by confoundedinterest It seem s that banks willingness to lend to consumers hass fallen. Perhaps it should be an index of “Willing.” Bank willingness to lend to consumers, a prime driver of Federal Reserve monetary policy, typically slumps to zero before a …
Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter Welcome to the Big Club of Saturation & Decline. For the month of December, light new-vehicle sales in China plunged 13%, compared to a year ago, to 2.23 million vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers …
Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter Consumer debt – or euphemistically, consumer “credit” – jumped 4.9% in the third quarter compared to the third quarter last year, or by $182 billion, to almost, but no cigar, $4 trillion, or more precisely $3.93 …
Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter We knew “free money would inevitably end. Affordability would become an issue – particularly around new vehicles.” It has been a tad rough in the stock market for AutoNation, the largest auto retailer in the US, …
J. Paul Getty said it best, “If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the banks problem.” But when that debt has been turned into a product and sold back to …
via CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS Larry Kudlow is right: with an economy this good, there’s no chance investors will be distracted by the political drama in Washington—even if that drama includes the conviction of the President’s campaign manager and personal lawyer on corruption charges. …
via Myles Udland In July, core inflation in the U.S. notched its biggest annual increase since September 2008. In August, consumers noticed. According to the University of Michigan’s first look at consumer sentiment in August released Friday, consumers’ assessment of current …
US Consumers tap out Real GDP growth accelerated 1.9 percentage points between Q2 and Q1 (4.1% growth versus 2.2% growth). Most of that acceleration was due to consumption and exports. Nonresidential investment actually **decelerated**.
by Michael Snyder Americans are on an absolutely spectacular debt binge. Does this mean that the economy is getting better, or does this mean that U.S. consumers are totally tapped out and are relying on borrowed money to make it …
Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter Dallas-Fort Worth, not San Francisco, is in second red-hottest place. Consumers in Los Angeles are simply not buying the notion that inflation, however benevolently measured by the Consumer Price Index, was “only” 2.8% in May, as …
by cbus20122 So a little while back, I created a post discussing aggregate consumer debt, and how it might be something we should be worried about. There were some good discussions and good points brought up. The discussion was largely predicated …
via Mish A Fed study of consumer expectations projects a rise in spending but no overall economic improvement a year from now. I produced the headline chart in Excel from a data download of the Fed’s monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations. Spending …
Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter And states need it! Tax day is approaching, and the gnashing of teeth is spreading across the nation. But there is one tax that people love to pay voluntarily – and have a huge amount of …
by Ron Paul via the Ron Paul Institute Tariffs Are Not The Answer President Trump’s planned 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports may provide a temporary boost for those industries, but the tariffs will do tremendous …
EFF are reporting they have documents which confirm Best Buy gave the FBI a tour of their repair facility, the FBI paid Geek Squad employees as informants, and FBI agents have a process for investigating & prosecuting people who sent …
by John Rubino The Money Bubble is inflating at different speeds in different places. But apparently no culture is immune: Household Debt Sees Quiet Boom Across the Globe (Wall Street Journal) – A decade after the global financial crisis, household debts are …
via hedgopia U.S. consumers are alive and well. There is both good and bad in this – good now but potentially bad down the road. Consumer spending in December rose 0.4 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $13.7 …
“This Is 1987”: Some “Haunting Math” On Today’s GDP Number From David Rosenberg When discussing today’s unexpectedly weak Q4 GDP print, which came in at 2.6%, far below consensus and whisper estimates in the 3%+ range, and certainly both the Atlanta …
by Chris US Consumers Tap Out: Personal Savings Rate Plunges To 10 Year Low While Americans Splurge The latest confirmation that the US consumer is now effectively tapped out came moments ago when the Dept of Commerce reported that in …
by sundance Equifax said exposed data includes: names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, addresses, driver’s license numbers and credit card numbers. (Via CNBC) Equifax, which supplies credit information and other information services, said Thursday that a data breach could have potentially …
By David Stockman More U.S. households are renting than at any point in 50 years Zumper National Rent Report: August 2017 Apartment List National Rent Report You're not allowed to question this. pic.twitter.com/bjhu4KVAAu — Alastair (@StockBoardAsset) August 12, 2017
Wolf Richter wolfstreet.com, www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter The economy depends on them, but they’re cracking. American consumers are holding $1 trillion in revolving credit, mostly in credit card debt. So how well is this segment of consumer debt holding up? Synchrony Financial – …