Morning Report: Markets now heavily discounting 4 hikes this year

Vital Statistics:

			Last	Change
S&P futures			2705	4
Eurostoxx index			384.58	0.1
Oil (WTI)			67.12	0.39
10 Year Government Bond Yield				2.84%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage				4.45%

Stocks are slightly higher this morning as Italian bonds bounce. Bonds and MBS are down. 

US Treasuries touched 2.76% yesterday on the flight to quality trade. The Fed Funds futures are now predicting a 81% chance of a hike in June. The biggest effect of the Italy situation can be seen in the December Fed Funds futures. A couple of weeks ago, we were looking at a coin toss for 4 hikes this year. Now it is closer to 20%. The dot plot consensus is 3, so the markets are aligning a little closer to what the Fed thinks it is going to do.

Why is Italy worrying the markets so much? Italy has a huge amount of debt - 1.9 trillion euros worth. Its debt to GDP ratio is 130%. The fear is that the uncertainty over this issue over the summer will depress Euro growth, while the banking sector (which already has some issues) will take further hits. As of now, this is a political, not an economic issue - Italian yields are around 3%, nowhere near the 8% level they hit in 2012. Note that Spanish yields are beginning to creep up as well. 

Mortgage Applications fell 3% last week as purchases fell 2% and refis fell 5%. This is the 8th consecutive decline. The refi index is down to the lowest level since December 2000. "Rates slipped slightly over the week as concerns over U.S. trade policy and global growth sent some investors back to safer U.S. Treasuries," said MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting Joel Kan. "Minutes from the most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting also yielded a more dovish tone, which added to the downward pressure in rates. Our 30-year fixed mortgage rate decreased two basis points over the week to 4.84 percent as a result. Both purchase and refinance activity decreased despite the drop in rates, part of which was due to slowing activity before the Memorial Day holiday."

The second estimate for GDP came in at 2.2%, right in line with the first estimate. Inflation was revised downward a touch from 2% to 1.9% and consumption was revised downward from 1.2% to 1%. Inventories were revised downward, while business investment was revised up to 9.2% - a big number. 

Whether the increase in business investment was a direct result of the tax cuts remains to be seen, but so far tax cut effects aren't showing up in corporate profits which were more or less flat in the first quarter with last year. 

The economy created 178,000 jobs in May, according to the ADP Employment Report. The Street is looking for 190,000 jobs in Friday's report, although the ADP and BLS reports have been pretty far away the last few times around. The key number will be wage growth, not payroll growth in any case. 

Interesting data points in the ABA survey of the nation's banks. QM has actually caused banks to decrease non-QM lending (which was the opposite of the intended effect). About half retained servicing. Almost nobody lends to FICOs below 620.

The Fed is set to announce proposed changes to the Volcker Rule, which severely limits proprietary trading activities for commercial banks. The current rules are so vague that JP Morgan Jamie Dimon once quipped that traders would need a lawyer and a psychiatrist by their side to determine whether they were in compliance with the law. The Fed will probably tweak the rules only modestly, and will not usher in a return to pre-2008 rules. That would require legislation, which isn't happening. 

Morning Report: Market now predicting a 50% chance of 4 hikes this year

Vital Statistics:

			Last	Change
S&P futures			2724	-6.25
Eurostoxx index			393.28	1.09
Oil (WTI)			71.74	0.78
10 Year Government Bond Yield				3.04%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage				4.57%

Stocks are lower this morning on earnings and retail sales. Bonds and MBS are down on hawkish comments out of Europe.

Retail Sales rose 0.3% in April, according to Census. The control group rose 0.4%. Both numbers were in line with consensus estimates. There is a push-pull effect in the numbers as tax cuts will encourage spending, while higher gas prices will depress it. 

Speaking of retail sales, comps at the Home Despot came in lower than expected, although some of that was weather-related. The company noted that traffic in May has been strong. As home affordability gets worse, home improvement projects generally increase as people renovate instead of moving to a nicer home. The builders (and mortgage originators) have noted that the Spring Selling Season has been a dud this year. 

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey came in at 20, higher than expected, while homebuilder sentiment improved to 70. Strong pricing is being offset by weak traffic, particularly among the first time homebuyer. Separately, inventories were flat in March, which will probably cause some houses to take down their estimate for first quarter GDP growth. 

What would happen if you listed your home at $1? Would the subsequent bidding war get you to the correct price? It certainly would create a huge buzz around your home and that will probably help. That said, there are problems associated with that tactic. First, you will get all sorts of low-ballers who will only clog up the process. More importantly, the sites like Realtor.com, Zillow etc generally have searches with price ranges. In other words, if you expect your house to be worth $500,000 and you list it for $1, it won't show up if the buyer sets a $400,000 - $600,000 search range. 

HUD is seeking comment on the Supreme Court's Disparate Impact ruling and whether HUD's current policy is consistent with the ruling. Disparate Impact means that you can get slammed for discrimination even if you didn't intend to discriminate, but your numbers are not consistent with the population. 

The Fed Funds futures now are handicapping a 50% chance of 4 rate hikes this year. 

A combination of higher budget deficits and low unemployment has Goldman predicting a 3.6% 10 year yield by the end of 2019. This is the first time since WWII when we have had a combination of increasing deficits and falling unemployment. ""The sizeable demand boost provided by the recent deficit-increasing tax cuts and spending cap increases at a time when the economy is already somewhat beyond full employment is a striking departure from historical norms that is likely to contribute to further overheating this year and next and tighter monetary policy in response." Of course the labor force participation rate is quite low, as is the employment-population ratio, two numbers that are not captured by the unemployment rate. Until you start to see wage inflation, the Fed will be content to go slow. 

Morning Report: The Fed bumps up its forecast for 2018 GDP

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2671.0	2.0
Eurostoxx Index	389.3	-1.4
Oil (WTI)	56.3	-0.4
US dollar index	86.9	0.1
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.37%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	102.531
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	103.591
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	3.88

Stocks are higher after a relatively dovish FOMC statement. Bonds and MBS are down small after rallying hard after the announcement yesterday. 

As expected, the Fed raised rates a quarter of a percent yesterday and released their economic forecasts. This was Janet Yellen's last hurrah. The vote was 7-2 with two dissenters: Evans and Kashkari, who both wanted to maintain the current Fed Funds rate. Bonds rallied on the FOMC decision, largely due to the dot plot, which showed virtually no change from September, despite a big upward revision in the Fed's 2018 GDP forecast, which went from 2.1% to 2.5%. Their forecast for unemployment was revised downward from 4.1% to 3.9%, while their forecast for core inflation remained unchanged at 1.9%. It was a Goldilocks report for the markets. You can see the dot plot comparison below, with the central tendency right around 2%.

Note that the Fed Funds futures are currently predicting 1-2 hikes next year through November (we don't have December 2018 Fed Funds futures yet). So, the market is somewhat more dovish than the FOMC is, but they are pretty close. Note that one of the big trades on the Street right now is a bet that the Fed will blink and only raise rates 1-2 times next year. The other big trade that is happening right now: yield curve flattening trades, where traders bet that the difference in yield between the 2 year and the 10 year will decrease. 

Initial Jobless Claims fell to 225k last week. This is just off the post-crisis low of 223k, and you would have to go back to the early 1970s to find similar readings. The job market is pretty strong, provided you are employed. The long-term jobless still are with us, although it remains to be seen how many will (or even want to) re-enter the workforce. That untapped reservoir is probably one big reason why wage inflation continues to be muted. 

Retail Sales came in way stronger than expected, pointing to a strong holiday shopping season. The headline number was up 0.8%, as was the control group, which was a big jump from October, and above the highest point in the consensus range. The S&P SPDR Retailer ETF (XRT) is up about .63% in an otherwise flattish market early. 

The ECB maintained interest rates at current levels and cut their QE buying in half. Central bank demand for sovereign debt is being cut back globally. FWIW, we aren't really seeing that much of an impact in yields (Probably as people pile into curve flatteners, as described above). The German Bund is down with Treasuries. 

The NAR points out that the median age of renters is rising - it rose to 40 from 38 a year before. Given that the relative attractiveness of buying compared to renting is about as big as it ever has been, what gives? It is mainly empty-nest Boomers who are choosing to go with rentals, which means no more home maintenance. 

Bill Gross warns that the Fed really has to stop hiking rates once the Fed Funds rate gets around 2 - 2.25% or else it runs the risk of hurting the housing market. "A lot [of mortgages] are variable, floating-rate mortgages. And to the extent that the Fed has already raised interest rates by 75 to 100 basis points and is expect to raise by another 50 to 100 that affects the average monthly payments." He is correct on the ARM part of it, and with the Fed raising short term rates, while long-term rates stay in place, it is the time to refinance out of an ARM and into a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. While he does draw upon 2005 - 2006 as a comparison, we were in a bubble then. It really isn't similar to today, where inventory is so tight we probably won't see any price decreases. If anything, we are seeing bidding wars. 

Morning Report: Fed hikes, but is a credibility problem brewing?

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2420.0	-15.3
Eurostoxx Index	384.3	-3.3
Oil (WTI)	44.6	-0.2
US dollar index	88.6	0.5
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.16%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	103.31
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	104.375
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	3.95

Stocks are lower this morning after the FOMC raised rates yesterday. Bonds and MBS are down after rallying yesterday. 

As expected, the FOMC raised the Fed Funds rate by 25 basis points and continued its policy of re-investing maturing bonds from QE back into the market. Neel Kashkari dissented, preferring to maintain the current Fed Funds rate. The dot plot basically did not change meaningfully from March to January. The projections did change, as the unemployment forecast for 2018 and 2019 was revised downward from 4.5% to 4.2%. Bonds reacted negatively to the move, but that was colored by the fact that bond yields were already down 10 basis points on the day due to the weaker than expected CPI and consumer spending numbers. The highlighted areas on the projection below show the major changes.

The Fed Funds futures are predicting a less than 15% chance of a rate hike in September, however. In fact, the Fed funds futures are handicapping a 50% chance of no more rate hikes this year. 

Compare the Fed Funds futures implied probability to the latest dot plot. The labels on the side show what each forecast is. 

Note that 14 out of the 17 FOMC members think the Fed is going to hike at least another 25 basis points this year. In fact, 4 out of 17 think that will be the case, while the market gives it about a 6% chance. There is a big disconnect happening between what the Fed is saying it will do and what the market thinks they will do. Not necessarily saying the Fed has a credibility problem, but the markets and the FOMC don't seem to be on the same page. 

In other economic data, initial jobless claims fell to 237k last week, which is more evidence that the labor market is strengthening into the summer months. The Philly Fed report showed continued strength in manufacturing, while the Empire State Manufacturing Survey picked up strength as well. 

Industrial production was flat in May after a big upwardly-revised jump in April. Manufacturing production slipped 0.4%, while capacity utilization ticked down 0.1%. Big picture: April was a huge jump in all indices and May gave back a little. 

The NAHB Housing Market Index slipped a little in May, but builder sentiment is still buoyant.

Wells is being sued for allegedly changing the terms of loans for customers in bankruptcy. They lowered the payments, but extended the term without the borrower's knowledge, nor Court approval, the suit alleges. The stock is down slightly pre-open, more or less in line with the market.