Retail Sales – The Daily Tearsheet

Morning Report: Retail sales take a dive

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	2776	-72.1
Oil (WTI)	20.03	0.29
10 year government bond yield		0.66%
30 year fixed rate mortgage		3.37%

Stocks are lower this morning on overseas weakness. Bonds and MBS are up.

It is April 15, and taxes are not due. People are starting to get their stimulus checks from the government. The Fed is beginning to advise on how to get the economy started again. On one hand, the economy cannot afford the roughly $25 billion a day in lost output the lockdown costs. On the other hand, if we re-open prematurely and have a second wave of infections, the economic costs could be worse. At the end of the day, people simply aren’t going to put up with this much longer. In places where there are few cases, people are simply going to ignore the edicts out of Washington and get back to work. The local governments are going to look the other way because they need the revenue as badly as people need their paychecks.

Mortgage Applications rose 7% as purchases fell 2% and refis increased 10%. Purchase activity will be muted as in-home showings and appraisal issues are a problem. Separately, the homebuilder sentiment index collapsed in April, from 60 to 30.

Retail sales fell 8.7% in March, as weakness in autos and gasoline was offset by an increase in TP and Purell.

Like the other big banks, Citi’s earnings took a hit as the company reserved $5 billion for expected defaults. Citi’s exposure is less in mortgages than, say Wells, but it is huge in credit cards and commercial real estate.

Industrial production fell 5.4% in March, while manufacturing production fell 6.3%. Capacity Utilization fell from 77% to 72.7%.

If you apply for forbearance, the initial negotiating position for most banks will be that the entire amount will be due immediately at the end of the forbearance period. For what its worth, I suspect this is to deal with the precautionary forbearance borrowers, those who are gaming the system by saying “I think I could get laid off, so I will suspend my mortgage payments for 90 days and keep them in the bank. At the end of the period, I will just send it all in at once.” At the end of the day, the government should have required some sort of proof of hardship. Given that the precautionary forbearance requests will compete with the people who actually need the help, servicers are overwhelmed with requests, and it seems forbearance will go to the borrowers who have the patience and free time to sit on hold for hours. The government really should have considered servicer capacity to handle requests (among other things) when it drafted the law.

Morning Report: Bank earnings looking strong

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	2991	-6.25
Oil (WTI)	52.97	0.14
10 year government bond yield		1.74%
30 year fixed rate mortgage		3.97%

Stocks are lower this morning as bank earnings come in. Bonds and MBS are down.

Retail Sales disappointed, falling 0.3%, which was lower than expected. Ex autos and gas, they were flat, although August numbers were revised upward across the board. The control group was flat, and sales rose 4.1% YOY.

Mortgage Applications rose 0.5% last week as purchases fell 4% and refis rose 4%. “The ongoing interest rate volatility is impacting a borrowers’ ability to lock in the lowest rate possible. Despite a slight rise in mortgage rates last week, refinance applications increased 4 percent and were 199 percent higher than a year ago,” said Joel Kan, MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Purchase applications slowed for the second week in a row. While near term economic uncertainty is still a factor, other fundamental issues, such as a lack of housing inventory in many markets, is preventing purchase activity from meaningfully rising. However, purchase applications were still much higher than a year ago. This is a reminder that the purchase environment in 2019 continues to be stronger than in 2018.”

Bank earnings are generally looking good, and mortgage backed securities trading desks are doing well as rates have fallen and volumes have picked up. The other side of the coin is that the drop in rates have negatively affected the values of mortgage servicing rights. Wells is a good example: despite a $127 million increase in origination revenue, total mortgage banking revenue fell by $292 million as their servicing book took a $419 million mark-to-market loss.

Morning Report: Bonds down on trade progress with China

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	3017.5	5.25
Oil (WTI)	55.37	0.44
10 year government bond yield		1.83%
30 year fixed rate mortgage		3.90%

Stocks are higher this morning after further progress on trade talks with China. Bonds and MBS are down.

China walked back some proposed tariffs on US agricultural products after Trump agreed to delay some additional tariffs. Commodities in general are up on the news.

Retail Sales rose 0.4% MOM in August, according to Census. July was revised upward to an increase of 0.8% from an increase of 0.7%. This was the back-to-school shopping season, so it gives a good indication that this year’s holiday shopping season will be strong as well. Given that consumption accounts for 70% of GDP, we might see some upward revisions in Q3 and Q4 estimates.

Mortgage credit availability declined in August, according to the MBA. “Credit supply declined across the board in August, even as mortgage rates fell and application activity picked up, particularly for refinances,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. “Last month’s decrease was the largest since December 2018, and also the first tightening we have seen for conventional loans all year. We anticipate some weakening of the job market in the year ahead as economic growth cools. It’s possible some lenders may be tightening credit in expectation of a slowdown.” Some contraction was expected for VA due to the new rules, but it is surprising to see it in the other buckets.

The Trump Admin is working to end Fannie and Freddie’s net profits sweep in September. “We expect a deal prior to Sept. 30 in which Fannie and Freddie will stop paying a quarterly dividend to Treasury,” Cowen Managing Director Jaret Seiberg wrote in the note. “Instead, they will pay a commitment fee for the outstanding preferred capital line. This means they can retain the rest of their profits in order to rebuild capital.”

Morning Report: Strong retail sales

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	2857	14.5
Oil (WTI)	54.92	-0.64
10 year government bond yield		1.59%
30 year fixed rate mortgage		3.84%

Stocks are up after strong retail sales numbers. Bonds and MBS are flat. The German Bund hit a new low this morning, trading at negative 66 basis points.

Strong retail sales numbers out this morning. The headline number was up 0.7%, well above the Street expectations of 0.4%. The control group, which strips out volatile gas and autos, was up 1.0% MOM, exceeding the Street estimate by 0.7%. Note that Trump’s delay of Chinese tariffs means they won’t hit until mid-December, or after the holiday shopping season. These numbers bode well for the back-to-school shopping season, which is the second most important of the year. Note that Walmart also reported strong numbers this morning, another bellwether for the retail sector. Expect strategists to take up their GDP estimates on these figures.

In other economic news, initial jobless claims rose to 220,000 last week, while industrial production fell 0.2% MOM and rose half a percent YOY. Capacity Utilization fell to 77.5%. The industrial and manufacturing numbers are probably influenced by trade.

Productivity rose 2.3% in the second quarter, way more than expectations as output rose 1.9%, hours worked fell 0.4% and compensation rose 4.8%. The biggest surprise however came in the revisions, where compensation in the first quarter was revised upward from -1.5% to +5.5%! These are inflation-adjusted numbers, so we had real compensation growth of 5.2% in the first half of the year. Where was the growth strongest? Manufacturing.

With the inversion of the yield curve, the business press is chattering about an imminent recession. Don’t buy it. Most of them are talking their partisan book and are sticking with their preferred narrative: (Trump’s trade war is causing a recession!). It helps that it is the most convenient and easy to explain scenario, and let’s face it: it is hard to talk about overseas interest rates when most journalists wouldn’t know a Bund if it bit them in the begonias. Reality check: you generally don’t get recessions with a dovish Fed, unemployment at 50 year lows, strong consumer spending and accelerating wage growth. In fact, the bullish case is that with strong wage growth, overseas deflation keeping inflation in check, and a dovish Fed, you could see what a scenario similar to the mid / late 90s. Food for thought.

The new FHA guidance for condos is available in its unpublished form here. The new rule will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register (which should be any day now) and will make more condos eligible for FHA insurance.

Home prices rose 3% in July, according to Redfin. “July home prices and sales were weaker than I had expected, especially given that falling mortgage rates have been luring homebuyers back to the market since early spring,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “Even though we’ve seen increased interest from homebuyers—especially compared to a year ago when mortgage rates were climbing—uncertainties in the overall economy and talk of a looming recession have people feeling jittery about making a huge purchase and investment. But I think the odds are that we won’t see a recession within the next year. If rates stay low and the economy continues to grow, we’ll see more homebuyers come back in a serious way in 2020, and the market will be much more competitive.” Home sales were down 3.4%, while supply fell by the same amount. In terms of price, the previously hot markets of San Jose and Seattle fell, while many of the laggards (like Cleveland and Rochester) rose.

Morning Report: Jamie Dimon throws cold water on mortgage banking

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	2898.75	-1.5
Eurostoxx index	390.41	0.82
Oil (WTI)	63.91	0.15
10 year government bond yield		2.56%
30 year fixed rate mortgage		4.32%

Stocks are lower as we await the Mueller report. Bonds and MBS are up on weak European data.

Initial Jobless claims fell to 192,000, yet another sub-200,000 print.

Retail sales came in better than expected, rising 1.6% MOM, ahead of the 0.9% Street expectation. Ex autos, they rose 1.2% and ex autos and gas, they rose 0.9%. The economy may well be re-accelerating as we finish the first quarter and enter the second.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller will hold a press conference this morning and release a redacted version of the report to Congress before noon. At this point, everyone’s mind is already made up, so this is just a formality. I don’t expect this to be market moving.

Bonds will close early today and the markets will be closed tomorrow in observance of Good Friday.

Jamie Dimon sounded pessimistic on the mortgage business and blamed regulators during the JP Morgan earnings call.:

“In the early 2000s, bad mortgage laws helped create the Great Recession of 2008. Today, bad mortgage rules are hindering the healthy growth of the U.S. economy. Because there are so many regulators involved in crafting the new rules, coupled with political intervention that isn’t always helpful, it is hard to achieve the much-needed mortgage reform. This has become a critical issue and one reason why banks have been moving away from significant parts of the mortgage business.”

Because of post-crisis capital rules, “owning mortgages becomes hugely unprofitable,” Dimon lamented later in his note. On a call with analysts, he called mortgage servicing – the bookkeeping for regular customer payments – hard. “You got to look at that and ask a lot of questions about whether banks should even be in it,” Dimon said.

If not banks, then, who should be “in it”? “Non-banks are becoming competitors,” Dimon told analysts.

FWIW, Wells Fargo was a bit more constructive on the mortgage banking business, but since they are currently in Elizabeth Warren’s doghouse, it probably makes more sense for them to not poke the bear.

Independent mortgage banks and subsidiaries of chartered banks made an average profit of $367 per loan in 2018, down from the $711 they made in 2917, according to the MBA. “Despite a healthy economy in 2018, the mortgage market suffered, as rate hikes hurt refinancing volume and low housing inventories priced some potential homebuyers out of the purchase market,” said Marina Walsh, MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis. “For mortgage companies, there was the perfect storm of lower production revenues combined with rising expenses, which together contributed to the lowest net production income per loan since 2008.” Expenses rose to a study high of $8,278 per loan. Servicing helped pull some firms into the black, as those that retain servicing were more profitable than those that did not. That said, there is probably a size bias at work there as well.

Herman Cain might not have the votes in the Senate to get confirmed to the Fed.

Morning Report: Consumer inflation remains muted

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	2787	2
Eurostoxx index	372.85	-1
Oil (WTI)	57.27	0.47
10 year government bond yield		2.65%
30 year fixed rate mortgage		4.32%

Stocks are higher with a general “risk-on” feel to the tape. Bonds and MBS are down.

Lael Brainard speaks this morning and then the Fed enters its quiet period ahead of next week’s FOMC meeting.

Consumer inflation rose 0.4% MOM in February. Ex-food and energy, the index rose 0.4% and is up 2.1% YOY. Inflation remains under control, which should give the Fed the leeway to hold the line on rates next week. Falling energy prices at the end of 2018 helped keep the index under control, and we are seeing evidence that medical costs are finally stabilizing. Medical goods fell 1% MOM and services were flat. Stabilizing medical costs should translate into stable health insurance costs, which leaves more room for wage increases.

Retail Sales in January rose 0.2%, a touch higher than expectations. Those looking for a big rebound after December’s anemic numbers were disappointed. Given the strong consumption numbers in Q4 GDP, the holiday shopping season remains a bit of a mystery. The government shutdown is a possible explanation, and while it certainly hit the shops at Tyson’s Corner, the rest of the nation was unaffected. Note that the Fed’s consumer credit report showed that revolving credit increased only 1.1% in December and 2.9% in January, both well below run rates we have seen in the months leading up to it

Nancy Pelosi doesn’t support impeaching Trump. This is probably a tacit admission that the Mueller report isn’t going to contain anything we don’t already know.

Small business optimism rebounded in February. Earnings trends fell as many contractors were temporarily sidelined due to the government shutdown. Employment trends also slipped, probably for the same reason. Plans for expansion rose, however they are still below levels we saw in 2017-2018, which were extremely strong. Actual hires were the highest in years, and small business still finds a shortage of qualified workers. I am curious as to whether the “shortage of qualified workers” means (a) nobody around knows how to do the job, (b) nobody around knows how to do the job and can pass a drug test, or (c) nobody around that knows how to do the job will accept what I am willing to pay.

Morning Report: Retail sales strong

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	2432.5	-38.5
Eurostoxx index	331.96	-3.2
Oil (WTI)	45.4	-0.32
10 year government bond yield		2.77%
30 year fixed rate mortgage		4.60%

Stocks are lower this morning after yesterday’s furious rally. Bonds and MBS are up.

Was there any particular catalyst for yesterday’s move in stocks? Not really. Markets don’t go up in a straight line, and they don’t go down in a straight line either. Bonds sold off heavily, but you didn’t see as much action in TBAs. They were down, but not like the 10 year. TBAs have been lagging the move in the bond markets anyway.

Home prices rose 5.5% in October, matching the move we saw in September. The usual suspects saw the biggest increases: Las Vegas, and San Francisco. Phoenix is now showing strength as well. Affordability remains the most pressing issue: “Home prices in most parts of the U.S. rose in October from September and from a year earlier,” says
David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The combination of higher mortgage rates and higher home prices rising faster than incomes and wages means fewer people can afford to buy a house. Fixed rate 30-year mortgages are currently 4.75%, up from 4% one year earlier. Home prices are up 54%, or 40% excluding inflation, since they bottomed in 2012. Reduced affordability is slowing sales of both new and existing single family homes. Sales peaked in November 2017 and have drifted down since then.”

Retail sales were the strongest in 13 years for last week, with same store sales up 7.8%. Since consumption is 70% of the economy, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some strategists bumping up their Q4 GDP estimates.

Note that due to the government shutdown, the Commerce Department won’t be releasing economic numbers. We won’t be able to get tax transcripts out of the IRS, but FHFA should be running normally, so you should be able to get case numbers for FHA loans, and Ginnie Mae securitization markets should function normally.

The Trump Administration expressed confidence in Jerome Powell, and said that he is safe. There is a precedent for the President showing Fed Chairmen the door – Jimmy Carter dumped G. William Miller after a year on the job, though he kicked him upstairs to Treasury and nominated Paul Volcker.

Morning Report: Fed week

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	2603.75	-1
Eurostoxx index	345.16	-2.05
Oil (WTI)	51.84	0.64
10 year government bond yield		2.88%
30 year fixed rate mortgage		4.72%

Stocks are flattish as we head into Fed week. Bonds and MBS are flat.

The Fed will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the official announcement scheduled for 2:00 pm Wednesday. The markets are anticipating a 25 basis point hike, but the action will be in the forecasts and in the dot plot.

We actually do have some interesting data this week with the NAHB Housing market Index later today, housing starts, and existing home sales. We will also get the third revision to Q3 GDP on Friday.

Retail Sales rose 0.2% in November, in line with forecasts, and well below October’s torrid levels. The control group, which strips out volatile food, energy, and building product prices, rose 0.9%, which was well above forecasts. FWIW, the retail sector looks to have a good holiday shopping season.

The NY Fed’s is predicting 2.4% GDP growth for the 4th quarter. While this is a drop from the third quarter’s 3.5% pace, it is still a decent number. Much will hinge on December retail sales. Note that strategists are beginning to worry about 2019, and PIMCO is saying that recession signs are “flashing yellow.” FWIW, while there is a bit of a slowdown in housing, wages are increasing and that should pump consumption. IMO, the business press is talking their ideological book a lot here – they don’t like Trump, so they are generally pessimistic, and that is feeding into their outlook.

Congress and the President need to get a stopgap budget passed this week, and there is all sorts of partisan posturing over border security. Are we going to get a shutdown? Perhaps. Trump wants something like $5 billion for the border wall, and the Democrats are only willing to spend $1.6 billion in “border security.” For the record, $5 billion is chump change in Washington – so this isn’t about money. The D base loathes Trump and the Wall has become a sort of MacGuffin for partisans on both sides. For originators, if the government shuts down, most government lending will be just fine, but tax transcripts will probably be unavailable.

Morning Report: Mortgage delinquenices fall

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	2824	-16.5
Eurostoxx index	380.78	-4.14
Oil (WTI)	66.49	-0.55
10 Year Government Bond Yield		2.86%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage		4.58%

Stocks are lower this morning on overseas weakness. Bonds and MBS are up.

Kind of a mixed bag with economic data this morning.

Retail Sales came in well above expectations in July, with the headline number rising 0.5%. The control group, which excludes autos, gas, and building materials was up the same amount. While July’s numbers were strong, June’s estimate was revised downward, so expect to see a downward revision on Q2 GDP from the first estimate of 4.1%.

Mortgage Applications fell 2% last week as purchases fell 3% and refis were flat. The typical mortgage rate fell 3 basis points, which helped push refis up to 37.6% of all mortgages.

Productivity increased 2.9% as output increased 4.8% and hours worked increased 1.9%. Compensation costs increased 2%, so with the productivity gain, unit labor costs fell 0.9%. This will certainly make the Fed happy, as higher productivity leads to higher non-inflationary wage growth and higher standards of living. This is the preliminary estimate for the second quarter and will be subject to revision.

Industrial production only managed a 0.1% gain in July, and manufacturing production was up 0.3%. June numbers were revised sharply higher, so that offset the weakness. Capacity Utilization was flat at 78.1%.

Homebuilder confidence slipped last month to the lowest in a year as labor shortages and higher material prices dampen sentiment. “The good news is that builders continue to report strong demand for new housing, fueled by steady job and income growth along with rising household formations,” said NAHB Chairman Randy Noel, a homebuilder from LaPlace, La. “However, they are increasingly focused on growing affordability concerns, stemming from rising construction costs, shortages of skilled labor and a dearth of buildable lots.”

Despite the strong economic news, we are starting to see a bit of a risk-off trade in the structured credit market. Bank of America has gone negative on structured products and agency MBS. This means that mortgage spreads are widening which will either lead to higher mortgage rates or lower profit margins (probably a bit of both). That said, B of A is calling for a flattening of the yield curve, which will offset the wider spreads at least somewhat.

The strong economy is lowering delinquencies, according to CoreLogic. The 30 day + DQ rate fell from 4.5% to 4.2% in May. Seriously delinquent rates are lower overall, except for the hurricane hit states of Florida and Texas. The California wildfires have the potential to goose up DQ rates in the coming months.

Morning Report: Empire State Outlook dims

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P futures	2802	-1
Eurostoxx index	383.92	-1.14
Oil (WTI)	69.81	-1.2
10 Year Government Bond Yield		2.84%
30 Year fixed rate mortgage		4.50%

Markets are flattish as earnings season gets into full swing. Bonds and MBS are flat.

Oil is dropping after US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the US could waive some Iranian oil sanctions.

Bank of America reported decent earnings this morning. This is a big week for earnings, with about 200 major companies reporting. The early part of reporting season is generally dominated by the banks.

Jerome Powell will testify in front of Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. Generally these events don’t yield much in the way of useful info – they are mainly for the benefit of politicians who want to draw attention to some issue that may or may not relate to monetary policy. Expect a lot of questions regarding how a trade war and income inequality will affect growth from Democrats, and expect a lot of questions regarding regulation from Republicans. The prepared remarks are here.

Retail Sales rose 0.5% in June, which was in line with expectations. Ex-autos and gas they rose 0.3% while the control group was flat. May numbers were revised upward. The control group was below expectations, but with the May revisions offset that. Discretionary items (clothing, sporting goods, department stores) declined, which building materials and furnishings rose.

Business Inventories rose 0.4% in May. The inventory-to-sales ratio is down to 1.34 from 1.39 last year.

Business activity in New York State exhibited continued strength in June, according to the New York Fed’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey. While the current conditions index exhibited strength, the outlook has slipped. The survey doesn’t say whether this is being driven by a potential trade war or something else. Planned capital expenditures (a proxy for expansion plans) decreased.

The Atlanta Fed took up their Q2 GDP estimate to 3.9%. Morgan Stanley warns that we are seeing a bit of a sugar rush in the economy courtesy of trade tensions. As companies worry about a potential trade war, they stockpile raw materials and other inputs. This gooses the inventory numbers which makes the current quarter look particularly strong. The problem is that you get a double whammy if the trade war materializes. Activity will drop, and that inventory will be liquidated, both of which will reduce GDP growth. Even if a trade war doesn’t happen, uncertainty could cause companies to pull in their horns. FWIW, I am skeptical of the “uncertainty” argument. Regulatory “uncertainty” out of DC generally causes companies to be cautious. The rest of the clatter is just noise. Certainly investors (judging by the S&P 500) aren’t worried.

One stat to watch: Corporate bond spreads. We are seeing a slight widening in some of the junkier investment grade debt. Baa spreads increased to 200 basis points from 165 in February. While spreads are still tight relative to historic levels, this is something to watch. Years of financial repression have given issuers the upper hand with regards to covenants and some of those chickens will come home to roost in the next recession.