Retail sales, Consumer sentiment, NY manufacturing survey

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Gone flat post covid, adjusted for inflation:

The post covid slump continues, and now there are war disruptions:

US Consumer Sentiment Lowest since 2011
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment for the US fell to 59.7 in March of 2022 from 62.8 in February, below market forecasts of 61.4, preliminary estimates showed. It is the lowest reading since November of 2011, as inflation expectations rose sharply due to a surge in fuel prices exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The current economic conditions index fell to 67.8 from 68.2 while the expectations gauge sank to 54.4 from 59.4. The year-ahead expected inflation rate (5.4%) rose to its highest level since 1981, and expected gas prices posted their largest monthly upward surge in decades. Personal finances were expected to worsen in the year ahead by the largest proportion since the surveys started in the mid-1940 pointing out that the high inflation rate is impacting incomes.

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Employment, oil

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Still slowly working its way back to the pre covid trend:

New rigs continue to come online, but it won’t interfere with Saudi/Russian price setting until sufficient production comes online to reduce Saudi sales. And right now sales are going up, indicating that demand for oil at the Saudi’s prices is increasing, as the Saudis set price and let their refiners buy all they want at their posted prices:

As previously discussed, Saudi OSP’s (official selling price spreads vs benchmarks) are now set above ‘fair value’ imparting a continuous upward pressure on prices. If this policy continues prices will continue to rise and seriously disrupt markets as happened in 2008:

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New homes sales, PMI, Chicago Fed, recovery tracker

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Covid dip, recovery, and now settling back at prior levels. After years of ultra low mortgage rates growth remains slower and absolute levels far below the prior cycle:

Post war slowdown narrative continues to unfold:

“The Chicago Fed National Activity Index in the US dropped to -0.15 in December 2021 from an upwardly revised +0.44 in the previous month, suggesting there was a contraction in economic activity following a two-month period of expansion.”

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