DC Lite #105

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1. Mortgage payments. "The median monthly U.S. housing payment hit an all-time high of $2,747 during the four weeks ending April 7, up 11% from a year earlier. Housing payments are soaring because home prices and mortgage rates are high."

2. Indeed Wage Tracker (I). "National posted wage growth slowed to 3.1% year-over-year in March, equal to 2019’s average, and down from 3.3% in February and a recent peak of 9.3% in January 2022."

3. Yield curve vs. landing. "The yield curve should begin to steepen again. As the chart shows, in either a hard or soft/no-landing scenario, the curve has historically started to steepen at this stage after the last Fed hike."

4. Retail investor sentiment. Since the start of 2023, AAII bearish sentiment has been above the long-term average less than 5% of the time (3 weeks).

5. Operating leverage (I). "We believe the next leg of the earnings upcycle will be led by volume. Operating leverage should drive margins further as demand recovers."