The Daily Spark

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  • Japanese Demand for Treasuries

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    The biggest foreign holder of US Treasuries is Japan, but Japanese investors have in recent months been selling Treasuries. With the Fed raising rates, hedging costs have increased, making US Treasuries less attractive for foreign investors. This is likely to continue as long as the Bank of Japan does yield curve control. The bottom line is that with rising hedging costs, foreign investors have less appetite to buy US Treasuries, which adds to the upward pressure on US rates.

     

     

    Chart showing the close relationship the USD/JPY and the spread between US 10-year Treasury notes and Japanese government bonds
    Source: Bloomberg, Apollo Chief Economist

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


  • Weekend Reading

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    Larry Summers: Comparing Past and Present Inflation
    https://www.nber.org/papers/w30116

    Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)…On Your Credit Card
    https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4001909

    China’s Economic and Trade Ties with Russia
    https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12120

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


  • Slowdown Watch

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

    The most important economic data this week was inflation, and both the 3-month change and the 6-month change in core CPI moved higher, raising the risk that inflation will not come down as quickly as the Fed and the consensus expect. View the report here.

    Chart showing that short-term and long-term changes for inflation are moving higher
    Source: BLS, Haver Analytics, Apollo Chief Economist

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


  • 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

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


  • 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

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


  • 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

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


  • 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.

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


  • Outlook for the US Consumer

    Torsten Sløk

    Apollo Chief Economist

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

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


  • 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

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


  • 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

    See important disclaimers at the bottom of the page.


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