Author Archives: WARREN MOSLER

China, Germany, Productivity, NFIB Index, Redbook, Wholesale Trade

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A few thoughts:

China’s US Tsy holding had been falling perhaps because they were selling $ to buy Yuan to keep it within in the prior band.

Pretty much all exporting nation’s currencies have already weakened vs the $, including the Yen and Euro, so this is a bit of a ‘catch up.’

In a weakening global economy from a lack of demand (sales) and ‘western educated, monetarist, export led growth’ kids now in charge globally, the path of least resistance is a global race to the bottom to be ‘competitive’. And the alternative to currency depreciation, domestic wage cuts, tends to be less politically attractive, as the EU continues to demonstrate.

The tool for currency depreciation is intervention in the FX markets, as China just did, after they tried ‘monetary easing’ which failed, of course. Japan did it via giving the nod to their pension funds and insurance companies to buy unswapped FX denominated securities, after they tried ‘monetary easing’ as well.

The Euro zone did it by frightening China and other CB’s and global and domestic portfolio managers into selling their Euro reserves, by playing on their inflationary fears of ‘monetary easing’-negative rates and QE- they learned in school.

The US used only ‘monetary easing’ and not any form of direct intervention, and so the $ remains strong vs all the rest.

I expect the Euro to now move ever higher until its trade surplus goes away, as global fears of an inflationary currency collapse are reversed and Euro buying resumes as part of global export strategies to export to the Euro zone. And, like the US, the EU won’t use direct intervention, just more ‘monetary easing’.

Ironically, ‘monetary easing’ is in fact ‘fiscal tightening’ as, with govts net payers of interest, it works to remove interest income from the global economy. So the more they do the worse it gets.

‘No matter how much I cut off it’s still too short’ said the hairdresser to the client…

The devaluations shift income from workers who see their purchasing power go down, to exporters who see their margins increase.
To the extent exporters then reduce prices and those price reductions increase their volume of exports, output increases, as does domestic employment. But if wages then go up, the ‘competitiveness’ gained by the devaluation is lost, etc., so that’s not meant to happen.

Also, the additional export volumes are likewise reductions in exports of other nations, who, having been educated at the same elite schools, respond with devaluations of their own, etc. etc. in a global ‘race to the bottom’ for real wages. Hence China letting their currency depreciate rather than spend their $ reserves supporting it.

The elite schools they all went to contrive models that show you can leave national deficit spending at 0, and use ‘monetary policy’ to drive investment and net exports that ‘offset’ domestic savings. It doesn’t work, of course, but they all believe it and keep at it even as it all falls apart around them.

But as long as the US and EU don’t have use of the tools for currency depreciation, the rest of the world can increase it’s exports to these regions via currency depreciation to lower their $ and Euro export prices, all of which is a contractionary/deflationary bias for the US and EU.

Of further irony is that the ‘right’ policy response for the US and EU would be a fiscal adjustment -tax cut or spending increase- large enough to sustain high enough levels of domestic spending for full employment. Unfortunately, that’s not what they learned in school…

The drop in expectations is ominous, particularly as the euro firms:

Germany : ZEW Survey
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Highlights
ZEW’s August survey was mixed with a slightly more optimistic assessment of the current state of the economy contrasting with a fifth consecutive decline in expectations.

The current conditions gauge was up 1.8 points at 65.7, a 3-month high. However, expectations dipped a further 4.7 points to 25.0, their lowest mark since November 2014.


The drop in unit labor costs and downward revision of the prior increase gives the Fed cause to hold off on rate hike aspirations:

United States : Productivity and Costs
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Highlights
A bounce back for output gave first-quarter productivity a lift, up a quarter-to-quarter 1.3 percent vs a revised decline of 1.1 percent in the first quarter. The bounce in output also held down unit labor costs which rose 0.5 percent vs 2.3 percent in the first quarter.

Output in the second quarter rose 2.8 percent vs a depressed 0.5 percent in the first quarter. Compensation rose 1.8 percent, up from 1.1 percent in the first quarter, while hours worked were little changed, up 1.5 percent vs 1.6 in the first quarter.

Looking at year-on-year rates, growth in productivity is very slight at only plus 0.3 percent while costs do show some pressure, up 2.1 percent in a reading, along with the rise in compensation, that will be welcome by Federal Reserve officials who are hoping that gains in wages will help offset weakness in commodity costs and help give inflation a needed boost.


Up a touch but the trend remains negative:

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Redbook retail sales report still bumping along the bottom:

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A decline in sales growth and rise in inventories is yet another negative:

United States : Wholesale Trade
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Highlights
A build in auto inventories as well as for machinery drove wholesale inventories up a much higher-than-expected 0.9 percent in June. Sales at the wholesale level rose only 0.1 percent in the month, in turn driving the stock-to-sales ratio up 1 notch to a less-than-lean 1.30. This ratio was at 1.19 in June last year.

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Fed Labor Indicator, NY Fed Consumer Expectations, Lumber Prices, China Trade

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This Fed indicator, whatever it means, just went down some:

Labor Market Conditions Index
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Highlights
If the Fed relied exclusively on its labor market conditions index, no one would be in much hurry for the rate hike. The index for July came in slightly below expectations at 1.1 vs a revised 1.4 in June. The index, based on a broad set of 19 components, has been hovering near zero all year, well off its 5.4 average of last year. Unemployment may be down but hiring has been soft and the 2015 trend for this index is the weakest of the recovery.

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Remember when this was taken as an indication of falling demand for housing?

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Another indication of a weaker global economy, and a good reason for China to allocate more reserves to Euro:

China : Merchandise Trade Balance
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Highlights
China’s trade figures shocked analysts. July’s unadjusted merchandise trade surplus was $43.0 billion, down from $45.7 billion in June. Exports plunged 8.3 percent against expectations of a 3.0 percent drop. Imports sank 8.1 percent against expectations of a 8 percent drop. The year to date trade balance was $305.2 billion compared with $212.9 billion in the same period a year ago. For the seven months through July, exports were down 0.8 percent on the year while imports dropped 14.6 percent. On a seasonally adjusted basis, exports slid 3.4 percent on the month after increasing 1.5 percent in June while imports declined 3.8 percent after jumping 6.9 percent in June. On the year, seasonally adjusted exports dropped 7.9 percent while imports were 8.4 percent lower.

China’s top government body, the State Council, said last month that it would give high priority to the nation’s trade sector, providing tax breaks and cutting red tape while reducing import duties. The government has also accelerated a range of infrastructure projects to boost demand at home. Meanwhile, the central bank has cut interest rates four times since November in an effort to help struggling domestic companies.

Adding to the problems for exporters is the relatively strong Chinese currency, which has held steady against a buoyant dollar. That has carried the yuan more than 10% higher against the Euro, providing a drag on exports to some key European markets.

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Jobs, Atlanta Fed, Rail Traffic

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The Fed is looking for ‘some improvement’ in the jobs market. But looks like deterioration to me? The number of jobs fell for the second straight month, the year over year growth rate continued to fall, the unemployment rate and the participation rate were unchanged, earnings growth remains very low. All that went up was hours worked, by less than a tenth.

Employment Situation
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Highlights
The numbers aren’t spectacular but they’re solid enough to keep a September rate hike in play. Non-farm payrolls rose just about as expected, up 215,000 in July with upward revisions adding 14,000 to the prior two months. The unemployment rate is unchanged at 5.3 percent. Wages show some traction, up 0.2 percent in the month with the year-on-year rate over 2 percent at 2.1 percent. The average workweek is up, rising to 34.6 hours from a long run at 34.5. The labor force participation rate, which dropped sharply in June, held at 62.6 percent.

Other details look surprisingly solid with payrolls rising 60,000 in trade & transportation, for a third straight strong gain, and professional & business services rising 40,000 to extend their long healthy run. Retailers continue to add jobs, up 36,000 for their third straight strong gain with the motor vehicle subset up 13,000 and reflecting the strength of car sales. Manufacturing, which is usually weak, rose a notable 15,000 in the month with construction, where lack of skilled labor is being reported, showing a modest gain of 6,000.

Another plus in the report is a decline in Janet Yellen’s favorite reading, the broadly defined U-6 unemployment rate which is down a notch to 10.4 percent. If the August employment report a month from now looks this good, a rate hike at the September FOMC will be a lock.

Improvement? Looks more like deterioration?

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Slow start to Q3 here:

Latest forecast

August 6 (GDPNow)

The first GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2015 was 1.0 percent on August 6. The model projects that lower inventory investment will subtract 1.7 percentage points from third quarter real GDP growth. Real GDP grew 2.3 percent in the second quarter according to the advance estimate from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
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Rail Week Ending 01 August 2015: Traffic Down 1.8% in July

By Steven Hansen

August 7 (Econointersect)

Econintersect: Week 30 of 2015 shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) contracted according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data. Intermodal traffic contracted year-over-year, which accounts for approximately half of movements. and weekly railcar counts continued in contraction.

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Challenger Layoffs, Claims, Trade Comments, Saudi Price Setting, Construction Detail

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Not to worry, just the army announcing layoffs:

Challenger Job-Cut Report
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Highlights
A major Army cutback made for an outsized 105,696 layoff count in July. The Army said it is cutting 57,000 jobs over the next two years (note that Challenger counts layoffs at the time of announcement, not when layoffs actually occur). Heavy layoffs, at 18,891, were also announced in computer & electronics.

These remain at historically low levels:

US weekly jobless claims total 270,000 vs 273,000 estimate

By Robert Galbraith

August 6 (Reuters)

U.S. Trade Gap Expands 7% in June

By Josh Mitchell

July 1 (Wall Street Journal)

The U.S. trade gap with other countries grew 7% in June to $43.8 billion, as imports climbed steadily while exports continued to slip. The U.S. trade gap with the European Union reached an all-time high in June as imports from Europe rose. The trade gap with Mexico also set a record. The U.S. trade deficit with China grew 9.8% in the first six months of 2015 compared with the same period last year,Wednesday’s report showed. The deficit with Japan grew 4.1%. The rise in U.S. imports was due to higher demand for consumer goods, particularly pharmaceutical items, and industrial supplies, including crude oil. Auto imports were the highest on record.

This is how the Saudis set price via altering their posted spreads to various benchmarks:

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Historically low levels and still growing at lower rates than prior cycles, so adding a lot less to GDP.
My narrative is that it’s all about a lack of income from a shortfall of private and/or public deficit spending:

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ISM, Employment, Trade

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Nice jump up here to 2005 highs. First unambiguous positive indicator I’ve seen in quite a while.

United States ISM Non Manufacturing PMI

July 5 (Trading Economics)

The ISM Non-manufacturing PMI index registered 60.3 percent in July, 4.3 percentage points higher than the June reading of 56 percent. It is the highest reading since August of 2005 as 15 out of 17 services industries reported growth. Non Manufacturing PMI in the United States averaged 54.15 percent from 1997 until 2015, reaching an all time high of 62 percent in August of 1997 and a record low of 37.60 percent in November of 2008. Non Manufacturing PMI in the United States is reported by the Institute for Supply Management.

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Another payroll chart:

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Another trade chart:
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Mortgage Purchase Apps, EU Retail Sales, Payroll Tax, ADP, Trade, Equity Comment

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While still historically very low, purchase apps are now way up over last year’s particularly depressed levels. Some are replacing all cash buyers, but the increase is also in line with increased existing home sales.

While new home sales were soft, turnover of existing homes has been increasing, and while not directly increasing GDP, existing home sales are generally associated with purchases of furniture, appliances, and other home improvements, and of course real estate commissions.

MBA Mortgage Applications
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Highlights
A drop in rates helped boost mortgage activity in the July 31 week both for home purchases, up 3.0 percent in the week, and for refinancing which rose 6.0 percent. The strength in purchase applications, which are up 23 percent vs this time last year, is a positive indication for home sales. The average 30-year fixed mortgage for conforming loans ($417,000 or less) fell 4 basis points in the week to 4.13 percent.

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EU retail sales

European Union : Retail Sales
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Highlights
Retail sales were surprisingly weak in June. A 0.6 percent monthly fall was the first decline since March and followed a slightly smaller revised 0.1 percent rise in May. Annual workday adjusted growth of purchases was 1.2 percent, down from 2.6 percent in both mid-quarter and April.

June’s setback was primarily attributable to a 0.8 percent monthly drop in sales of food, drink and tobacco. Non-food products, excluding auto fuel, were off only 0.2 percent, although even this was enough to wipe out May’s entire rise. Fuel purchases were flat on the month after a 0.2 percent dip last time.

Regionally, headline weakness was dominated by a 2.3 percent monthly slump in Germany although Spain (minus 0.4 percent) also struggled. More promisingly, France (0.1 percent) saw sales increase for a third consecutive period and there were decent gains in Austria (1.3 percent), Belgium, Latvia and Lithuania (all 0.8 percent) and Estonia (0.7 percent).

The June data make for a second quarter increase in Eurozone retail sales of only 0.3 percent, less than a third of the rate achieved in the previous period and just half of the fourth quarter pace. This does not bode well for real GDP growth. Moreover, the EU Commission’s economic sentiment survey found consumer sentiment falling in July so it may be that the third quarter got off to a less than robust start too. That said, Greek developments are clearly having some impact and a more concrete resolution of the crisis there might be enough to get households happy to spend again.

Big drop in Federal withholding:

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Lower than expected, and June revised down a bit as well, all in line with many recent surveys:

ADP Employment Report
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Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said, “Job growth is strong, but it has moderated since the beginning of the year. Layoffs in the energy industry and weaker job gains in manufacturing are behind the slowdown. Nonetheless, even at this slower pace of growth, the labor market is fast approaching full employment.”
Read more at Calculated Risk Blog

About as expected with last month’s revision:

United States : International Trade
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Seems the drop in oil prices has been offset by non oil imports, as the trade deficit is looking somewhat wider:

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Both exports and imports are down which indicates a weakening global economy:

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The chart shows the trend of the non petroleum deficit has resumed it’s increase:

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 (wild swings earlier this year were due to West Coast port slowdown).
Read more at Calculated Risk Blog
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Didn’t know we exported any consumer goods!
;)

Exports (Exhibits 3, 6, and 7) Exports of goods decreased $0.2 billion to $127.6 billion in June. Exports of goods on a Census basis decreased $0.5 billion. • Capital goods decreased $0.8 billion. o Telecommunications equipment decreased $0.3 billion. • Industrial supplies and materials decreased $0.6 billion. o Finished metal shapes decreased $0.3 billion. Consumer goods increased $0.8 billion.

Stocks up because jobs were weak and a fed spokesman thought the economy was too weak for a rate hike. ;)

Futures jump on ADP miss, Powell comments

By Jenny Cosgrave

August 5 (CNBC)

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Redbook Retail Sales, Factory Orders, Econ Confidence

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Speaks for itself:

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Nice to see an up month after a down one, but the year over year chart says it all:

Factory Orders
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Highlights
Factory orders rose nearly as expected in June, up 1.8 percent for only the second gain in the last 11 months. The durable goods component, initially released last week, is unrevised at plus 3.4 percent in a gain distorted by aircraft orders but one that does reflect a pop higher for capital goods. The non-durables component, data released with today’s report, rose 0.4 percent on order gains for oil and chemicals.

Orders for civilian aircraft jumped 65 percent in the month following, in routine up-and-down fashion for this component, a 32 percent downswing in May. Industries reporting respectable gains include 0.5 percent for furniture and 0.6 percent for motor vehicles as well as a 1.5 percent gain for machinery. Orders for energy equipment bounced back 5.5 percent after sinking 25 percent in May. Year-on-year, energy equipment is down 51 percent.

Looking at totals again, shipments rose a very solid 0.5 percent with shipments of core capital goods up 0.3 percent. The latter, which is a key reading that excludes aircraft, isn’t spectacular but is still a solid gain for business investment. Unfilled orders, which have been in contraction most of the year, were unchanged in June. Inventories rose 0.6 percent in a build that falls in line with shipments, keeping the inventory-to-shipments ratio at a manageable 1.35.

Today’s report offers rare good news for a factory sector that, due to weak exports and the collapse in oil & gas equipment, has been struggling to stay above water for the last year.

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Minor index but another indicator of a drop in ‘confidence’:

Gallup US ECI
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Highlights
July’s Economic Confidence Index averaged minus 12 in July, down from minus 8 in June and the lowest monthly average since October 2014. The drop is attributable chiefly to Americans’ increasing view that the economy is getting worse rather than better.

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PMC, Personal Income, ISM Manufacturing, Construction Spending, Car Sales

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Another PMC, and an estimated $45 million check to Boston’s Dana Farber for cancer research! Congrats to all the donors and participants- over 6,000 riders and thousands of volunteers handling the logistics!

Special nod to Billy and Meredith Starr for a most successful 35th PMC and total donations approaching $500 million!!!

And thanks to all of you who contributed and those who will be contributing… ;)

(Note Elizabeth’s sandals with spd clips :)
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Personal Income and Outlays

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Highlights
The consumer showed less life in June with inflation remaining very quiet. Consumer spending rose an as-expected 0.2 percent in June, down from a revised spike of 0.7 percent in May with the slowing tied in part to lower vehicle sales. Personal income, boosted by gains for rents and transfers that offset slight slowing in wages, rose slightly more than expected at 0.4 percent.

The key inflation reading in this report, the core PCE price index, rose only 0.1 percent for a very quiet 1.3 percent year-on-year rate that won’t be moving up expectations for the Federal Reserve’s rate hike. The year-on-year rate is at a 4-1/2-year low and has remained below 1.5 percent since November. The overall price index rose 0.2 percent in June with its year-on-year rate, reflecting the collapse in oil prices, at only plus 0.3 percent.

The savings rate is below 5.0 percent at 4.8 percent but remains on the high side, which points to consumer health and hints at underlying spending strength. The economy is just bumping along right now, pointing to no urgency for policy change.

Wage income down:

PERSONAL INCOME AND OUTLAYS: JUNE 2015

August 3 (Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Wages and salaries increased $18.3 billion in June, compared with an increase of $32.0 billion in May. Private wages and salaries increased $16.0 billion in June, compared with an increase of $29.6 billion in May. Government wages and salaries increased $2.3 billion, compared with an increase of $2.4 billion.

Without the big jump in reported personal dividend income personal income would have been lower:

Rental income of persons increased $7.4 billion in June, compared with an increase of $7.7 billion in May. Personal income receipts on assets (personal interest income plus personal dividend income) increased $20.2 billion, compared with an increase of $8.4 billion. Personal current transfer receipts increased $8.6 billion, compared with an increase of $8.9 billion.

Lower tax payments helped disposable personal income but it’s still a very low rate of growth:

Personal current taxes increased $7.5 billion in June, compared with an increase of $12.5 billion in May. Disposable personal income (DPI) — personal income less personal current taxes — increased $60.6 billion, or 0.5 percent, in June, compared with an increase of $53.8 billion, or 0.4 percent, in May.

Real DPI — DPI adjusted to remove price changes — increased 0.2 percent in June, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent in May.

Like most all indicators, there’s been a falling off since oil prices broke during Q4 2014:

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source: Bureau of Economic Statistics
Disposable personal income was revised up $19.7 billion, or 0.2 percent, for 2012; was revised down $109.5 billion, or 0.9 percent, for 2013; and was revised down $76.1 billion, or 0.6 percent, for 2014.

Personal outlays was revised down $30.8 billion, or 0.3 percent, for 2012; was revised down $91.4 billion, or 0.8 percent, for 2013; and was revised down $63.7 billion, or 0.5 percent, for 2014. Revisions to personal outlays primarily reflected downward revisions to PCE.

Exports again, and now employment showing weakness in the latest reports:

ISM Mfg Index

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Highlights
Weak employment and continued contraction in exports held down the manufacturing index which slipped 0.8 tenths in July to a lower-than-expected 52.7 to indicate slowing monthly activity for ISM’s sample. Employment growth slowed nearly 3 points to 52.7 while new export orders fell 1.5 points to 48.0 for the 5th sub-50 contractionary reading of the last 7 months.

But there are signs of strength in the report led by new orders which rose 1/2 point to 56.5 which is the strongest reading of the year for this most important of all readings. The gain contrasts with the drop in export orders and points to strength in the domestic economy. Production is also strong at 56.0.

But another negative in the report is sharp contraction in backlogs, down 4.5 points to 42.5 to signal the sharpest draw in nearly 3 years. This drop helps explain the slowing in employment but is offset in the longer term outlook by the rise in new orders.

This report is mixed with export orders pointing to continuing headwinds for the manufacturing sector though total new orders are a plus. Note that this report was posted before its usually scheduled 10:00 a.m. ET release time.

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Construction up nicely vs last year this time, but not so much vs earlier this year, and some of it is the NY thing regarding getting started ahead of expiring credits as previously discussed, which look to have been followed by a sharp fall off:

Construction Spending

source: Econoday.com
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Highlights
Held back by a slight and unexpected decline in single-family homes, construction spending inched only 0.1 percent higher in June. Spending on new single-family homes slipped 0.3 percent in June following gains of 0.5 percent and 1.0 percent in the prior two months. Showing much greater strength are multi-family units, up 2.8 percent in June following prior gains of 1.3 and 3.4 percent. Year-on-year, single-family homes are up a very strong 12.8 percent while multi-family is up 23.7 percent.

The biggest drag to June comes from the private non-residential category which fell 1.3 percent reflecting sweeping monthly declines for offices, commercial structures, factories along with power and transportation spending. On the plus side were construction for highways and education.

Housing permit data point to strength ahead for single-family construction spending along with continued standout strength for the multi-family category. But the decline on the non-residential side does underscore weakness right now in business investment. But taken together, total spending is still up a very constructive 12.0 percent year-on-year and the second-half outlook is still positive.

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Not adjusted for inflation:

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Motor vehicle sales looking up, estimated at a 17.5 million annual rate, almost as high as May and split between domestic and imports isn’t out yet. Domestically produced car sales have been down year over year:

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GDP Income, Saudi Oil Output, Restaurant Index

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BEA Reports 2nd Quarter 2015 GDP Growing at 2.32%:

By Rick Davis

July 30 (Consumer Metrics)

Real annualized per capita disposable income was reported to be $37,846, some -$364 per year less than the previously reported $38,210 per annum. All of that downside came as a result of revisions to the prior quarter’s data, which was revised downward by -$437 (over a full percent). Meanwhile, the household savings rate plunged to 4.8% — down -0.7% from the previously reported 5.5%.

For this revision the BEA assumed an annualized deflator of 2.04%. During the same quarter (April 2015 through June 2015) the inflation recorded by BLS in their CPI-U index was 3.52%. Under estimating inflation results in optimistic growth rates, and if the BEA’s “nominal” data was deflated using CPI-U inflation information the headline number would show a more modest +0.89% growth rate.

Especially hard hit in the revisions were the real per-capita disposable income numbers. The cumulative compound annualized growth rate for real disposable income has been only +0.45% since the second quarter of 2008. And these figures represent mean incomes that are skewed by disproportionate growth at the upper end. According to Sentier Research, median incomes during the same time span have contracted by roughly 4%.

And household savings rates have been weaker than previously suspected, confirming the lower incomes.

Demand for Saudi oil firm and up a bit:

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Even this is sagging:

Restaurant Performance Index declined in June

By Bill McBride

July 31 (Calculated Risk Blog)

Here is a minor indicator I follow from the National Restaurant Association: Dampened Outlook Causes Restaurant Performance Index Decline in June

As a result of a somewhat dampened outlook among restaurant operators, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) declined in June for the second consecutive month. The RPI – a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry – stood at 102.0 in June, down 0.4 percent from May and its lowest level in nine months. Despite the decline, June represented the 28th consecutive month in which the RPI stood above 100, which signifies continued expansion in the index of key industry indicators.

“Although same-store sales and customer traffic levels remained positive in June, the overall RPI declined as a result of dampened optimism among restaurant operators,” said Hudson Riehle, Senior Vice President of the Research and Knowledge Group for the Association. “The proportion of restaurant operators expecting sales growth fell to its lowest level in nine months, while operators’ outlook for the economy turned negative for the first time in nearly two years.”

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The index decreased to 102.0 in June, down from 102.4 in May. (above 100 indicates expansion).

Restaurant spending is discretionary, so even though this is “D-list” data, I like to check it every month. Even with the decline in the index, this is a solid reading.

Read more at Calculated Risk Blog

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