"The Loop" is a deep dive note into financial conditions and the role they are playing in either reinforcing or undermining monetary policy.
The economy has become financialized, especially since the GFC when the QE era began, with household wealth rising to almost 6x GDP.
I strongly recommend watching Stan Druckenmiller’s full interview. He is probably the best macro investor of all time. I don’t think he’s ever had a down year.
He explains succinctly why he doesn’t think policy is restrictive. Hard to argue with him.
This is my 1970's roadmap. The Burns mistake was cutting Fed Funds below inflation prematurely, and we can see the Volcker solution on the right. The Fed thinks they are following Volcker by cutting alongside the falling inflation level.
BUT...
Since the last hike 1y ago:
-Nominal GDP went from 5.95% to 5.9% now
-CPI went from 3% to 3% now
-NFP went from 184k to 206k now
-Housing prices went from 3% YoY to 6.3% now
-SPX went up 20%
-IG OAS spreads went from 128 bps to 93 bps now
Cutting rates here would be pure lunacy
People have been calling for a recession since 2022. It's fine to get things wrong, but I have yet to see anyone then say, "I was wrong, something is different". Those people have simply moved their call forward every 3 months.
Recession calls are a black hole very hard to exit
Stocks are down because we probably don't get a 50 bps cut, so then bonds go bid because stocks are down which means we price more cuts.
Got it? Cool, me neither
The immaculate disinflation of 2H 2023 during a period of exceptionally strong nominal GDP was chalked up to a material step up in productivity (GDP/worker). It now seems clear this was in fact due to undercounting workers due to the surge in immigration.
As a result of the dovish pivot, there are a very wide range of outcomes for 2024. Not all of these are realistic, each should be probability weighted. Please let me know which scenario you see most likely and why, and I will then let you know my view
I’m not a single name guy at all, but from my seat there’s literally nothing to take negatively from NVDAs earnings.
This is not the dot com bubble. There is massive capex going on that will lead to productivity increasing.
It’s very bullish the economy.
I am increasingly getting concerned that we are heading towards a major accident in the equity market. That being said, the VIX being at these levels and the release of election uncertainty soon make me think it’s not imminent.
My alarm bells are ringing like in the summer.
The Fed has two levers to pull
1) hike until things break. They abandoned this when they downshifted to start the year and especially when SVB happened
2) hold at a level they think is restrictive and hope financial conditions tighten over time
A lot of smart macro guys have been saying for months the equity market is expecting too much in cuts and will be disappointed. They were ridiculed, got angry and hateful responses but they were right and deserve credit.
@ces921
@BobEUnlimited
@dampedspring
Fun facts of the day:
Fed has never cut rates more than 75 bps outside of a recession. In 1989 they cut 150 bps for a recession that came a year later.
We're pricing 250 bps.
We've never had 200+ bps in cuts without at least a 1.5% pop in inflation
It was an absolute pleasure talking to
@JackFarley96
about my macro views and the current balance of risks as well as asymmetric opportunities in both rates and equity vol markets.
Hope you enjoy it and find it informative.
How
@DannyDayan5
is seeing macro right now:
- the Fed's fight with inflation is NOT over
- risk of economic re-acceleration >>> recession risk
- bond yields are still way too low - Fed to cut interest rates only twice this year (his base case), right-tail risk that the Fed is
CPI was not a catastrophe, but really not far from it. This report is BAD. OER, Supercore big step down from Jan, yet core still 0.36% MoM. Medical care services negative?!? Makes no sense.
This report is far closer to catastrophe then good.
Sorry for the doomer post.
PPI is perhaps signaling goods deflation has ended, jobless claims defy everyone's doom fears, and consumption continues at a nice pace.
Goodbye rate cuts.
Dear Fed, break out your hawkish talk. It's been awhile.
The data is softening more than I expected, so this naturally causes an update to views. I would note that softening is not recessionary, but this is what the Fed wanted to see and they are seeing it. They will need 2-3 more months of confirmation to cut, which seems likely.
First they push back on cuts the market priced due to their irresponsible dovishness.
Then they say rate cuts are optional.
Then they hike again to regain credibility.
We are right on schedule.
@ericwallerstein
It’s so funny you mention this. My entire career, having an edge in macro meant finding downside risks others are not aware of.
This cycle it’s navigating doomers views and finding optimism they refuse to see.
Weekend thought:
-YC inversion one of longest ever
-Money supply YoY went < 0%
-Sahm backtest creator says it may not work
-LEI has signaled recession for 2yrs
-Survey/soft data has been useless
What else is needed for people to realize something has structurally changed?
I think the story today is bad news is bad news again. Either this is a growth scare or precursor to recession. The equity market is waking up to the fact that earnings season can be bad. Small caps shorts are getting covered as a general de-grossing theme.
I am open minded to the possibility the equity correction is complete. I closed shorts earlier today close to flat (went 4 for 5 on put spreads over last two weeks). Tax season liquidity drain ends Monday.
I am not flipping bullish until we see earnings. Neutral for now.
Just a friendly reminder that many people demanded a 50 bps cut because the Fed was "dangerously behind the curve" and also said 250 bps in cuts in a year was totally reasonable because it's "normalization".
Fed needs to pause and understand this economy better.
The conservative choice is to wait a very long time. The risky choice is to cut based on some hypothetical weakness you think will materialize based on real rates being too high.
Cutting anytime soon will be an enormous policy mistake.
The equity market went up 28% in 5 months in a parabolic fashion, with no material pullback.
It started with expectations of a big easing cycle, and for a growth reacceleration.
With the former off the table for now, we are left with the latter.
The QRA this week will dictate the supply of debt sold in the next 3 months.
There are societal needs that will require massive spending in the years to come.
More military spending.
Huge investments in electric grid.
Social security reform.
Term premium needs to rise.
The more I look at household balance sheets, the more I think that 2020/2021 fiscal and monetary policy weren’t just providing stimulus for that year, but for an entire generation.
@FedGuy12
I think it’s the anti dollar trade. Could be geopolitical. But the other side of currency trades aren’t appealing because they’re all weaker economies that are going to cut more than the Fed.
#2
is complicated because they don’t control FCI directly.
If conditions loosen prematurely, they have to respond.
Failure to respond is precisely what turns them into Arthur Burns 2.0
In 11 days we see what their response is.
Core PCE is in line, but not sure why anyone is surprised given how telegraphed it is. More importantly, another massive month of personal spending, at 7.2% annualized pace for second month in a row.
This economy is too strong.
We've priced out 3-4 cuts for this year, 10y +50 bps, and yet the dollar is not rallying and equities are flying. So FCI has actually loosened to start the year.
See the problem, Fed?
Credibility is the theme.
According to the Fed's projections, we won't have a recession or material job losses for the next 3 years nor ever! 4.1% unemployment rate for eternity.
Good to know!
If the Fed cuts 50, I hope they understand the future political pressure they will face from Presidents and members of Congress at 4.2% unemployment from now on. This will now be considered an urgent and unacceptable level of unemployment. The business cycle becomes dead.
Their mistake is ignoring this key lesson. Inflation falling without economic weakness, namely job losses or credit events, simply leads to economic re-acceleration. This is exactly why I expected the economy to reaccelerate in 2023. The Fed has seemingly missed this.
There’s a general view that the Fed can cut 250 bps in a year and there will be no GDP or inflation response because it’s “normalization”.
Not only does the historical record dispute this, but so do the Fed’s own models.
Torsten Slok ran simulations in the FRB/US models.
Had a great time discussing macro and markets with
@kevinmuir
yesterday after the close. We cover a lot of different topics in the wide ranging conversation, so I hope you enjoy it!
It's interview only this week to give
@PatrickCeresna
some much needed R & R. So
@KevinMuir
welcomes,
@DannyDayan5
from Macro Musing. They discuss how the FED has lost control of financial conditions & why inflation will be higher than the market expects in the coming years.
Be prepared for the ultimate flip flop ahead.
Can't wait to hear the "We didn't see this coming" excuses when the data rebounds very strongly ahead.
From the PMIs.
I think we are in for lots of flip flopping, erratic policy making ahead. They’re winging it.
The Fed is going to learn that their hard fought credibility borne over many decades can evaporate in an instant. All it would take is a single or couple data points.
Gold +1%, Silver +6%, Copper +1.5%, Palladium +4%, Uranium +2.5%, Crypto +2.5%.
To quote
@Convertbond
: "Markets are speaking"
They are sniffing out now just US growth, but global growth improving.
This place can get contentious at times, but when I joined last year I did so to provide my perspective on macro and markets.
The early August labor report came in the midst of a VAR shock and thus spooked many. I analyzed the data and tried to provide a different perspective
Every meltup has a meltdown, usually caused by leverage. Leverage has moved from margin debt to products like these.
I really can't say a correction is imminent, but the fact that nobody can make a bearish argument (including me) has me a bit spooked at the moment.
Small anecdote that may or may not mean anything, but inflation break-evens have moved up for two days in a row when oil has done nothing.
Fear is rising.
We are now fully immersed in scenario 5: markets are testing the Fed credibility.
Inflation breakevens higher -> check
Stocks -> check
Gold-> check
Dollar weakening -> check
Only thing left is long end collapse. I have been wrong on this the last 2 weeks, expected follow thru
As a result of the dovish pivot, there are a very wide range of outcomes for 2024. Not all of these are realistic, each should be probability weighted. Please let me know which scenario you see most likely and why, and I will then let you know my view
Canada just posted one of the largest monthly increases in building permits in history. I have been bearish Canada but this is shocking. Could be noise, or housing could already be responding to 3 rate cuts.
But hey, keep thinking this is 2007 if it suits you.
Exactly. The market responded to this data release by pricing even more rate cuts. Which tells you we are in a narrative phase right now.
My view hasn't changed that the bond market is misreading the economic situation and will cause a re-acceleration in Q1/Q2.
I have made the case repeatedly that the Fed Funds rate does not matter; it is the 10y rate that impacts economic activity. Given this, we can actually see that we have had 4 rate cut & hike cycles via the 10y since the fall of 2022 when mega rate hikes ended.
Macro is a puzzle. It's always important to respond to new information that could change your view.
I had strong conviction that we would see re-accelerating growth this year, but I expected it to also reignite inflationary pressures.
Their second mistake is ignoring how the economy has changed dramatically. Household wealth to GDP was 350% in the 70s and is 550% now.
The financialization of the economy is crucially important, which is why large FCI moves impact the economy on the margin in a big way.
I get things right and wrong like everyone. I got the retail sales data wrong today, while CPI is in line and nothing to be excited about.
But I do find some of the celebrations on here pretty lame, like "sucka bond bears".
Act like this isn't your first time making money
Giving
@dampedspring
back a shout out. My entire career I found risk premium approaches useful but impossible to trade. Andy is the only person I have ever seen develop tradeable insights from changes in risk premiums. His timing has been spectacular. Pay attention.
Santa Rallies are driven by performance chasing of winners and tax deferral (less selling) of winners. This is not what Santa Rallies look like. DSR on topic.
The oil collapse is likely to be a major form of stimulus for households. This is a 20% decline since July in a non discretionary spending item.
It also hurts Russia pretty badly in their war funding efforts, but I am unsure their response. They may not afford to cut production
I am rather new to FinTwit, but tomorrow I will be doing a detailed thread on an unintended consequence from the Fed's QT that might be making its inflation fight harder than it needs to be. Stay tuned!
I have no edge in predicting next week's CPI report, but I do know it will tell us inflation is too high.
Some data missed expectations which has led to another FCI loosening, and commods are bid again.
These loop dynamics reinforce my view the Fed will have to hike again
Equity vol is ridiculously cheap. Terminal breakevens on 1month trades are 2-3 days worth of regular moves in these markets. Sectors are not correlated to each other. Individual stocks are flying out of control.
I would not short vol anywhere in equities.
Thought ahead of weekend.
Iran will put on a show but fall short of escalating this into a full war, so some geopolitical premium should unwind. I expect a strong print for retail sales.
Argues for an unwind in bond move rather than stocks at the margin. Unclear on FX/Commods.
Canada CPI report cancels July cut. On top of cell phones, airfares and other services categories, Ontario rents bounced from 6.1 to 8.4%. Quebec renewals come this month. Bounce in housing is the worst case scenario for BOC cutting cycle.
@BobEUnlimited
Great thread. Nobody expects recession, nobody expects inflation revival. Nobody expects rate cuts that need to be immediately reversed. Nobody expects an out of control long bond going to 8% as policy makers try to stop it.
We are pricing very narrow and unrealistic outcomes.
The Fed thinks time is on their side. They think they can hold for as long as possible so in their mind they are long optionality.
I think they have this entirely backwards.
It's going to take more than just wiping out one month's equity gains to get cuts. Wealth gains are 17TRN since November. We probably shaved 1TRN off that.
Economy is too strong.
We need persistent tightening to finish the job. If we selloff, then bounce right back no dice
Put out a simple post to compliment some guys. Maybe didn't illustrate their thesis well, but have gotten nothing but annoying minutae comments to start endless debates and arguments
I'm taking a break from this place. Focusing on trading.
Y'all know where to find me.
Peace!
A lot of smart macro guys have been saying for months the equity market is expecting too much in cuts and will be disappointed. They were ridiculed, got angry and hateful responses but they were right and deserve credit.
@ces921
@BobEUnlimited
@dampedspring
To be long bonds here, you have to believe
1) more rate cuts will be delivered than currently priced
2) term premium of 0 is a good deal and may even move negative
I am unconvinced inflation is beaten. Goods deflation ending + sticky services will keep us above target.
If the Feb inflation prints are strong, coupled with strong growth, I expect the market to price hikes as much as ~50% probability, even if delivery of them is still lower likelihood than that.
Base effect for CPI get really easy to beat after February.
Surge in MBS apps, led by refinance index which is +65% since July. This frees up disposable income just like oil's decline. Is the FCI loop back in effect right as they cut rates?
Funny observation but in the last 4 days:
1) nobody can agree whether QE is debt monetization
2) nobody can agree whether FCI is loose or tight
3) nobody can agree whether the Fed should hike or cut
Fun times!
Imagine if tight FCI from end October had persisted. We would be close to finishing the job on inflation within months.
Instead we have goosed the economy with a lot of easing.
This is not a game of tag.
They fumbled the ball at the goal line.
Biggest takeaway from the data is the huge beat in personal income. This confirms the AHE isn't as flukey as we thought. Both supercore measures CPI/PCE at extremely elevated levels.
Income -> Consumption.
The last hike was almost a year ago, yet 6 of the last 8 months have seen core CPI print 0.3% or higher. I think it's pretty safe to conclude that anything below that is an anomaly, not the norm.
3.6% is the steady state of core inflation and has been for about 1.5 years.
Interestingly, the economy that looks closest to achieving a soft landing is Europe. They hiked to restrictive levels, held there for a year despite barely any growth, didn’t put out speeches to undermine their stance, and can now cut as slow or as fast as needed.
First they push back on cuts the market priced due to their irresponsible dovishness.
Then they say rate cuts are optional.
Then they hike again to regain credibility.
We are right on schedule.
I think we are in for lots of flip flopping, erratic policy making ahead. They’re winging it.
The Fed is going to learn that their hard fought credibility borne over many decades can evaporate in an instant. All it would take is a single or couple data points.
Dealers in equity indices are now short vega and vanna, and short VIX gamma. Translation: if we get a 5% selloff, it could morph into a violent one. This setup does not predict selloffs, but it does tell you that the options market is not prepared if we get one. Put skew is cheap