Dow dropped 192. decliners barely ahead of advancers & NAZ fell 176. The MLP index was flattish near 201 & the REIT index did little near 450. Junk bond funds fluctuated & Treasuries were purchased bringing lower yields. Oil slid lower in the 91s & gold pulled back 7 to 1894 on profit taking.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
|
|
Sales of previously owned homes in Jan rose 6.7% from Dec to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.5M units, according to the National Association of Realtors. That exceeded expectations significantly. Sales were 2.3% lower compared with Jan 2021. The supply of homes for sale fell to a record low, down 16.5% from a year ago. There were just 860K homes for sale at the end of Jan. At the current sales pace it would take just 1.6 months to exhaust that inventory. A 4-6-month supply is considered a balanced market. That is also a record low. “Seller traffic is very very low, implying that inventory is struggling to make the turn. Realtors are indicating multiple bidding wars are still happening,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors. Tight supply & strong demand pushed the median price of a home sold in January to $350K, an increase of 15.4% from Jan 2021. That price is being somewhat skewed by the fact that the bulk of sales activity is on the higher end of the market. Supply is leanest on the low end. Homes priced $100-250K were down 23% from a year ago, while sales of homes priced $750K - $1M rose 33%. Sales of homes priced above $1M were up 39%. Homes are also selling fast, with an average 19 days to go under contract. One year ago, when the market was also strong, days-on-market was 21. These sales are based on contracts signed in Nov & Dec, before mortgage rates began to rise sharply. The average rate on the 30-year fixed loan was around 3.2% during that time. Now it is just over 4%. The share of sales made all in cash rose to 27% from 19% a year ago. Part of that may be due to a rise in the investor share to 22% from 15% a year ago. “Investors are really popping out, and this may be why we’re seeing a pop in home sales,” said Yun.
January home sales jump 6.7% despite a record low supply
The Ukrainian gov & Russian state-controlled media exchanged fresh accusations of cease-fire violations near the country’s eastern border. The Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said 45 cease-fire violations had been recorded in eastern Ukraine today. The JFO alleged that 34 of those violations included the use of weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements, which Russia, Ukraine & pro-Moscow separatists signed in 2014 & 2015 to prevent a war in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian state-controlled media agency RIA claimed that Ukrainian gov forces had launched 3 shelling strikes against Russian-backed separatists. The Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) yesterday said its mission in Ukraine had reported almost 600 cease-fire violations in the Donetsk & Luhansk regions, substantially higher than the 153 violations reported during the previous period. Meanwhile, Michael Carpenter, US ambassador to the OSCE, said that the US estimated Russia had amassed 169-190K military personnel near Ukraine — up from 100K on Jan 30. Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine, announced today that the DPR would begin an immediate evacuation of its residents to Russia amid intensifying shelling. Russian state media RIA also reported on the evacuation plans. The east of Ukraine, near the Russian border, has long been the scene of low-level fighting. The OSCE has regularly reports violations of the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine during the 8-year conflict, in which 13K people have died.
Russia now has over 150,000 troops near Ukraine, U.S. official says
Treasury yields were slightly lower as investors continued to monitor developments on the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was down 2.6 basis points at 1.948% & the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond moved 3.6 basis points lower to 2.277%. Yields move inversely to prices & 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%. Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday spoke at the UN to make an urgent appeal against a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's plans to tighten monetary policy has also been in focus for investors. St Louis Fed Pres James Bullard warned yesterday that without action on interest rates, inflation could become an even more serious problem.
Treasury yields dip as focus remains on Russia-Ukraine crisis
Dow Jones Industrials
No comments:
Post a Comment