North America

One month ago, we first presented several striking charts and observations from Credit Suisse's retail analyst, Christian Buss, who showed the extent of the devastation sweeping through the US retail sector.

To be sure, while the mass shuttering of retail stores - just today Michael Kors announced the company would close up to 125 full-price retail stores - has been a recurrent topic on this website as shown in the chart below...

One week ago, when looking at the latest Fitch forecast of retailers most likely to file for bankruptcy next, we listed the hundreds of store closures already announced in 2017 between various bankrupt and still solvent retail chains.

Submitted by Jeff Thomas via SWPCayman.com,

"If your gold is outside the US, it gives you another degree of insulation should the United States decide that you shouldn’t own it — it's not a reportable asset." - Doug Casey, May 2017

Having admitted in March that "used car prices will drop for years" and amid near-record inventories,  a so-called 'plateau' in car sales, and soaring auto-loan losses, WSJ is reporting that Ford is planning substantial cuts to its global workforce amid CEO Mark Fields’s drive to boost profits and address the auto maker’s sliding stock price, according to people briefed on the plan.

With near record high inventories of 3.9 million vehicles...

Demand tumbling...

In an apparent snub to the administration's trade policy plans, GE CEO Jeff Immelt - who sits on the Trump-appointed manufacturing council - said he "very supportive" of NAFTA adding that he was "optimistic about Mexico."

Just a day after we showed Mexico's Manufacturing industrial production surge 8.5% year-over-year - the greatest surge since August 2010...