by Calculated Risk on 4/29/2013 08:35:00 PM

Earlier today from LPS: U.S. Home Prices Up 1.0 Percent for the Month; Up 7.3 Percent Year-Over-Year. LPS reported their House Price Index increased to $210,000 in February, up from $208,000 or 1.0% from January - and up from $196,000 or 7.3% from February 2012. The LPS index is 20.6% below the peak in 2006.

Tuesday economic releases:
• At 9:00 AM ET, the S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index for February will be released. Although this is the February report, it is really a 3 month average of December, January and February. The consensus is for a 9.0% year-over-year increase in the Composite 20 index (NSA) for February. The Zillow forecast is for the Composite 20 to increase 8.9% year-over-year, and for prices to increase 0.7% month-to-month seasonally adjusted.

• At 9:45 AM, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for April. The consensus is for the index to be unchanged at 52.4.

• At 10:00 AM, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index for April. The consensus is for the index to increase to 62.0 from 59.7.

• Also at 10:00 AM, the Census Bureau will release the Q1 Housing Vacancies and Homeownership report. This report is frequently mentioned by analysts and the media to report on the homeownership rate, and the homeowner and rental vacancy rates. However, this report doesn't track other measures (like the decennial Census and the ACS) and this survey probably shouldn't be used to estimate the excess vacant housing supply.

by Calculated Risk on 4/29/2013 04:56:00 PM

The BEA released the underlying details for the Q1 advance GDP report today.

The first graph is for Residential investment (RI) components as a percent of GDP. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, RI includes new single family structures, multifamily structures, home improvement, broker's commissions, and a few minor categories (dormitories, manufactured homes).

A few key points:
1) Usually the most important components are investment in single family structures followed by home improvement. However home improvement has been the top category for eighteen consecutive quarters, but that is about to change. Investment in single family structures should be the top category again by Q2 or Q3.

2) Even though investment in single family structures has increased significantly from the bottom, single family investment is still very low - and still below the bottom for previous recessions. I expect further increases over the next few years.

3) Look at the contribution from Brokers' commissions. This is the category related to existing home sales (this is the contribution to GDP from existing home sales). If existing home sales are flat, or even decline due to fewer foreclosures, this will have little impact on residential investment.

Click on graph for larger image.

Investment in home improvement was at a $161 billion Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) in Q1 (about 1.0% of GDP), still above the level of investment in single family structures of  (corrected) $157 billion (SAAR) (or 0.98% of GDP).  Single family structure investment will probably overtake home improvement as the largest category of residential investment next quarter.

The second graph shows investment in offices, malls and lodging as a percent of GDP. Office, mall and lodging investment has increased slightly, but from a very low level.

Investment in offices is down about 54% from the recent peak (as a percent of GDP). With the high office vacancy rate, investment will probably not increase significantly (as a percent of GDP) for several years - even though there has been some increase in the Architecture Billings Index lately.

Investment in multimerchandise shopping structures (malls) peaked in 2007 and is down about 65% from the peak (note that investment includes remodels, so this will not fall to zero).   The vacancy rate for malls is still very high, so investment will probably stay low for some time.

Lodging investment peaked at 0.32% of GDP in Q2 2008 and is down about 75%.   With the hotel occupancy rate close to normal, it is possible that hotel investment will increase this year.

These graphs show there is currently very little investment in offices, malls and lodging. And residential investment is starting to pickup, but from a very low level.

by Calculated Risk on 4/29/2013 01:05:00 PM

Weekly Update: One of key questions for 2013 is Will Housing inventory bottom this year?. Since this is a very important question, I'm tracking inventory weekly this year. 

In normal times, there is a clear seasonal pattern for inventory, with the low point for inventory in late December or early January, and then peaking in mid-to-late summer.

The Realtor (NAR) data is monthly and released with a lag.  However Ben at Housing Tracker (Department of Numbers) has provided me some weekly inventory data for the last several years. This is displayed on the graph below as a percentage change from the first week of the year (to normalize the data).

In 2010 (blue), inventory mostly followed the normal seasonal pattern, however in 2011 and 2012, there was only a small increase in inventory early in the year, followed by a sharp decline for the rest of the year.

Click on graph for larger image.

Note: the data is a little weird for early 2011 (spikes down briefly).

In 2010, inventory was up 15% by the end of March, and close to 20% by the end of April.

For 2011 and 2012, inventory only increased about 5% at the peak and then declined for the remainder of the year.

So far in 2013, inventory is up 12.1%. This is well above the peak percentage increases for 2011 and 2012 and suggests to me that inventory is near the bottom. It is possible that inventory could bottom this year - especially if inventory is up 15% to 18% from the seasonal lows by mid-to-late summer.

It will probably be close.  Inventory might have already bottomed in early 2013, or might bottom in early 2014.   This will be important for price increases ... once inventory starts to increase (more than seasonal), buyer urgency will wane, and I expect price increases will slow.

by Calculated Risk on 4/29/2013 10:38:00 AM

This is the last of the regional manufacturing surveys for April. From the Dallas Fed: Growth in Texas Manufacturing Activity Stalls

Texas factory activity was flat in April, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, fell from 9.9 to -0.5. The near-zero reading indicates output was little changed from March levels.

Ebbing growth in manufacturing activity was reflected in other survey measures as well. The capacity utilization index came in at 2.7, down from 5.5, and the shipments index fell to zero after rising to 10.6 in March. The new orders index fell nearly 14 points to -4.9, posting its first negative reading this year.

Perceptions of broader business conditions worsened in April. The general business activity index plummeted from 7.4 to -15.6, reaching its lowest level since July 2012.

Labor market indicators remained mixed. The employment index has been in positive territory so far in 2013 and moved up to 6.3 in April. ... The hours worked index pushed further negative, from -2.4 to -6.5.
emphasis added

Here is a graph comparing the regional Fed surveys and the ISM manufacturing index:

Click on graph for larger image.

The New York and Philly Fed surveys are averaged together (dashed green, through April), and five Fed surveys are averaged (blue, through April) including New York, Philly, Richmond, Dallas and Kansas City. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) PMI (red) is through March (right axis).

The ISM index for April will be released Wednesday, May 1st, and these surveys suggest a lower reading, possibly even at or below 50 (contraction).

by Calculated Risk on 4/29/2013 10:00:00 AM

From the NAR: March Pending Home Sales Improve but Overall Pace Leveling

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 1.5 percent to 105.7 in March from a downwardly revised 104.1 in February, and is 7.0 percent above March 2012 when it was 98.8. Pending sales have been above year-ago levels for the past 23 months; the data reflect contracts but not closings.
...
The PHSI in the Northeast was unchanged at 82.8 in March and is 6.3 percent higher than March 2012. In the Midwest the index increased 0.3 percent to 103.8 in March and is 13.7 percent above a year ago. Pending home sales in the South rose 2.7 percent to an index of 120.0 in March and are 10.4 percent higher than March 2012. In the West the index increased 1.5 percent in March to 102.9 but is 4.3 percent below a year ago.

Contract signings usually lead sales by about 45 to 60 days, so this would usually be for closed sales in April and May.

As I've noted several times, with limited inventory at the low end and fewer foreclosures, we might see flat or even declining existing home sales. The key is that the number of conventional sales is increasing while foreclosures and short sales decline - and that is a sign of an improving market, even if total sales decline.

by Calculated Risk on 4/29/2013 08:30:00 AM

The BEA released the Personal Income and Outlays report for March:

Personal income increased $30.9 billion, or 0.2 percent ... in March, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $21.0 billion, or 0.2 percent.
...
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.3 percent in March, the same increase as in February. ... PCE price index -- The price index for PCE decreased 0.1 percent in March, in contrast to an increase of 0.4 percent in February. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased less than 0.1 percent, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent.
...
Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $329.1 billion in March, compared with $330.9 billion in February. The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 2.7 percent in March, the same as in February.

The following graph shows real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) through March (2005 dollars). Note that the y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows real PCE by month for the last few years. The dashed red lines are the quarterly levels for real PCE.   PCE for both January and February were revised down slightly.

As reported on Friday in the advance GDP report, PCE increased at a 3.2% annual rate in Q1. 

A key point is that the PCE price index was only up 1.0% year-over-year (1.1% for core PCE).   Core PCE increased at a 0.4% annualized rate in March.  This will put pressure on the Fed to do more.

by Calculated Risk on 4/28/2013 08:54:00 PM

First a couple of articles ...

From Jon Hilsenrath at the WSJ: Tame Inflation to Keep Fed on Course

With inflation now lower than the Fed wants, officials are likely to conclude their policies show no sign of overheating the economy. That allows them to maintain their $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program ...

Several Fed officials have changed the way they are talking about inflation. In a late March speech, New York Fed President William Dudley described inflation as "below" the Fed target. In mid-April, after new inflation data emerged, he described it as "well below" target, the kind of subtle change central-bank officials often deploy after careful deliberation.

"If inflation is lower and continues to go lower than our target, that would be another reason potentially for not pulling back on our program," said Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Fed, in an interview this month. [James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis] said he would consider supporting an increase in bond purchases if inflation fell much further.

Too little inflation is a growing concern at the Fed.

And from Ben Casselman at the WSJ: Demographics Behind Smaller Workforce. I've discussed the participation rate a number of times - see: Labor Force Participation Rate Update, Understanding the Decline in the Participation Rate and Update: Further Discussion on Labor Force Participation Rate - the key point is that most of the recent decline in the participation rate was expected because of demographics.

Monday economic releases:
• At 8:30 AM ET, The BEA will release the Personal Income and Outlays report for March. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in personal income in March, and for 0.1% increase in personal spending. And for the Core PCE price index to increase 0.1%.

• At 10:00 AM, the NAR will release their Pending Home Sales Index for March. The consensus is for a 0.7% increase in this index.

• At 10:30 AM, the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for April will be released. The consensus is a decrease to 5.0 from 7.4 in March (above zero is expansion).

Weekend:
• Summary for Week ending April 26th
• Schedule for Week of April 28th

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: the S&P futures are down 6 and Dow futures are down 19 (fair value).

Oil prices were up over the last week with WTI futures at $92.56 per barrel and Brent at $102.70 per barrel.

According to Gasbuddy.com, gasoline prices are down about 25 cents over the last 2 months to $3.48 per gallon. Using the calculator from Professor Hamilton, and the current price of Brent crude oil, the national average should be around $3.41 per gallon. That is about 7 cents below the current level according to Gasbuddy.com, so I expect gasoline prices to fall some more.

by Calculated Risk on 4/28/2013 03:09:00 PM

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the FOMC statement expected to be released at 2:00 PM ET on Wednesday.

Expectations are the FOMC will take no action at this meeting (the FOMC will probably not adjust the size of their purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities and Treasury securities).

Since the most recent meeting in March, the incoming data has been a little weaker, so the FOMC will probably adjust the wording of the statement.   For growth, there will probably be some slight changes to the first sentence in the March statement:

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January suggests a return to moderate economic growth following a pause late last year. Labor market conditions have shown signs of improvement in recent months but the unemployment rate remains elevated.

Perhaps something like (from the April 2011 statement):

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March indicates that the economic recovery is proceeding at a moderate pace and overall conditions in the labor market are improving gradually.

A key will be to watch the comments on inflation. From the March meeting:

Inflation has been running somewhat below the Committee's longer-run objective, apart from temporary variations that largely reflect fluctuations in energy prices.

Since then, it appears inflation has fallen even more, even excluding energy prices. Core PCE inflation is probably running close to 1.2% year-over-year, and other key measures of inflation are trending down.   This decline in inflation is probably becoming a concern for some FOMC participants.

As a reminder, here are the quarterly projections from the March meeting.  For GDP,  the Q1 advance report released last week probably wouldn't change the outlook.

GDP projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents
Change in Real GDP1	2013	2014	2015
Mar 2013 Meeting Projections	2.3 to 2.8	2.9 to 3.4	2.9 to 3.7

¹ Projections of change in real GDP and in inflation are from the fourth quarter of the previous year to the fourth quarter of the year indicated.

The unemployment rate was at 7.6% in March, and the outlook for Q4 unemployment probably hasn't changed.

Unemployment projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents
Unemployment Rate2	2013	2014	2015
Mar 2013 Meeting Projections	7.3 to 7.5	6.7 to 7.0	6.0 to 6.5

² Projections for the unemployment rate are for the average civilian unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of the year indicated.

For inflation, PCE inflation was up 1.2% year-over-year in Q1, and only increased at a 0.9% annualized rate in Q1.  This is below the FOMC projected range and is probably a growing concern.

Inflation projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents
PCE Inflation1	2013	2014	2015
Mar 2013 Meeting Projections	1.3 to 1.7	1.5 to 2.0	1.7 to 2.0

The BEA will release core PCE for March tomorrow, and core inflation is also expected to be below the FOMC projections.

Core Inflation projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents
Core Inflation1	2013	2014	2015
Mar 2013 Meeting Projections	1.5 to 1.6	1.7 to 2.0	1.8 to 2.0

by Calculated Risk on 4/28/2013 10:33:00 AM

With public sector jobs down over the last several years (Federal, State and local layoffs), several readers have asked if I could update the graphs comparing public and private sector job losses (or added) for President George W. Bush's two terms (following the stock market bust), and for President Obama tenure in office so far (following the housing bust and financial crisis).

Important: There are many differences between the two periods. Both followed the bursting of a bubble (stock and housing), although the housing bust also led to a severe financial crisis.

The first graph shows the change in private sector payroll jobs from when Mr. Bush took office (January 2001) compared to Mr. Obama's tenure (from January 2009).  

Mr. Bush (red) took office following the bursting of the stock market bubble, and left during the bursting of the housing bubble.  Mr Obama (blue) took office during the financial crisis and great recession.

Click on graph for larger image.

The employment recovery during Mr. Bush's first term was very sluggish, and private employment was down 946,000 jobs at the end of his first term.   At the end of Mr. Bush's second term, private employment was collapsing, and there were net 665,000 jobs lost during Mr. Bush's two terms. 

The recovery has been sluggish under Mr. Obama's presidency too, and there were only 1,933,000 more private sector jobs at the end of Mr. Obama's first term.  A couple of months into Mr. Obama's second term, there are now 2,282,000 more private sector jobs than when he took office.

A big difference between Mr. Bush's tenure in office and Mr. Obama's presidency has been public sector employment. The public sector grew during Mr. Bush's term (up 1,748,000 jobs), but the public sector has declined since Obama took office (down 718,000 jobs). These job losses have mostly been at the state and local level, but they are still a significant drag on overall employment.

Another important difference: I started warning about the housing bubble in 2004, and I started this blog in January 2005 - the beginning of Mr. Bush's 2nd term.  My focus in 2005 was on the housing bubble and coming recession.  Now - at a similar point in Mr. Obama's tenure - I expect the economy to continue to expand, so I don't expect a sharp decline in employment as happened at the end of Mr. Bush's 2nd term.

Yesterday:
• Summary for Week ending April 26th
• Schedule for Week of April 28th

by Calculated Risk on 4/27/2013 04:06:00 PM

This will be a very busy week for economic data. The key report week is the April employment report on Friday.

Other key reports include the Case-Shiller house price index on Tuesday, the ISM manufacturing index on Wednesday, vehicle sales for April also on Wednesday, the March trade report on Thursday, and the ISM service index on Friday.

Also, there is an FOMC meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday.

----- Monday, Apr 29th -----
8:30 AM ET: Personal Income and Outlays for March. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in personal income in March, and for 0.1% increase in personal spending. And for the Core PCE price index to increase 0.1%.

10:00 AM ET: Pending Home Sales Index for March. The consensus is for a 0.7% increase in this index.

10:30 AM: Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for April. The consensus is a decrease to 5.0 from 7.4 in March (above zero is expansion).

----- Tuesday, Apr 30th -----
9:00 AM: S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index for February. Although this is the February report, it is really a 3 month average of December, January and February.

This graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted Composite 10 and Composite 20 indexes through January 2013 (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

The consensus is for a 9.0% year-over-year increase in the Composite 20 index (NSA) for February. The Zillow forecast is for the Composite 20 to increase 8.9% year-over-year, and for prices to increase 0.7% month-to-month seasonally adjusted.

9:45 AM: Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for April. The consensus is for the index to be unchanged at 52.4.

10:00 AM: Conference Board's consumer confidence index for April. The consensus is for the index to increase to 62.0 from 59.7.

10:00 AM: Q1 Housing Vacancies and Homeownership report from the Census Bureau. This report is frequently mentioned by analysts and the media to report on the homeownership rate, and the homeowner and rental vacancy rates. However, this report doesn't track other measures (like the decennial Census and the ACS) and this survey probably shouldn't be used to estimate the excess vacant housing supply.

----- Wednesday, May 1st -----
7:00 AM: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

8:15 AM: The ADP Employment Report for April. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). The consensus is for 155,000 payroll jobs added in April.  

9:00 AM: The Markit US PMI Manufacturing Index for April. The consensus is for a decrease to 52.0 from 54.6 in March.

10:00 AM ET: ISM Manufacturing Index for April. The consensus is for a decrease to 51.0 from 51.3 in March.  Based on the regional surveys, a reading below 50 is possible.

Here is a long term graph of the ISM manufacturing index. The ISM manufacturing index indicated expansion in March at 51.3% in March. The employment index was at 54.2%, and the new orders index was at 51.4%. 

10:00 AM: Construction Spending for March. The consensus is for a 0.6% increase in construction spending.

2:00 PM: FOMC Meeting Announcement.  No change to interest rates or QE purchases is expected at this meeting.

All day: Light vehicle sales for April. The consensus is for light vehicle sales to be at 15.3 million SAAR in March (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate) unchanged from 15.3 SAAR in March.

This graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967. The dashed line is the March sales rate.

----- Thursday, May 2nd -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for claims to increase to 345 thousand from 339 thousand last week.

8:30 AM: Trade Balance report for March from the Census Bureau.

Exports increased in February, and imports were essentially flat.

The consensus is for the U.S. trade deficit to decrease to $42.4 billion in March from $43.0 billion in February.

----- Friday, May 3rd -----
8:30 AM: Employment Report for April. The consensus is for an increase of 153,000 non-farm payroll jobs in April; the economy added 88,000 non-farm payroll jobs in March.

The consensus is for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 7.6% in April.

The second employment graph shows the percentage of payroll jobs lost during post WWII recessions through January.


The economy has added 6.5 million private sector jobs since employment bottomed in February 2010 (5.9 million total jobs added including all the public sector layoffs).

There are still 2.3 million fewer private sector jobs now than when the recession started in 2007.

10:00 AM: ISM non-Manufacturing Index for April. The consensus is for a reading of 54.0, down from 54.4 in March. Note: Above 50 indicates expansion, below 50 contraction.

10:00 AM: Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories and Orders (Factory Orders) for March. The consensus is for a 2.8% decrease in orders.