Wall Street and our central bank are in for a rude awakening very soon! The
idea that the US economy is on stable footing and about to experience a surge
in growth is ridiculous. Hence, the consensus that the Fed can normalize interest
rates and its balance sheet is nothing short of a bad joke...and it's on them.
For starters, the government's fiscal deficit for the month of March came
in at $176.2 billion, which means the deficit 6 months into fiscal 2017 is
$526.9 billion and running 15% over last year. If not for the calendar timing
of receipts and payments, our government's deficit would be a year-to-date
$564.0 billion or 23% above last year. In addition, there was an 18% decline
in corporate income tax collection. We all know there was no corporate tax
reform passed. So the credible conclusion must be reached that corporations
are not growing there profits...they are actually shrinking.
The nation will now bump up against the $20 trillion debt ceiling on April
28th and is facing a possible government shutdown. This will happen to coincide
with day 100 of Trump's Presidency.
Unfortunately, Trump resembles more like a swamp creature as the days go on.
Sadly, he becoming a flip-flopping carnival barker that duped the American
public into believing he was actually going to cause an earthquake in Washington
that shook the government back down to its constitutional foundation.
He no longer wants a strong dollar and an end to endless interest rate manipulations
that has been robbing the middle class of its purchasing power for decades.
Instead he's become a Yellen supporting, bubble blowing, XM bank funding, NATO
backing, China loving, card carrying member of the neocons in D.C.
But even though Trump now loves low interest rates, the Fed has probably already
tightened monetary policy enough to send stocks into a bear market and the
already anemic US economy into recession. More proof of recession and deflation
came from the economic data released on Good Friday: CPI down 0.3% in March
and even the core rate fell 0.1%, Retail sales fell 0.2% in March and February
sales were revised sharply lower to minus 0.3%, from previously reported up
0.1%
Housing starts, Empire State Manufacturing and Industrial Production have
all recently disappointed estimates. Housing starts fell a very steep 6.8 percent
to a 1.215 million annualized rate. Empire State Manufacturing dropped from
16.4 in March, to just 5.2 in April and within Industrial Production, the manufacturing
component shrank to minus 0.4 percent.
The sad truth is Trump isn't draining the swamp...he's flooding it with more
of the same swamp creature from Goldman Sachs that have mucked up D.C. and
the Fed for decades.
The Fed is About to Drop the MOAB on Wall Street
The mystery here is why the Fed is raising rates when Q1 GDP growth is just
0.5%, there was under 100K net Non-Farm Payroll job growth and a negative reading
on both the headline and core rate of consumer price inflation?
Could it really be that Yellen realizes that savers must finally be rewarded
for putting money in the bank? Perhaps she has come to the conclusion that
asset bubbles must correct down to a level that can be supported by the free
market? If only that were true. What is much more likely is that the clueless
Fed has duped itself into believing it fixed the economy by its massive distortion
of interest rates (100 months of less than 1% Fed Funds Rate), which has forced
stock and home prices to record highs--and debt levels soaring to levels never
before seen.
Wall Street and the Fed (which is a charter member of the swamp club) have
been quick to explain this economic malaise away. The floundering GDP growth
is being explained by a perennially weak first quarter. March NFP growth of
just 98k is excused by the bad weather that occurred during the survey weak.
And negative CPI is being brushed aside by what the Fed hopes are just temporary
factors. But unless the data turns around quickly, the Fed's days of tightening
monetary policy may have passed.
The economy won't accelerate unless Trump is able to push through a massive
tax cut very soon. But that doesn't look likely in the least. Most importantly,
keep in mind, the Fed has been tightening monetary policy since December 2013
when it began tapering QE. Now, after three rate hikes, the economy is teetering
on outright contraction and deflation.
What all this warrants is extreme caution in Bubbleville. With geopolitical
risk flashing bright red, half percent GDP growth, record high equity valuations
and a delusional Fed that continues threatening interest rate normalization;
the market's reality check is surly imminent.
