Morning Report: 10 year pushing towards 3%

Vital Statistics:

			Last	Change
S&P futures			2675	3.9
Eurostoxx index			381.41	0
Oil (WTI)			67.33	-1.07
10 Year Government Bond Yield				2.97%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage				4.51%

Stocks are higher this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are down. 

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin signaled that the US is ready to discuss a truce in the trade war with China. He characterized his mood as "cautiously optimistic" and said he won't make a commitment on timing. Beijing welcomed the announcement. Separately, Mnuchin also discussed easing sanctions on Rusal which sent aluminum prices back down. 

Existing home sales rose on a month-over-month basis in March, but are down on an annual basis according to NAR. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says closings in March eked forward despite challenging market conditions in most of the country. "Robust gains last month in the Northeast and Midwest – a reversal from the weather-impacted declines seen in February – helped overall sales activity rise to its strongest pace since last November at 5.72 million," said Yun. "The unwelcoming news is that while the healthy economy is generating sustained interest in buying a home this spring, sales are lagging year ago levels because supply is woefully low and home prices keep climbing above what some would-be buyers can afford."

The median home price was $250,400, up 5.8% YOY. Inventory is down over 7% YOY to 1.67 million units, which represents a 3.6 month supply at current sales levels. A historically balanced market would be 6.5 month's worth. Properties stayed on market for an average of 30 days, which is down almost a week YOY. The first time homebuyer accounted for 30% of sales, and all-cash sales were 20% of transactions.

Commodity price inflation has pushed the 10 year yield to 3%. Many technical analysts consider that to be confirmation that the 3 decade bull run in bonds is over. The one caveat is that the sell-off is being driven by rising commodity prices which tends to be temporary, especially if it doesn't translate into wage growth. You can see the pop in yields post-election below. Hard to believe we were sub 1.8% in late October 2016.

This week will have some important data to the bond market, with GDP and the employment cost index on Friday. We will also get a slew of housing data with existing home sales, new home sales, and Case-Shiller. 

The Street estimate for Q1 GDP is 2%. Generally speaking, the estimates from the banks are lower than the estimates from the regional Federal Reserve banks. 

Economic activity moderated in March, according to the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. Production and employment indicators fell. February's reading was unusually strong, however. The CFNAI is a meta-index of 85 different economic indices, and can be volatile. It isn't a market-mover. 

A paper suggests that the ratings agencies largely got it right with the bubble-era RMBS. The AAA tranches (even subprime) were largely money good, and the study pours cold water on the popular narrative that inflated ratings on RMBS caused the financial crisis. 

The big banks are rushing to launch websites and apps for mortgages as volume contracts. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan have either launched or plan to launch mortgage banking tech products in response to Rocket Mortgage from Quicken. The company claims that 98% of its customers in the first quarter (some $20 billion in origination) accessed Rocket at some point in the application process. That is an astounding number, though I wonder if that includes push notifications that the borrower didn't necessarily respond to or interact with. 

Speaking of tech, HUD is looking into allegations of housing discrimination by Facebook. Facebook uses big data to allow advertisers to slice and dice the demographics any way they want to target their specific market. What if advertisers decide to target some demographics and not others? That is considered non-problematic for things like consumer products, but housing could be a different story. 

Morning Report: New Sheriff in Town at the CFPB

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2850.3	9.0
Eurostoxx Index	401.9	1.1
Oil (WTI)	66.5	0.8
US dollar index	82.9	-0.4
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.65%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	103.591
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	103.688
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.17

Stocks are higher after the European Central Bank left rates unchanged. Bonds and MBS are flat as well.

The German Bund is getting pounded on the ECB decision. At some point the weakness will probably flow through to Treasuries.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin noted that a weaker dollar is beneficial for trade and opportunities. He was peppered with questions over whether that amounts to a change from the government's historical support for a stronger dollar. He later clarified his remarks, however the currency is getting hit a little on the remarks and persistent dollar weakness will eventually translate into higher rates.

Mortgage Applications increased 4.5% last week as purchases rose 6% and refis rose 1%. These numbers are adjusted for the MLK holiday. Note that the Spring Selling Season is just around the corner - it unofficially starts right around Super Bowl Sunday.

New Home Sales fell to 625k in December a drop from November's downward-revised 679k print. November's number was an outlier and was sure to be revised down, which probably explains why the estimates were too high.

The Index of Leading Economic Indicators improved to 0.6% from 0.5%.

Initial Jobless Claims rose to 233k from a downward-revised 216k the week before. The last time the US hit 216k initial filings, we had a military draft.

House prices rose 0.4% month-over-month and 6.5% YOY according to the FHFA House Price Index. As usual, the West Coast and Mountain States led while the Northeast / Mid-Atlantic lagged.

Existing Home Sales fell 3.6% MOM in December and are up 1.1% YOY, according to NAR. Inventory for sale fell 10.3% to under 1.5 million units which is a record low. (going back to 1999) 1.5 million units represents only 3.2 months' worth at the current sales pace. A balanced market is about 6.5 months. The median home price rose 5.8% to $246,800. The first-time homebuyer was 32% of sales, flat YOY.

Median income in the US probably came in around 60k for the end of 2017. This would put the median house price to median income ratio at 4.1 times. Historically, that number has been in the 3.1 - 3.6 range, however differences in interest rates probably explain some of that. Given the tightness in inventory and what appears to be the stirrings of wage growth, house prices should be in for another strong year. The wild card will be the luxury properties in high tax states which are becoming less affordable due to tax reform. Note that luxury home prices did rise 7% in Q4, according to Redfin.

The Home Despot is not living up to its name. $1,000 bonuses for employees.

Many loan officers have noticed that FHA and VA pricing has been terrible as of late, especially when compared to conventional rates. This is an industry-wide phenomenon. Nobody really has a good explanation of why this is happening, although it is being driven by a lack of investor appetite for higher coupon Ginnie Mae TBAs. As a general rule, Ginnie Mae TBAs are more sensitive to rate changes than Fannie Mae TBAs, so any increase in volatility will affect Ginnies disproportionately. This is especially strange since the government has taken steps to protect MBS investors from serial refinancings. Whatever the cause, the pricing is being driven by the machinations of the primary TBA market and not internal pricing changes.

Mick Mulvaney, Acting Director at the CFPB, put out a memo to staff recently giving his philosophy going forward. Suffice it to say, he will not be another Richard Cordray. It is worth reading in its entirety, as it largely amounts to a rebuke of his predecessor. Richard Cordray was quoted in Politico saying : “We wanted to send a message: There’s a new cop on the beat… Pushing the envelope is a loaded phrase, but that’s absolutely what we did.” Mulvaney's response: "Simply put: that is what is going to be different. In fact, that entire governing philosophy of pushing the envelope frightens me a little. I would hope it would bother you as well. We are government employees. We don’t just work for the government, we work for the people. And that means everyone: those who use credit cards, and those who provide those cards; those who take loans, and those who make them; those who buy cars, and those who sell them. All of those people are part of what makes this country great. And all of them deserve to be treated fairly by their government. There is a reason that Lady Justice wears a blindfold and carries a balance, along with her sword."

Other key points:

"When it comes to enforcement, we will be focusing on quantifiable and unavoidable harm to the consumer. If we find that it exists, you can count on us to vigorously pursue the appropriate remedies. If it doesn’t, we won’t go looking for excuses to bring lawsuits."

"On regulation, it seems that the people we regulate should have the right to know what the rules are before being charged with breaking them. This means more formal rulemaking on which financial institutions can rely, and less regulation by enforcement."

"Speaking of data: the Dodd Frank Act requires us to “consider the potential costs and benefits to consumers and covered persons.” To me, that means quantitative analysis. And while qualitative analysis certainly can play a role, it should not be to the exclusion of measurable “costs and benefits.” In other words: there is a lot more math in our future."

Morning Report: Housing starts fall

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2561.0	4.0
Eurostoxx Index	392.0	1.5
Oil (WTI)	52.1	0.2
US dollar index	86.8	0.2
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.33%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	102.96
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	104.188
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	3.86

Stocks are lower on no major news. Bonds and MBS are down small. 

Housing starts fell in September, as hurricane effects probably had an effect. Starts fell 4.7% from August, but are up 6.1% on an annual basis. Weather probably doesn't explain all of it, however as building permits were also down on month-over-month basis. Permits were also down on year-over-year basis. Housing starts fell in the North, South, and Midwest, but rose in the West. Permits rose in the Northeast and Midwest and fell in the South and West. We should probably see some improvement in these numbers as the flood waters recede and people rebuild. 

Mortgage applications rose 3.6% on an adjusted basis for the holiday-shortened week. Purchases rose 4% while refis rose 3%. The MBA said that mortgage rates decreased by 2 basis points overall last week. This was the first increase in the applications index in over a month. 

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin predicts the stock market will slump if tax reform isn't passed this year. Since Democrats are uniformly against tax reform, it will have to be modest in order to pass it under a straight majority in the Senate. "There is no question that the rally in the stock market has baked into it reasonably high expectations of us getting tax cuts and tax reform done," Mnuchin said in the "Politico Money" podcast interview. "To the extent we get the tax deal done, the stock market will go up higher. But there's no question in my mind that if we don't get it done you're going to see a reversal of a significant amount of these gains." Note that there are some procedural hurdles to get this done. It all comes down to earnings. If there are no changes in taxes at the corporate level, then the forward earnings estimates are too high, which means the multiple is higher than people think. 

The Senate has a tentative deal to save Obamacare and the cost reduction subsidies, however the White House is lukewarm on it, and many in the House are outright hostile to anything that props up Obamacare. 

Trump is expected to name his nominee to be the next Fed Chairman by early November. The expected nominees are John Taylor, Kevin Warsh, Gary Cohn, Jerome Powell, or Janet Yellen. Trump meets with Yellen this week. Note a Reuters poll of economists think Powell will get the nod. 

One puzzling aspect of the current economy is the labor market and the lack of wage growth. Theory says that if the unemployment rate is as low as it is now, we should be seeing bidding wars for workers and general wage hikes across the board. The leading indicator for wage growth - the JOLTS quit rate - has been flat for 2 years. What is going on? The first (and biggest) is that the unemployment rate is sending a false signal about how tight the labor market is. While there is some tightness in the labor force, particularly in skilled labor, most people are not in the hot sector, and are reluctant to leave. Second, many could still be trapped in homes with negative equity, unable to move to where the jobs are. And finally, many are just not willing to move, for whatever reason. I think the answer is the first one: Our unemployment rate stops counting the unemployed at 6 months, which may have been a reasonable thing to do 30 years ago, but not today. The employment to population ratio is probably a better indicator. And according to that, we still have a ways to go. Note that demographic trends will play a part here as well. The low ratios in the 50s and 60s are explained by a lack of women in the labor force. And some of the drop in recent years is due to the retirement of the baby boomers, however their kids (the Millennials) should be replacing them. 

Morning Report: Treasury and FHFA disagree on the GSEs

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2370.5	6.8
Eurostoxx Index	390.7	1.5
Oil (WTI)	50.0	0.6
US dollar index	88.8	-0.4
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.24%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	103.27
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	104.21
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.03

Stocks are up this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are down small. 

Slow news day.

No economic data this morning, but we have Fed-speak at 9:45 and 1:40. 

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and FHFA Head Mel Watt disagree on what to do with Fannie Mae's dividends to Treasury. A week ago, Watt suggested that Fannie and Freddie may have to retain some of their earnings in order to build / maintain their capital base. Yesterday, Mnuchin said that he expected the dividend payments to continue. Despite a Republican president, Mel Watt is going nowhere - his term expires in 2019 and he can only be removed for cause. 

Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Report is out, and it shows that fallout increased, along with the purchase share of mortgages. Cycle times improved by a day across the board. 

St. Louis Fed Head James Bullard believes that the unemployment rate could fall further without igniting inflation. He seems to think the new normal is about 2% GDP growth and sees that sort of pace for the immediate future. That will probably be the case until wage inflation picks up, and who knows when that will be? 

Guess who's back? Ex-NJ governor, MF global collapse Jon Corzine, who is apparently fundraising for a new hedge fund...

Morning Report: Dow 20,000

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2284.3	10.0
Eurostoxx Index	366.3	4.4
Oil (WTI)	52.8	-0.4
US dollar index	91.1	0.0
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.49%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	102.1
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	103.2
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.16

Global stocks are rallying on no real news. The Dow hit 20,000 this morning (CNBC is probably breaking out the champagne as we speak) Bonds and MBS are down on the "risk on" trade. 

Mortgage applications increased 4% last week as purchases rose 6% and refis rose 0.2%. This is a 7 month high for purchases. 

Home prices increased 0.5% in November, and are up 6.1% YOY, according to the FHFA House Price Index. Geographically, the Pacific and Mountain states continue to lead the way, while the East Coast lags, however prices are decelerating out West and accelerating in the East. Prices have more than recouped the losses from the bubble years and are hitting new highs. 

Further slicing and dicing the home price data, the luxury end of the market continues to lag, while the lower price points are accelerating. This makes sense as the Millennial generation is beginning to reach the family-forming stage and needs starter homes. Starter homes should be a fertile area for the builders over the next decade or so. We are even beginning to see a reduction in the NIMBY-ism in places like California, which face acute housing shortages. 

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin supports an independent central bank and is not a member of the "audit the Fed" crowd. Congressional Republicans have been pushing for more Congressional oversight of monetary policy, however independence from politicians is critical for the Fed to do its job. Politicizing the Fed is a recipe for inflation because no politician likes a recession and sometimes they are necessary to suppress inflation. In fact, the last time Congress got involved with monetary policy was the dual mandate, which requires the Fed to minimize unemployment while controlling inflation. Sounds like a reasonable policy, however in practice it has resulted in asset bubble after asset bubble. 

House flipping is back to bubble-era levels. Home flippers accounted for 6.1% of sales in 2016, the highest level since 2006 when the number hit 7.3% of sales. Scarce inventory is making a good environment for house flipping, with strong home price appreciation. Eventually builders will begin to meet this demand, however for the moment, home price gambling is a big trade in places like Las Vegas. 

Donald Trump met with automotive CEOs yesterday to talk about regulation and bringing jobs back to the US. He cited environmental regulations as a big disincentive to manufacture in the US. Note that there are currently about 300,000 regulations controlling manufacturing in the US. Separately, Trump allowed the permitting process for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines to begin again. 

Morning Report: Housing inventory is at a record low.

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2262.5	0.5
Eurostoxx Index	361.2	0.2
Oil (WTI)	53.1	0.4
US dollar index	90.9	0.2
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.43%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	102.1
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	103.2
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.19

Stocks are flat this morning as earnings continue to roll in. Bonds and MBS are down. 

Existing home sales fell 2.8% in December to an annualized rate of 5.49 million, according to the NAR. This caps off 2016 as the best year for existing home sales since 2006. The median home price was $232,200, up 4% YOY. Tight inventory remains a problem, with inventory dropping to a record low of 1.65 million homes for sale. This represents a 3.6 month supply, which is well below the 6.5 month supply which represents a balanced market. NAR estimates that housing starts need to be at 1.5 - 1.6 million to keep up with demand and demographic changes, which are historically normal levels. We have been at recessionary levels for the past 8 years. After recoveries, it is not unusual to see starts approaching 2 million. The first time homebuyer accounted for 32% of sales - historically that number is closer to 40%.

Ben Carson has his work cut out for him in terms of easing the regulations that are preventing home construction. Many regulations are local, however which the Federal Government can't really do much about.

Manufacturing is improving in January according to the flash PMI. 

The US dollar hit a 6 week low after Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin said a too-strong dollar could hurt the economy. The response was to a written question about a hypothetical 25% rise in the value of the dollar, so don't read too much into it. That said, the early indication is that the Trump administration wants to talk down the dollar a little. That ultimately will make imports more expensive and exports cheaper however it is unclear what it means for Fed policy. That will depend on a lot of things, particularly whether wages increase or not. 

The new administration is going to begin to tackle a re-negotiation of NAFTA within the next 30 days. Here are the different negotiation points. Essentially, Canada wants to stay out of the way, and Mexico wants to keep tariffs out of the equation. Separately, Trump will meet with automotive executives today. It is important to remember that trade barriers weaken the economy by definition, assuming that trading partners retaliate with tariffs of their own. This could lop 25-50 basis points off GDP growth, which will have implications for the Fed and their tightening plans. If Trump imposes new tariffs, and our trading partners retaliate with tariffs of their own, we will need some sort of fiscal stimulus to offset that drag. If that happens, expect the Fed to go more slowly, which which should be beneficial for interest rates. A lot of moving parts for sure, but uncertainty keeps the Fed on the sidelines. Separately, Trump also officially pulled the US out of the TPP, which probably wasn't happening anyway. 

Any sort of change in trade policy could be accomplished either directly via tariffs or hidden in corporate tax reform. Congress prefers to go the latter route, and that also ensures that any sort of stimulus via the tax code is married to trade barriers. 

One of Trump's first acts was a regulatory freeze, which gives the incoming administration time to review any last-minute edicts from Obama administration. This is something that pretty much every incoming president does, especially if there is a change in party. The MIP reduction probably fell under this freeze, so it may well survive, depending on the state of the FHFA insurance fund and FHA delinquency rates. 

Despite all of the uncertainty in Washington, economic confidence is at a post-recession high, according to Gallup. Current conditions and the outlook both improved, making this a little more durable. Confidence goes a long way towards improving the economy and can prove to be elusive. 

As the economy strengthens, Fed officials are now thinking about what to do with their $4.5 trillion of Treasuries and MBS, which are a legacy of the QE days. As of now, they are re-investing maturing proceeds to maintain their assets at approximately $4.5 trillion. Normalization of monetary policy certainly includes returning the balance sheet to its pre-QE levels of under $1 trillion, but that may turn out to be a 2018 event. 

iServe's own Mike Macari, Chief Communications Officer, wrote an article for the Scotsman's Guide with John McDade, discussing VA loans, and why they are so important to our country. 

Employment for residential construction remains healthy, according to the NAHB. The number of open construction jobs was 184k in November, according to the JOLTs report, however hiring is seasonal. That number peaked at 225k in July. The spring selling season is just around the corner, beginning in early / mid February. Getting homebuilding back to a sense of normalcy would go a long way towards improving the economy for both buyers and workers. 

Morning Report: Steve Mnuchin testifies and sinks the GSEs

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2267.0	5.0
Eurostoxx Index	362.7	-0.7
Oil (WTI)	52.2	0.8
US dollar index	91.9	0.1
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.48%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	101.2
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	103.1
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.19

Stocks are up as we prepare for the inauguration. Bonds and MBS are down.

Should be a quiet day for bonds as there are no economic data. 

Janet Yellen spoke yesterday at Stamford and stressed the Fed was not behind the curve, and we still have some slack in the labor market. However, she said it was prudent to undo some of the accomodation so that we don't have to move too quickly later. She also said the economic outlook was clouded due to uncertainty out of Washington. While Trump can sand down the edges of the regulatory state, he has a problem legislatively with Democrats in complete opposition, and a tenuous relationship with Republicans. 

A partial explanation for the weakness in the high end of the real estate market can be explained by new Chinese capital controls. The Chinese government has instituted capital control to prevent an outflow of yuan. Foreign real estate was a big beneficiary of that capital, so expect to see more weakness in the high-priced markets like San Francisco, NYC, Seattle, and Denver. 

Trump Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin testified in front of Congress yesterday, and largely escaped unscathed. He called for a reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, however he said he did not support "recap and release." He also said that any sort of "border tax" would be targeted at companies that offshore manufacturing and then sell back into the US. The hearing got testy at times, with Sen Pat Roberts (R-KS) suggesting that Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) take a valium. Democrats zeroed in on his role with IndyMac and purported foreclosure abuses. 

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac tumbled during the testimony, however they also lost a lawsuit that could have have explained the fall as well. Both were down 5% after being up for the day. Both stocks have more than doubled since the election on optimism that Donald Trump would support some sort of change in how the government treats these stocks. Currently, the government owns 79.9% and all profits from the company go directly to Treasury. 

In terms of other takeaways from Mnuchin's testimony, he supports bringing the CFPB into the appropriations process, would like to tweak the Volcker rule (which prohibits proprietary trading) to eliminate the negative effects it is having on market liquidity, to ease the regulatory burden on small banks, and to bring back a "21st century" Glass-Steagall law, whatever that means. 

Glass Steagall was implemented during the Great Depression because investment banks were putting busted underwritings (i.e. underwritten bonds they couldn't sell to the public) on the balance sheets of their captive commercial banks and insurance companies at par in order to hide the losses. Glass Steagall ended this practice by requiring all of these transactions to be arm's length. Fast forward to 2007, the crisis wasn't caused by JP Morgan the investment bank stuffing bad paper on Chase the commercial bank's balance sheet. For what its worth, the US is the only country on the planet that separates investment banking and commercial banking, or even draws a distinction between the two. Everywhere else, it is just called "banking." Indeed, the reason Glass-Steagall was repealed in the first place was that reason: Wall Street investment banks like Morgan Stanley and Goldman couldn't compete with foreign banks because they had to fund their balance sheets at LIBOR while the foreign banks could borrow at much lower deposit rates. As the derivatives business expanded in the 1990s, "Wall Street" was becoming Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Nomura, and Barclay's. 

The Mortgage Bankers Association was out with a statement yesterday, speculating that the change in FHA MIP could be reversed by Ben Carson's HUD. ""Based on recent testimony and political pushback, we believe there is a strong chance the most recent MIP reduction... may be one of the rollback actions taken soon after President Trump takes office." Carson has said he would study how the change would affect the insurance fund, but hasn't indicated whether he supports the change or not. 

Note that we did see a rally in the Ginnie II higher coupon MBS yesterday despite a rough day for bonds otherwise. You can see in the chart below how Ginnie 4.5s (black line) outperformed Fannie 4.5s (blue line). Expect to see higher volatility in the higher note rates for FHA and VA loans as this plays out. 

Negative equity is becoming less of a problem as home prices continue to rise. During 2016, 1 million homes regained positive equity, leaving only 2.2 million homes with negative equity. While we are still well above the bubble years in terms of negative equity, we have fallen markedly from the peak of 15.1 million homes in 2010. As houses regain positive equity, it will create refinance opportunities which will help offset the effect of higher rates. It will also increase mobility, which is one of the reasons why we have a low unemployment rate, but have so many workers still on the sidelines. They can't move to where the jobs are because they are trapped in a home with negative equity they can't sell. 

Morning Report: Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin discusses regulation and the GSEs

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2201.2	3.0
Eurostoxx Index	341.0	-1.0
Oil (WTI)	50.6	1.2
US dollar index	91.7	-0.3
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.41%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	103
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	104
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.14

Stocks are flat this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are down small.

OPEC agreed to production cuts yesterday, which has sent the price of WTI over $50 a barrel. 

Further evidence of strength in the labor market: announced job cuts fell to 27,000 last month, which is the lowest in a year. This is a 13% drop YOY. The retail sector had the biggest number of job cuts, largely due to the bankruptcy of American Apparel. Job cuts in the financial sector continue, however cuts in the energy sector are tapering off. 

Initial Jobless Claims ticked up to 268k from 253k last week. 

Manufacturing improved in November, as the ISM Manufacturing PMI increased from 52.3 to 53.2. Separately, the Markit PMI Manufacturing index ticked up to 54.1 from 53.9. 

Construction Spending rose 0.5% last month and is up 3.2% YOY. Residential Construction was up 1.8% and is up 4.6% YOY. 

Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should exit government control, which puts him at odds with several Republicans like Jeb Hensarling who want to see the GSEs wound down. “We will make sure that when they are restructured, they are absolutely safe and don’t get taken over again. But we’ve got to get them out of government control,” Mnuchin said on an interview with Fox News. What "exit government control" actually means is an open question, however he believes that Fannie Mae is crowding out private lending. Getting private lending back into the mortgage market has been a priority since the financial crisis since 96% of all new origination still goes Fannie, Freddie, or Ginnie. I would also wager that the biggest ultimate lender to the mortgage market is the Fed, via their QE holdings of MBS. So the US mortgage market is for all intents and purposes nationalized at this point. Fannie Mae stock was up 46% on the statements. One big issue for privatizing Fannie and Fred: At the moment, all of their profits go to the government. By 2018, they will probably have no equity left, which isn't good news for common stockholders. 

Donald Trump also tapped a Quicken executive to the HUD transition team. He also named Jimmy Kemp, son of former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp, to the team as well. In many ways, these nominations signal a detente between the government and the financial sector, which should help tremendously with the goal of bringing private capital back into the mortgage market. 

Separately, Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross were interviewed on CNBC, where they laid out more of their regulatory philosophy. Mnuchin said that Dodd-Frank was too complicated and the goal of financial regulation is to get banks to lend again. He cited regulatory uncertainty as a major impediment to lending. Wilbur Ross quipped that small banks have more compliance people than lending officers. Both said that lending is the engine of growth for the economy. 

Morning Report: Steve Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2210.5	7.0
Eurostoxx Index	342.4	1.4
Oil (WTI)	48.8	3.5
US dollar index	91.7	0.4
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.39%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	103
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	104
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.14

Stocks are higher this morning as oil rises. Bonds and MBS are down.

Oil ministers are meeting in Vienna today and market participants are optimistic a deal can be reached to cut production. Oil is up 7.5% this morning on speculation of a deal. Ordinarily, high oil prices are bad for markets, but these days it is considered a plus.

Donald Trump has reportedly selected Steve Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary. Mnuchin is another Goldman guy, making him the third Goldman Treasury Secretary since the mid 90s. Not much is known about his position on things like the dollar and interest rates. Given Trump's focus on manufacturing jobs, Mnuchin could be a departure from the strong dollar policy that has been in place for several administrations. 

Part of Trump's tax plan will include tax reform, where top rates will go down, however deductions will be limited. The mortgage interest deduction cap of $1 million for first and second mortgages will probably be lowered. This will probably affect only the very high end, but it is something to keep in mind for jumbo borrowers who have high DTIs to begin with. The Administration is saying that the very wealthy will get no "absolute" tax cut, but the middle class will. 

Neither new Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross nor Steve Mnuchin went out of their way to defend current Fed Head Janet Yellen, saying the decision on the remainder of her term is up to Trump. Donald Trump had been critical of Fed policy on the campaign trail, saying that interest rates were too low. Now that he is an actual politician, he may become more accepting of lower rates, as most politicians usually are. Reagan was the exception, however the 1970s inflation was so bad, people recognized that something had to be done. 

Mortgage applications fell 9.4% last week as purchases fell 0.2% and refis fell 16%. Purchases held up reasonably well given the short Thanksgiving holiday. 

The US added 216,000 jobs in November, according to the ADP survey. The Street was looking for 160,000 on the ADP number and has forecast 170,000 for Friday's jobs report. 

Pending home sales increased 0.1% last month as tight inventory remains an impediment to sales. Tight inventory is pushing prices up at triple the rate of wage growth, which is ultimately an untenable situation. Pending home sales rose in the Northeast, Midwest and West, while falling in the South. 

The Chicago Purchasing Manager Index rose to 57.6 from 52 last month.

Personal incomes broke out of their range in October, increasing 0.6% after a string of 0.3% - 0.4% increases. Personal consumption declined however to a 0.3% increase. This bumped up the savings rate to 6% of disposable personal income, the highest since March. The PCE index for inflation is up 1.4% YOY and the PCE ex-food and energy index is up 1.7%. Nothing in this report will change the Fed's thinking regarding the next Fed meeting. 

Donald Trump announced on Twitter this morning that he will be "leaving his great business in total." Not sure if that means a blind trust or a divestiture. A blind trust run by his kids will probably not be enough to mollify his critics. 

Loan officers are painfully aware that rates have been going up. Investors have been taking it on the chin as well: the 10 year has had its worst month since 2009. Bonds have lost 2.4% this month, which is about about a years' worth of interest at these levels. That said, the increase in rates has yet to match the 2013 "taper tantrum." Another key piece of data: the difference between Treasuries and German Bunds is the highest on record, indicating that the correlation between US bonds and foreign bonds is breaking down. This makes sense as the Fed and the ECB have fundamentally different postures at this point.

Realtor.com has its 5 trends for 2017. Millennials move to the Midwest, home price appreciation slows, and tight inventory remain the major trends.