If ever there was proof that 'hope' is not a strategy, it is the 2017 Q1 Fed Senior Loan Officer Survey. Despite soaring confidence, spiking optimism, and striking gains in financial assets, demand for loans (from credit cards to autos to residential and commercial) have all plunged in the last 3 months.
Loand Demand collapsed across all asset classes in 2017 Q1
Things are rapidly changing for the hedge fund world, and not just in terms of chronically underperforming the S&P, which as the following chart from Goldman demonstrates, they have on 10 of the past 14 years, leading to relentless redemptions...
... but also in terms of crushing once pristine, seemingly untouchable reputations. Case in point: famed stock picker Julian Robertson and his Tiger Cub"proteges have ruled the Wall Street jungle for decades. After a down 2016, their reign is being challenged.
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
With the US automakers facing an "inventory bubble," hope for any momentum rested squarely in the shoulders of China... until today. China Automobile Dealers Association just unleashed their "Inventory Early Warning Alert" for January 2017, citing sales-tax increase on small-engine cars and Chinese New Year holiday.
As we detailed previously, J.D.Power analyst Thomas King warned, 2016 ended with an inventory "bubble" that will require less production or more incentives to clear.
Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,
Many Americans who have wrestled with a 1040 form, or who have paid someone to prepare their taxes, no doubt cheered the news that Congress will soon resume working on tax reform. However taxpayers should temper their enthusiasm because, even in the unlikely event tax collection is simplified, tax reform will not reduce the American people’s tax burden.