by Calculated Risk on 1/29/2023 08:11:00 AM

Expectations are the FOMC will announce a 25bp rate increase in the federal funds rate and analysts will be looking for any mention of a possible pause in rate hikes at the March FOMC meeting.

From Merrill Lynch:

"At the February FOMC meeting, we look for the Fed to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 25bp to 4.50-4.75%. ... incoming data that points to a broadening of the slowdown and further signs of decelerating price pressures appear to have tipped the balance within the FOMC toward another downshift in the pace of rate hikes next week."
...
We expect Chair Powell to continue to emphasize that a slower pace of rate hikes does not signal the Fed’s job is over. ... the decision may be for a smaller 25bp hike, but the Fed will want to avoid the interpretation that this implies a lower terminal rate or an earlier onset of rate cuts than the committee viewed as appropriate when it last met in December. That means no change in policy rate guidance in the FOMC statement. We think the statement will continue to say that “ongoing increases in the target range [for the federal funds rate] will be appropriate.” A softening in this language could lead to an undesired easing in financial conditions."
emphasis added

No projections will be released at this meeting. For review, here are the December projections.  Since the last meeting, the economy has performed better than the FOMC expected, and inflation was lower than expected.

The BEA reported real GDP increased at a 2.9% annual rate in Q4 and was up 1.0% on a Q4-over-Q4 basis.  This was above the December projections for 2022.

GDP projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Change in Real GDP1
Projection Date	2022	2023	2024	2025
Dec 2022	0.4 to 0.5	0.4 to 1.0	1.3 to 2.0	1.6 to 2.0

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

The unemployment rate was at 3.5% in December. This put the Q4 rate at 3.6%, slightly lower than the FOMC projection.  

Unemployment projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Unemployment Rate2
Projection Date	2022	2023	2024	2025
Dec 2022	3.7	4.4 to 4.7	4.3 to 4.8	4.0 to 4.7

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

As of December 2022, PCE inflation was up 5.0% from December 2021. On a Q4-over-Q4 basis PCE inflation was up 5.5% in Q4 2022.   This was below the FOMC projection.

Inflation projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, PCE Inflation1
Projection Date	2022	2023	2024	2025
Dec 2022	5.6 to 5.8	2.9 to 3.5	2.3 to 2.7	2.0 to 2.2

PCE core inflation was up 4.4% in December year-over-year. On a Q4-over-Q4 basis core PCE inflation was up 4.7% in Q4 2022.   This was at the bottom of the FOMC projection range.

Core Inflation projections of Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents, Core Inflation1
Projection Date	2022	2023	2024	2025
Dec 2022	4.7 to 4.8	3.2 to 3.7	2.3 to 2.7	2.0 to 2.2

by Calculated Risk on 1/28/2023 02:11:00 PM

At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week:

• New Home Sales at 616,000 Annual Rate in December; Previous 3 Months Revised Down Sharply

• Final Look at Local Housing Markets in December

• 1.51 million Total Housing Completions in 2022 including Manufactured Homes; Most Since 2007

• Has Housing "Bottomed"?

This is usually published 4 to 6 times a week and provides more in-depth analysis of the housing market.

You can subscribe at https://calculatedrisk.substack.com/

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by Calculated Risk on 1/28/2023 10:11:00 AM

The key reports scheduled for this week are the January employment report and November Case-Shiller house prices.

Other key indicators include January ISM manufacturing and services surveys, and January vehicle sales.

The FOMC meets this week, and the FOMC is expected to announce a 25 bp hike in the Fed Funds rate.

----- Monday, January 30th -----
10:30 AM: Dallas Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for January. This is the last of the regional Fed manufacturing surveys for January.

----- Tuesday, January 31st -----
9:00 AM: FHFA House Price Index for November. This was originally a GSE only repeat sales, however there is also an expanded index.

9:00 AM ET: S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index for November.

This graph shows the Year over year change in the nominal seasonally adjusted National Index, Composite 10 and Composite 20 indexes through the most recent report (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

The consensus is for a 6.9% year-over-year increase in the Comp 20 index.

9:45 AM: Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for January. The consensus is for a reading of 44.9, down from 45.1 in December.

10:00 AM: The Q4 Housing Vacancies and Homeownership report from the Census Bureau.

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

8:15 AM: The ADP Employment Report for January. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). The consensus is for 170,000 payroll jobs added in January, down from 235,000 added in December.

10:00 AM: Construction Spending for December. The consensus is for a 0.1% decrease in construction spending.

10:00 AM ET: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for December from the BLS.

This graph shows job openings (black line), hires (purple), Layoff, Discharges and other (red column), and Quits (light blue column) from the JOLTS.

Job openings decreased in November to 10.458 million from 10.512 million in October

10:00 AM: ISM Manufacturing Index for January. The consensus is for the ISM to be at 48.0, down from 48.4 in December.

2:00 PM: FOMC Meeting Announcement. The FOMC is expected to announce a 25 bp hike in the Fed Funds rate.

2:30 PM: Fed Chair Jerome Powell holds a press briefing following the FOMC announcement.

All day: Light vehicle sales for January. The consensus is for light vehicle sales to be 14.3 million SAAR in January, up from 13.3 million in December (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate).

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

----- Thursday, February 2nd -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for 200 thousand initial claims, up from 186 thousand last week.
----- Friday, February 3rd -----
8:30 AM: Employment Report for December.   The consensus is for 185,000 jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to increase to 3.6%.

There were 223,000 jobs added in December, and the unemployment rate was at 3.5%.

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

The pandemic employment recession was by far the worst recession since WWII in percentage terms. However, as of August 2022, the total number of jobs had returned and are now 1.24 million above pre-pandemic levels.

10:00 AM: ISM Services Index for January. 

by Calculated Risk on 1/27/2023 09:58:00 PM

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths).  Data is now weekly.

Weekly deaths bottomed in July 2021 at 1,666.

COVID Metrics
	Now	Week Ago	Goal
New Cases per Week2	295,140	332,606	≤35,0001
Hospitalized2	29,411	34,723	≤3,0001
Deaths per Week2	3,756	3,948	≤3501
1my goals to stop weekly posts, 2Weekly for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths 🚩 Increasing number weekly for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths ✅ Goal met.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the weekly (columns) number of deaths reported.

January was the worst month for the previous two years, and this January has seen a much smaller increase in deaths.

by Calculated Risk on 1/27/2023 04:09:00 PM

From CoStar: STR: MLK Day Leads to Slightly Lower US Weekly Hotel Performance

With the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, U.S. hotel performance came in slightly lower than the previous week, according to STR‘s latest data through Jan. 21.

Jan. 15-21, 2023 (percentage change from comparable week in 2019*):

• Occupancy: 54.2% (-6.2%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): $140.16 (+11.3%)
• evenue per available room (RevPAR): $75.97 (+4.4%)

*Due to the pandemic impact, STR is measuring recovery against comparable time periods from 2019. Year-over-year comparisons will once again become standard after Q1.
emphasis added

The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average.

Click on graph for larger image.

The red line is for 2023, black is 2020, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2022.  Dashed purple is 2019 (STR is comparing to a strong year for hotels).

The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is below the median rate for the previous 20 years (Blue), but this is the slow season - and some of the early year weakness might be related to the timing of the report.

Note: Y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the seasonal change.

The 4-week average of the occupancy rate will increase seasonally over the next few months.

by Calculated Risk on 1/27/2023 03:12:00 PM

Realtor.com has monthly and weekly data on the existing home market. Here is their weekly report released today from Chief Economist Danielle Hale: Weekly Housing Trends View — Data Week Ending Jan 21, 2023. Note: They have data on list prices, new listings and more, but this focus is on inventory.

• Active inventory growth continued to climb with for-sale homes up 69% above one year ago. In January, the housing market built further on the impressive growth seen in late 2022. But there is still room for more. Even after surging more than 50% in December 2022, the number of homes on the market trailed pre-pandemic counts by nearly 40%.
...
• New listings–a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale–were again down, this week by 5% from one year ago. This marks the twenty-ninth consecutive week of year-over-year declines in homeowners listing their homes for sale, but this week’s decline was not only smaller than dip, the average decline in new listings so far this year is about half what we saw in the fourth quarter of 2022. As mortgage rates rose and the market shifted from a distinct seller’s market to one that might better be described as a nobody’s market, we saw homeowners retrench, and the number of new listings fell. Although the number of new listings is still declining, at the current pace we could see a reversal of that trend or more new listings than one year ago as soon as February.

Here is a graph of the year-over-year change in inventory according to realtor.com. 

In early 2022, inventory was declining rapidly, so the year-over-year change is up sharply.

An interesting note this week is that new listings were only down 5% from a year ago.   This is a significant change from December when new listings were down 21% year-over-year according to Realtor.com, and down 21.5% in the local markets I track.   Something to watch!

by Calculated Risk on 1/27/2023 12:18:00 PM

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Has Housing "Bottomed"?

Brief excerpt:

I’ve heard some positive comments from a number of real estate agents in the last week about the existing home market.
...
Activity is still down sharply year-over-year (YoY), but the YoY decline is getting smaller.

And some upbeat comments on new home sales ...

Way back in 2009, I pointed out that there are usually two bottoms for housing.

There will probably be two bottoms for Residential Real Estate.

The first will be for new home sales, housing starts and residential investment. The second bottom will be for prices. Sometimes these bottoms can happen years apart.

The first bottom is for activity, and the second is for prices.

You can subscribe at https://calculatedrisk.substack.com/.

by Calculated Risk on 1/27/2023 10:03:00 AM

From the NAR: Pending Home Sales Increased 2.5% in December, Ending Six-Month Slide

Pending home sales increased in December for the first time since May 2022 — following six consecutive months of declines — according to the National Association of Realtors®. The Northeast and Midwest recorded month-over-month reductions, while the South and West posted monthly gains. All four U.S. regions saw year-over-year decreases in transactions, with the West experiencing the largest decline at 37.5%.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) — a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings — improved 2.5% to 76.9 in December. Year-over-year, pending transactions dropped by 33.8%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.

“This recent low point in home sales activity is likely over,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Mortgage rates are the dominant factor driving home sales, and recent declines in rates are clearly helping to stabilize the market.”
...
The Northeast PHSI dropped 6.5% from last month to 64.7, a decrease of 32.5% from December 2021. The Midwest index shrank 0.3% to 77.6 in December, a decline of 30.1% from one year ago.

The South PHSI rose 6.1% to 94.1 in December, dropping 34.5% from the prior year. The West index advanced 6.4% in December to 58.6, decreasing 37.5% from December 2021.
emphasis added

Expectations had been for a 1.0% decline for this index. Note: Contract signings usually lead sales by about 45 to 60 days, so this would usually be for closed sales in January and February.

by Calculated Risk on 1/27/2023 08:41:00 AM

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

Personal income increased $49.5 billion (0.2 percent) in December, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $49.2 billion (0.3 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $41.6 billion (0.2 percent).

The PCE price index increased 0.1 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.3 percent. Real DPI increased 0.2 percent in December and Real PCE decreased 0.3 percent; goods decreased 0.9 percent and services were unchanged.
emphasis added

The December PCE price index increased 5.0 percent year-over-year (YoY), down from 5.5 percent YoY in November, and down from the recent peak of 7.0 percent in June 2022.

The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 4.4 percent YoY, down from 4.7 percent in November, and down from the recent peak of 5.4 percent in February 2022.

The following graph shows real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) through December 2022 (2012 dollars). Note that the y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed red lines are the quarterly levels for real PCE.

Personal income was at expectations, and the decrease in PCE was slightly below expectations.

Inflation was close to expectations.

by Calculated Risk on 1/26/2023 08:49:00 PM

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios.

Friday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, Personal Income and Outlays for December. The consensus is for a 0.2% increase in personal income, and for a 0.1% decrease in personal spending. And for the Core PCE price index to increase 0.3%.  PCE prices are expected to be up 5.0% YoY, and core PCE prices up 4.4% YoY.

• At 10:00 AM, Pending Home Sales Index for December. The consensus is for a -1.0% decrease in the index.

• Also at 10:00 AM, University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (Final for January). The consensus is for a reading of 64.6.