BREAKING: US NFP at 353k way above the estimated 185k, Wages came in hotter than expected +4.5% YoY vs +4.1% expected.
The December jobs report has been revised UP, showing 333,000 jobs added rather than the 216,000 originally reported. This breaks a 10-month trend of downward revisions in the reported jobs number. Meanwhile, average hourly earnings in January rose 0.6%, DOUBLING expectations. Unemployment rate held flat MoM at 3.7% (the Street was anticipating 3.8%). Note that according to the Household survey, the number of employed people dipped by 31k MoM, so US Non-farm-payroll report is not as hot as at 1st sight. Source: Bloomberg, HolgerZ
The Fed's balance sheet is now at its lowest level since March 2021, down $1.3 trillion from its peak in April 2022.
How much more QT is needed to unwind the massive QE from March 2020- April 2022? $3.5 trillion. Source: Charlie Bilello
If you cannot afford your rent, you are in good company.
According to Harvard University, half of all renters in the United States are paying more in rent than they should. That is defined as using up more than 30% of your income. The good news is rent is coming down in most of the country. The median asking rent is just above $1,700, which is down $63 from its peak in July 2022. That number is going to vary from city to city, but even in Manhattan, rents dropped for the first time in more than two years in November. https://lnkd.in/e_dmjidG
The US Treasury will hold some of its largest-ever debt auctions in the coming three months in an effort to fill the yawning federal budget deficit.
The Treasury said on Wednesday it would increase the size of auctions at most maturities for the next three months, with two-year and five-year auctions hitting record sizes. The five-year auction in April, for $70bn, would be the biggest ever for debt with a maturity of two years or more. The US has been increasing its borrowing over the past few quarters, as the gap between government spending and tax revenue has grown. The federal deficit stood at $1.7tn last year. Source: FT https://lnkd.in/eSyQHXu9
Multiple small us banks tumbled high-single and double digits.
There is a silver lining though -> the market quickly remembered that it was precisely the bank crisis last March that sparked a powerful Fed response (BTFP), and a violent rally, and we got the same thing today as stocks slingshot sharply higher closing 1.1% higher... Source: www.zerohedge.com
During the election year, the averages tell us that it's going to be sideways to lower for the next 2 months...
Source: Grant Hawkridge
No wonder the US is polarized...
Source: Michel A.Arouet
The US is facing a "death spiral" as a result of its mounting debt and the inability of politicians to confront the issue, according to "The Black Swan" author Nassim Taleb.
Per Bloomberg, the Universa Investments advisor who correctly called the 2008 financial crash cast a dire warning about the US debt situation, which has seen the federal debt balance notch $34 trillion for the first time ever to start the year. As long as Congress keeps up its rapid pace of spending, those debts are going to continue to pile up, which could have disastrous consequences for the US economy, Taleb said this week at an event held by Universa Investments. In fact, rising debt in the US is a "white swan," Taleb said, and is an event that poses an obvious risk to markets versus a "black swan" event, which can occur without much warning. That death spiral would necessitate "something to come in from the outside, or maybe some kind of miracle," Taleb said, when asked how the shock would play out, adding that the situation has made him more pessimistic about the political system in the West. Source: Business Insider
