A 48% Chance Of Recession

The recession forecasts continue this time, with Goldman Sachs saying it sees a 48% cumulative recession probability over the next two years. But, again, this is up significantly from its previous “guess” of 35%.

Even retail favorite Cathie Wood is joining the party, warning that the Fed is ignoring dangerous signals and that its aggressive rate hikes risk plunging the U.S. into a recession. ⚠️

Clearly, recession worries are everywhere, from the forecasts of central bankers/government officials/Wall Street firms and economic data to media outlets like the N.Y. Post.

Meanwhile, newly released economic data isn’t helping sentiment these days. 😮‍💨

Existing home sales fell 3.4% in May, the weakest reading since June 2020, as median home prices broke above $400,000 for the first time in history. 🏘️

Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index edged lower in May, though still buoyed by solid demand in the manufacturing sector. 📉

While we may not have a crystal ball like the economists at Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms, the recent market action continues to price in high inflation and weaker economic growth.

So far, there’s not been a lot of data to suggest otherwise, so we’ll have to rely on the crystal balls’ forecast for now. And it doesn’t look good. 🔮

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Stocks Jump As Jobs Slump

If you’re confused about why the stock market jumped today despite more evidence of the labor market weakening, we’ve got you covered. 👇

Earlier this week, we discussed several leading indicators suggesting the U.S. labor market is returning to pre-pandemic levels. That’s big news because a historically tight labor market has been keeping upward pressure on wages. And since wages tend to be sticky, that puts upward pressure on services inflation, which has been the hardest part of inflation to bring down.

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The Housing Market Horror Continues

We’ve written extensively about the U.S. housing market’s troubles over the last eighteen months. But we saw a visual created by Michael McDonough and shared by Cullen Roche that really highlights just how rough things have gotten for homebuyers. 😬

Below is a chart that looks to track an “average” home purchase over the last 20+ years. It calculates the monthly mortgage payment using median existing home prices, assuming a 20% down payment and average 30-year mortgage rates.

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U.S. Jobs Data Back In Focus

The bond market continued to rally during a busy day of economic data, with October’s JOLTs data standing out to investors. Let’s recap it all. 👇

First off, October’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) signaled a continued slowdown in the labor market. Job openings fell to their lowest level since March 2021, at 8.7 million, while the ratio of openings to available workers ticked down to 1.3:1. That’s well below its peak of 2.0:1 set earlier in the year. 📉

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Jobs: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Jobs numbers today showed that the U.S. labor market is showing signs of cooling faster than an iced latte in a polar vortex. Analysts expected 180k, but the number came in lower at 150k, missing the mark like a North Korean rocket test. 👨‍🚀

The Good 😃

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