Vital Statistics:
Stocks are lower this morning after Israel attacked Iran. Bonds and MBS are up.
Oil is up big this morning after Israel attacked Iran‘s nuclear facilities and weapons factories. President Trump warned Iran to make a deal: “They should now come to the table to make a deal before it’s too late. It will be too late for them. You know the people I was dealing with are dead, the hardliners,” the president said. He would not specify which people he was referring to.
The attack on Iran is boosting the US dollar and putting a bid under oil and the 10 year bond. North Sea Brent futures are up about 7%, while WTI is up 8% in sympathy.
We had another successful bond auction yesterday, where Treasury auctioned off $22 billion of 30 year bonds. Demand was strong again, with a bid-t0-cover ratio of 2.43.
The MBA applauded the Senate’s bill to end abuses of trigger leads, which can cause a barrage of unsolicited calls to an unsuspecting borrower on a credit pull.
“The Senate passage of this important bill, following similar legislation advancing in the House Financial Services Committee earlier in the week, is an enormous step toward finally putting a stop to trigger lead abuses.
“We commend Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN), as well as the bill’s dozens of bipartisan cosponsors, for their continued leadership on this issue – a top MBA advocacy priority.
“MBA looks forward to working with the sponsors and House and Senate leadership to reconcile the slight differences in the two bills so that one bill can be passed in both chambers and signed into law as quickly as possible.”
Inputs for housing construction rose 0.2% MOM in May after falling 0.2% MOM in April, according to an analysis of yesterday’s producer price index from the NAHB. On a year-over-year basis they increased 1.9%. The goods component – i.e. sticks and bricks – rose 1.6% while the services component rose 2.3%.
If there is any sort of tariff-related increase in housing construction, it isn’t evident in the latest numbers or the graph below:
