by Calculated Risk on 9/03/2022 08:11:00 AM

This will be a light week for economic data.

----- Monday, Sept 5th -----
All US markets will be closed in observance of the Labor Day holiday.

----- Tuesday, Sept 6th -----
8:00 AM ET: Corelogic House Price index for July

10:00 AM: the ISM Services Index for August.   The consensus is for a reading of 55.5, down from 56.7.

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

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

This graph shows the U.S. trade deficit, with and without petroleum, through the most recent report. The blue line is the total deficit, and the black line is the petroleum deficit, and the red line is the trade deficit ex-petroleum products.

The consensus is for the U.S. trade deficit to be $70.5 billion in July, from $79.6 billion in June.

At 12:35 PM: Speech, Fed Vice Chair Brainard, Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy, At The Clearing House and Bank Policy Institute Annual Conference, New York, N.Y.

2:00 PM: the Federal Reserve Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts.

----- Thursday, Sept 8th -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for an increase to 240 thousand from 232 thousand last week.

9:10AM: Discussion, Fed Chair Powell, At the Cato Institute’s 40th Annual Monetary Conference

----- Friday, Sept 9th -----
12:00 PM: Q2 Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States from the Federal Reserve.

by Calculated Risk on 9/02/2022 09:09:00 PM

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):

COVID Metrics
	Now	Week Ago	Goal
New Cases per Day2	83,939	91,017	≤5,0001
Hospitalized2	31,020	33,091	≤3,0001
Deaths per Day2	407	422	≤501
1my goals to stop daily posts, 27-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths 🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths ✅ Goal met.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of deaths reported.

Average daily deaths bottomed in July 2021 at 214 per day.

by Calculated Risk on 9/02/2022 02:35:00 PM

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Will House Prices Decline Nationally?

Excerpt:

And yesterday, in an interview with Bilal Hafeez, Ivy Zelman, CEO of Zelman & Associates forecast national house price declines of 4% in 2023, and 5% in 2024: Ivy Zelman on the Coming US Housing Crisis (price discussion starts at around 20:00)

There are some mortgage guard rails that could mitigate nationally a severe downturn, and yet the magnitude of the decline for us - the 4% that we are expecting in 2023, and 5% in 2024 -I feel like it is a starting point … the speed of the declines makes us feel like that maybe that could be conservative. But we could see double digit price corrections [in the] hot markets.

There are some factors arguing against national price declines. ...

But there are also factors arguing for national price declines.

There is much more in the article. You can subscribe at https://calculatedrisk.substack.com/

by Calculated Risk on 9/02/2022 01:14:00 PM

From BofA:

Our 3Q US GDP tracking estimate rose to 1.3% q/q seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR), up from from 0.5% q/q saar last wee [September 2nd estimate]
emphasis added

From Goldman:

[D]ata on employment, auto sales, and factory orders caused our US 3Q GDP tracking estimate to fall by two-tenths, to 1.1% q/q saar, from 1.3% previously. [September 2nd estimate]

And from the Altanta Fed: GDPNow

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2022 is 2.6 percent on September 1, up from 1.6 percent on August 26. [September 1st estimate]

by Calculated Risk on 9/02/2022 11:23:00 AM

The BEA released their estimate of vehicle sales for August this morning.

This graph shows heavy truck sales since 1967 using data from the BEA. The dashed line is the August 2022 seasonally adjusted annual sales rate (SAAR).

Heavy truck sales really collapsed during the great recession, falling to a low of 180 thousand SAAR in May 2009.  Then heavy truck sales increased to a new all-time high of 570 thousand SAAR in April 2019.

Click on graph for larger image.

Note: "Heavy trucks - trucks more than 14,000 pounds gross vehicle weight."

Heavy truck sales declined sharply at the beginning of the pandemic, falling to a low of 308 thousand SAAR in May 2020.  

Heavy truck sales were at 441 thousand SAAR in August, up from 468 thousand in July, and up from 417 thousand SAAR in August 2021.  

Usually, heavy truck sales decline sharply prior to a recession.   Sales were reasonably solid in August.

by Calculated Risk on 9/02/2022 09:16:00 AM

The headline jobs number in the August employment report was above expectations, however employment for the previous two months was revised down by 107,000, combined.   The participation rate increased, pushing up the unemployment rate to 3.7%.  And the employment-population ratio increased slightly. 

Leisure and hospitality gained 31 thousand jobs in August.  At the beginning of the pandemic, in March and April of 2020, leisure and hospitality lost 8.20 million jobs, and are now down 1.12 million jobs since February 2020.  So, leisure and hospitality has now added back about 85% all of the jobs lost in March and April 2020. 

Construction employment increased 16 thousand and is now 84 thousand above the pre-pandemic level. 

Manufacturing added 22 thousand jobs and is now 67 thousand above the pre-pandemic level.

Earlier: August Employment Report: 315 thousand Jobs, 3.7% Unemployment Rate

In August, the year-over-year employment change was 5.84 million jobs.

Prime (25 to 54 Years Old) Participation

Since the overall participation rate has declined due to cyclical (recession) and demographic (aging population, younger people staying in school) reasons, here is the employment-population ratio for the key working age group: 25 to 54 years old.

The 25 to 54 participation rate increased in August to 82.8% from 82.4% in July, and the 25 to 54 employment population ratio increased to 80.3% from 80.0% the previous month.

Both are close to the pre-pandemic levels and indicate almost all of the prime age workers have returned to the labor force.

Part Time for Economic Reasons

From the BLS report:

"The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons was little changed at 4.1 million in August. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full- time jobs."

The number of persons working part time for economic reasons increased in August to 4.149 million from 3.924 million in July. This is below pre-recession levels.

These workers are included in the alternate measure of labor underutilization (U-6) that increased to 7.0% from 6.7% in the previous month. This is down from the record high in April 22.9% for this measure since 1994. This measure is at the same level as in February 2020 (pre-pandemic).

Unemployed over 26 Weeks

This graph shows the number of workers unemployed for 27 weeks or more.

According to the BLS, there are 1.137 million workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks and still want a job, up from 1.067 million the previous month.

This is back to pre-pandemic levels.

Summary:

The headline monthly jobs number was above expectations; however, employment for the previous two months was revised down by 107,000, combined.  

The headline unemployment rate increased to 3.7% due to the increase in the participation rate.

Overall, this was another solid employment report.

by Calculated Risk on 9/02/2022 08:43:00 AM

From the BLS:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 315,000 in August, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and retail trade.
...
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised down by 105,000, from +398,000 to +293,000, and the change for July was revised down by 2,000, from +528,000 to +526,000. With these revisions, employment in June and July combined is 107,000 lower than previously reported.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms.

The current employment recession was by far the worst recession since WWII in percentage terms.

However, 30 months after the onset of the current employment recession, all of the jobs have returned. I'll post this graph through the January 2023 report (includes the annual revision).

The second graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.

In August, the year-over-year change was 5.84 million jobs.  Employment was up significantly year-over-year.

Total payrolls increased by 315 thousand in August.  Private payrolls increased by 308 thousand, and public payrolls increased 7 thousand.

Payrolls for June and July were revised down 107 thousand, combined.

The third graph shows the employment population ratio and the participation rate.

The Labor Force Participation Rate increased to 62.4% in August, from 62.1% in July. This is the percentage of the working age population in the labor force.

The Employment-Population ratio increased to 60.1% from 60.0% (blue line).

I'll post the 25 to 54 age group employment-population ratio graph later.

The fourth graph shows the unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate was increased in August to 3.7% from 3.5% in July.

This was above consensus expectations; however, June and July payrolls were revised down by 107,000 combined.  

I'll have more later ...

by Calculated Risk on 9/01/2022 09:00:00 PM

Friday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, Employment Report for August.   The consensus is for 280,000 jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 3.5%.

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):

COVID Metrics
	Now	Week Ago	Goal
New Cases per Day2	85,761	91,773	≤5,0001
Hospitalized2	31,114	33,384	≤3,0001
Deaths per Day2	403	426	≤501
1my goals to stop daily posts, 27-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths 🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths ✅ Goal met.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of deaths reported.

Average daily deaths bottomed in July 2021 at 214 per day.

by Calculated Risk on 9/01/2022 07:37:00 PM

Wards Auto released their estimate of light vehicle sales for August. Wards Auto estimates sales of 13.18 million SAAR in August 2022 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), down 1.1% from the July sales rate, and up 0.7% from August 2021. 

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and Wards Auto's estimate for August (red).

The impact of COVID-19 was significant, and April 2020 was the worst month.  After April 2020, sales increased, and were close to sales in 2019 (the year before the pandemic).  

However, sales decreased late last year due to supply issues.  It appears the "supply chain bottom" was in September 2021.

The second graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967.

Sales in August were below the consensus forecast of 13.6 million SAAR.

by Calculated Risk on 9/01/2022 04:07:00 PM

A few brief excerpts from a note by Goldman Sachs economist Spencer Hill:

We estimate nonfarm payrolls rose by 350k in August (mom sa) ... We estimate the unemployment rate edged down to 3.4% in August ...
emphasis added

CR Note: The consensus is for 280 thousand jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 3.5%.