Americans are in debt. And massively so.
In fact, the US is laboring under $1.1 trillion in auto loan debt and $1.3 trillion in student loan obligations.
This massive burden may well be holding back the beleaguered consumer in the US, a country which depends on consumer spending for three quarters of economic growth.
The push to ban cash, in particular notes with a high denomination (such as $100 dollar bills), is picking up momentum. The European Central Bank President announced earlier this week that Europe is strongly considering phasing out the 500 euro note. Sovereignman.com reports: Yesterday, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers published an op-ed in the Washington Post about getting rid of the $100 bill. Prominent economists and banks have joined the refrain and called for an end to cash in recent months.
Submitted by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,
That didn’t take much. After a three-day rally, the media is back into “bullish” mode suggesting the bottom is likely in and by the end of this year, it’s all going to be just fine.
https://player.cnbc.com/p/gZWlPC/cnbc_global
Come on... stocks are up large... everything must be awesome!!
BofA's HY credit strategist Michael Contopoulos, whose work we have recently presented on several occasions, has been rather dour over the past year on the future of HY debt, as the junk bond market first descended into purgatory, and then right into the 9th circle of hell, courtesy of a collapse in the energy sector unlike anything seen in history...
... a collapse which virtually everyone admits will spread into all other sectors and products: it's just a matter of time.