Breaking the Consumer: Exporting Empty Containers Declining. Consumer Credit is contracting at Rapid Pace. Is the Consumer Treadmill Showing Signs of Exhaustion?
If you know where to look, the American consumer is not buying into the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve great debt experiment. Port traffic is still declining and indicators show no sign of a major resurgence. If you look at the recent weak outbound pace of containers that are empty what we can expect is […]
The U.S. Balance Sheet: Households See Net Worth Down by $12 Trillion Since Peak and Total Debt Floating in the Market of $33 Trillion.
The Federal Flow of Funds report was released on Thursday with an expected jump in household net worth. When we did our last report, we stated that with the $13.89 trillion in wealth that evaporated to the trough, we would expect a jump in net worth to come from the massive stock market rally. The […]
S&P 500 is The New Bubble: Current S&P 500 Value is Betting on Return to Bubble Peak, Housing Mania, and 4 Percent Unemployment.
One question that seems to pop up every so often is whether the S&P 500 is overvalued. To put it simply, it is hyper-valued. From the 666 low reached in March the index has rallied 57 percent. Unfortunately much of the rally is based on temporary government stimulus, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve trashing […]
Interest Only Mortgage Time Bomb: $71 billion in Loans will Reset in next 12 Months. Total Loans Outstanding at $908 Billion. Average Balance of $324,000. Median U.S. Home Price $178,000.
Interest only (IO) loans seemed like a viable mortgage option when home prices were appreciating on a double-digit basis every year. The interest only loan allowed borrowers the option of making no principal payments for 5, 7, or even 10 years. Now why would someone not make any principal payment for such a long time? […]