Business

Authored by Danielle DiMartino Booth,

“Originate-to-sell practices are not and have never been prevalent.”

That’s a quote from Citi’s Mary Kane who, in a note out in late January, sought to dispel the notion that subprime auto was the next “Big Short.”

While it may be true that ABS as a percentage of total auto loan origination has been range-bound between 15% and 30% for more than a decade, there’s almost no question that the ability to securitize certain loans is helping to fuel subprime auto.

Submitted by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners,

From Guy Haselmann of Scotiabank

BURP

Yesterday’s FOMC meeting and press conference generated widespread unease. My personal uncomfortable feeling was reminiscent of a time many decades ago when a date stood me up and provided an excuse that made little sense. Simply put, the combination of the FOMC’s forecasts, economic assessment, and guidance on the future path of interest rates were incongruous and disconnected to their ‘data dependency’ message. 

Submitted by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,

Economic growth never seems to be as high as those making forecasts would like it to be. This is a record of recent forecasts by the International Monetary Fund:

Figure 1. World GDP Forecasts by the International Monetary Fund.