United States

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream,

A lot has been said about the potential for a US-Canada trade war. And judging from a lot of what’s happened, especially with respect to a strengthen USD, it looks like currencies may be what could light the spark to the barrel of gunpowder.

THE BACKDROP

While it does not contain any new information to those who track the monthly, G.19, consumer credit releases by the Fed, the quarterly NY Fed report on Household Debt and Credit Developments provides a convenient one-stop summary of quarterly changes in household finances. What the latest report issued this morning revealed, is that total US household debt jumped in Q4 driven by increases in credit card debt, auto and student loans, and a Q4 surge in mortgage originations, and as of December 31, 2016, stood at $12.58 trillion, a $226 billion (1.8%) increase from the third quarter of 2016.

Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,

In a scathing editorial published in the Wall Street Journal today, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Neel Kashkari, blasted US banks, saying that they still lacked sufficient capital to withstand a major crisis.

Kashkari makes a great analogy.

When you’re applying for a mortgage or business loan, sensible banks are supposed to demand a 20% down payment from their borrowers.

Trump's honeymoon with capital markets is on the rocks, kept alive only by the occasional soundbite about "massive" or "phenomenal" tax cuts; it now appears that the US president's - until recently - amicable relationship with Russia is also quickly souring.