Business

While it does not contain any new information to those who track the monthly, G.19, consumer credit releases by the Fed, the quarterly NY Fed report on Household Debt and Credit Developments provides a convenient one-stop summary of quarterly changes in household finances. What the latest report issued this morning revealed, is that total US household debt jumped in Q4 driven by increases in credit card debt, auto and student loans, and a Q4 surge in mortgage originations, and as of December 31, 2016, stood at $12.58 trillion, a $226 billion (1.8%) increase from the third quarter of 2016.

Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

In a scathing editorial published in the Wall Street Journal today, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Neel Kashkari, blasted US banks, saying that they still lacked sufficient capital to withstand a major crisis.

Kashkari makes a great analogy.

When you’re applying for a mortgage or business loan, sensible banks are supposed to demand a 20% down payment from their borrowers.

Once again all eyes were on "soft" data (Philly Fed) as "hard" data (housing starts miss) disappointed and the forced buy-in pressure lifted...

Submitted by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist blog,

The last couple of weeks have been wild. Egged on by Trump’s talk of “yuuugeeee” tax cuts, the stock market has propelled upwards in an unrelenting march to record highs.

Zerohedge did a great job highlighting Trump’s “talking up” of the upcoming tax cuts:

By EconMatters

We discuss Politics, Markets (namely the financials) the Economy and Debt in this video. More signs everyone is loaded to the gills in debt right now, this is a reliable warning sign for the health of the economy going forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e60hoJ5_IM