Business

The latest confirmation that the US consumer is now effectively tapped out came moments ago when the Dept of Commerce reported that in November, Personal Income rose by a lower than expected 0.3% (exp. 0.4%), while US consumers continued to splurge at an accelerated rate, with personal spending rising 0.6%, above the 0.5% expected, as Americans decided to splurge on holiday products and services.

A way of visualizing the historical change in income, spending - and savings - is the next chart below:

Headline durable goods orders rose 1.3% in November (prelim), missing expectations of a 2.0% rise, but core durable goods fell in the preliminary November print - the worst drop since April.

Perhaps even more concerning is the 0.1% drop in capital goods new orders ex-aircraft and parts - i.e. business spending - this is the equal weakest print in 2017.

Following the most agressive drop in Bitcoin in almost three years (plunging 37% from its highs in 5 days)... Bitcoin is now down over $7000 from its highs...

Every bounce is sold...

Surveying the damage this morning is nothing short of a bloodbath

Source

If one looks carefully, one can find a few glints of green - Tether, NXT, Komodo, Bitcoin Dark, and SmartCash but they are all microcap.

Futures and spot fell together with various circuit-breakers kicking in...

Earlier this year, we reported that in its 52-years of operation sandwich chain Subway - for the first time ever - contracted in 2016, closing 359 U.S. locations. Bloomberg described the situation as the “biggest retrenchment in the history of the restaurant chain” whose total store count dropped 1.3% from 27,103 in 2015 to 26,744, while the company failed to keep up with the latest fast-food eatery trends.

Spanish stocks and the euro fell, while Spanish government bond yields hit their highest levels in over a month after Catalan secessionists delivered an unexpected blow to the government of Spanish PM Rajoy by winning the Catalan regional election. Meanwhile across the Atlantic, U.S. equity futures and the dollar rose on the last trading session before the Christmas holiday. The MSCI index of world stocks was flat.