Why wouldn’t it be?
Americans are buying fewer new cars and factories in the U.S. are producing fewer cars. Uber, Lyft and the likes to blame? We will come to that but first output for new cars in the U.S. is close to a 43-year low.
And a chart on spend on new cars,
Continue reading “New car output in the United States is close to a 43-year low”
We wrote about the average import tariffs or custom duties per country recently. That data set was sourced from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and it showed that the average import tariff or custom duty for the United States is currently 3.48%. We did mention that the WTO number is averaged across all products; the actual tariffs could be different based on the product mix of imports as well as any special trade deals the country may be part of.
In the case of the U.S., the actual import tariff or custom duty was just $38.49 billion or 1.65% of the value of $2.34 trillion in imports in 2017.
Continue reading “The U.S. only charged 1.65% in import tariffs in 2017”
Personal interest payments for households in the United States have hit an all-time high with annualized interest payments now $321 billion, this despite low interest rates currently.
Continue reading “U.S. Personal interest payments hit all time high despite low interest rates”
Investors seek safety
What a difference a week makes, just last week everyone was talking about soaring bond yields. Investors are now seeking safety with developed economies bond yields falling significantly during the week.
Here are some 10-year bond yields, figures in brackets indicate change during the week.
US 2.93% (-15 bps)
UK 1.32% (-21 bps)
Germany 0.41% (-17 bps)
Canada 2.35% (-14 bps)
Switzerland 0.00% (-13 bps)
Netherlands 0.59%% (-15 bps)
Australia 2.79% (-13 bps) Continue reading “Weekly Overview: Investors seek safety as bond yields fall; Crude Oil down 5%; Baltic Dry Index down 15%; Bank of England Governor prepared to cut or freeze interest rates; US E-Commerce Retail sales soaring”
Corporations (non-financial) in the United States have $6.2 trillion in debt and debt has doubled in the past decade,
Continue reading “Corporate debt is soaring in the U.S. even as corporate bond yields are rising”
The U.S. unemployment rate is at an 18-year low,
US and emerging market bond yields
The US 10-year bond yield soared to 3.09% today (up 75 bps over the past year and 25 bps over the past month), the highest since 2011. The 2-year yield hit 2.59%, the highest since August 2008 (read more here on the financial impact of rising yields for the US Government).
The bigger story is of emerging markets though. Brazilian and Indian 10-year yields have soared 33 bps in just a week. The Brazilian 10-year bond yield topped 10.12% while the Indian 10-year bond yield topped 7.91%. The US dollar has gained 7% against the Brazilian Real and 4% against the Indian Rupee over the past month.
Canadian bond yields are soaring the most amongst developed nations with the 10-year yield hitting 2.51%, up 94 bps over the past year and 24 bps over the past month. Continue reading “US and emerging market bond yields soar; UK retail; US Student debt; German GDP”
Healthcare could be the largest personal consumption expenditure of households in the U.S. within months exceeding spend on Housing and utilities.
Households in the U.S. are likely to spend some $2.45 trillion this year on healthcare. The spending on healthcare is quickly catching up with the largest expenditure item – Housing and utilities. Here are charts,
Continue reading “Healthcare could soon be the largest expenditure of households in the U.S.”
From the Federal Reserve’s definition of Money Velocity and Money Supply,
Money Velocity
The velocity of money is the frequency at which one unit of currency is used to purchase domestically- produced goods and services within a given time period. In other words, it is the number of times one dollar is spent to buy goods and services per unit of time. If the velocity of money is increasing, then more transactions are occurring between individuals in an economy. Continue reading “The curious case of low U.S. money velocity”
So, the US exits the Iran nuclear deal. The business impact of it?
Not much at all for the US. But a very major impact for Europe.
US exports to Iran
2015 exports were $282 million, 2016 were down to $172 million and 2017 were further down to $138 million
Iran exports to the US
Just $64 million in 2017
European exports to Iran
€10.8 billion ($12.80 billion) in 2017, has grown 10-fold since 2015
Iran exports to Europe
€10.14 billion ($12.02 billion) in 2017, has grown 10-fold since 2015 Continue reading “Iran trade with the US and Europe; Euro area consumer credit growth; Almost 3% coupon on 10-year Treasury bond; US yield curve inversion vs Euro area curve yield inversion”
