This Article Will Take You ~90 Seconds To Read & You Will Leave Smarter Than You Came | (2.9.23)
"The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have." - Marcus Aurelius
Here Are The Most Interesting Charts / Visuals I’ve Seen This Week So Far:
• Kicking things off in U.S. real estate (of course) where inventories of construction materials are beginning to pile up. Below is the “wholesale inventories-to-sales ratio” which measures the supply of lumber and other construction materials relative to the sales.1 A higher number = larger supply inventory on hand.
• Now on to interest rates. Over the past few days the market has significantly repriced the anticipated trajectory for the Federal Funds Rate over the next handful of quarters — now pricing in a terminal rate above 5% once more.2
• Mortgage bonds have traded sharply down since last week losing ~41bps today alone and…3
…the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the U.S. is back to nearly 6.50%.4
• Let’s take a look at something different — It turns out the United States has the most expensive healthcare in the world. According to Statista research, healthcare costs in the U.S. amounted to ~$12,318 per person in 2021, on average. The second most expensive healthcare system was found in Germany where the average cost stood at $7,383 (40% lower than in the U.S.).…5
…Interestingly, however, a record number (and percentage) of Americans have health insurance coverage. The below shows us the declining number of uninsured individuals.6 This is despite the relatively high barrier to entry when compared to other developed nations.
Tweet / SEC Market Intervention Of The Day:
• The CEO of Coinbase (America’s largest digital asset exchange) expressed concern over potential SEC intervention as it related to cryptocurrency staking.7 If you are saying to yourself “what is staking and why should I care?” click here. This Twitter thread created quite a stir, but nobody was sure if the rumors were true…
…Until they were confirmed for us less than 24hrs later…8
So how has the market responded so far? Not great…not great.9
Source: The Daily Shot.
Source: The Daily Shot.
Source: MBSHighway.
Source: Mortgage News Daily — 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates.
Source: Statista — The U.S. Has the Most Expensive Healthcare in the World.
Source: Statista — Number of U.S. Uninsured Falls Once More.
Twitter.com — @brian_armstrong.
Twitter.com — @tier10k.
Source: Messari.io