Jobs Friday came and went without much reaction in bond yields because the labor market isn't breaking, nor is it getting stronger. Mortgage rates dropped into the 5s for a short time on Friday as a result of Trump's earlier announcement directing the GSEs to buy $200 billion in mortgage backed securities. The 10-year yield didn't move much after the report.
Residential construction fell to its lowest point since May 2020, according to an October U.S. Census Bureau report that was delayed by last year's government shutdown. Widening air pockets of demand over the past year led to an overbuild of speculative homebuilder inventory in formerly booming Sun Belt and Mountain West markets. Builders hit the brakes on new production to reset the supply-and-demand balance.
Specifically, the NYT reports, Zuckerberg has been engaged in a dwarven-style excavation project under his 11-parcel real estate complex in Palo Alto, digging 7,000 square feet of labyrinthian bunkers. The caverns have taken eight years of heavy construction, bringing "massive equipment and a lot of noise" to the neighborhood. Anyone else would probably bake their neighbors some muffins, or invite them over to a cookout to soothe tensions.
