All in all, January wasn't too bad. The S&P gained 4.4%. The DJ-UBS and SP-GSCI commodity indices rose 2.5% (USCI rose 4.9%). The 10y Treasury note yield fell 8bps. The yield of the July-21 TIPS fell 30bps to -0.43% - although, thanks to the roll, the current 10-year yield fell "only" 15bps.

The 10-year inflation swap rate rose 26bps to 2.53%.

So, basically, if you were long just about anything in the U.S., you made money in January. So then why was everyone so depressed? Consumer Confidence, which had been expected to rise to 68.0, instead dropped to 61.1. The "Jobs Hard to Get" subcomponent, which tends to move coincident with the Unemployment Rate, rose to 43.5 (see Chart, source Bloomberg). While that's a 3-month high, it's still well below the worst levels of the last few years although it should also be said that it doesn't help the argument that Employment is on a steadily-improving trend.

Commodities prices being up is a good thing if you own commodity indices, it isn't such a good thing if you don't. Gasoline futures were up 7.5% over the month, and prices at the pump were up 15 cents (see Chart, source Bloomberg). Precious metals rallied 12.7%, but Industrial Metals jumped 10.9%. And I'm not saying these things are related, but M2 is up 1.3% (22.9% annualized) in the first three weeks of 2012, while European M2 rose 1.3% in December (15.2% annualized), the last data we have available.

Alas, this rising tide isn't yet lifting all boats. The Case-Shiller Home Price Index fell -0.70%, more than expected. This takes the index perilously close to the lows from last spring, which optimists had believed were left behind us for good by summer. (The good news is that this will help restrain the inexorable rise in core inflation, so that central bankers bent on looking for an excuse to ease will probably get one if they don't look too hard for what's happening besides housing).

I should point out that the 61.1 reading in consumer confidence, and the weaker-than-expected Chicago Purchasing Managers' report (60.2 vs 63.0 expected and my expectation of slightly better than that), while not cause for celebration, are also not disastrous. Taken together, they may shake the faith of economists predicting a smooth acceleration in the economy, but are not cause to reject a null hypothesis of a choppy, gradual, improvement in the economy.

That hypothesis will also not take much water if tomorrow's ADP figure is 182k, which prior to last month's best-ever print of 325k would have been regarded as quite respectable. Unfortunately, I suspect that there is some payback coming, and the figure will look weak. Prior to last month's number, the prior six months had only averaged 136k. A modest improving trend to, say, 175k would suggest 150k needs still to be 'paid back' through revision or a shockingly low print tomorrow. I don't expect that, but with the preponderance of the evidence on the labor market (including the Jobs Hard to Get number) indicating stability but not strength, I would be surprised if ADP exceeds expectations counting revisions.

Also out tomorrow is the ISM survey. The consensus of Bloomberg-surveyed economists is 54.5, but there's a caveat here. The median estimate of economists who updated their estimate today after Chicago PM and after the ISM released new seasonal factors is 54.0. And frankly, that seems high. Last month's number, which was originally reported at 53.9, has been revised downward to 53.1 and Chicago PM showed weakness. Be careful here, because a print of, say, 53.5 would look like a weak print to those who mechanically compare it to the consensus that includes stale data, but would still represent a slight strengthening trend.

I am anything but a bull on the economy at the moment, but that's mainly because of the impending implosion of Greece and/or Portugal and/or who knows what other country. It is fair, though, to observe that the economy in the last few months is doing passably. It's not strong enough to shrug off bad news from the Continent or meaningfully higher gasoline prices, but it's also not collapsing. At the moment, anyway. Unfortunately, I think stocks are priced for much better than "an economy that's not collapsing," and are counting on the QE3 wind in their sales. Valuation is dicey here but I am reluctant to fight the Fed until the inflation numbers tick up a few more times.

After all, it doesn't take as much hope to move the stock market as it once did. Today's equity volume was the heaviest of the month at almost a billion shares traded on the NYSE. Note the word "almost": the last month during which there were no pan-billion-share days was last April, but January's volume is weak even compared to that (15.2bln shares versus 16.9bln last April). Prior to last April, I can't find another month with no billion-share days to at least 2005 (which is the earliest data I have), and I suspect we have to go back into the 1990s to find one. Again, this isn't very healthy.

And that's why investors continue to flee into Treasuries and TIPS. That's a very crowded trade at a very high price, and not a place I want to be. Bonds are in fact priced for depression. The 30-year TIPS yield has reached an all-time low of ... wait for it ... 0.60%. Think about that - if the economy grows at a feeble 2.1% for the next three decades, you are giving up 1.5% real growth versus just sitting around and participating pari passu in the economy.[1] With nominal 30-year bond yields at 2.94%, markets are also forecasting very weak long-term inflation.[2] Both Treasury and TIPS yields are going to go higher eventually, and not only will investors be selling them but so will the Fed, and all the while the Treasury will be trying to sell still more. I want to be on the side of the angels on that one, and am willing to risk the 'Japan outcome' (being carried out due to your bond short) to be short here.

[1] This isn't technically exactly right, since TIPS are based on CPI. Since the GDP deflator is usually about 0.25% lower than CPI over time, CPI+0.6% is like PCE+0.85%. But you get the point.

[2] Again, not to get too technical, but there are two offsetting effects here. One is that breakevens (Treasury yields minus TIPS yields) isn't the best way to look at expected inflation; inflation swaps are cleaner and don't suffer from the funding disadvantage of being short Treasuries so they are a better indicator of inflation expectations. The offsetting effect is that the 30-year breakeven or inflation swap probably includes a risk premium due to the length of the structure - that is, you're willing to pay a bit per year more for 30-year protection than for 10-year protection.