Greetings, The United States: The tremendous damage to the Houston-area economy will create a temporary drag on the US GDP. • The Houston metro area economy is one of the largest in the US. • In fact, by itself, the Houston-area GDP is greater than the economy of Sweden or Poland. China: China’s property markets …
Continue reading “The Daily Shot Brief – September 1st, 2017”
Greetings, The United States: The second-quarter GDP revision also surprised to the upside. The consumer carried the day again (in blue). Credit: This chart shows banks pulling out of corporate leveraged loans, as institutions (such as BDCs, CLOs, credit funds, hedge funds, etc.) pile into the market. Global Developments: This chart shows …
Greetings, The United States: The US airline industry has been doing well recently. However, the Hurricane Harvey disaster has pushed jet fuel prices sharply higher amid shut refinery operations. Some suggest that airline ticket prices will soon rise as a result. Turning to the corporate sector, this chart shows the time series analysis of …
Greetings, The United States: How did the various economic metrics respond to natural disasters in the past? Credit: Small corporate loans (under $100mm) have been experiencing lower default rates. This is partially due to smaller firms having limited access to leverage. Equity Markets: We are in for a volatile Tuesday as North …
Greetings, The United States: The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index hit another multi-year high (the highest since 2001). Will this trend translate into higher spending? For now, big-ticket items such as houses and autos don’t seem to reflect this consumer exuberance. For example, inventories of crossover SUVs are piling up at dealers despite a significant …
Greetings, The United States: US commercial property rent increases seem to have peaked. Foreign capital inflows into US commercial real estate have peaked as well. Here is the breakdown by origin. Credit: Leveraged loan issuance hits the highest monthly volume in two years. Equity Markets: Fund outflows from US equities accelerated while …
Greetings, The United States: The FOMC officials have become less concerned about upside risks to inflation and growth as the fiscal stimulus legislation gets delayed. Credit: Most Federal Home Loan Banks have seen capitalization improvements over the past year. Equity Markets: Inflows into the largest international equity ETFs have slowed. It’s increasingly difficult …
Greetings, The United States: The dollar is drifting lower again, which should help with exports and may further ease financial conditions. This trend is also one of the reasons some analysts suggest that we will see another rate increase in December (markets are pricing in one-in-three odds of a December hike). But has shorting …
Greetings, The United States: As discussed previously, the recent dollar weakness will result in higher import prices. In particular, prices of industrial supplies and materials are expected to rise. On the other hand, the dollar’s weakness should help boost US exports. Bitcoin: Bitcoin’s global trading volume has been climbing rapidly. It’s now comparable …
Greetings, The United States: Here is the July labor participation rate among young Americans. Fewer teens seem to be working during the summer. Credit: HY corporate bonds are starting to see some hefty outflows. Equity Markets: Cash holdings of US non-financial firms continue to climb. Energy Markets: The decline in US …
