Blog Archives

Getting in the Arena in Austin - Resilience

The Road to Resilience Gary Carmell

One of the beneficial things about writing a blog each week is that it helps me prepare for presentations that I have to do periodically. Last week we had our national meeting in Austin for many of our CWS employees, and this week we have our annual investor meeting.

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Down with Housing

Down with Housing

With the renewed runup in interest rates, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit the homeownership market via a frenzy of charts. Of course, all real estate is local, but these overall trends are pretty powerful, so it would be unusual for most markets to be immune to them.

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Office Building Woahs

Office Building Woahs

2023 is already shaping up to be the year when the tsunami of office building defaults, foreclosures, and large losses for lenders and equity investors comes on with full force. Cracks have already appeared, and it is only going to get worse. The office building sector is impaired,

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Deconstructing Construction Employment

Construction Employment

Give me a word

Give me a sign

Show me where to look

Tell me, what will I find?

What will I find?

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And Yet

And Yet Labor Economy Government Bonds

Last week was pretty important in confirming the trend change in interest rates and solidifying a slowdown in economic activity. Evidence of the economy slowing is reflected in more U.S. firms cutting their earnings guidance versus raising them.

Number of US firms with corporate guidance announcements in 2022

As the above chart shows,

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Dr. Yama Akbari Current Research Funded by Roneet Carmell Memorial Endowment

Dr Yama Akbari Roneet Carmell Memorial Endowment Fund Update 2020

After Roneet’s passing, I wanted to channel my grief in ways that I could honor her memory and help contribute to bettering the world. I chose to back incredibly dynamic, bright, passionate, and innovative people with whom I had great respect that I thought Roneet would be proud of as well.

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A Race Against the Variant(s)

COVID Variants

When it comes to tracking Covid trends there are a few indicators to which I pay close attention. The first is hospitalizations as this is the variable that Governors are most closely watching (as well as ICU capacity) when it comes to implementing restrictions on businesses and personal behavior.

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Going into Labor

Labor Jobs Inflation Employment 2-Year Treasury Notes

Last week I wrote about how important the 2-Year Treasury note yield was to ascertain how close the Fed was to stopping its rate hikes and how high the Federal Funds Rate may reach. Based on past cycles and declaring that the 2-Year yield had peaked at 4.73% in November,

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Four Eyes on The Two-Year

Four Eyes on The 2 Year Treasury

Introductory note: I wear contacts and glasses, so that’s why I have four eyes paying close attention to the 2-Year Treasury Note yield.

The Federal Reserve has embarked on six tightening cycles since 1988, with the most recent having commenced in March 2022 and one that is still in process.

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From Housing to Labor and Back Again

From Housing to Labor and Back Again

I think this chart is what keeps Jay Powell up at night. If he were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that we were still in the same low inflation regime that had been present for decades prior to Covid,

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