The problem with talking about inflation, and there is a lot of it recently, is conflation. Modern measures and concepts about pricing mash together every kind and form to create something that doesn’t really mean what was intended. On the “up” side we have monetary debasement coupling with orthodox concepts of “pricing power” and thrown together with supply shortages and [...]
It is only one word, but it has been repeated so many times by FOMC members in the past year or so it has taken on the imprimatur of officialdom vernacular. Whenever speaking of bubbles, these policymakers inevitably include the word, “obvious.” Long is the list of internal literature that purports to place bubbles in the same category with the [...]
Real estate markets continued the blistering pace of new home sales in June, according to Census Bureau estimates. Year-over-year, seasonally adjusted growth was 38.1% to an annual rate of 497,000; the highest level since May 2008. On an unadjusted basis, there were 48,000 new homes sold in the US in June, up 41% Y/Y. In the wider historical context, the [...]
When even Eric Rosengren, Boston Fed President, is thinking about “tapering” you know something is a tad askew in FOMC-land. Again and again, these doves (including Charles Evans at the head of the Chicago Fed branch) had advocated the heaviest of hands of monetary intervention. QE 3 & 4 could not have been big enough for this cabal. Now in [...]
"More than 17 percent of all FHA loans were delinquent in September, according to data on the agency’s website." I believe that number was 9% last quarter. Of course not all delinquencies turn into bad loans, or full-on NPL's, but both the trend and absolute level should be alarming. The major problem, however, seems to be the mortgage guarantee business [...]
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