by Calculated Risk on 7/05/2011 06:57:00 PM

From Ronald White at the LA Times: Gas prices aren't likely to drop much more this summer

California's average price fell 4.5 cents a gallon in the last week ... Prices have dropped an average of 46.3 cents a gallon since May 2, the [Energy Department's Energy Information Administration ]said.

Nationally, the price rose an average of 0.5 cent to $3.579 a gallon, largely because of continuing problems with refineries in the Midwest ... The national average peaked at $3.965 a gallon on May 9.

The gasbuddy.com data shows a similar decline (graph below).

This price decline is good news, but it just takes us back close to the March levels - when it appeared gasoline prices were already a drag on economic activity. That is when Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) growth slowed, and consumer sentiment fell sharply.

Still this is better than $4 per gallon ...

Orange County Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com

by Calculated Risk on 7/05/2011 03:20:00 PM

There are a few interesting pieces of data in this article ...

From Jon Lansner at the O.C. Register: 1st gain in O.C. construction jobs in 4 years

The number of Orange County construction workers in May was 200 jobs higher than a year ago. That’s no hiring spree but it’s the first year-over-year gain since December 2006.
...
This is not the only sign of stability in Orange County construction. Local builders pulled 935 building permits in May. That’s up fourfold in a year — and the most for a May in nine years, according to figures from the Construction Industry Research Board.

Cypress Village, an Irvine Co. apartment complex in northern Irvine, accounted for nearly three-fourths of the total permits issued in May and pushed multi-family permits to a 22-year high for May. But it wasn’t all rentals. May’s 250 single-family building permits were the most for that type of Orange County housing in a May in four years.

One of my predictions for 2011 was that residential construction employment would increase nationally for the first time since 2005. This table below shows the annual change in construction jobs (total, residential and non-residential) and through May for 2011.

	Annual Change in Payroll jobs (000s)
Year	Total Construction Jobs	Residential Construction Jobs	Non-Residential
2002	-85	88	-173
2003	127	161	-34
2004	290	230	60
2005	416	268	148
2006	152	-62	214
2007	-198	-273	75
2008	-787	-510	-277
2009	-1053	-431	-622
2010	-149	-113	-36
Through May 2011	31	22	9

Not much - but it is a start.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the number of construction payroll jobs (blue line), and the number of construction jobs as a percent of total non-farm payroll jobs (red line).

Construction employment is down 2.197 million jobs from the peak in April 2006, but up 31 thousand jobs so far this year (through May).

Unfortunately this graph is a combination of both residential and non-residential construction employment. The BLS only started breaking out residential construction employment fairly recently (residential building employees in 1985, and residential specialty trade contractors in 2001). Usually residential investment (and residential construction) lead the economy out of recession, and non-residential construction usually lags the economy. Because this graph is a blend, it masks the usual pickup in residential construction following previous recessions. Of course residential investment didn't lead the economy this time because of the huge overhang of existing housing units.

Also note the pickup in single family permits mentioned in Lansner's article (that fits with my thoughts yesterday).

I think this employment change - from layoffs to some small employment increases - is a kind of a big story.

by Calculated Risk on 7/05/2011 02:18:00 PM

Bloomberg reports that Moody's downgrades Portugal to Ba2 with a negative outlook.

This is a reminder that the financial crisis in Europe doesn't stop with Greece.

by Calculated Risk on 7/05/2011 11:09:00 AM

From the American Bankruptcy Institute: Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Down 8 Percent Through the First Half of 2011

U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings totaled 709,303 nationwide during the first six months of 2011 (Jan. 1-June 30), an 8 percent decrease from the 770,117 total consumer filings during the same period a year ago, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center (NBKRC). The overall June consumer filing total of 119,768 represented a 5 percent decrease from the 126,270 filings recorded in June 2010.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the non-business bankruptcy filings by quarter using monthly data from the ABI and previous quarterly data from USCourts.gov.

Note: The spike in 2005 was due to the so-called "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005". (a good example of Orwellian named legislation).

It is possible that consumer bankruptcy filings peaked in 2010, but they will probably stay elevated for some time.

by Calculated Risk on 7/05/2011 08:45:00 AM

From Bloomberg: Trichet May Save Face With S&P, Fitch Greece Moves: Euro Credit

Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings may enable European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet to support a private investor rollover of Greek debt by saying a default rating would be partial and temporary.

Many observers think the ECB will back down and still accept Greek government bonds as collateral.

By saying the default is temporary - and if at least one rating agency keeps the Greek government bonds above a default rating (even if the rating agency lowers Greece's issuer rating to “restricted default”) - this could give the ECB wiggle room to keep accepting Greek government bonds as collateral.

The policymakers appear to have a couple of months to find a solution. The yield for Greek 2 year bonds are up to 27% this morning, and the 10 year yield is at 16.5%. Portuguese and Irish 10 year yields are at (11.6% for Ireland, 11% for Portugal).