Search results matching tag 'Home Prices'

How Our Home Prices Compare To The Rest Of The World

JohnMcClure — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:39:00 GMT

Global Home Price Comparison
Lessons from the Forgotten Depression
Resisting the Intervention Urge
Chaining the Tiger
More Difficult Than Timing the Market

Quote of the week
"Institutional equity investors fear missing out on the rally. Bond investors fear deflation and the stock market is way overdone and is ripe for a steep correction. The gold bugs fear that the fiscal and monetary largesse globally will lead to inflation and fear that the U.S. dollar is on the verge of collapse. Never before has fear felt so reassuring - pick an asset class, and it's going up in price."
David Rosenberg in a recent newsletter to clients

Global Perspective - What's a Home Worth?

In an effort to address deflating stock prices, the Federal Reserve began lowering interest rates in January 2001. Within 18 months it had dropped to multi-decade lows. The strategy eventually worked, but it also fueled a housing boom, propelling home prices to unprecedented highs even after adjusting for inflation. But the strategy had a high price tag and since 2007 we have suffered the all-too-predictable bubble break and property depression.

But how have home prices fared around the globe? Did prices appreciate as significantly? Have other markets been as severely impacted as those in the U.S. over the past two years?

The answers surprised us. A series of charts recently published by The Economist magazine compared home prices from 1990 to present (Q2-09). In the next chart, we see nominal home price changes for Hong Kong, Britain, Spain, New Zealand, Canada and Japan, as well as two estimates for U.S. home prices - the generous Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) and the more conservative Case-Shiller Home Price Index.

Notice the unique jump for Hong Kong in the late 1990s followed by the major correction and market re-ignition. Every other market in the chart, with the exception of Japan, experienced rapidly rising home prices starting in the early 2000s, with peaks in late 2007. Top of the list was Spain followed then by New Zealand (and Australia which closely tracked the path of its smaller neighbor), then Hong Kong, the U.S. followed by Canada and finally Japan, where home prices dropped over the two-decade period.

The takeaway is that although a lot of press was given to the situation in the U.S., there has been a relative dearth of articles comparing international housing markets on this side of the Atlantic and Pacific. In Spain, where home values jumped nearly 400%, prices are still 350% above where they were two decades ago, suggesting that this market has the greatest potential for further price declines. New Zealand and Australia aren't far behind on the "bubble-scale."

Notice that home prices in Canada significantly underperformed their global counterparts through the 1990s and into the new millennium, which may explain why the housing market there has remained more robust of late. And Japan, where prices are still little more than one-half of what they were two decades ago, continues to experience weak housing demand - a result of a combination of an aging population, punitive government stimulus and bankruptcy prevention policies that have frustrated any lasting recovery chances. These are lessons lost on U.S. policy makers.

Figure 1 - International home price comparisons. Source - Economist.com

One thing is clear from this chart. Chances are that the worst is not over for the countries in which housing prices were launched into the stratosphere. It will take more time before economic gravity pulls them back to earth. And even if U.S. property markets stabilize, what impact will falling prices in other parts of the world have on our economy?

Lessons from the Forgotten Depression

Past issues of the ProfitScore IQ have examined the wisdom of a policy to bailout struggling companies and industries in the face of an economic meltdown in historic terms. And in no period in history is the difference between present and past starker than it is today, compared to the 1920 depression.

Then the government and Federal Reserve stayed out of the way and let free market forces deal with the fallout and recovery. Will it become a blatant example of how failing to learn the lessons of history doom us to re-learn them the hard way?

Analysts and economists continually harken back to the period from 1929 to 1933, at the beginning of the Great Depression to laud the example set by Franklin Roosevelt and how he sought to cure the ills of the period with massive government spending and New Deal programs.

Opinions could not be more polarized. On one side supporters of John Maynard Keynes credit government intervention and deficit spending with saving our nation from economic ruin. On the other, opponents of corporate socialism argue that government intervention only served to prolong the economic pain and recovery which ultimately took the second great war to complete.

Why are other periods of economic contagion so rarely discussed? In a recent paper entitled Warren Harding and the Forgotten Depression of 1920, Thomas E. Woods Jr. of the Von Mises Institute explores the Great Depression of 1920 and examines the official response.

"The economic situation in 1920 was grim. By that year unemployment had jumped from 4 percent to nearly 12 percent, and GNP declined 17 percent. No wonder, then, that Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover-falsely characterized as a supporter of laissez-faire economics-urged President Harding to consider an array of interventions to turn the economy around. Hoover was ignored."

From 1920 to 1921, foreign trade was cut in half and prices in the U.S. fell by more than 20%.

Today, Hoover's advice would have been gladly accepted and instituted. But a different ethic prevailed in the Harding Administration in 1920.

"Instead of ‘fiscal stimulus,' Harding cut the government's budget nearly in half between 1920 and 1922. The rest of Harding's approach was equally laissez-faire. Tax rates were slashed for all income groups. The national debt was reduced by one-third. The Federal Reserve's activity, moreover, was hardly noticeable. As one economic historian puts it, "Despite the severity of the contraction, the Fed did not move to use its powers to turn the money supply around and fight the contraction."

Resisting the Intervention Urge

Today, policy makers would denounce such a policy as economic suicide and they'd have the backing of the majority of economists and voters. Tightening the purse strings and letting companies and consumers fend for themselves without the help of government cash would not be politically popular.

But then a strange thing happened.

"By the late summer of 1921, signs of recovery were already visible. The following year, unemployment was back down to 6.7 percent and was only 2.4 percent by 1923," according to Woods.

"In 1920-21," writes economist Benjamin Anderson, "we took our losses, we readjusted our financial structure, we endured our depression, and in August 1921 we started up again. . . . The rally in business production and employment that started in August 1921 was soundly based on a drastic cleaning up of credit weakness, a drastic reduction in the costs of production, and on the free play of private enterprise. It was not based on governmental policy designed to make business good."

As Thomas Woods explains, "The federal government [of 1920-21] did not do what Keynesian economists ever since have urged it to do: run unbalanced budgets and prime the pump through increased expenditures. Rather, there prevailed the old-fashioned view that government should keep spending and taxation low and reduce the public debt."

Even in 1920, Harding's laissez-faire approach attracted significant opposition from economists who believed intervention was the right approach, according to Woods. And few presidents before or since have been subjected to the degree of ridicule that President Warren Harding had to endure. His 1920 Republican Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech provides some clues as to why.

"We will attempt intelligent and courageous deflation, and strike at government borrowing which enlarges the evil, and we will attack high cost of government with every energy and facility which attend Republican capacity. We promise that relief which will attend the halting of waste and extravagance, and the renewal of the practice of public economy, not alone because it will relieve tax burdens but because it will be an example to stimulate thrift and economy in private life.

Let us call to all the people for thrift and economy, for denial and sacrifice if need be, for a nationwide drive against extravagance and luxury, to a recommittal to simplicity of living, to that prudent and normal plan of life which is the health of the republic. There hasn't been a recovery from the waste and abnormalities of war since the story of mankind was first written, except through work and saving, through industry and denial, while needless spending and heedless extravagance have marked every decay in the history of nations."

Figure 1 - Chart of the 46% drop in stock prices from 1919 through 1921 to the nearly 500% boom that followed over the subsequent eight years. Chart by GenesisFT.com.

Can you imagine a political leader giving a similar speech today? But as much as this approach counters the prevailing conventional wisdom, the recovery that it elicited in the early 1920s was nothing short of phenomenal.

Chaining the Tiger

From 1922 through 1929, the U.S. gross national product rose 40%, from $74.1 billion to $103.1 billion and the federal government ran a surplus budget. Unemployment remained low, between 3 and 4%, and per capita income rose from $641 in 1921 to $847 in 1929. As we see from Figure 1 above, after shedding 46% in value between 1919 and 1920, the Dow managed an incredible 500% gain over the next eight years that dwarfs any subsequent eight-year rally.

Such a recovery was possible only because the market had been allowed to work and the economy cleared of uncompetitive companies run by inept managers and debt levels had been significantly reduced. This created an environment that stimulated new business and economic growth, in addition to generating rapid job growth and fueling consumer confidence.

But there was one undeniable side-effect of this and every other sustainable recovery. While the average per capita income rose 35.3% from 1920 and 1929, it jumped 75% for the top 1% income earners. And it is this reality that present-day policy makers find so intolerable. Today's politicians would rather risk national economic health than allow the rich to benefit unfairly. It is the same intervention ideology that would see the tiger fettered with chains to give the gazelle a better chance during the hunt.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of helping the poor. But how does keeping moribund companies on government mandated life-support and indenturing our children and children's children with debt to help the poor, especially if it increases their number longer-term? And even if these policies did work, how many would prefer to live in a world dominated by government committees that have the power to decide which businesses should survive and which should fail using your tax dollars to play Santa Claus?

Related Stories and Links:

House Prices Are Creeping Up, But It May Not Last
http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14462419

Safe as Houses - Interactive home price graph
http://ow.ly/rSoG

Warren Harding and the Forgotten Depression of 1920 by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=1322&theme=home&loc=b

Economy of the 1920s
https://www.wou.edu/las/socsci/kimjensen/ECONOMY%20OF%20THE%20TWENTIES.htm

Former Fannie Chief Credit Officer Says FHA Is $54 Billion Underwater
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/former-fannie-chief-credit-officer-says-fha-54-billion-underwater

Measured in Euros, U.S. Per Capita GDP Is Down 25% Since 2000
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703298004574458923186941870.html

How Currency Devaluation Can Be a Bad Thing
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/how-currency-devaluation-can-be-bad-thing

Foreclosures Mark Pace of Enduring U.S. Housing Crisis
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE59705J20091008?sp=true

Foreclosure Sales in Limbo Over Title Issue
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/10/09/title_troubles_leave_some_foreclosure_sales_in_limbo/

More Difficult Than Timing the Market

My wife left for a well-deserved vacation to Puerto Rico last Tuesday, so I have been playing both Mom and Dad. My kids are very involved in athletics and love to play basketball and soccer. The month of October is just nuts because Sarah has three different teams that overlap during the month, so she is currently playing on 2 different basketball teams and one soccer team. Annabelle is fortunately only playing on one soccer team at the moment.

The day that my wife left for Puerto Rico, Annabelle began vomiting and running a high fever, so I had a kid at home most of last week. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot done working from home, but have worked the entire weekend trying to catch up. I have no idea how single parent families function. Being a single parent in this day and age makes my job of making money in up and down markets seem like a walk in the park. The next time I complain about how hard it is, please remind me to reread this letter.

Working to grow your wealth,

John M. McClure
President & CEO
ProfitScore Capital Management, Inc.

P.S. If you would like to hire us to help you navigate this difficult bear market, below are three ways to contact us:

Complete our Private Client Group request form by clicking here http://profitscore.com/clientgroup.aspx and submitting your contact information. (This is the most preferred method.)
Call us directly at (800) 731-5690.
Simply send us an email to info @ profitscore.com.

Someone will contact you within 24 hours of receiving your information.

G-7 To Discuss Currencies?

ChuckButler — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:23:00 GMT

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In This Issue..

* The ball is in the dollar's court today...
* Aussie is unable to hold 14-month high...
* China and Eurozone print stronger PMI's
* Chock-full-o-data today...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

G-7 To Discuss Currencies?

Good day... Welcome to October! And a Tub Thumpin' Thursday to you! No real reason to get Tub Thumpin', but I thought why not? The non-dollar currencies have given back their gains made yesterday to the dollar, in a game of what seems to be, give and take... A tennis match with the dollar, one day the ball is in the dollar's court, and the next day it's not! Really, kind of giving me a rash, watching this... I want some direction here!

So... When I turned on all my screens this morning, and then waited about 20 minutes for the new programs to be installed on them that the IT people left for the next time the computer started up... Hmmm, where was I? Oh! I was talking about when I first saw the currencies this morning... I saw that the euro had fallen back to 1.4560... And of course wanted to find out why...

Well, it seems that the G-7 Finance Ministers are going to meet this week, and there is already some discussion that the euro's rise will be discussed... OK... Currencies traders took this to mean that these mental giants in the G-7 will do something to stem the rise of the euro... Of course, the G-7 Fin Mins might just be discussing how impressive the euro's gains have been VS the dollar this year! HA!

This plays well with the thought I had and shared with you the other day, regarding Central Bankers from Japan and the Eurozone propping up the dollar... Trust me folks, these guys are smart puppies, and can see the writing on the wall for the dollar, just like you, me and the guy down the street that cuts his grass early in the morning... The last thing they want to happen is for everyone to get the idea that these Central Bankers won't prop up the dollar, for if that were to happen, it would spring open Pandora's Box of currency disasters for the dollar!

The Eurozone did receive some strong data this morning.... The latest Eurozone PMI printed. Eurozone PMI is just like here in the U.S. it's a measurement of the manufacturing activity. But only in the Eurozone it takes in all 16 member countries. This activity is then put into an index so that it can be easily monitored. And just like here in the U.S. the line in the sand of whether manufacturing is contracting or expanding is 50...

Eurozone PMI rose for the 5 straight month, but remained under 50, posting a 49.3 in September... But the trend is manufacturing's friend here, I would think, as it has risen steadily for the past 5 months.

Let's talk about something other than the Eurozone... The other day, I was interviewed by Reuters about dollar / yen. I told them that the Japanese yen did not have the fundamentals to support an 88 figure, which it had hit on two occasions in the past week. Well... The Japanese Tankan report, which takes the pulse of the economic activity in Japan, backed up what I had said earlier, when it reported that "Japanese companies plan to deepen investment cuts as profits slump, inhibiting the recovery from the nation's worst postwar recession."

Speaking of interviews... I did a quick one in a chat room at DTI, which is an investment education company. This quick interview was just a "teaser" for a full fledged 30 minutes of "Chuck speak" that will happen next Monday at 1:30 CT... It will be a power point presentation that comes across on your computer, with me talking over it... Sounds like it will be tre' cool... If you want to find out more click here... http://www.dtitrader.com/trading_education_MMM_everbank.htm

With the euro backing off this morning, the rest of the non-dollar currencies are doing the same. Aussie and kiwi have not been able to hold onto gains they made yesterday, and the rest of the currencies just fall in line. You know what I always say when this happens don't you? That's right... It gives everyone an opportunity to buy at cheaper levels than yesterday!

The other day, after the S&P/CaseShiller Home Price Index number printed and showed a month-to-month rise in home prices, I thought to myself, is this really something that can catch hold and continue to rise? I then began to put together a list of the "risks" to continued Home Price increases... The list as I have it:

1. 1.5 million homes on the dockets for foreclosure
2. 10% unemployment, with 39% unemployed for more than 6 months...
3. The potential stock market correction
4. The end of the 8% tax credit for first time home buyers, (that son, Andrew took advantage of this summer!)

Long Time Friend... Ed Bonawitz, agreed the list and added that if we just look at how the auto industry fell back into an abyss after the cash for clunkers program ended, imagine what the end of the 8% tax credit program will do...

I was talking with a customer yesterday that has traveled quite a bit over the years, and had businesses in China and Indonesia, etc. I asked him the question that everyone asks me all the time, regarding China's data... When I'm asked whether this is good data or not, I usually reply that I don't live there, so I have no other choice but to take it as printed... But, my customer, told me that he believed that, for instance, if China printed a 10% GDP, that it's probably inflated by 50%! YIKES!

So, with that in mind, China printed their PMI for September last night, and, according to the Chinese, it rose .3% to 54.3%... Again, a number for a PMI above 50 indicates expansion... So... Even if the Chinese inflated the data, their manufacturing sector would still be performing in an expansion mode...

And... What's good for the goose (China) is good for the gander (Australia)! I told you earlier that the Aussie dollar (A$) was not able to hold it's gains made yesterday that brought the A$ to .8859, a 14-month high for the currency. China is now on holiday for the next week, so the A$ will have to find some traction from other areas... So, it's not out of the realm of possibilities that the A$ drifts in the next week...

I see where Big Ben Bernanke will be giving some prepared remarks to lawmakers this morning about the need for strong consumer protection of financial services... Hmmm... This makes me laugh, and laugh hard! Isn't this kind of like the fox telling the farmer the need to secure the hen house after it's been raided?

I mean, the Fed had the control, the supervisory power, to protect consumers from the lending practices that went on but did they? NO! They turned their heads and looked the other way, while the mortgage mess grew and grew... Just like a child... If you look the other way when they misbehave, then the misbehaving will get worse, and worse...

Seems Big Ben was a little upset a couple of months ago, when it was proposed that there would be a new Consumer Protection Agency... He felt like the Fed was being knocked down a notch, and he criticized the proposal... I doubt he'll go down that road again, as I'm certain, he received a "memo" from the powers to be, which told him to shut his trap and go with the President's plan...

The data cupboard today yields the U.S. version of PMI, which we changed to ISM a few years ago... The ISM in the U.S. went back above 50 in August, and is expected to have gained a bit in September. This is good news for the economy... But one has to wonder about what happens after the all the build up for the cars for clunkers program filters through... But, with the dollar much weaker than 6 months ago, manufacturing certainly gets a lift.

We'll also see Personal Income and Spending, which unfortunately has shifted back to the days of us spending more than we make... Didn't we learn anything? It's Thursday, so the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims will print... And then rounding out the data today are reports on Vehicle Sales, and Pending Home Sales... So a very busy day at the data cupboard!

OK... Before I go to the recap and the currency round-up, I just had a thought about today's actions in the currencies VS the dollar. The Asian and European sessions sold the currencies and bought dollars... When the NY guys and girls arrive and see what has happened overnight, I suspect we'll see more selling, as they will have orders to fill... So... The cheaper levels could be still to come today...

Then there was this... Bank of America's CEO Ken Lewis announced his retirement... I find this to be somewhat strange... Very strange indeed...

To recap... The ball is back in the dollar's court today, as G-7 gets set to meet this weekend and maybe discuss the euro's rise... Japan's Tankan supports my belief that there are no fundamentals that support a yen at 88, and the Eurozone posts its 5th consecutive gain in manufacturing...

Currencies today 10/1/09: A$ .8790, kiwi .7210, C$ .9315, euro 1.4555, sterling 1.5990, Swiss .9590, rand 7.6645, krone 5.80, SEK 6.99, forint 185.65, zloty 2.9050, koruna 17.45, RUB 30.09, yen 90, sing 1.4125, HKD 7.75, INR 47.76, China 6.8265, pesos 13.55, BRL 1.7665, dollar index 77.10, Oil $70.10, 10-year 3.30%, Silver $16.61, and Gold... $1,005.25

That's it for today... Got my car back last night, glad for that! It's Thursday, so it must be raining! I'm still waiting for the real Cardinals to start playing baseball again! So, the 3rd QTR just ended... That means colder weather is ahead of us, and not that I'm going to begin complaining about cold weather now, but I will remind everyone that I've gotta go where it's warm! I bet your NFL team is better than ours! The lambs, I mean the Rams, are really bad... But, they are our team, and having a bad team is better than having no team, which we all experienced when the Big Red (football Cardinals) left for Arizona in 1989... OK... I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm was to go off this morning, as if, I needed to wake up any earlier! UGH! I'm going to hit send, and hope you have a Tub Thumpin' Thursday!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

U. of Michigan Spoils The Party...

ChuckButler — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:57:26 GMT

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.........

In This Issue..

* Risk Aversion comes back strong!
* Risk assets get sold...
* What games will be played with TIC's?
* 40 years since Woodstock!

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

U. of Michigan Spoils The Party...

Good day... And a Marvelous Monday to you! A great weekend that was filled with watching my little buddy, Alex, play football, hosting a surprise 30th birthday party for my little girl, Dawn, and a sweep of the Padres by the Cardinals! This week gets cut short with me a the helm, as I head to San Francisco on Thursday. Chris will have the conn on the Pfennig Thursday through Monday.

Well... Who'd a thunk it? Yes, who would have thought that the U. of Michigan Consumer Confidence could turn the markets upside down and spoil the party? Well... It happened on Friday! The U. of Michigan Confidence Survey for Aug unexpectedly dropped to 63.2, from the previous month's 66 level. The real drop though was from the forecast for this month which was 69! The drop brought the index to a five-month low.

CPI printed at 0%, Industrial Production rose and so did Capacity Utilization in July... But none of it could get the taste of the U. of Michigan Consumer Confidence out of the markets mouths. It was the Humpty Dumpty economy once again... All the king's men couldn't erase the drop of Consumer Confidence.

And, the return of the risk aversion campers swamped the markets. And all day Friday, we saw losses in value of stocks, commodities and currencies. In the overnight markets, the return of risk aversion got even stronger. From what I understand happened, it seems that China's largest steel makers announced that they were going to se iron ore prices at 35% below the benchmark. This sent shockwaves through the commodities, and that has carried over to further losses in the currencies...

The euro has just fallen through the 1.41 handle, and is taking all the other currencies with it to the woodshed... That is, except of course, Japanese yen. I've gone through this so many times in the past, I think you all know exactly what I'm going to say, before I say it... But, for those of you new to class, when the risk aversion crowds fill the markets, investors head for the hills, thus selling their "risk assets" of which currencies are a part of. However, there are two currencies that the mental giants believe to be "safe havens"... One pick is ridiculous, and the other one is even more ridiculous as "safe havens"... But you can't fight the markets, and they deem Japanese yen and U.S. dollars as "safe havens"... Me? Personally? I deem one to be a currency that should be circling the bowl! And the other? It's iffy for sure... I don't think you need me to tell you which one is which!

Of course, the Japanese yen has its moments... And one of those came last night in the form of their 2nd QTR GDP. The Japanese economy grew 3.7% in the 2nd QTR, thus ending their recession... But just like the Australian economy that we talked about last week, and needing to see if it can maintain this growth after the removal of "fiscal candy", the same is true for Japan. But Hey! 3.7% growth is still pretty impressive, for Japan!

This morning, as I look over the headlines on the Bloomie, I see one story that says the euro will fall to 1.30 VS the dollar, and two other stories that say the opposite, with one saying it will reach 1.45 in the coming days, and the other saying the euro is a "buying opportunity"... Confused? Well, that's the stuff that markets are made of folks... People with differing opinions...

Which brings me to what I will call "Pfennig etiquette" Just because you have a "different opinion" on things that I say, does not give you the right to flood my email box with what you believe is proof that you are correct! Nor does it give you the right to get nasty with me... It's this simple folks... If something is on TV that offends you, what do you do? You change the channel... Carry that over to your FREE subscription to the Pfennig...

OK... Enough of that! Later this morning we'll see German Trade Balance numbers, and... The June TIC Flows data from the U.S. These TIC flows just don't get the attention I believe they should. So, I carry on despite the mental giants in the markets that place importance on data prints! TIC Flows are simply, the net security purchases by foreigners. The U.S. has to sell its Treasuries to finance the ever expanding deficit... And supposedly, these TIC Flows tell us whether that's happening or not. But given the games that people (the Fed and Treasury) play these days, who knows what is real or not? Only the shadow knows!

Don't ask Big Ben Bernanke, he'll tell you he doesn't know, like he did when he was asked by a Senator where $500 Billion that left the Fed's books went... Big Ben said... "I don't know"... Ahem... Big Ben? IF YOU DON'T KNOW... WHO THE )*&(&*)( SHOULD WE ASK?

OK, that was a tangent I didn't plan on going to... But I did... So let's finish the TIC Flows talk, eh Chuck? So... Last month, for instance, the data showed a negative figure, which meant that we did NOT finance our deficit in May! June's data prints today... Let's hope it prints better than the May report!

Speaking of the cartel, I mean the Fed Reserve... I saw this quote by Bill Bonner the other day, and just knew it would fit nicely in with any discussion of the cartel, I mean the Fed, and Big Ben Bernanke... Here's Bill... "And remember, too, the feds don't really have any money to hand out. They can only get money by taking it from its rightful owners - either in taxation or loans. Or, they can print it up themselves. In any case, the money adds nothing real or extra to the economy. It merely distorts the economy...twists it...misleads it...and makes it a bigger mess than it was already."

Yes, that's exactly right, Bill! And something that I've tried to tell my dear readers for some time now... A lot of people don't agree with that... And that's all fine and dandy with me... But I believe that the things that I've researched tells me otherwise... Quite a bit otherwise!

All the good that the Norwegian krone built up last week, has been wiped out by the sell off of Oil prices. And when the Norwegian krone backs off it takes the Swedish version of the crown the krona with it!

The Aussie and kiwi versions of dollars saw their recent lofty levels melt away with the commodities damage from the Chinese steelmakers announcement. These two are still way above their winter of this year's levels, so, it's not all bad...

So... These risk aversion outbreaks have been relatively short in recent months, and not like the risk aversion of last fall and winter... So, we can look to see what might shake the risk aversion campers... As I look over the data calendar for this week, I really don't see anything that "might" scare the risk aversion campers... However, the week is dominated by several reports on Housing & Building... Maybe, just maybe, these reports might show that the Housing market has bottomed, that sales are picking up, and that home prices have stopped falling.... Who knows? Maybe that would be enough to shake up the risk aversion campers!

I was thinking about this while I was typing that previous paragraph... And that is... Even if Home prices show a bottom, how long will it be before they are on the upside of 2 years in the red? Unfortunately, it will be a very long time before that happens! Long Time readers will remember when I used to (what many believed me to be doing, crying wolf), warn about the housing bubble... Shoot, I had people in the mortgage industry that just wouldn't / couldn't come to agree with me... Of course when it all melted down eventually, they admitted to me that they had been drinking the kool-aid, but now see what I had been trying to tell them...

So... When I say that I believe it will be a very long time before that happens, I've got a track record here...

I also was one of the first people to say in 2001 that the dollar was about to go into a secular long term weak trend... You should have seen the emails I got then! Oh, but look at us now... The dollar index has given up over 40% of its value since then! And some individual currencies were doing even better at one point during the trend...

So, with that note... I'll head to the Big Finish!

Currencies today 8/17/09: A$ .8175, kiwi .6665, C$ .90, euro 1.4065, sterling 1.63, Swiss .9250, rand 8.20, krone 6.20, SEK 7.32, forint 194.85, zloty 2.98, koruna 18.33, yen 94.50, sing 1.4520, HKD 7.7505, INR 48.96, China 6.8360, pesos 13.03, BRL 1.8475, dollar index 79.50, Oil $65.80, 10-yr 3.47%, Silver $14.18, and Gold... $936

That's it for today... Well, this past week was the 40th anniversary of Woodstock... From what I understand, the entire music performances of the concert are being put on CD, and will be sold as a box set, as opposed to the original 3 album set, that only included selections of the music... I remember as young man watching this movie, and being blown away by the music. I used to have the movie on VHS, and whenever a new person started working for me, I would give them the tape and tell them to watch it, and report back! HA! So... Getting back to something I said above... We hosted a 30th birthday for my darling daughter, Dawn, on Saturday night. Friends, and family successfully pulled off a surprise for her! Dawn's actual birthday is this Thursday, but I'll be flying to San Francisco, and I wanted to be able to celebrate with her! I'm taking this a little strangely, having a daughter that's 30! WOW! OK... Gotta go... I hope your Monday is Marvelous!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

House prices move up, but consumers still aren't confident...

ChuckButler — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:01:37 GMT

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In This Issue..

* House prices move up...
* US consumers are worried...
* Japanese retail sales drag...
* Australian rates to rise...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

House prices move up, but consumers still aren't confident...

Good day... We finally had a bit of volatility in the currency markets yesterday, as conflicting data released in two separate reports moved the markets in opposite directions. The dollar started off the day drifting lower, as has been the pattern over the past 2 weeks. But during the late morning the dollar started gaining strength, and has barely paused its ascent overnight.

Many of you probably heard the news reports that home prices finally rose during the month of May, and this is what had the dollar on the ropes yesterday morning. The S&P/CaseShiller Home Price Index reported that home prices in the US rose ever so slightly in May compared to April. But if we look at the annual figures, home prices are still down just over 17% across the country. Media outlets trumpeted this 'feel good' story with many economists declaring that housing has now turned a corner. This is a good sign, as prices have to stabilize before the housing sector can recover, but it is hard to get overly excited about a 17% drop YOY. The monthly figure rose just .5%, reflecting the first monthly gain since July 2006. Another report showed the share of homes sold as foreclosures or otherwise distressed properties fell to about 31% in June, down from a high of 50% seen earlier this year. With unemployment still creeping up, and the US consumer continuing to save instead of spend, I am going to need to see a couple of months of stabilized prices before I am convinced housing is turning the corner here in the US.

Just an hour after the surprisingly good news on the housing front was received, consumer confidence numbers for July were released, and spoiled the party. Higher unemployment is being blamed for dropping just under three points from the Conference Board's consumer confidence index. This was the second consecutive decline, and shocked economists who had predicted no change. Our economy is still consumer driven, so this number resonates with investors who had started moving money back into riskier assets believing the economic recovery was well under way. But US consumers are concerned about the job markets, and will likely continue to keep tighter control of their spending. Despite the rhetoric coming out of the Chinese/US talks (more on this later), the administration is counting on consumers to help pull us out of this recession/depression.

But consumers have a right to be worried, and will likely continue to keep a tight hold on their wallets. After all, the economy has lost 6.5 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007; the biggest employment slump in over 80 years. Official estimates predict double digit unemployment by the end of this year, and our unofficial estimates have pegged the number in the double digits since the first quarter of 2009. Without good prospects for employment, US consumers are finally realizing the intelligence of being frugal. Savings rates in the US continue to climb, but while that is good in the long run (and exactly what I believe they should be doing) it doesn't help fuel a quick turn around for the economy.

Investors and the administration worry that the higher savings rate and slower economic growth will lead to deflation, and have been hoping instead to see some signs of inflation. But a bit of deflation is really not that bad, and can actually be healthy for the economy. While he was in Vancouver last week, Chuck sent me the following quote from our friend Doug Casey regarding deflation...
"Deflation is actually a good thing, because in a deflation prices drop and money becomes more valuable, so deflation encourages people to save money. Deflation rewards the prudent saver and punishes the profligate borrower. The way a society, like an individual, becomes wealthy is by producing more than it consumes. In other words, by saving, not borrowing. And during a deflation, when money becomes more valuable, everybody wants money. They want to save. Whereas during an inflation, you want to get rid of the money. You want to consume. You want to spend. But you don't become wealthy by spending and consuming; you become wealthy by producing and saving.

Inflation encourages people to borrow, because they expect to pay the debt off with cheaper dollars. It encourages people to mortgage their future.

The basic economic fallacy in this is that a high level of consumption is good. Well, consumption is neither good or bad. The problem is the emphasis on consumption financed by debt -- which leads to the national bankruptcy we're facing. It's much healthier to have an emphasis on production, financed by savings."

I think Doug hit the nail on the head, but as he points out, most economists fear deflation and have convinced the administration that the only way out of our current recession/depression is to borrow and spend. Hopefully US consumers will continue to fight the urge to re-leverage, even if it does extend the downturn. A bit of pain now can and will avert a whole lot of pain in the future.

But the markets don't like the thought of frugal US consumers so the stock market sold off, and investors ran for the cover of US treasuries sending the dollar higher. Asian markets continued the sell off overnight causing a reversal of the carry trades which had just started to be popular again. Risk aversion is back in vogue, so the high yielding currencies which had been benefitting got sold off. The biggest drop was in the Australian dollar which fell nearly 1% vs. the US. As you would expect, the South African rand and Mexican peso also sold off, but surprisingly so did the Japanese yen.

Japanese retail sales fell for a 10th month in June, extending the longest losing streak since 2003. Deflation is still gripping the Japanese economy, and a report released earlier this week showed Corporate prices dropped 3.2% from a year earlier. As I stated earlier, a bit of deflation isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly stalls out any sort of economic recovery. The problem with deflation is that once it takes hold, it is very hard to combat. Japanese consumers have traditionally had one of the highest savings rates, and their economy has been treading water for a number of years. The Japanese are relying on the global economic rebound to help stimulate exports which will drive their economy back up.

The ideal situation is some happy medium between the two extremes. A slow growth/ low inflation environment is what we should strive for. Not high growth fueled by high leverage, or no growth with very high savings rates. So the current swing by US consumers toward a higher savings rate is a good thing, as long as we eventually start spending these savings and keep leverage to a minimum.

Numbers to be released later today will continue to call into question the recovery of the US economy. Orders for Durable Goods in the US probably fell in June for the first time in three months. The major automobile factories shuts down for part of the month, causing a drop in the overall number. Ex autos, the number will likely be unchanged from the May figure. Mortgage applications were already reported this morning, and showed another dramatic drop. The 'refinancing boom' which the government created earlier this year has petered out, and unless additional stimulus money is thrown at home buyers, the housing recovery will be a long drawn out process. And finally, the Fed's Beige book will be released later today. This report details how the economy is performing in each of the Fed's districts, and is expected to confirm the US economy is starting to bottom out, but no rapid recovery is in sight.

An economy which seems to be starting to recover more rapidly is Australia where central bank Governor Glenn Stevens signaled rates may rising sooner rather than later. "I've never seen written down or heard in discussion some rule that says we wait until unemployment is peaking before we lift the cash rate," Stevens said in Sydney yesterday. Stevens also said the economy may rebound faster than the central bank forecast six months ago as consumer and business confidence surges. The AUD$ touched its high for 2009 yesterday at .8338 before retreating back below .82 on the carry trade reversal. I would think any pull back by this currency is an excellent opportunity for investors to jump into this currency which we predict will end up one of the best performers of the year.

Whenever I talk about the Aussie dollar, I naturally move to its kissin cousin across the Tasman, the New Zealand dollar. New Zealand central bank Governor Alan Bollard will probably match Governor Steven's moves and keep rates unchanged at their meeting tomorrow. The recent reversal of carry trades has caused this currency to turn around, but as with the AUD$, a move lower should be seen as a buying opportunity.

India left rates unchanged overnight, signaling an end to its deepest round of interest rate cuts. The central bank is concerned that inflation will creep up as the Asian economies recover. Interest rate expectations have turned the currency around as the Indian rupee has increased about 1.5% vs. the US$ during the last two weeks.

I'm filling in for Chuck this morning on a conference call with the Big Boss, Frank Trotter, so I'll have to end it here and move to the currency wrap-up:

Currencies today 7/29/09: A$ .8204, kiwi .6574, C$ .9212, euro 1.4136, sterling 1.6379, Swiss .9274, rand 7.9065, krone 6.2205, SEK 7.4936, forint 190.64, zloty 2.9671, koruna 18.0674, yen 94.91, sing 1.4418, HKD 7.7500, INR 48.4262, China 6.8324, pesos 13.2659, BRL 1.8809, dollar index 79.092, Oil $65.84, 10-year 3.65%, Silver $13.6125, and Gold... $935.79

That's it for today... My wife qualified for combat pay as she took my 10 year old daughter, Lauren and three of her friends to the Jonas Brothers concert last night. I love my daughter, but I'm not sure I would have been able to stand 3 hours of 20,000 screaming tweens. Finally got some summer thunderstorms last night, and it continues to rain today. I hope Chuck and his family are staying dry camping down in southern Missouri. The Cardinals looked great last night, as the new offense which they have picked up in their recent moves seems to be starting to click. Hope everyone has a Wonderful Wednesday!!
Chris Gaffney, CFA
Vice President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

A broken record...

ChuckButler — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:11:08 GMT

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In This Issue..

* Mixed bag of housing numbers...
* Foundation work...
* High yielders...
* Commodity currencies again ...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

A broken record...

Good day...and a Terrific Thursday to you. As Chris mentioned yesterday, I'll be steering the ship for the next couple of days while both he and Chuck are out so I look forward to being your relief captain. The fall like weather in the middle of summer has continued yet for another day in St. Louis, not that I'm complaining, but that out of the ordinary trend certainly hasn't carried over to the currency markets. In fact, I could probably cut and paste yesterday's Pfennig and you wouldn't miss a thing as the currencies traded in a very tight range, so there wasn't much exciting to report on...Oh well, instead of wasting space, I'll get right to it...

As Chris reported, its been a relatively quiet week in the economic report department here in the US but we did have some housing data as the MBA mortgage application and May's home price index figures were released yesterday. Both measures were positive but obviously far from what would be considered knights in shining armor. Mortgage applications did rise for a third consecutive week, 2.8% over the previous, but was lower than last week's figure of 4.3%. Falling prices are making properties more affordable, but record foreclosures and surging unemployment are impacting more and more Americans as the uncertain future is forcing those who can, refinance, instead of testing the real estate market. Economists expect prices will continue to keep falling as sales of distressed properties, which more than 1.5 million properties received a default/auction notice or were seized by the bank so far this year, act as an anchor preventing much in the way of improvement.

Speaking of home prices, May's number showed the smallest annual drop in 10 months as prices declined 5.6% year over year and actually rose by 0.9% from April, but every region of the US still saw declines in May from a year earlier. Former Fannie Mae economist, Thomas Lawler, was quoted as saying "The distress in the housing market was not caused by unemployment, but now we are seeing a wave of delinquencies and foreclosures by people who, if they had kept their jobs, would be unlikely to default." It appears that he shares our view in that as unemployment continues to rise, pressure on a sustained recovery will continue to mount. I agree with those that say the real estate market is improving...the numbers are not as bad as what we've seen in the past, but the bottom line is that prices are still falling...not exactly what I would consider a recovery just yet. Until we see unemployment fall to a sustainable number and the fear of layoffs along with job cuts subside, I just don't see enough consumers rushing out and putting themselves on the line for their most expensive purchase...a home.

I guess this leads me to the reports due out today as we see the weekly jobless numbers and existing home sales for June. Although the initial jobless claims and the continuing claims are both expected to come in worse than last week, the existing home sales are estimated to show a bit of an increase. The trading pattern that has been in place for a while now, that being good news for the US causes dollar selling and bad new leads to buying of the dollar, shouldn't see any deviation as risk aversion remains in control. Assuming my crystal ball is plugged in, any improvement in these numbers would send the dollar down today if investors get that warm and fuzzy but according to most economists, not much in the way of surprises one way or the other would be in the cards.

Chuck forwarded some comments made by Stephen Englander, chief currency strategist at Barclays, emphasizing that the dollar is expected to weaken as considerable skepticism about US monetary policy mounts from foreign investors. Without further ado, here's Chuck...

"Here's something I came across that plays well with what I've been telling you all for years now... Let's listen in first, and then review what I've said over and over again...

"He (Bernanke) provided a very clear discussion as to what the mechanics of pulling out would be, but I don't think that's the question the market is asking," Englander said. "Until there's a clear path to withdrawing from the quantitative easing, we're going to see foreign investors demanding a risk premium, if not on U.S. interest rates, then on a weaker dollar to equalize expected returns between U.S. assets and foreign assets."

Sound familiar? Of course it does! I've said over and over again through the years that when a country has a financing problem it has two choices... It can raise interest rates on the bonds they sell, risking the awful affect on their economy... OR... They can devalue the currency, thus making it cheaper to buy the bonds used to finance the deficit... In this case... It's the dollar... And any government would always choose the devaluation of the currency over wrecking the economy... Wrecking the economy doesn't get them re-elected!"

Obviously, the broad expansion of the deficit has become a huge topic for not only foreign investors, but also those of us right here in the US. Here's another note Chuck sent last night for me to share with you all:

"I have a friend who has been the leading doctor in the attempt to discredit the National Health Care Plan... I heard last night that the President said that if we didn't implement National Health Care we wouldn't be able to deal with our deficits...

That's a bunch of malarkey! Here's my good friend, Doc. Dave...

"The underlying method of cutting costs throughout the plan is based on rationing and denying care NOT PREVENTING health care need. The plan's method is the most inhumane and unethical approach in cutting costs. The rationing of care is implemented through The National Health Care Board, according to the plan. This illustrious Board "will approve or reject treatment for patients based on the cost per treatment divided by the number of years the patient will benefit from the treatment." Translation.....if you are over 65 or have been recently diagnosed as having an advanced form of cardiac disease or aggressive cancer.....dream on if you think you will get treated.....pick out your box. Oh you say...this could never happen......sorry....this is the same model they use in Britain."

So... You can side with the President, speaker Pelosi, and others when they try to jam this down the throats of Americans... Or you can side with a doctor that has fought against this from the beginning because of the inhumane way it treats American citizens in need of health care!

I'm not one to make this letter political... But trust me on this, the gauntlet has been put before us, and we can decide if we want additional spending or not... Because no matter what the President says, once Congress gets a hold of a bill, the costs multiply by tens! If not hundreds! And we are in no position, as a country, to take on additional deficits!"

The foundation for a longer term weak dollar has been in construction for quite some time and the current fundamentals and now policies appear to be opening the eyes of many worldwide. The currency market seems to have taken notice as we have established a fairly strong base in many currencies. For instance, the euro has been comfortably trading close to the 1.40 handle, give or take a couple cents on either side, for a couple of months now. I look back to the end of 2004 when the euro was setting record highs at 1.35-1.36 and thinking then that prices at 1.40 would be a moon shot. Fast forward to today and 1.40 is kind of seen as ho-hum. I guess the point I'm trying to make here is even though we saw considerable dollar strength in the second half of last year, we have settled in a spot where if we do see another considerable selling run of the dollar, look out.

As I touched on earlier, the currency market was a non-event yesterday as most currencies traded within a range of .25% to the dollar but the rand was again the winner of the day. The rand gained another 1.25% as money is still flowing into the South African market from investors seeking higher yield. This is one of the more volatile currencies so extreme caution and an iron stomach are needed. There is not any middle ground for the currency so extreme movements up and down are the norm.

Speaking of another high yielder, Brazil's central bank slowed the pace of rate cuts by only dropping .50% to a record low of 8.75%. They had cut rates by at least one full point following the four policy meetings so far this year and cited these reductions have had enough impact to warrant a smaller cut. This outcome has economists thinking rates may be at the bottom and some even see rates at 10.5% by next July if inflation begins to creep higher. Lower borrowing costs and taxes as well as increased government spending has supported domestic demand so far, causing the OECD to call for a 4% gain in GDP next year.

With not much else currency wise, I came across yet another story promoting the commodity currencies. As China's demand for raw materials continues to feed infrastructure growth, currencies such as Australia and Canada would stand to be direct benefactors. The biggest provider of pension plans in Australia has called for the loonie to once again hit parity and the Aussie to float up to the 90 handle. I don't disagree with that assessment as commodity rich countries and those with sound fundamentals will be in a much better starting position than most, but only time will tell. Interest rate differential should also come back into play, especially if the US keeps rates where they are for an extended period of time. Guess which countries are the ones discussing rates hikes for next year...yep, it's several of the commodity currencies.

Before I head to the big finish, I'll leave you with the second installment from our big boss, Frank Trotter. Let's see what Frank has to say:

"It is still beautiful here in Vancouver. In the vertical downtown, with steel and concrete building, architects have gone to extreme lengths to add water follies - waterfalls, streams, pools and trickles to tie the outdoors into the bustling downtown. Fifteen minutes away by ferry and bus we entered the forest at the salmon hatchery and walked down along the stream, across the Lions Gate bridge and back to reality. While we walked the US dollar continued to trickle downhill as Mike surely will report. While the crystal ball is a bit clouded it's hard for me to see anything but decline for the next 3 -5 years."

Sounds like everyone is on the same page to me...

Currencies today 7/23/09: A$ .8182, kiwi .6598, C$ .9098, euro 1.4217, sterling 1.6507, Swiss .9350, rand 7.6961, krone 6.2728, SEK 7.5695, forint 190.73, zloty 2.9858, koruna 18.0164, yen 94.44, sing 1.4413, HKD 7.7500, INR 48.4637, China 6.8309, pesos 13.2362, BRL 1.9038, dollar index 78.80, Oil $65.25, Silver $13.7775, and Gold... 952.70

That's it for today...It was another busy day yesterday as the MarketSafe BRIC CD continues to gain traction and today doesn't look to be any different. We're going to be a bit short on the desk today and I already have a stack of stuff to do, so I should probably be hitting the send button right about now. Thursdays have become breakfast sandwich day on the desk so I can't wait for that bag of goodness to arrive in a little while. Anyway...have a great day and a Terrific Thursday...

Mike Meyer
Assistant Vice President

EverBank World Markets
8328 Eager Rd, Ste 300
St. Louis, MO 63144
Phone: 800-926-4922
Fax: 888-882-0073
Mike Meyer
Assistant Vice President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

The U.S. Treasury Moves The Goal Posts...

ChuckButler — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:33:01 GMT

.........But First, A Word From Our Sponsor..........
The Ultra Resource Index CD: 6 foreign currencies, 1 unique opportunity

The Ultra Resource currencies (each is equally represented in the CD):

*Australian dollar
*Canadian dollar
*Hong Kong dollar
*New Zealand dollar
*Norwegian krone
*Singapore dollar

EverBank is a Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender.
......................................................

In This Issue..

* A 4-day rally gets stopped at the border...
* Home Prices fall at a -18.12% pace...
* Alice Rivlin gives her 2-cents...
* Kiwi bond maturities galore next month...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

The U.S. Treasury Moves The Goal Posts...

Good day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! As tradition with the Pfennig would have it, here's my introduction to July... There I was... On a July morning... Looking for love... With the strength of a new day dawning, and... The beautiful sun...

Yes, for those "old rockers" from the 70's like me... That's Uriah Heep, at their best!

OK... So, welcome to July! The last day of June was quite the volatile one to say the least! There we were waiting for the S&P/CaseShiller Home Price Index to print, and show that home prices were still down by quite a bit, when it did, it did, it printed at -18.12%... But! The media was all over that like a cheap suit, clamoring that the spiral down in Home Prices had come to and end! Which, may be true... But wouldn't you want to wait to see if next month's report confirms it? And... By the way... Since when does -18.12% fall in home prices beckon a rally? Yesterday, would be that answer!

So... The currency rally that was going on for a 4th day, was quickly wiped out, Ventures style... What? Don't know who the Ventures are? Boy, you really missed a lot of great instrumentals! Any way, the euro sunk like the Titanic from a level of 1.4130 to 1.40... The iceberg that caused this mess was simply the fact that traders, etc. believe the U.S. is on its way out of this mess... Of course, they must not be Pfennig readers, because... They would have read yesterday how I detailed the monthly numbers and showed how even with the spiral down in Home Prices ending, it would take until 2011 before the Home Prices got back to zero!

But NOOOOOOO!!!! They couldn't read it until late yesterday afternoon, because... Houston, we had a problem, with the Pfennig's delivery yesterday... See, how I've mellowed? I'm not even going to rant about this... Instead, I'll just remind everyone that whenever the Pfennig doesn't show up in your email box, you can most likely find it to read on the Pfennig's website, where you can view that "glamour shot" of me, and archives of the Pfennig! You can find it here: www.dailypfennig.com ---- Hope that helps!

OK... Well... After the thrill is gone, and the dust settled on all that yesterday, the euro is leading the other currencies higher once again... Here are a few things that have caused a sell-off of the dollar overnight once again...

Not that I'm a fan of his... In fact, I don't really care at all... But George Soros, normally has some interesting things to say, that end up being bang on... So here are a few one liners from a speech by George Soros yesterday... I believe this sounds very much like the things I tell you, have told you, and will continue to tell you...

SOROS SAYS SEES A "STOP-GO" ECONOMY GOING FORWARD
SOROS SAYS SELF-CORRECTING MARKETS IS A MISCONCEPTION
SOROS SAYS INFLATION FEARS WILL DRIVE UP RATES AS MARKETS REVIVE, CHOKING OFF GROWTH
SOROS SAYS CURRENT SUPER BUBBLE MADE POSSIBLE BY PAST INTERVENTION, EFFORT TO RESOLVE PREVIOUS BUBBLES
SOROS SAYS FORMER FED CHAIRMAN GREENSPAN REFUSED TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR STOPPING BUBBLES

And then there was Alice Rivlin, she of former Budget Director, and former Fed Reserve member, fame, had a few things to say to the House Budget Committee... Good stuff, but you have to wonder if anyone was paying attention! Here's Alice!

"The long term budget outlook: impending catastrophe"

"No one needs to remind this Committee that the outlook for the federal budget is worrisome indeed, scary. Long before the financial crisis and the current deep recession, this Committee was anxiously pointing out that current federal spending and revenue policies are on a risky, unsustainable course. Promises made under the major entitlement programs (especially Medicare and Medicaid) will increase federal spending rapidly over the next couple of decades, as the population ages and medical spending continues to rise faster than other spending. Federal expenditures are projected to grow substantially faster than revenues, opening widening deficit gaps that cannot not be financed."

Hmmm... Sounds like me too! Is this "sound like Chuck day?" HA!

OK... Enough of all that, I don't want anyone to get hurt, and I should have told everyone to put away the sharp objects before reading!

In other data yesterday, Consumer Confidence took a step backward, and fell in June to 49.3 from May's figure of 54.8... Maybe those that were surveyed has just read Alive Rivlin's talk to the House Budget Committee! Seriously though, this was a surprise, given the fat that the DOW gained 838 points in the 2nd QTR! At least, that's what the Wall Street Journal said!

Today, we get a truckload of data starting with Challenger Job Cuts, and the ADP Employment Change. Those are followed by the ISM Manufacturing Index, Construction Spending, Pending Home Sales and Vehicle Sales... Not a lot of "major" data prints, but still stuff to check the pulse of the economy.

I was talking to my good friend, and an economics professor at a prestigious University, yesterday, and she mentioned that "this piece of data is questionable as to the inputs"... I said to her... "What piece of data isn't questionable these days?"

OK... The "demand for high yield" was put on hold yesterday... But it will return, or at least I should say I think it will return... I don't know for sure to say "it will", so had better make the legal beagles happy... That's funny! To say that they would be "happy" with me... They cringe, and get very uncomfortable every day when they read the Pfennig! HA!

But you know me... I'm just trying to provide Market Commentary, and other things that I think are important, well, important to me that is!

Like... A long time reader sent me a note yesterday, and said, "hey Chuck, did you see the story in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Foreign Demand for Treasuries?" Well, I hadn't and went immediately to the WSJ, and there it was... Tucked away in a corner so that no one would see it, if they weren't looking for it... A story, by Min Zeng, titled, "Is Foreign Demand As Solid As It Looks?

These are the things that really TICK ME OFF folks, so stay with me on this... Basically, as we all know the U.S. Treasury Auctions have been getting "covered" easily recently... And foreign demand was listed as the reason... Which would have been the exact opposite of what I was saying about foreigners shying away from Treasuries...

Here's the skinny... But I'll let Min Zeng tell it, since he did the research and brought this to the public, even though it was tucked away so no one would notice!

"But in a little-noticed switch on June 1, the Treasury changed the way it accounts for indirect bids, putting more buyers under that umbrella and boosting the portion of recent Treasury sales that the market perceived were being bought by foreigners.

The new definitions are deep in the arcane world of Treasury auctions. The change involves buyers who place orders through primary dealers. Those had been counted as direct buyers, but as of June 1 they were classified as indirect buyers, making that group larger than before. Because investors view that group as being dominated by foreign buyers, they assumed foreign demand was higher."

>>>> OK, back to me... Ahhh, so that's what's going on... The Treasury "moved the goal posts on us"... As Sylvester would say... That's despicable! Why isn't someone in Washington D.C. shouting from the roof tops about this? Oh, that's right, they're all in cahoots!

This is HUGE folks... So... When the markets were thinking that foreign demand was increasing, it was actually, as I had said, shying away from Treasuries! Which, if the market participants are thinking that as long as foreigners are "buying into our deficit spending" then the dollar will be on terra firma, but instead are getting "duped" by the U.S. Treasury, you would think that someone would have some xplainin to do... Right Lucy?

And here's another thing that just ticked me off when I read it this morning... Recall, last week I told you about how someone in China was dissing the talk that China's stimulus was working, and that China would not be recovering, which sent the Aussie dollar to the woodshed until this news had passed? Well... Talk about egg on their face! Here's the skinny...

China's manufacturing expanded for a fourth month in June... The official Purchasing Managers' Index rose to a seasonally adjusted 53.2 in June from 53.1 in May... And just like here in the U.S. any reading above 50 is thought to show manufacturing is expanding... The manufacturing index in the U.S. is around 44, so... We DO have the tale of two economies...

In one corner, we have the Chinese who have spent about $585 Billion worth of renminbi in stimulus, and are seeing the results... Whereas in the other corner we have the U.S. who have spent... More money than you can shake a stick at, and are not seeing green shoots like they "think they are", instead they see dandelions, and weeds!

And the currencies of Australia and New Zealand have responded positively to this news from China...

And since I'm talking about China, might as well check on the other members of the BRIC's (Brazil, Russia, India and China) Brazil's real just posted its best quarterly performance on record, and India was Asia's 3rd best performing currency, and if you throw out the two currencies above India that are illiquid, South Korea, and Indonesia, India was the best performing currency in Asia in the second QTR...

And the people over at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) believe that the rupee won't stop here... RBS issued a research report calling for a record 11% gain by the rupee in the 3rd QTR... I bet this news is music to the ears of my colleague on the "other" newsletter that I write... The Currency Capitalist... (to find out more: https://www.web-purchases.com/CUC/WCUCJ900/landing) My colleague, Ashish Advani, at the Sovereign Society, has been saying the rupee would be a strong performer for months now!

Here's something you might want to be aware of, regarding the New Zealand dollar / kiwi... About $4.5 Billion in kiwi Uridashi and euro kiwi bonds denominated in kiwi will expire next month... I'm told that this is more than 4 times the size of a usual monthly expiration of bonds. This could very well be the hoola hoop the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is looking for, given their wish that kiwi would weaken...

Royal Bank of Canada's Currency guru, Sue Trinh, says that kiwi weakness could be beneficial to Aussie dollars, as the Japanese are leaning toward Aussie over kiwi these days...

Sounds about right to me!

And then there was this... OK, you all saw that Bernie Madoff was given 150 years in prison... Did you see that his wife, Ruth, reached an agreement with the authorities to return all of her wealth except $2.5 million that she got to keep? The thing that I still don't get is how there aren't more people going down with the ship on this one... I've been in the back office of brokerage firms, ran a margin dept, etc. and know this wasn't just Bernie and his accountant... There was a lot of wool pulled over many eyes... And this will be the next step in the investigation by the U.S. officials... To see, who else knew what... If a whole stable full of people aren't found to have known, then I'll be surprised...

Currencies today 7/1/09: A$ .8045, kiwi .6410, C$ .8640, euro 1.4050, sterling 1.6430, Swiss .9220, rand 7.7675, krone 6.39, SEK 7.6337, forint 192.50, zloty 3.1390, koruna 18.3315, yen 96.90, sing 1.4475, HKD 7.75, INR 47.90, China 6.8330, pesos 13.18, BRL 1.9515, dollar index 80.11, Oil $71.27, 10-year 3.54%, Silver $13.67, and Gold... $931.20

That's it for today... So sorry about the tardiness of the Pfennig yesterday, but I can't do anything about it when we have technical difficulties... You know that I get up before the milkman, and the paper man, to get here to write it... It wasn't like I was dilly-dallying around and didn't get it done until 5 in the evening! HA! I see that my little buddy, Alex, got a 2nd and 3rd in backstroke and freestyle respectively at his latest swim meet. Really long time readers might recall when Alex's older brother, Andrew was a highly decorated swimmer, and I would write about his swimming records... And their sister Dawn, also was a medal winner as a young girl! So... It's now up to granddaughter, Delaney Grace to carry on the swimming tradition! HA! Cards lose again... UGH! OK... Time to try to get this out the door, hopefully it will go without a hitch... But whether it does or doesn't it won't stop me from having a Wonderful Wednesday... How about you?

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

Market Commentary - June 2009

DaveMossberg — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:59:00 GMT

Economic recovery… Will it be shaped like a V, U, W or L? Most investors I’ve spoken with recently agree that the economic downturn appears to have reached bottom. However, the consensus calls for us to bounce along the bottom for a while before the economy recovers. Factors affecting consumption, which accounts for 70% of the U.S. economy, clearly support a prolong downturn.

Home prices have dropped significantly – According to the National Association of Realtors, median sale prices of existing family homes declined 16% in May. The Case-Shiller index was reported this morning and showed an 18% decline in April. As the largest asset of U.S. households, we’ll need to see a recovery in home prices before consumers will start spending again.

Unemployment Rates – Unemployment is at 9.6% - the highest level in 26 years.

Thrifty U.S. consumer – U.S. savings jumped to the highest level since 1959.

Availability of Credit – In addition to an already difficult credit market, congress is passing credit a card reform legislation that may make it more difficult for consumers to get credit. Advanta, the 11th-biggest U.S. credit-card issuer, ceased lending on June 10.

A few names profiled in the Digest that may offer some defense for an extended economic downturn are Express Scripts (Nasdaq: ESRX), Western Union (NYSE: WU), Carriage Services (NYSE: CVU), and Texas Pacific Land Trust (NYSE: TPL).

If you’d like to see more detail on some of the ideas published in Mossberg’s investor Digest, click here to receive a complimentary issue.

Click here to subscribe.

Throwing A Cat Among The Pigeons Again!

ChuckButler — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:20:40 GMT

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In This Issue..

* Russia's Fin Min talks up the dollar!
* Currencies, commodities, stocks all lose ground...
* Who's car is uglier
* Gold hit a 3-week low...

And Now... Today's Pfennig!

Throwing A Cat Among The Pigeons!

Good day... And a Marvelous Monday to you! How about that weekend? I actually didn't get a chance to experience much of it outside, but it sure looked great! We have new champions in basketball and hockey, so congrats to the Lakers and Penguins on their Championships! Now, the housecleaning is out of the way... It's time to get to the meat... Where's the beef? HA!

OK... Well, the Russian Finance Minister, Kudrin, threw a cat among the pigeons yesterday, when he stated that Russia has confidence in the U.S. currency. The markets have reacted violently to this statement, sending the dollar much higher, and the currencies led by the euro, much lower. An overreaction? I think so! But... These are the types of things you watch happen, and be glad you're not a currency "trader"! For, you would have either experienced a huge loss or gain, or... Been stopped out, and not allowed to participate in the large move... I'm not the "trading" type... I'm all about diversification... So that, when things like this happen, you realize that it's just "noise" in the markets, and the only thing it creates for you is an opportunity to buy at cheaper levels!

It sure sounds like, looks like, and smells like, a coordinated effort by those that have the most to lose should the dollar continue on it's downward path of the last 3 months, to get put a lid on their losses... Makes sense... But you have to wonder about what they are really thinking and doing... I'm talking about China, Russia, and Japan, who have ALL stated in the past weeks that "the dollar is fine, and there's no substitute reserve currency"... These statements all give dollar bulls a boost, and tell them that these countries are not going to back away from dollars and dollar denominated assets.

Now... There's a BRIC meeting coming up soon... Brazil, Russia, India and China... And while the Finance Ministers of these countries are at the meeting, I doubt seriously that they will hold the same amount of "love" for the dollar... But that sentiment will be kept to themselves, as they don't want to send the dollar spiraling downward. These BRIC nations had it all going for them until July of last year. They were sent spiraling downward like most assets until March of this year. I would have to think that the Finance Ministers of these countries would be interested in knowing how they can avoid another downward spiral caused by dollar buying... And... This... Would be the key, folks... I don't know what it would be, but if they did something like a currency swap / foreign exchange line between each other for trade, that would be colossal! Which is bigger than HUGE!

Well... The G-8 meeting this past weekend was centered on an "exit strategy" for the countries that have implemented the various forms of stimulus. I did see one comment on currency that came out of the meeting... German Finance Minister Steinbrück said he had "no problem with the level of the euro" Now that comment alone should have underpinned the euro coming into Monday's trading... But again, the cat thrown among the pigeons, but Kudrin, has really taken control of the markets' mindset today.

We will see central bank meetings from Japan, Norway, and Switzerland this week... Don't expect much from any of them, as interest rates are near to the bone for all... Norway's Norges Bank has an internal rate of 1.50%, which does give them some leeway for a cut, but again, I just don't expect anything from any of these Central Banks this week...

In that old comparison thing, when you say this car is uglier than that car... The Eurozone has lost 1.22 million jobs in the first QTR of 2009. Unemployment here is near a 10-year high, and not looking as though it will stop the bleeding any time soon... However, we are all aware of the rot in the U.S. employment picture... In the same period (1st QTR 2009) the U.S. lost 1.912 million jobs... And... We all know the "games people play now, every night and every day now" at the BLS! So... Which car is uglier?

So... As we lead off the this 3rd week of June, we have not only the currencies but, commodities and stocks all in the red from the Kudrin words... (see above, in case you skipped over that, which I can't imagine any one would do! HA!)

Speaking of commodities... Gold has hit a 3-week low. The shiny metal has had to endure 3 weeks of battering by China, Japan, and now Russia regarding the reduced need for an alternative to the dollar... I wouldn't think too much of this move... Again, it's "noise", and soon the Kudrin words will be a thing of the past, and we'll get back to the underlying fundamentals of a weak dollar trend eventually... But! It does give those that were thinking they wanted to buy Gold, but it was too expensive, the opportunity to grab some now!

As I turned the computers on this morning, the currencies have lost even more ground, so they haven't found a stop level yet.

Today, we'll see the color of the TIC's data... You know, the Net Security Purchases... This data will be from the month of April...

We'll also see National Home Builders House price index for this month. I know that quite a few economists believe that the housing markets meltdown has bottomed... But I think this data will prove otherwise.

Wednesday, Big Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chair Sheila Blair speak... You never know what will come out of the mouths of these two! So... We had better keep an eye out, and our ears to the ground, for you never know when you might get another quote from Big Ben like the helicopter speech of a few years ago! Don't recall that one? Ahhh...

When asked how he would deal with deflation as the Head of the Fed (obviously before he was the Fed Head!) Big Ben reminded everyone that the Gov't had this technology called a printing press... (he's talking about printing money here ) and that he would throw dollars from a helicopter to keep deflation from happening...

Well... Minus the helicopter, he's kept his word, eh? The Printing Press is working overtime and he sure is passing out the dollars to keep deflation from hitting us hard... (personally, I think he failed miserably, but that's just me!)

So... I see that the President is going ahead with his plans to give the Fed sweeping regulatory powers... Not that I don't want to see some changes... But again, I ask... The Fed? They've done such a masterful job of protecting the value of the dollar since they were created, eh? NOT! 94% loss in value since the Fed took over! Nice job! UGH!

Time to get this out the door, so on to the Big Finish!

Currencies today 6/15/09: A$ .8015, kiwi .6325, C$ .8840, euro 1.3855, sterling 1.6450, Swiss .9170, rand 8.0610, krone 6.4240, SEK 7.8280, forint 202, zloty 3.25, koruna 19.37, yen 98.20, sing 1.4570, HKD 7.7505, INR 48.15, China 6.8363, pesos 13.51, BRL 1.9260, dollar index 80.95, Oil 70.95, 10-year 3.76, Silver $14.33, and Gold $934

That's it for today... Thanks to all that sent along notes regarding my continuing battle with cancer... Yes, it's been two years... Seems like a lot longer! This coming weekend will be Father's Day weekend... Always a good time at my house! The kids will all be here, little Delaney Grace, and others... So... I'm looking forward to that. Two years ago, I spend Father's Day in the hospital with my kids, so this time around it should be in our beautiful back yard! OK... I'm very late! I hope you have a Marvelous Monday!

Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
1-800-926-4922
1-314-647-3837

Rally off and running again...

JohnMcClure — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:22:03 GMT

Live Easy With EquiTrend

Rally off and running again...

Week Ending May 29, 2009
EquiTrend.com

Rally off and running again...
Leaders on hold
Earnings still in the tank
Home prices still falling but sales off the lows
Next weekly newsletter June 14...

INDEX	May29-09	May22-09	Change	Change%
INDU	8,500.33	8,277.32	223.01	2.69%
DJT	3,202.45	3,005.79	196.66	6.54%
SPX	919.14	887.00	32.14	3.62%
COMPX	1,774.33	1,692.01	82.32	4.87%
RUT	501.58	477.62	23.96	5.02%
EEM	33.24	31.75	1.49	4.69%

Last Week

INDEX	May22-09	May15-09	Change	Change%
INDU	8,277.32	8,268.64	8.68	0.10%
DJT	3,005.79	3,053.01	-47.22	-1.55%
SPX	887.00	882.88	4.12	0.47%
COMPX	1,692.01	1,680.14	11.87	0.71%
RUT	477.62	475.84	1.78	0.37%
EEM	31.75	30.08	1.67	5.55%

Quote of the week
"There's consternation in the stock market. If we see a pick-up in long-term yields, an economic recovery will be much more difficult. That concern could be enough to halt the recent stock rally."
- Russ Koesterich Barclays Global Investors, San Francisco.

Rally off and running again...
Stocks rallied strongly on Tuesday following the Memorial Day holiday based on a strong showing in the Conference Board's consumer confidence indicator which is interesting - we have found this metric to be of little trading value. However, investors chose to ignore the most recent Case-Shiller home price index that showed home prices continue falling at an accelerating rate.

But then on Wednesday, markets experienced a big reversal day as the Dow gained nearly 2.4% in the morning only to give it all back and be down 2% by the end of the day. According to Bespoke Investment Group, similar reversals since 1900 have been accompanied by drops of more than 1% over the next week and the Dow was down an average 1.7% a month later.

But then on Thursday and Friday stocks resumed their upward move with all the major indexes closing higher on the week which is bullish. It has now been eleven weeks since the rally began.

Technically Speaking
Leaders on hold...
Last week four stocks on Dan Zanger's watch list were moving higher and they gained more than 5% which was bullish. This week, none of his market leaders on Monday were making new highs and that is somewhat bearish.

Weekly volumes for the major indexes were below average again this week but that may have been due to the holiday-shortened week. The fact that volume was highest on Friday is also bullish. A rally needs a steady supply of new bulls buying stocks to give it strength so below average volume on rising prices is bearish. But it is important to point out that momentum has been falling and that increases the probability for a correction in the next few days.

Meanwhile, the Market Volatility Index (VIX) moved lower this week to 28.92 versus 32.63 last week and 33.12 the week before. Fear continues to fall and while still higher than average, remain elevated but the fact that they have been falling is bullish.

Since rebounding off its December 5 bottom, the 19 commodity NYFE CRB Index has almost steadily gained ground and that continued this week as it rose to 417.04 up from 404.26 last week and 393.43 two weeks ago. As we said last week, the seemingly endless supply of cash from governments should continue to have a positive effect on commodities but when it doesn't any longer, look out below. This index is now up nearly 30% from its December 5 low.

But gold showed some strength this week. After the surge in gold to $1001.10/oz February 20 then dropping, the precious metal moved higher again this week to close at $959.30/oz up from $958.80 last week and $931.80 two weeks ago amid more US dollar weakness. Volume and open interest took a noticeable jump this week and that is bullish for the metal. Gold normally has a seasonal low in July and then rallies into year-end but there are factors at work, namely government generated inflation, that are more powerful this time around.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index slipped again this week to close at 79.34 down from 79.96 last week and 83.02 two weeks ago. A steadily weakening dollar is bullish for commodities, interest rates and U.S. multinational corporations with a larger share of their revenues derived from overseas sales.

And not surprisingly crude oil futures joined the inflation-fueled party this week as a barrel of crude closed at $66.31/bbl up from $61.67 last week and $57.10 two weeks ago. Oil is still down 55% from its mid-summer high of $147.20 and the rapid drop has had a negative impact on supply which is bullish for prices.

The Baltic Dry Index, an indicator that tracks the cost of shipping dry goods by sea, continued to surge this week jumping 25.4% from 2786 last week to 3494 to another new 2009 high as shipping demand continued to increase. This is bullish for both the economy and the price of oil. This is further confirmation of growing inflationary pressure.

The U.S. bank prime rate and the Fed funds target rate held steady at 3.25% and 0.00% - 0.25% respectively while the effective Fed funds rate firmed to 0.19% (from 0.18% last week).

Meanwhile, the 3-month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR*) slipped again to another new 52-week low of 0.65625% (from 0.66% last week and 0.82563% two weeks ago). This compares to LIBOR 52-week high of 4.81875% last October.

On the mortgage front, Freddie Mac mortgage rates firmed again this week to 4.91% (from 4.82% last week) for the 30-year fixed mortgage while the one-year adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) slipped to 4.69% (from 4.82% last week).

*LIBOR is the benchmark for $900 billion in subprime mortgage loans which typically adjust to it every six months. Corporations around the world have the interest rates on roughly $9 trillion in debt pegged to LIBOR and rates on more than $380 trillion in derivative interest rate swaps also are based on LIBOR. About 6 million U.S. mortgages, including the vast majority of subprime home loans as well as 41% of prime ARMs are linked to LIBOR.

Earnings - Earnings yet to recover
Last week the average Price/Earnings ratio for the 8,011 US stocks of the VectorVest index hit a another new all-time high of 151.45 (145.92 last week and 143.5 two weeks ago) thanks to rising prices but no increase in average earnings. So far at least, this rally has not been accompanied by earnings growth with the average stock experiencing an anemic earnings growth rate of just 2%.

At the beginning of the last recovery, April 11, 2003 marked the "golden cross" of the price of the VVC moving above its 40-week moving average and the beginning of a 56-month bull market. As the rally was getting underway in March and April 2003, earning growth (GRT in red) was a much healthier 8% and earnings growth had begun improving nearly a year before after hitting a low of 3%.

This time around as we see from the chart, another golden cross occurred two weeks ago prices failed to penetrate above the 40-week MA (purple line). That happened this week which is bullish from a momentum perspective. As we said last week, if this rally is to survive we need to see prices stay above the 40-week MA and a genuine recovery in earnings.

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Economic Reports
Home prices still falling but sales levels off lows
Last week we learned that while builder optimism increased, both housing permits and starts got worse showing that the stats had yet to support any improvement in housing demand. This week we got more of the same in the form of continuing deterioration in the Case-Shiller home price index for March. On a monthly basis, the 20 city composite index fell 2.17% from February and home prices nationally were down 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. With the lone exception of February, when the rate decline moderated, housing price declines have continued accelerate year-over-year. Price declines have averaged 1.84% a month since January 2008. According the C-S paired home sales in the 20-cities the index covers, home prices have fallen 32.2% from their peak.

On Wednesday, we learned from the latest National Association of Realtor data that existing home sales increased from last month to 4.68 million in April, a gain of 2.9% from last month but down 4.3% from a year ago. From their peak, home sales are down 30% while median home prices are $170,700, up slightly from last month and down 26.1% from their peak. The inventory of unsold homes was 10.2 month in April.

Meanwhile, new home sales improved slightly in April to 352,000 (from 351,000 in March) and inventories dropped to a 10.1 month supply (from 10.6 months in March) which is good news for the industry. However, with permits and starts still running at 498,000 and 458,000 respectively, there is still too much product being added to bloated inventory levels. The median price of a new home rose 3.7% in April to $209,700, but prices are down 14.9% year-over-year.

Given the upticks in both new and existing home sales together with improvements in homebuilder sentiment (in the NAHB home price index), there is a definite trend to improvement in the industry and that is positive. But large inventories and rising foreclosure rates will continue to keep prices under control for the next few months at least.

Synopsis
We continue to climb the Wall of Worry this week but momentum continued to abate. This is offset on the positive side for markets by the government and Fed taking an increasingly more active role in our economy and markets which will be bullish shorter-term for stocks and commodity prices but increase the size of the ultimate bill. As we saw this week, this will also put upward pressure on interest rates and that is bearish for markets and the economy.

There will be no newsletters for the next two weeks. Our next weekly will be published June 14.

On the lighter side...
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
Winston Churchill

Stories of interest this week...

GM Said to Plan June 1 Bankruptcy as Debt Plan Gains
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=top_news&sid=axMQSpTxgYL0

Biggest Losers in GM May Be Taxpayers, Altman Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=abijI88Xnmxw

Unemployment at 8 Percent Is the New Normal as Growth Slows
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a3i27FMViXmY&refer=home

Wall Street Derivatives Proposals Adopted in Treasury Overhaul
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aMMeY6OodQW4&refer=exclusive

Housing Hitting Bottom Means Fewest Starts Since 1945
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aDSgjBGniq0E&refer=economy

Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Fall More Than Forecast
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aJjnVOs7SUW8&refer=economy

S&P 500 Rally Is in Last Stages, Aurel Says: Technical Analysis
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601084&sid=a68ndLIv7BeM&refer=stocks

Short Sellers Pare Bearish Bets After S&P 500 Surges
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601084&sid=aXn9t_donoJc&refer=stocks

Latvian Hookers Signal No Recovery for Economy: Matthew Lynn
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aSRh7Cf2DTrU&refer=home

VIDEOS

Faber Sees U.S. Inflation Approaching Zimbabwe Levels
http://www.bloomberg.com/avp/avp.asxx?clip=mms://media2.bloomberg.com/cache/vNbfJ.kepSzo.asf&vCat=/av&RND=433773945&A=

Working for your wealth,

John M. McClure, President & CEO
EquiTrend, Inc.

This Way There Be Dragons

JohnMauldin — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:02:58 GMT

This Way Be Dragons
A Housing Update
More Prime Foreclosures In Our Future
Are We Paying Too Much for Health Care?
Naples, London, and Home for June

In fantasy novels the intrepid heroes come across a sign saying "This Way Be Dragons." Of course, they venture on, facing calamity and death, but such is the nature of fantasy novels. We live in a very real world, and if we don't turn around there will be some very nasty dragons in our future. This week we look at three possible paths we can lead the world down. We then review a number of charts and data on the housing market.

If you just read the headlines on this week's data, you could be forgiven for assuming the worst is over -- not. And then finally we look at some rather stark comparative data on the health-care systems of the US, Canada, and Great Britain. Everyone knows the US pays way more in terms of GDP than the latter two countries. Are we getting our money's worth? There is a lot to cover, and I hope to finish this on a flight to Naples, so let's jump right in.

This Way Be Dragons

More and more we read about the growing concern over $1-trillion-dollar deficits. Stanford professor John Taylor (creator of the famous Taylor Rule) jumped into the debate with a rather alarming op-ed in the Financial Times this week, echoing much of what I wrote last week, but with some real insights into what trillion-dollar deficits mean. Quoting:

"I believe the risk posed by this debt is systemic and could do more damage to the economy than the recent financial crisis. To understand the size of the risk, take a look at the numbers that Standard and Poor's considers. The deficit in 2019 is expected by the CBO [congressional Budget Office] to be $1,200bn (€859bn, £754bn). Income tax revenues are expected to be about $2,000bn that year, so a permanent 60 per cent across-the-board tax increase would be required to balance the budget. Clearly this will not and should not happen. So how else can debt service payments be brought down as a share of GDP?

"Inflation will do it. But how much? To bring the debt-to-GDP ratio down to the same level as at the end of 2008 would take a doubling of prices. That 100 per cent increase would make nominal GDP twice as high and thus cut the debt-to-GDP ratio in half, back to 41 from 82 per cent. A 100 per cent increase in the price level means about 10 per cent inflation for 10 years. But it would not be that smooth -- probably more like the great inflation of the late 1960s and 1970s with boom followed by bust and recession every three or four years, and a successively higher inflation rate after each recession."

You can read the rest at (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71520770-4a2c-11de-8e7e-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1)

While Obama gives lip service to cutting the deficit in half, his actual budget increases it over the next 10 years. As I have been writing for some time, this is a very dangerous path. And it is one that the bond market seems to be concerned about, as interest rates are rising, even on mortgages that the Federal Reserve is buying in massive quantities in its effort to hold down rates and stimulate the housing market.

"The good news," Taylor concludes, "is that it is not too late. There is time to wake up, to make a mid-course correction, to get back on track. Many blame the rating agencies for not telling us about systemic risks in the private sector that lead to this crisis. Let us not ignore them when they try to tell us about the risks in the government sector that will lead to the next one."

Taylor is right that the massive tax increases necessary to fund these deficits and programs should not happen. But it is not clear to me that they won't. A Democratic Congress is talking of adopting John McCain's plan to tax health-care benefits. While this would be a tax on the middle class (on everyone) that Obama said he would not do, he is clearly willing to sign a bill that has such a tax.

The administration is starting to float trial balloons about a new VAT, or value-added tax. Many of my non-US readers will be familiar with VAT taxes, especially in Europe. A combination of a VAT and taxing health-care benefits would raise enough to get us to a deficit of "only" a few hundred billion. Take away the Iraq war and you get even closer. You can make an economic case that a VAT tax would be preferable to an income tax.

However, the administration is not talking about a substitute but an additional tax. There is momentum in the heavily Democrat-controlled Congress for large new health-care programs. While there is resistance to large deficits on the part of a few moderate Democrats, there is a chance they could be brought on board with a tax or a series of new taxes that would offer the potential to pay for the new programs. (Even though everyone knows that the cost overruns on new health-care benefits will be much larger than estimated.)

As much as it grieves me to say it, a tax on health-care benefits or a VAT tax large enough to hold the proposed deficits to something under 3% of GDP would be preferable to running decade-long trillion-dollar deficits, which would destroy the US economy and the dollar and do severe damage to the world economy. (For the record, I am assuming the Bush tax cuts are history.)

But while a large tax increase would keep the economy from crisis and collapse, it is not without very serious consequences. It will put a serious crimp in economic growth. It will lock in European growth rates and European-like unemployment rates. And we will be using those tax increases to fund new spending and will still not have solved the future problems with Social Security and Medicare, which are going to require massive increases in spending in another 5-7 years. Which of course means that either a cut in benefits or another round of growth-crippling tax hikes is down the pike.

A third path would be to simply go ahead and raise taxes on the rich, say no to increased spending on programs until we can afford them, hold the line on any new spending, and see if we can reintroduce the gradual budget control that was the result of the stand-off (and to some extent cooperation) between Gingrich and Clinton.

I put about a 5% probability on the third scenario happening. Better than the chances of a snowball in hell, but not much. The first disaster scenario is about a 35% probability, which is quite scary. If we do choose such a path, then short the dollar, buy gold, and invest abroad. It will be a very tricky and difficult environment.

I assign a 60% probability to the middle path. Maybe it's my basically optimistic nature and I am simply being naive, but I am hopeful that cooler heads will prevail and we will not run continual massive deficits larger than the growth of GDP. While that means rather large tax increases, since the current leadership wants to create massive new health-care entitlements and will do so, I would rather have to simply overcome higher taxes in my business rather than deal with a collapse of the dollar, high unemployment, high interest rates, and an extremely sluggish economy.

Each scenario will create a different investment environment. Ironically, the middle scenario could be good for the dollar over the long term. But it will be hell on corporate profits from US sources. Given the above, it seems like a 95% chance that we should start looking at investing a significant percentage outside of the US and Europe. Think Canada, Australia, Asia (not Japan), Brazil, South Africa, etc.

Normally, politics does not have all that much of an impact on the stock market. As an example, both Democrats and Republicans can take credit for the '90s, but it was really the dynamic of the free market that worked in spite of government. Same for the Bush years. While the tax cuts did help, it was the free market and increasing leverage that were the dominating factors.

This time it will be different. The choices we make as to how to fund, or not fund, the increases in spending that are our clear and sad destiny, will have a major impact on not just the US but the world economy. As US consumers have been a major part of the growth of the developing world, and especially Asia (China), a slowing of consumption in the US will mean a very slow recovery for the rest of the world. It will happen, but the choices made by politicians this year will have many unintended consequences. Just as deciding we would take a major part of the corn crop and turn it into expensive ethanol raised the price of tortillas in Mexico, raising taxes in the US will mean lower global consumer spending and trade. It is a very tangled web we weave.

A Housing Update

If you read the headlines the last few days you would think that the housing market has turned. Mostly they read something like "Home Sales Rise 0.3%," and of course the reflexive bulls started talking about green shoots and a bottom in housing. And while someday we will actually have a bottom in housing, it will not be this month. It has been awhile since we have looked at the housing market, and it is time to review.

First. Of course home sales rose. It is April. Look at the graph below. It is the time of the year when home sales rise. And 0.3%? Really? The margin of error is close to plus or minus 10% or so, so 0.3% is a meaningless number. It will be revised. Who knows which way? I don't. (I am on the plane so I cannot access the exact margin of error, but 10% is not that far off.)

My main thesis since 2006 has been that the housing market was in a bubble that would burst. We built something like an extra 3 million homes over trend growth, and those homes are going to have to be absorbed in the normal way, through growth of population and the economy. We "need" about 1 million new homes a year to take care of population growth and demand. Further, we have cut off home availability to buyers who are in the subprime category, whereas during the boom you simply had to have a pulse, even a lying pulse, to get a home for which you did not have a chance of actually paying the mortgage.

The earliest we see a real bottom to housing is late 2010 or 2011. By real bottom I am talking about housing values in general being to rise (assuming we do not visit scenario one and have significant inflation.) There is nothing that can be done about that. We have to work through the excess capacity. (More later on that below.)

We had the Case-Shiller home price data come out this week. Home prices are still in free fall. They are down almost 19% year over year and 32% from their 2006 highs (see chart below). If we get back to the long-term price growth trend, we would see another average 10% drop; and as prices tend to overshoot on the upside and the downside, in some markets they could fall even further.

Yet there is hope that we will not see a fall below trend. Housing in many areas is starting to once again become affordable (see chart from Moody's below) to more and more Americans and even first-time home buyers. The cure for the housing crisis is actually lower prices, as that brings more and more potential home buyers into the market. While housing sales are still quite depressed, what are selling are homes in foreclosure, as buyers perceive that there are bargains. And they are right.

On the negative side, the supply of homes available for sale is again rising, as more and more foreclosures come onto the market. And as we will see, this foreclosure trend is going to slow down soon. (Thanks to Greg Weldon at www.weldononline.com for the chart.)

Notice in the above chart that the supply of homes for sale is over ten months. But that average can be misleading. If you are in Florida, I read recently that in many areas it is over 40 months. And that is for homes that can be financed with government-sponsored "conforming loans," typically up to $719,000. But what if your home cost more than that? National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said that the supply of existing homes for sale over $750,000 has reached a forty-month supply.

Diana Olick, the very on-top-of-it CNBC real estate reporter, had the following to say (emphasis mine).

"That's going to mean a new phase of the current housing recession. So far we've seen the 'correction' of a boom market that was driven by faulty, exotic loan products, investors looking to make a quick buck, and average Americans using their homes as ATMs. Now the losses are being driven by traditional economic factors and by sweeping price drops across the nation.

"Yesterday Fitch ratings estimated that up to 75 percent of the modifications now being done through the administration's Making Home Affordable program will re-default in six months to a year. I'm not talking about the old modifications, which were largely repayment plans that could actually raise monthly payments. I'm talking about the new mods, which lower monthly payments to 31 percent of a person's income. I couldn't understand Fitch's reasoning, so I called them.

"Diane Pendley, managing director at Fitch, said the problem is not on that "front-end" ratio, but on the back end, which is all of the borrowers other debt (credit cards, car loans, student loans, etc.). She said that in talking with servicers, she's hearing other debt is so high that most of today's troubled borrowers cannot afford any loan payment at all, even at a very modest debt-to-income ratio. 'Just getting the house payment done doesn't mean their lifestyle is sustainable,' she said.

"Another problem is that with home prices continuing to fall, more and more borrowers, who are essentially just renting their mortgages now because they will never see any home equity, are walking away. Even if the mortgage payment is low, the property taxes and home maintenance costs are padding that payment, and without an upside to the investment, there's simply no reason to pay. Suffice it to say, the foreclosure crisis, on the high and low ends, is not getting any better."

And it gets worse.

More Prime Foreclosures In Our Future

The Mortgage Bankers Association noted that a record 12%, or 1 in 8 homeowners, in the US are now behind on their payments or in foreclosure. 10.6% of the mortgages in Florida are now somewhere in the process of actual foreclosure. (My seatmate here on the flight says the prices on the condos where he lives are now back to 1998 levels. It would be scary, he said, if you had to sell. There are new developments that only have 10% actual occupancy, as the bulk of the condos were bought for speculation. Now those 10% of buyers are having to shoulder all the fees for upkeep. Nobody will buy, because the upkeep costs can be more than the mortgage. It is a vicious cycle.)

In Nevada foreclosures are 7.8%, Arizona 5.6%, and California 5.2%. 25% of subprime loans are now in foreclosure, 14% of FHA (government, taxpayer-guaranteed) loans and a growing 6% of all prime loans are now in foreclosure. (Note: the seasonal adjustments may overstate the actual numbers, as we are in new territory in terms of actual foreclosures.) Quoting from the MBA press release:

"In looking at these numbers, it is important to focus on what has changed as well what continue to be the key drivers of foreclosures. What has changed is the shifting of the problem somewhat away from the subprime and option ARM/Alt-A loans to the prime fixed-rate loans. The foreclosure rate on prime fixed-rate loans has doubled in the last year, and, for the first time since the rapid growth of subprime lending, prime fixed-rate loans now represent the largest share of new foreclosures. In addition, almost half of the overall increase in foreclosure starts we saw in the first quarter was due to the increase in prime fixed-rate loans." (emphasis mine)

How could so many prime loans be in foreclosure? These were people with good credit and jobs. The answer is the very deep and lengthy recession, coupled with high and rising unemployment. The number of foreclosures will not abate until unemployment starts to fall. And even optimistic forecasts assume unemployment will keep rising into 2010. As I have written for a long time, I think it is quite likely that we will see unemployment rise to over 10%. When I first wrote that a few years ago, many called me just another doom and gloom guy. Now, many think I am Pollyanna. Such is the life of those who believe in Muddle Through.

For those who think the end of the recession will be like all past recessions, the problems in the housing market should make for serious concern. As we will see on Monday in my Outside the Box, the average homeowner with a mortgage has very little, if any, equity. There is little room for home equity withdrawals -- if banks were lending. And recent data shows a very serious and un-American-like drop in credit card borrowing. US consumers are retrenching, and global trade figures echo that.

We are in for a slow, Muddle Through recovery, with the real potential to slip back into recession when the tax increases hit. Stay tuned.

Are We Paying Too Much for Health Care?

I want to pass on this quick note from Dennis Gartman's eponymous letter. It should give all of those who favor a nationalized healthcare system pause, before they jump right in. Quoting Dennis:

"Canada is a wonderful place to have a nasty gash on one's forehead stitched, or to break one's nose in a game of pick-up baseball; but have cancer, or need eye surgery, or want an MRI, and the business of medicine in Canada and/or the UK breaks down badly in favour of medical care here in the US. For example... and we wish to thank The Investor's Business Daily for the data noted here this morning...

"... here in the US men and women survived cancer at an average of just a bit better than 65%. In England only 46% survive. In the US, 93% of those diagnosed with diabetes receive treatment within six months; in Canada only 43% do, and in the UK only 15% do! For those seniors needing a hip replacement and getting one within six months, 15% get it done in the UK; 43% get it done in Canada ... and in the US 90% do! For those waiting to see a medical specialist, 23% of those in the US get in within four weeks, while 57% in Canada have not yet done so, and in the UK 60% are still waiting after four weeks.

"When it comes to proper medical equipment, in the US there are 71 MRI or CT scanners available per million people. In Canada there are but 18, and in the UK there are only 14! Ah, but the best figure of all is this: 11.7% of those 'seniors' in the US with 'low incomes' say they are in excellent health, which in and of itself sounds rather low ... rather disconcerting ... and an indictment of the system itself, doesn't it? But in Canada only 5.8% do!

"Yessiree bob, ya' jus' gotta' luv that collectivized, socialized medical care! Let's all go break a collective arm and enjoy the benefits of socialized medicine in the Commonwealth! (Canada) ... but heaven help you if you've got something really, really wrong. If that's the case, you'll be running south to the border faster than you can reach a specialist anywhere in Canada; of that we are certain."

Do we pay too much for health care here in the US? Everyone says yes. And there is a lot of waste (and waist) in the system. But if you are the person who needs treatment, maybe the answer is "not really." If you can't get the medical help you need when you need it, maybe the fact that it is theoretically free doesn't mean anything.

As an aside, I have two friends who have had immediate family members diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease. For all practical purposes, it is a death sentence. Yet one family was told (at a top-five cancer hospital) there could be a cure within a few years, or at least clinical trials. But just not now. Unfortunately, the prognosis is less than a year.

I can guarantee you, if that was me or my family, I would like to be able to make the decision whether to try a radical treatment. What's my downside if I die a little earlier? Shouldn't that be my choice?

And if I don't want some nameless bureaucrat dictating who gets to live or die in the name of his scientific system, why in God's name would I want a bureaucrat deciding to ration my access to health care? But that is what the majority in Congress are planning for our future. And bluntly, I find that far harder to swallow than my taxes going up.

Naples, London, and East Europe

I am literally in the taxi in Naples as I finish this letter (even for me, this is a first). I am supposed to go right into meetings when I arrive. Ground zero for the housing crisis. But it is still a pretty city. Hopefully I can get out and do a little power walking on the beach tomorrow. I am looking forward to being with good friend and fellow writer Gary Scott and business partner Steve Blumenthal, as well as my friends from Jyske Bank.

The schedule says I am home all of June. Then I am off to London in the middle of July for my partner Niels Jensen's 50^th birthday, and then a vacation to far Eastern Europe. Thanks to everyone who wrote with suggestions and offers to help.

School is just about over for youngest son Trey, and we have been spending a lot of time reviewing material for his finals (with some success!) But then you get a call from the vice principal. Seems there was a little trash talk and the other (bigger) kid hit first, and then ... "Really, Dad, it wasn't my fault. This is just so stupid." Well, you know how that goes. (Trey is fine.) After seven kids, I should get used to the regular surprises. Well, there is always next year to teach him how to avoid bullies. (Which of course Dad was soooo good at.)

It is time to hit the send button. We are pulling up to the resort. I have a good feeling about this summer. It will be busy (what else is new?), but I think it will be fun. Have a great first week of summer!

Your real life just keeps on coming at you analyst,

John Mauldin