Magnus: China Must Reform or Bust
China’s debt markets are looking more and more like the West, circa 2007. And it’s not clear the government can intervene as successfully.
Read more...Category Archives: Credit markets
Commercial & Residential Real Estate Bubble Again a Risk to Financial Stability; Fed’s Rosengren Worried
Real estate is again looking like a ticking time bomb. At super low interest rates, pray tell what does the Fed do if it blows up again?
Read more...Bank of International Settlements Paper Confirms That High Levels of Household Debt Hurt Growth
We’ve written from time to time that not all debt is created equal. Prudent business borrowing enables companies to make investments and expand operations. And even though governments like the US that issue their own currency may nevertheless sell bonds, operationally they can simply create more dough to fund spending. The constraint on spending is […]
Read more...Wolf Richter: “Seriously Delinquent” Auto Loans Surge
Auto loans are have been looking awfully bubbly….and the hangover has begun.
Read more...The CFPB’s Big Opponent, Jeb Hensarling, Rivals Trump in the “Make Stuff Up” Category
House Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling takes his best shot at the CFPB and fails to land a single blow.
Read more...Trump’s and Hensarling’s Fact-Free Attack on Dodd Frank
Debunking Republican canards about Dodd Frank.
Read more...Bill Black: New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin Tries to Make Hank Paulson a Hero
As part of reviewing Obama’s legacy, Bill Black eviscerates how Sorkin’s book tried to exhonorate Hank Paulson for his crisis performance.
Read more...Chinese Mortgages Tighten Fast
Chinese mortgages, which have been the driver of credit growth, are now hard to get. Is this just a short-term tightening?
Read more...China Banks in 2017: No Rebound in Sight, Rising Risks for Smaller Banks
Why there is no cause for cheer on the China banking front.
Read more...Wolf Richter: Central Banks Quietly Backing Out of Negative Interest Rate Policies (NIRP)
Are central banks finally beating a retreat on their failed NIRP strategies?
Read more...Demonetisation: India’s Stress Test
Did India’s sudden removal of 86% of hard currency from circulation achieve its aim of fighting corruption? And how much did it hurt growth?
Read more...How Obama Framed Trump with Faux Mortgage Insurance Rate Decrease
There are many things for progressives to criticize Trump about. The Obama mortgage deduction sleight of hand isn’t one of them.
Read more...The Obama Administration Bails Out Private Equity Landlords at the Expense of the Middle Class: Government Guarantees for Rental Securitization
So how much did Blackstone promise to give to the Obama library for this huge grift, um, parting gift? As regular readers may recall, private equity firms piled into buying foreclosed single family homes on the belief that if the government (in this case, Fannie and Freddie) was selling, they wanted to be buying. And […]
Read more...Wolf Richter: Mnuchin as Sears Director Oversaw Asset Stripping, Underfunding of Pension; Faces Conflict as Treasury Secretary
Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin only got his hair messed up a bit at his Senate confirmation hearing.
Read more...Ending Too Big to Fail
Yves here. Remember the explosion of press coverage last year when incoming Minneapolis Fed member and former Goldmanite and Treasury official Neel Kashkari announced his intent to develop a plan to end the “too big to fail” problem. He not only was going to devote Minneapolis Fed researchers to his program, but solicited broad based […]
Read more...