to fall. Bonds and MBS are up small.

Industrial production rose .1%, lower than expectations, however that was probably due to the weather. Capacity Utilization fell to 78.9%, which was negative as well. Weather probably had a lot to do with the disappointing numbers, but January’s numbers were revised downward in a big way, with industrial production being revised to -0.3% from 0.2% and capacity utilization revised from 79.4% to 79.1%.

Homebuilder Sentiment fell to 53 in March from 55 in February.

This week is all about the word “patient.” The FOMC meets Tuesday and Wednesday and the Street will be keying on the word “patient” – in the context of “The Fed can be patient in waiting to raise rates. Janet Yellen characterized patient to mean “two more FOMC meetings.” In other words, if the word is gone from the statement, the market will take it to mean the Fed is moving in June. Given this is a March meeting, we will have updated projections for GDP, unemployment, and inflation as well as a press conference.

The biggest issue facing the Fed is wage growth. Why are we not seeing wage growth with unemployment pushing “full employment?” It is a vexing question. The answer is that we have a huge reservoir of people who are considered not part of the labor force, but want to be. As these people return to the labor force, wage inflation will remain low until these people are all employed. Mark Zandi of Moody’s believes that this will take about a year, and by this time next year, we will start seeing wage inflation.

US Treasuries are getting a bid courtesy of the Japanese, who are selling JGBs to pick up yield wherever they can. US debt probably provides the best value out there.

OT: Shameless Plug: Did you know financial professionals rock? This one does. Check out my entry for the Jamtrackcentral 2015 guitar solo contest and give me a like. I appreciate it.