Yesterday brought news that upset something of a sacred cow of these times. And no I do not mean the fact that Lionel Messi not only still has in his possession but actually uses a fax machine. That perhaps trumps even his transfer request. Across the Atlantic came news which challenged the growing consensus about economies soaring up, up and away after the Covid-19 pandemic. So let me hand you over to the Conference Board.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® decreased in August, after declining in July. The Index now stands at 84.8 (1985=100), down from 91.7 in July. The Present Situation Index – based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions – decreased sharply from 95.9 to 84.2. The Expectations Index – based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions – declined from 88.9 in July to 85.2 this month.
As the consumer is a large part of the US economy a further decline in August poses a question for the recovery we are being promised. Indeed those promising such a recovery forecast it would be 93 so they seem to be inhabiting a different universe. They managed to miss consumers reporting that things had got substantially worse in August. The expectations index decline was more minor but it is on the back of a much lower current reading.
The accompanying explanation put some more meat on the bones.
“Consumer Confidence declined in August for the second consecutive month,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “The Present Situation Index decreased sharply, with consumers stating that both business and employment conditions had deteriorated over the past month. Consumers’ optimism about the short-term outlook, and their financial prospects, also declined and continues on a downward path. Consumer spending has rebounded in recent months but increasing concerns amongst consumers about the economic outlook and their financial well-being will likely cause spending to cool in the months ahead.”
That made me look into the detail for the jobs market which confirmed why consumers think that things have got worse.
Consumers’ appraisal of the job market was also less favorable. The percentage of consumers saying jobs are “plentiful” declined from 22.3 percent to 21.5 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” increased from 20.1 percent to 25.2 percent.
The change in the “plentiful” number is within the margin of error but the “hard to get” shift is noticeable. There was a similar shift in business conditions where there was what seems a significant increase in the “bad” category.
The percentage of consumers claiming business conditions are “good” declined from 17.5 percent to 16.4 percent, while those claiming business conditions are “bad” increased from 38.9 percent to 43.6 percent.
As you can see below this is a long-running series and so it comes with some credibility.
In 1967, The Conference Board began the Consumer Confidence Survey (CCS) as a mail survey
conducted every two months; in June 1977, the CCS began monthly collection and publication. The CCS
has maintained consistent concepts, definitions, questions, and mail survey operations since its
inception.
The alternative view was provided by MarketWatch.
What they are saying? “I have to admit that I do not take this latest reading at face value,” said chief economist Stephen Stanley of Amherst Pierpont Securities. “If you believe the number, then consumers are feeling worse in August than they were in the depths of the lockdown. I can’t imagine that anyone believes that.”
Perhaps he was one of those who thought it would be 93.
The Housing Market
We can now shift to a look at the market which will have every telescope at the US Federal Reserve pointing at it.
Sales of new single-family houses in July 2020 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 901,000, according to
estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This is 13.9 percent (±20.0 percent)* above the revised June rate of 791,000 and is 36.3 percent (±27.4 percent)
above the July 2019 estimate of 661,000.
There may well have been a cheer at the Fed as the news was released. In absolute terms the main rise was in the south but in percentage terms it was the Mid-West that led with a more than 50% rise on the previous average for this year.
However there is a catch.
For Sale Inventory and Months’ Supply
The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of July was 299,000. This represents a supply of
4.0 months at the current sales rate.
That does not add up until we remind ourselves that like the GDP data the numbers are annualised. If you check the actual data sales rose from 75,000 in June to 78,000 in July compared to a nadir of 52,000 in April.
So we see that for all the hype actual new homes sales rose by around 40,000 in response to this reported by Yahoo Finance.
The weekly average rates for new mortgages as of 20th August were quoted by Freddie Mac to be:
- 30-year fixed rates increased by 3 basis points to 2.99% in the week. Rates were down from 3.56% from a year ago. The average fee remained unchanged at 0.8 points.
- 15-year fixed rates rose by 8 basis points to 2.54% in the week. Year-on-year, rates were down from 3.03%. The average fee fell from 0.8 points to 0.7 points.
- 5-year fixed rates increased from 2.90% to 2.91% in the week. Rates were down by 41 points from last year’s 3.32%. The average fee fell from 0.4 points to 0.3 points.
House Prices
Our central bankers would also be scanning for house price data.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 4.3% annual gain in June, no change from the previous month.
Actually it is a 3 month average so if you prefer it is a second quarter number so apparently as the economy plunged house prices rose. Some detail as to what happened where is below.
“June’s gains were quite broad-based. Prices increased in all 19 cities for which we have data, accelerating in five of them. Phoenix retains the top spot for the 13th consecutive month, with a gain of 9.0% for June. Home prices in Seattle rose by 6.5%, followed by Tampa at 5.9% and Charlotte at 5.7%. As has been the case for the last several months, prices were particularly strong in the Southeast and West, and comparatively weak in the Midwest and (especially) Northeast.
Comment
The consensus view is along the lines of this from the end of last week.
- The New York Fed Staff Nowcast stands at 14.6% for 2020:Q3.
- News from this week’s data releases decreased the nowcast for 2020:Q3 by 0.2 percentage point.
- Negative surprises from the Empire State Manufacturing survey and housing starts data drove most of the decrease.
A strong rebound in the economy is the expectation but the consumer confidence report poses a question about some of that. Then we note that the housing data looks less positive once we allow for the annualisation and indeed seasonal adjustment in a year which is anything but normal.
That provides some food for thought for the US Federal Reserve as it gets ready to host its annual “Jackson Hole” symposium. I have put it in quote because this year the trip is virtual rather than real. Should they announce as they have been hinting that the new policy will be to target average inflation – which will be a loosening as the measure of official inflation is below target – we are left wondering one more time if Newt from the film Aliens will be right again?
It wont make any difference
The Investing Channel