The Daily Spark

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  • Minimum Wage Going Up in Germany

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    The minimum wage in Germany will increase in October to 12 euros per hour, see chart below, which will lift the income for about 6 million workers. Total employment in Germany is about 45 million.

    Chart showing that the minimum wage in Germany has surged to 12 euros per hour
    Source: Federal Statistics Office, Bloomberg, Apollo Chief Economist

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  • Financial Conditions Need to Tighten More

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    A crucial part of the Fed’s goal to tighten credit conditions is to push credit spreads wider. So far, HY spreads have not widened as much as the tightening in lending conditions in banks, see chart below.

    Chart showing the spread in high yield bonds have not matched tightening conditions in banks
    Source: FRB, Haver Analytics, Bloomberg, Apollo Chief Economist

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  • Difficult to Be Bullish on the S&P500

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    The Fed is cooling down the economy, and CEO confidence is plunging. That is why the E in the P/E ratio is going lower, see chart below.

    Chart showing a sharp downturn in CEO confidence
    Source: BEA, Conference Board, Haver Analytics, Apollo Chief Economist

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  • The Size of US Financial Markets

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    US is 25% of global GDP but 61% of global stock markets and 54% of global credit markets, see chart below.

     

     

    Chart showing America's large presence in the global financial markets despite being only 25% of the world's GDP
    Source: Bloomberg, Haver, Apollo Chief Economist. Note: Bloomberg tickers: MXUS Index, MXWD Index , LUATTRUU Index, BTSYTRUU Index, LF98TRUU Index, LG30TRUU index, LUACTRUU Index, I09805US index.

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  • Outlook for the US Consumer

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    We have updated our US consumer outlook chart book, see the attached PDF.

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  • Weekend Reading

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    Fed: How Did It Happen?: The Great Inflation of the 1970s and Lessons for Today
    https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/feds/files/2022037pap.pdf

    The Rest of the World’s Dollar-Weighted Return on U.S. Treasurys
    https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3928006

    IMF: Sovereign Eurobond Liquidity and Yields
    https://www.imf.org/-/media/Files/Publications/WP/2022/English/wpiea2022098-print-pdf.ashx

    Fed: Neighborhood Types and Demographics
    https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/economic-synopses/2022/06/01/neighborhood-types-and-demographics.pdf

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  • Slowdown Watch

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    We have updated our attached daily and weekly indicators for the US economy, and the daily data for airline travel, consumer mobility, and restaurant bookings are still not showing signs of a slowdown.

    The weekly data for hotel occupancy rates is also solid, and weekly jobless claims continue to decline, suggesting that the labor market is still strong. Weekly data for cinema visits is also strong, and so is the weekly data for bank lending and the weekly data for credit and debit card usage.

    There are some early signs of weakness in the housing market, with the weekly data for listings starting to trend higher in recent weeks. Traffic of prospective home buyers is also starting to come down.

    At the anecdotal level, there are more sound bites about layoffs in tech and startups, but these anecdotes are not yet visible in the macro data.

    The bottom line is that the economy is still strong, and the Fed needs to tighten financial conditions further to slow growth and inflation.

    Download the PDF

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  • Employment Report for May

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    The employment report confirms the Fed narrative that the economy is still strong and more rate hikes are needed. But the report also shows that wage inflation has peaked, allowing the Fed to turn less hawkish as we enter the third quarter. For more, download the PDF.

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  • US Consumer Still Strong

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    After a brief period of rising delinquency rates on credit cards and auto loans for subprime borrowers, the latest data shows a modest improvement in consumer credit quality with delinquency rates falling, see table below. This is consistent with a strong labor market, high wage growth, and a high level of household savings. US consumer spending will eventually grow at a slower pace because this is what the Fed wants to see, but the bottom line is that there are no signs yet in the macro data of the US consumer slowing down.

    Table showing slightly improving delinquency rates in auto loans, credit cards, and mortgages
    Source: Transunion Monthly Industry Snapshot

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  • Two Questions for Investors

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    The Fed and markets continue to expect a quick reversal in inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target, see chart below. This raises two questions for investors: As the Fed destroys demand to cool down inflation, what level of the unemployment rate is required to achieve this path, and can the Fed engineer a soft landing without increasing the unemployment rate too much and thereby triggering a recession?

     

    Chart showing the Fed's forecast of inflation at different points in time
    Source: Bloomberg, Fed’s Statement of Economic Projections, Apollo Chief Economist. Note: Headline PCE inflation shown.

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