It is amazing how much “we” forget in the entire short space of “cycles.” That may be a function of an overload of information coming in from all sides, but I doubt it. I have always thought that more was better in that regard. Instead, I prefer to think of it as another monetary corruption. I am speaking about the [...]
I want to believe markets are efficient and incorporate "all" the possible permutations as best as possible, but I don't think that is the case under current conditions. Whatever efficiency there has been, or whatever may have been exhibited in the past, was degraded by financial engineering, and not just interest rate targeting by the Fed and other central bank [...]
With last week’s release of the Financial Accounts of the United States (formerly known as the Flow of Funds; still designated Z1 by the Fed’s system) we can add to yesterday’s examination about bubbles and market risk. Putting the figures together, the composite picture is one where stocks are as stretched in terms of valuations to a degree only seen [...]
The actual total accumulated balance for margin debt in reported stock accounts fell in July from June’s record amount. But even with a decline in stock-related debt investors moved even further toward complacency, as declines in free credit and available cash more than outpaced the drop in margin. As a result, net worth has never been lower as we have [...]
New home sales rose on a year-over-year basis, but the adjusted figures suggest that says more about softness in July 2013 than strength in July 2014. Whatever the case may actually be, the seasonally-adjusted rate of home sales has been quite disappointing after the “surge” post-winter. In fact, that bounce has been all but revised away, leaving what looks like [...]
Shorter version on secular stagnation and Jackson Hole equivocation on QE's end: “We had to blow bubbles because that’s the only way to get the economy to grow, and now we have to start thinking about the inevitable consequences of that.” As does the bond market. There is nothing yet, however, to break the rationalization streak in stocks. **Shiller CAPE [...]
Existing home sales rose again in July from a downward revised June, as the monthly change of 2.4% matched June’s revised increase over May. The yearly comparisons still continue to lag, as does the overall trend after the massive interruption that began last autumn. As the pace of sales has come back somewhat in 2014, the number of properties for [...]
While the orthodoxy continues to try to reassure everyone that the economy is still moving to plan, revised innumerably over the years imperceptible as progress has been, there are signs that even mainstream outlets are at least starting to question whether or not that is actually preferable. Not a lot of dots are connected yet, and certainly not from A [...]
Gallup’s latest figures on consumer spending in June put to rest any idea of a major surge, completing a picture of the second quarter that is far more tepid than any weather-related symmetry with the first would have you believe. It has been an ongoing theme for several weeks as incoming estimates (aside from sentiment surveys that never mean what [...]
Existing home sales re-attained the 5 million SAAR level again in June, but that remains well behind last year’s trajectory. In other words, the bounce in sales after the most recent trough is not nearly as robust as predicted when it was simply assumed that the housing market would just revert back to 2013’s trend. In terms of yearly comps, [...]
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