Our Drunken Sailors’ Credit Card Balances, Burden, Delinquencies, and Available Credit by Wolf Richter • Feb 9, 2024 • 113 Comments Credit cards are the dominant payment method, from reimbursed business travel to ecommerce and bar tabs. And some people use them to borrow.
US Trade Deficit in 2023 Dropped 19%, as Goods Deficit with China Plunged 29%: Imports & Exports of Goods & Services by Wolf Richter • Feb 8, 2024 • 48 Comments The much improved (or rather less horrible?) trade deficit was one of the reasons GDP was much stronger than expected.
Here Come the HELOCs: Mortgage Balances, Delinquencies, and Foreclosures by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2024 • 102 Comments When will it get messy for our Drunken Sailors? Not now.
Used-Vehicle Wholesale Prices Give Up 55% of Pandemic Spike: Historic Plunge after Crazy Spike by Wolf Richter • Feb 7, 2024 • 72 Comments But the plunge in retail prices of used cars and trucks hasn’t progressed nearly as much.
Auto Loan Balances, Subprime, Delinquencies, and Income: Who Are those Drunken Sailors? by Wolf Richter • Feb 6, 2024 • 98 Comments Subprime doesn’t mean “low income.” It means “bad credit” – and some is high income. And subprime loans are coming home to roost.
US Office CRE Mess Is Spread Far and Wide across Investors & Banks Globally. US Banks Eat only a Portion of the Losses by Wolf Richter • Feb 5, 2024 • 93 Comments Japanese, Canadian, and European banks started to confess. And for over a year, huge losses have hit investors, not banks.
Fed Balance Sheet QT: -$1.34 Trillion from Peak, to $7.63 Trillion, Lowest since March 2021 by Wolf Richter • Feb 1, 2024 • 94 Comments The Fed shed 33% of the Treasury securities it had added during pandemic QE and 24% of the MBS.
Here’s my Powell Cocktail, Not Quite in his Own Words by Wolf Richter • Jan 31, 2024 • 147 Comments It’s premature to think rate cuts are right around the corner, we haven’t decided anything yet, it’s meeting by meeting, but in March no way Jose, I mean, that’s not my base case.
Tesla Closes in on Toyota in California: The Battle for #1. Total EV Sales +46% in 2023, EV Share Hits 21% by Wolf Richter • Jan 30, 2024 • 151 Comments Tesla +24.6%, Toyota +2%. Model Y +52%, #1 bestseller by far; Model 3 is #2 bestseller. Toyota loses it, Camry sales -16%, RAV4 +1%.
On the Surface, PCE Inflation Is Encouraging, But Beneath it, Core Services Accelerated, Housing Stuck at 5.7% for Six Months by Wolf Richter • Jan 26, 2024 • 106 Comments And a look back at the head-fakes core services inflation dished up last time with this type of inflation.
