Mosler Economics

2 month average is 167,500: Highlights ADP is calling for a limited snap back in the October employment report. ADP sees private payrolls rising 235,000 which is just on the high side of ADP’s usual estimates. Actual private payrolls fell 40,000 in September, pulled down by hurricane dislocations. Today’s results may, only on the margin, pull down expectations for Friday’s private payrolls where the consensus is currently 320,000. Service sector employment growth began...

Personal income growth continues to be depressed, which tends to keep spending down as well over time, though this month it had a nice one time increase due to the hurricanes, and the drop in the personal savings rate tells me it’s entirely unsustainable. Also the low inflation readings also support the notion of a general lack of aggregate demand: Highlights Core inflation remains lifeless in an unwanted highlight of an otherwise solid income and spending report. Personal...

Still getting worse:

Nice uptick, but subject to revision and at best indicating continued very modest growth well below the last cycle with a population that’s maybe 10% higher than it was 10 years ago: Highlights Volatility tied to low sample sizes is what the new home sales report is known for, proving its reputation again as September surged 18.9 percent to a 667,000 annualized rate. This is the largest percentage gain in nearly 28 years and is the highest level of the economic cycle, since...

Yet another chart that looks like we might already be in recession: Hires quits were the leading indicators in the last cycle: Rig count peaked a few months ago:

Now down year over year, and in line with the deceleration in bank mortgage lending: Highlights Existing home sales posted their first gain in four months, rising 0.7 percent in September to a 5.390 million annualized rate that is near Econoday’s top forecast. Hurricane effects are hard to gauge with the National Association of Realtors reporting that sales in Florida were down substantially though sales in Houston have already recovered. The sales gain came at a price...

These surveys are the ‘soft data’ that’s looking good. They all gapped higher around election time and have remained elevated. In fact it looks like there’s already been a recession followed by a recovery: Unfortunately the ‘hard data’ isn’t looking so good:

Continuing evidence that the slowdown in bank lending is reflecting slowdowns in the macro economy: Highlights Single-family permits continue to rise in what, however, is the main positive in an otherwise weaker-than-expected housing starts and permits report. Looking first at headline totals, starts fell 4.7 percent in September to a 1.127 million annualized rate which is well under Econoday’s low estimate. Permits fell 4.5 percent to a 1.215 million rate that is above the...

I read this as weakening demand and employers unwilling to pay up to hire, and maybe even posting openings to replace existing workers at lower wages: Highlights Job openings held steady at a very abundant 6.082 million in August while hirings remained far behind, at 5.430 million. In an early indication of full employment, the gap between openings and hiring first opened up about 2-1/2 years ago signaling that employers are either not willing to offer high enough pay to...

Trumped up expectations continue to unwind, though still above pre election levels, and note the details: Highlights The small business optimism fell 2.3 points in September to 103.0, led by a sharp drop in sales expectations, not only in states affected by hurricanes in Texas and Florida, but across the country. The surprising drop put the index at the lowest level of the year after hovering just below the 12 year high set in January, and came in not only below the...