Moody’s Cuts US Government Credit Rating due to Deficits & Debt, Blames “Successive US Administrations and Congress” by Wolf Richter • May 16, 2025 • 164 Comments US government kisses its last triple-A credit rating goodbye. Downgrade to “junk” would have been more appropriate?
Auto-Loan Balances, Debt-to-Income Ratio, Serious Delinquencies for Subprime & Prime in Q1 2025: Our Drunken Sailors and their Auto Loans by Wolf Richter • May 16, 2025 • 19 Comments Something rare occurred: Auto loan balances fell despite highest new & used vehicle sales in years. More people paid cash to dodge interest rates?
The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in Canada, April 2025: Single-Family & Condo Prices Drop to Multi-Year Lows, Driven by Toronto by Wolf Richter • May 15, 2025 • 24 Comments But some metros hit all-time highs. By Metro: Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg.
Beyond the Squiggles in Retail Sales by Wolf Richter • May 15, 2025 • 31 Comments Our Drunken Sailors may be in a crappy mood, but that doesn’t stop them.
Here Come the HELOCs: Mortgages, Housing-Debt-to-Income-Ratio, Serious Delinquencies, and Foreclosures in Q1 2025 by Wolf Richter • May 14, 2025 • 61 Comments Who’s on the hook this time? Mostly not the banks, but taxpayers, except for HELOCs.
Household Debts, Debt-to-Income Ratio, Serious Delinquencies, Collections, Foreclosures, Bankruptcies: Our Drunken Sailors’ Debts in Q1 2025 by Wolf Richter • May 13, 2025 • 91 Comments Student loans are loans again, OOPS.
Beneath the Skin of CPI Inflation: Services Inflation Bounces Back, No Signs yet of Tariffs Getting Passed to Consumers by Wolf Richter • May 13, 2025 • 59 Comments Inflation in April: Rent, motor vehicle insurance & maintenance, eating out, medical care services, rental cars. But prices of apparel & shoes fell.
Housing Bubble & Bust #1 and #2 as Seen through Employment at Mortgage Lenders: They Shed Jobs Again, 38% Gone by Wolf Richter • May 12, 2025 • 69 Comments Nonbank mortgage lenders and loan brokers react quickly to demand, which has collapsed.
How the Debt Ceiling Is Now Pouring Liquidity into Financial Markets, only to Suck it Back Out Very Fast Later this Year by Wolf Richter • May 11, 2025 • 100 Comments Last time, $840 billion got sucked out in 5 months, all from excess cash in ON RRPs. But after $2.26 trillion of QT, ON RRPs are nearly gone.
10-year Treasury Yield Back at 4.39%, Yield Curve Steepens at Long End, Mortgage-Rate Spread Remains Historically Wide by Wolf Richter • May 9, 2025 • 73 Comments Despite the rumors during bond turmoil, foreigners kept buying Treasuries and the “basis trade” didn’t blow, but the “swap spread trade” made a mess.
