DC Lite #96

Welcome back to DC Lite: Daily Chartbook’s free, entry-level newsletter containing 5 of the day’s best charts & insights. Upgrade to get all 30 charts.

Administrative note: as a reminder, DCL will not be published tomorrow, March 29.

1. Monthly mortgage. "The typical U.S. monthly housing payment hit an all-time high of $2,721 during the four weeks ending March 24, up 10% from a year earlier."

2. Consumer sentiment. U of Mich consumer sentiment was revised up from 76.5 to 79.4, the highest since July 2021. Both the current conditions and expectations subindexes were revised higher as well.

3. Asset managers vs. stocks vs. bonds. For the first time in 6 quarters, the same asset managers think global equities will outperform bonds over the next 12 months.

4. HFs vs. Discretionary. "Whereas other discretionary groups have seen their long/short ratios move lower in recent weeks, home-tied names have moved aggressively higher."

5. Analyst optimism. And finally, “analyst optimism has turned down (defined as % of eps upgrades, 6m mav). What surprised me given all the hype about AI boosting profits is optimism topped out at only 50%. As an ex-girlfriend once said to me, 'is that it?'.”