Archive - Apr 2010 - Story

Yesterday we noted that Fannie just announced a record number of delinquencies at 5.52%. Today, not to be outdone, Freddie follows up and discloses that total delinquent loans also hit another fresh high of 4.08%, an increase from January's 4.03% and double the 2.13% from last February. Also yesterday we noted that CMBS delinquencies are likely in the 6-7% range, as both the residential and commercial real estate market continue experiencing unprecedented weakness.

Also, as reader Tin Cup points out, "The credit enhanced book of business (loans insured by the private mortgage insurers) also hit a record high or 8.59%, up from 8.52% in January (and also double last year’s 4.54%).  Again, despite trillions being throw at the housing market, delinquencies continue to rocket upwards."

Bill Fleckenstein has kept a hawk’s eye on what the government does to our economy. Most recently, Bill wrote an excellent article describing the new health care law as “the great health care bailout.”

I caught up with Bill to discuss three hot topics:

1) How the new health care law will affect our economy;

2) Whether the Fed has painted itself into a corner of low interest rates; and,

3) Whether the foreign debt crisis are an omen for what’s coming to the US.

Straight from the pits, to Bernanke's ears.

"The feeling that the government will ride in on a white horse to rescue the world is widely held. The vast majority believe that the government can control the economy, and the reason that they are so vociferous – or should I say violent – is that they really believe that if their party or ‘concept’ were in total control then everything would be fixed up and we all would be paying our bills and living the good life... Everyone with any skill in the money management or the economic forecasting arena is aware of how little he or she knows. The random nature of the variables is important, but the psychologically hardwired misconceptions that the behavioral economists have recently pinpointed make the problem much worse. None of the “blue ribbon” economists ever forecast a recession, but they do occur. More importantly we all see order when there is none and we all believe that we know more than we do. This applies to Geithner, Sarkozy, Merkel, Gordon Brown, and even Paul Volcker, as well as to you and me." - John Taylor

Even as the BLS and DOL would like us to believe that the unemployment picture is getting better, we present a chart comparing the initial and continued claims as presented by the Dept. of Labor and compare these to actual government outlays. Even as the two combined series have been declining (offset by increasing much discussed EUCs), the most recent Unemployment Insurance Benefit outlay reported by the Treasury (as of March 30 - there is still one more day of data for March), just hit an all time record high of $15.4 billion.What this means is that in March the average paycheck from Uncle Sam for sitting dong nothing, surged to an all time high of $1,447/month.

As we expected, Goldman just revised tomorrow's NFP down from +275k to +250k, primarily a function of a lower, and just barely positive organic growth (+25k vs +50k previously), and Census hires (+75k vs +125k previously)

• Larry Fink's $12 trillion shadow (Vanity Fair)
• Jobless claims beat estimates by 1,000 at 439,000 after prior week revised, as always, negatively by 3,000; Same thing with continuing claims (Bloomberg)
• After getting a taxpayer bail out in 2008, Jamie Dimon attacks demonization of banks (JPM)
• Oil hits 18 month high (Reuters)
• Kerviel #2? SocGen investigating "anomalies" in Singapore account (Bloomberg)
• Will spending unding ObamaCare trigger the next financial crisis (RCM)
• Are jobless recoveries the new normal? (Cleveland Fed)
• Jim O'Neill: tough talk on China ignores economic reality (FT)
• PIMCO sees Europe's
  action on Greece as ineffective in fixing the country's problems, while
  Britain's sovereign debt rating could be downgraded within a year (Reuters)
  
• Nothing has changed from 2005: house flippers in U.S. crowd courthouse steps in hunt for deals (Bloomberg)

• Asian shares traded higher with Japan data showing improved business conditions.
• China’s PMI expanded at a faster pace in March, from 55.1 from 52 in February.
• Fed reveals Bear Stearns, AIG data after backlash over lack of disclosure.
• Japan manufacturers least pessimistic since 2008 as rebound drives exports.
• Acuity Brands Q2 net drops 46% on charges; Sales edge lower.
• AutoNation: Q1 performance far exceeded cons est., sees auto market recovering.
• Baosteel's 2009 profit fell 10% because of a sharp drop in export demand.

RANsquawk 1st April Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.

RANsquawk 1st April Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.