Morning Report: Moody's downgrades Chase's jumbo status

Vital Statistics:

			Last	Change
S&P futures			2888	11
Eurostoxx index			385	0
Oil (WTI)			68.79	0.02
10 Year Government Bond Yield				2.82%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage				4.58%

Stocks are higher this morning on news that the US and Mexico might strike a deal on NAFTA. Bonds and MBS are flat. 

We should have a quiet week heading into the Labor Day weekend. We will get GDP on Wednesday and Personal Incomes / Personal spending on Thursday and those are probably the only potential market-moving reports. 

Mohammed El-Arian believes there is a 60% chance that Trump's hard line on trade will result in a better deal for the US. There is a 15% chance that Trump's stance could result in a beakthrough with China (similar to Reagan's approach with the USSR during the Cold War), and another 25% chance that we go into a full blown trade war. He stressed that the US's role as the world's biggest consumer matters: “I’ve said from day one, it’s just a matter of time until other countries realize that their best approach is to collaborate with the U.S. and fix things that are broken,” El-Erian said.

Moody's downgraded Chase's jumbo underwriting rating to "above average" from "strong" based on concerns over the percentage of loans that come from its delegated correspondent channel. Moody's also dinged them over their proprietary LOS (licensed from Quicken), disliking the look and feel of it. Chase obviously disputes the downgrade, and defended their underwriting. "We respectfully disagree with the rating and feel it's based on insufficient information. While we provide select correspondent lenders with delegated underwriting authority, we also then conduct individual underwriting reviews on roughly half of those loans. These are high-quality loans that perform well," Amy Bonitatibus, chief marketing and communications officer of Chase Home Mortgage, said in an email.

Elon Musk ended his proposed buyout of Tesla late last week. The Street never took it seriously to begin with, and was highly skeptical of his claim that funding for the deal was secured. The SEC is investigating the "funding secured" comment, which sounds like it was based largely on the existence of a pitch book, not any sort of letter from an investment bank (not even a "highly confident" letter). 

Layoffs continue in the mortgage biz. Wells let go 600 people, mainly in servicing and retail fulfillment. Lower volumes and margins contributed to a 33% drop in mortgage banking income for Wells in the second quarter. 

Economic activity decelerated in July, according to the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, which is a meta-index of 85 economic indicators. Production-related indicators decelerated, while employment-related indicators improved. The 3 month moving average fell as well. 

Morning Report: Turkish situation continues to degenerate

Vital Statistics:

			Last	Change
S&P futures			2836	-0.55
Eurostoxx index			384.89	-0.96
Oil (WTI)			67.37	-0.26
10 Year Government Bond Yield				2.88%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage				4.58%

Stocks are lower as the Turkey situation snowballs to other emerging markets. Bonds and MBS are up on the flight to quality trade. 

Financial markets are being driven by the situation in Turkey, with the Turkish Lira continuing to depreciate. This has spread to other emerging markets currencies like the South African Rand. The Chinese currency has hit the lowest level in a year, which is bound to increase trade tensions with the US. There is the potential for this to affect the balance sheets of some European banks, however the US will be pretty much insulated from it. The most likely effect is that it will cause a flight to quality to the US dollar which will keep a lid on interest rates.

The Turkish crisis hasn't affected the Sep Fed Funds futures, which are handicapping a 94% of a hike, but they have tempered the probability of a follow-on hike in December. It isn't a dramatic move, but we have slipped from 66% to 61%. 

We won't have much in the way of market-moving data this week - retail sales on Wednesday will be the only one that matters. We will also get housing starts on Thursday. Other than that, it should be a dull week. 

Ben Carson is changing the way HUD encourages multifamily real estate development. The Obama HUD used the stick approach - suing local governments to force them to change their zoning rules, based on demographic analysis. The Carson HUD will use the carrot approach - tying grants to changes in zoning restrictions. 

Conventional financing accounted for 69% of all financing last year. Of the non-conventional types of financing, FHA loans led with 12%, followed by cash with 10% and VA with 4%. 

Elon Musk clarified his tweet regarding taking Tesla private. He decided to use Twitter in order to notify the public of his intention to take the company private. Most companies file an 8-K with the SEC and do a press release, but Elon decided to use Twitter. Second, his "funding secured" comment was based on a conversation with the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund who asked if Tesla was interested in selling to the fund. Musk then looked at the assets of the fund, concluded they had the money, and then tweeted that funding was secured. One thing is for sure, if this deal ever happens, the background section of the proxy statement is going to make for some entertaining reading. 

Morning Report: Refinance applications hit an 18 year low

Vital Statistics:

			Last	Change
S&P futures			2857	-2.75
Eurostoxx index			389.8	-0.69
Oil (WTI)			68.41	-0.76
10 Year Government Bond Yield				2.99%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage				4.58%

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

Mortgage applications fell 3% last week as purchases fell 2% and refis fell 5%. Activity overall has fallen to a 19 month low. The refi index has is at an 18 year low. 

Mortgage credit availability increased in July, although it tightened for government loans. The MBA's MCAI increased 1.7%, which is a post-crisis high, but nowhere near what it was during the bubble years.  "Credit availability continued to expand, driven by an increase in conventional credit supply. More than half of the programs added were for jumbo loans, pushing the jumbo index to its fourth straight increase, and to its highest level since we started collecting these data. There was also continued growth in the conforming non-jumbo space, which reached its highest level since October 2013," said Joel Kan, MBA's Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. Note that some observers think the MCAI understates how loose credit is, when you look at things like LTV and credit scores. 

Separately, US banks eased lending standards for business loans. The report noted increased demand for business loans, and decreased demand for commercial real estate loans. As mortgage lending dries up, banks are competing more for small business loans, although increased liquidity in the secondary market for these loans also helped. 

Elon Musk proposed the largest LolBO ever on Twitter yesterday, saying he was thinking of taking Tesla private at $420 a share. He claims he has funding secured, which is quite the statement. Even in this market, raising $71 billion isn't the easiest thing in the world, especially for a negative cashflow company trading with an EV / EBITDA in the 150s.  Perhaps the price should have tipped people off that this was a joke, but apparently it isn't. 

The NAHB conducted a survey of potential homebuyers, and only 14% are planning to buy a home in the next year. That number was 24% in the fourth quarter of 2017. Of those planning to buy a home, 61% are first time buyers, of which 71% are Millennials. Most are noting that the number of homes for sale with the desired features and price point are smaller than they were 3 months ago. 

Morning Report: Jerome Powell agrees with markets on interest rates

Vital Statistic:

			Last	Change
S&P futures			2667	-3
Eurostoxx index			388.93	-0.56
Oil (WTI)			70.09	-0.62
10 Year Government Bond Yield				2.96%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage				4.55%

Stocks are lower as we await the Trump Administration's decision on the Iran deal. Bonds and MBS are down small. 

The Administration is set to announce later today whether they intend to stay in the Iranian deal or abandon it. Oil has been rallying on expectations Trump will leave. 

Jerome Powell said that market expectations (i.e. the Fed Funds futures) are more or less in alignment with the Fed's expectations for the future path of interest rates. The December Fed funds futures are predicting about a 10% chance of one more hike this year, a 44% chance of 2 more and a 39% chance of 3 more. Over the past month, the central tendency has become more hawkish. 

Small Business Optimism remains strong, according to the NFIB. More businesses are planning on increasing capital expenditures, while hiring remains strong and we are seeing evidence of increased compensation. Profitability increased as well, which indicates that productivity is increasing, and that some of this CAPEX is going towards labor-saving technology. Finding qualified workers continues to be the biggest issue surrounding small business. “There is no question that small business is booming,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “Consumer spending, the new tax law, and lower regulatory barriers are all supporting the surge in optimism across all small business industry sectors.”

Despite the hurricane-related spike in delinquences, overall DQ rates have been falling, according to CoreLogic. Home price appreciation, in addition to more stringent underwriting standards are the driving force behind it. The foreclosure rate is down from 0.8% to 0.5%, and the 30 day DQ rate is down to 4.8% from 5.0%. As you would expect, TX and FL are experiencing rising DQ rates, but the rest of the nation is down. 

Tesla stock has more or less recovered from its conference call induces swoon from last week. The bonds are at the lows however, trading at 88. Note there is a divergence also in NFLX, which has bonds in the low 90s, while the stock is a highflyer. 

NYS AG Eric Schneiderman resigned from office after reports came out that he abused 4 women. Schneiderman was an AG cut in the same cloth as Eliot Spitzer, and hated the financial industry about as much as he did (FWIW the feeling was mutual). When Spitzer announced his resignation, cheers went up on the floor of the NYSE. 

Freddie Mac is getting into the business of providing lines of credit against MSR portfolios. Nonbank servicers face liquidity issues when loans they are servicing go delinquent. They are required to make the mortgage payment to the ultimate investor of the mortgage until the loan is brought current or foreclosed. Banks generally have no problems with this, but nonbank issuers generally don't have the balance sheet to withstand heavy advances activity. Fannie Mae only requires 6 months of advances, but Ginnie Mae has no similar relief. Policymakers are concerned about the ability of nonbank servicers to withstand a period of prolonged stress if delinquencies spike. 

Homebuyer sentiment hit an all-time high according to the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index. "The latest HPSI reading edged up to a new survey high, showing that consumer attitudes remain resilient going into the spring/summer home buying season," said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. "High home prices and good economic conditions helped push the share of Americans who think it’s a good time to sell to a fresh record high. However, the upward trend in the good-time-to-sell share seen since last spring has done little to release more for-sale inventory. The tightest supply in decades, combined with rising mortgage rates from historically low levels, will likely remain a hurdle for mobility and a persistent headwind for home sales."

Morning Report: The Fed maintains rates as expected

Vital Statistics:

			Last	Change
S&P futures			2622	-5.75
Eurostoxx index			385.94	-1.5
Oil (WTI)			67.7	-0.21
10 Year Government Bond Yield				2.94%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage				4.58%

Stocks are lower after the Fed maintained interest rates. Bonds and MBS are up. 

As expected, the Fed maintained its current Fed Funds target yesterday. The money quote: Inflation on a 12-month basis is expected to run near the Committee's symmetric 2 percent objective over the medium term. Risks to the economic outlook appear roughly balanced. The "symmetric" characterization of their inflation target (as opposed to treating the 2% target as a ceiling) gave markets some comfort that the Fed is going to continue its slow upward march in the Fed Funds rate as long as inflation remains around these levels. Bonds initially fell on the news and then rallied. 

The Fed Funds futures are pricing in a 100% chance of a tightening at the June meeting, and the December futures are pricing in one more tightening this year, with a smaller chance of 2. 

Job cuts fell in April after an unusually strong March, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Retail has accounted for the largest share of job cuts this year, followed by health care. For the year, companies have announced around 175,000 job cuts, while announcing 210,000 job plans. C&G uses press releases to count job cuts and hirings, so it necessarily relate to the payroll numbers being put out tomorrow by BLS. 

Productivity rose 0.7% while unit labor costs rose 2.7% in the first quarter, according to BLS. Weak productivity growth has been an issue for a while and is one of the reasons why wage growth has seemed muted. Increases in standards of living are driven by increases in productivity. The increase in unit labor costs may be related to many of the minimum wage hikes we saw at the beginning of the year. Theoretically, the lower the productivity, the less room the Fed has to maneuver. 

Initial Jobless Claims rose slightly to 211,000 which is still close to 50 year lows. 

The service sector continues to expand, albeit at a slower pace than March according to the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index. The respondents echoed the same trade fears as the manufacturers did. Some snippets:

• “Economy is humming along. [Activity in] both residential and commercial construction [is] apparent. Agriculture sector seems to be moderating at these commodity price levels. The international trade situation appears to be shifting on a minute-by-minute basis, which has folks nervous.” (Finance & Insurance)
• "National shortage of Class-A drivers and the increased demand for logistics is resulting in an increase in the cost of goods." (Accommodation & Food Services)
• Construction activity continues to remain strong in the region, resulting in capacity issues and shortages of labor, materials and subcontractors.” (Public Administration)

Bill Gross thinks the upward move in interest rates is pretty much done, and he doesn't see much more of a move from here. “Supply from the Treasury is a factor in addition to what the Fed might do in terms of a mild, bearish tone for U.S. Treasury bonds,” Gross told Bloomberg TV. “I would expect the 10-year to basically meander around 2.80 to perhaps 3.10 or 3.15 for the balance of the year. It’s a hibernating bear market, which means the bear is awake but not really growling.”Of course Bill is talking his book a little, but he is probably right, with the caveat that inflation remains around the 2% level.

Beware of cult stocks once they lose favor with the Street. Tesla's conference call was supposedly a disaster last night, and Elon Musk decided to take questions from You Tube people instead of analysts who were interested in things like cash burn. Comparisons are being drawn to Enron's conference call in the early 00s when Jeff Skilling blew up at analysts which caused people to take a more critical look at the company. Don't forget TSLA bonds have been getting slammed, and that is toxic for a stock with negative cash flow trading over 4x revenues. 

Fannie Mae results are out. The company made $4.3 billion in the first quarter. 

Big fixed income money managers have not had much of an appetite for MBS as QE pushed down returns. That may be changing, as BlackRock and BNP Paribas are allocating more funds to the sector. One big advantage of MBS is liquidity. What does this mean for mortgage originators? Lower rates, at least at the margin.