The Emerging Market Contagion Flowchart

There is a striking pattern of regularity how every time the dollar spikes, or sufficient high level, emerging market contagion usually follows.

Yes, of course, “each time is different”, and frequently there are idiosyncratic factors but for the most part, the one precipitating factor to turmoil in emerging markets (at first, as it then spreads to developed markets), is a sharp increase in the value of the US dollar.

This is a point we made earlier in “Forget About Turkey: Asia Is The Elephant In The Room“, it was also the key point of an article we wrote back in May, titled “Why The Soaring Dollar Will Lead To An “Explosive” Market Repricing.

For reads who missed it the first time, now that emerging markets are once again breaking down – and not just across a few nations but across the globe – it is worth recalling what Deutsche Bank’s Aleksandar Kocic said three months ago, namely that the “USD is emerging as the key variable it presents a compact summary of the underlying macro risks that could destabilize the current Fed path.” In other words, the last thing the Fed wants right now as it accelerates its balance sheet normalization, is a sharp spike in the dollar. And yet, that’s precisely what is happening. Kocic explains:

A strong USD corresponds to generally hawkish Fed in an environment where the US is recovering fast while the rest of the globe is still too slow or recessionary, or that the Fed is pushing rates above the neutral and causing excessive tightening of financial conditions and potentially triggering recession. A weak USD path, on the other hand, can materialize either as an inflation or credit (twin deficits) risk, a troubling possibility to which there is no adequate policy response.

For Kocic, the relative strength of the dollar was the exogenous event that could awake markets from their peaceful slumber, resulting in a violent reassessment of monetary conditions as the Fed quietly undoes the biggest monetary experiment in history, or as he puts it, “although unwind of stimulus and Fed exit continue without disrupting the markets, the underlying stability remains local, threatened potentially by the tail risk.”

How does this look schematically?

Conveniently, now that EM contagion is all the rage again, the Deutsche Banker came up with a handy flowchart showing the next steps in how the stronger dollar could lead – and is leading – to an “explosive” move in not only the front end of the curve, but across all markets:

Causality chain of strong USD and its potential knock-on effect is shown in the chart. We start at the lower left corner. Fed hikes and strong USD open up the EM dilemma: Facing the outflows or defending the currency at expense of stifling the growth. This implies both, more volatility and potential sell off in EM, and bearish pressure on the long end of the UST that would offset the underlying bid for US bonds (strong USD is bullish). Turbulence in EM could have a knock-on effect on risk assets in the US.

Why is the above critical? Because as Kocic wrote in May long before the sharp plunge in the Chinese yuan, if the cycle were to play out, it would result in the same set of conditions which led to a global bear market back in 2015 in the aftermath of China’s devaluation.

Well, here we are, and events are playing out precisely as they did three years ago, with two key catalysts: a stronger US Dollar, and a sliding Chinese Yuan.

The punchline: the recent dollar surge, which started on April 17, catalyzed by the first (of many) PBOC RRR cuts, has launched a feedback loop which, very much like the Chinese 2015 devaluation, culminates in a very unpleasant – for the Fed – outcome: a collapse in EMs should dollar strength not be arrested, which then morphs into a broad-based liquidation of all risk assets, unless of course the Fed relents and ends its tightening cycle prematurely.

And with all the out of the way, here is what the strong dollar-emerging market contagion flowchart looks like.

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Nevada Assembly Candidate Dennis Hof Loses Brothel License

The Love Ranch, one of the seven legal brothels owned by Nevada Assembly candidate Dennis Hof, lost its brothel license last week.

According to the Nye County Licensing and Liquor Board, Hof failed to apply for renewal and pay fees on time. This is the first time in the board’s 10-year history that a brothel license has been permanently revoked.

Hof has been running afoul of county rules a lot, authorities say. In February 2018, the Love Ranch’s license was suspended after Hof failed to obtain permission before modifying several mobile homes on site. The brothel was eventually reopened in April.

Hof claimed back in February that this was political retribution for his challenging state Assemblyman James Oscarson in the Republican primary. “They’re out of hand. It’s the same stuff they’re doing to Donald Trump,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. They’re using government power to put me out of business and discredit me.”

In 2017, Hof had failed to pay county fees and complete necessary paperwork but was not penalized then.

This past April, citizens of Lyon and Nye counties, both of which contains brothels owned by Hof, drafted ballot referendums to ban brothels in their counties. Voters in Lyon County will see this on their ballots in November, while Nye county voters won’t likely see a brothel vote on their ballots until 2020.

Hof argues that such measures won’t eliminate prostitution, as crusaders claim, but simply lead to more dangerous working conditions for those involved. “The brothels are a bit like Walmart and church: Nobody forces you to go, but when you need something, you know where they’re at,” said Hof to the Las Vegas Review. “Live and let live. Don’t try to impose your views on other people.”

Regardless, Hof has said he plans to sell the brothels in both Lyon and Nye Counties so he can focus on his political aspirations without being trapped by a system that he believes is out to get him. In June, he beat three-time incumbent Oscarson in the GOP primary and will now face Democratic candidate Lesia Romanov in November.

But some women who work at the Love Ranch are optimistic that they will be back in business soon. “Dennis has told us to keep a good attitude,” said Sonja Bandolik, an employee at Love Ranch. “He’s got deep pockets. If it’s humanly possible, he’s going to make this happen.”

Others have fled to northern Nevada to work at another brothel owned by Hof. And workers at other brothels Hof owns have been coming to his defense on social media.

In order for Love Ranch to reopen, Hof must file a new brothel application and be approved by the Nye County Licensing and Liquor Board.

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The Internet Just Crowd-funded The Release Of 4,358 CIA Mind-Control Documents

Via TheAntiMedia.com,

A crowdfunding campaign has succeeded in raising the funds necessary to pay a Freedom of Information Act request fee for documents related to the CIA’s controversial MKUltra program.

John Greenewald of Black Vault, a website that publishes government documents, appealed to the internet for help after the agency refused to waive the $425 fee it was demanding to release the documents. Greenewald, who has been filing FOIA requests for two decades, had previously published files on MKUltra, a program best known for dosing individuals with drugs like LSD to research mind control.

Wikipedia explains MKULTRA as the following:

Project MKUltra – sometimes referred to as the CIA’s mind control program – was the code name given to an illegal program of experiments on human subjects, designed and undertaken by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Experiments on humans were intended to identify and develop drugs, alcohol, stick and poke tattoos, and procedures to be used in interrogations and torture, in order to weaken the individual to force confessions through mind control. Organized through the Scientific Intelligence Division of the CIA, the project coordinated with the Special Operations Division of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and officially halted in 1973.  The program engaged in many illegal activities;  in particular it used unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy.  MKUltra used numerous methodologies to manipulate people’s mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of torture.

The scope of Project MKUltra was broad, with research undertaken at 80 institutions, including 44 colleges and universities, as well as hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies. The CIA operated through these institutions using front organizations, although sometimes top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA’s involvement. As the US Supreme Court later noted, MKULTRA was:

concerned with “the research and development of chemical, biological, and radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operations to control human behavior.” The program consisted of some 149 subprojects which the Agency contracted out to various universities, research foundations, and similar institutions. At least 80 institutions and 185 private researchers participated. Because the Agency funded MKUltra indirectly, many of the participating individuals were unaware that they were dealing with the Agency.

Project MKUltra was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the Church Committee of the U.S. Congress, and a Gerald Ford commission to investigate CIA activities within the United States. Investigative efforts were hampered by the fact that CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms’ destruction order.

In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to project MKUltra, which led to Senate hearings later that same year.  In July 2001, some surviving information regarding MKUltra was declassified.

The program was shut down, and the documents were reportedly destroyed in 1973 at the order of then-director Richard Helms, but some were eventually released.

Greenewald filed his first request for the documents in the late ‘90s and says he didn’t hear back for years. In 2004, the CIA released some relevant documents to him via CD-Rom, which he published, but years later, he discovered thousands of pages were missing.

So, even though I paid for the CDs already, and they gave me an index originally stating that 100% of those records were on the CD-ROMs, they in fact, were not,” he said in his GoFundMe appeal. He filed a new request but the CIA is charging him $425 to print 4,358 pages of previously withheld material. He easily met his goal of $500 (to cover any additional costs and GoFundMe fees) with the help of just 16 donors.

MKUltra has been extensively verified – in one case, the CIA kept seven prisoners at a Kentucky penitentiary high on acid for 77 days  – but many of the documents are not available to the public. Though the CIA claims the documents he is requesting are not related to MKUltra, and rather, pertain to “behavioral modification,” Greenewald isn’t convinced. “Whether or not that ties into MKUltra and mind control, which I believe it does, the CIA claims it does not,” he told Vice News.

To me, even though the government lies, documents do not,” Greenewald said.

And documents tell a very interesting story. That’s why I love them.”

He added, “We shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions.”

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WTI Dives Back Below $67 After Surprise Crude Build

WTI continued in its rangebound mode (slightly weaker into tonight’s print) but slumped back below $67 tonight after API reported a surprise crude build.

 

API

  • Crude +3.66mm (-2.5mm exp)

  • Cushing +1.64mm  (+500k exp)

  • Gasoline _1/56mm

  • Distillates +1.94mm

The last few weeks have seen crude inventories flip-flopping between draws and builds with a big surprise gasoline build last week. And API continued the trend with a surprise crude build (and surprise Cushing build)…

 

“Nobody wants to go home long” when forecasts are pointing to a bearish inventory report, said Bob Yawger, director of futures division at Mizuho Securities USA LLC.

WTI ended the day unchanged, fading into the print, but spiked lower as API reported the surprise crude build…

 

Finally, we note that Permian pipeline premia crashed back to cycle wides after a brief bounce…

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It’s Happening! Gary Johnson Running for Senate

Never learn not to love. ||| RedditGary Johnson this morning added his name to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s list of candidates running in the 2018 general election. “It’s moving forward,” Johnson 2016 campaign manager and current head of a Johnson-supporting SuperPAC Ron Nielson told me this afternoon. “He’s begun the process of filing.”

Though all the bureaucratic hoops will likely take another day or so to jump through, incumbent Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, who until now has been the prohibitive favorite, wasted no time fundraising off the news:

Republican nominee Mick Rich, who, like Johnson, is a self-made construction entrepreneur who made a mid-life switch to statewide Republican politics, has shown zero sign of wanting to give the Libertarian a clear path at turning a blue state gold.

“He sounds like a really good guy, and everything I’ve heard about him has been very positive,” Nielson said. “Obviously if he was not in this race, this race would be significantly different.”

Johnson’s surprise re-entry into politics—as recently as five months ago he told Nick Gillespie “I’m done with elected political office”—came about when the original Libertarian Party nominee for Senate, New Mexico State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn (who is the first-ever Libertarian to hold statewide partisan elected office), decided to step aside after seeing strong polling support for the two-time former governor. The party then gave Johnson until Aug. 18 to pull the trigger.

Nielson says that early fundraising prospects have looked good. “There’s a lot of interest in Gary,” he said. “He had a broad sector of support from Libertarians and from interested parties nationwide, but in New Mexico he’s getting a lot of support from people. So we’re hoping that we can raise substantial sums, millions of dollars, here in the not-too-distant future.”

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Antifa, Democratic Socialists, & New World Order All Want Same Thing: “No Borders, No Wall, No USA At All”

Authored by Michael Snyder via The American Dream blog,

No matter how globalism is repackaged, it always smells the same way in the end.

For decades, the globalists have subtly (or sometimes not so subtly) been moving us toward a world in which national borders have essentially been made meaningless. The ultimate goal, of course, is to merge all the nations of the world into a “one world socialist utopia” with a global government, a global economic system and even a global religion. The European Union is a model for what the elite hope to achieve eventually on a global scale. The individual nations still exist, but once inside the European Union you can travel wherever you want, economic rules have been standardized across the Union, and European institutions now have far more power than the national governments. Liberty and freedom have been greatly restricted for the “common good”, and a giant horde of nameless, faceless bureaucrats constantly micromanages the details of daily life down to the finest details. With each passing day the EU becomes more Orwellian in nature, and that is why so many in Europe are completely fed up with it.

Unfortunately, this is precisely what Antifa, the Democratic Socialists and others on the radical left want to bring to America.

Our high schools and colleges have become hotbeds for “progressive” beliefs, and they are producing millions of young people that have completely and utterly bought into the globalist program. A lot of older Americans simply do not understand that many of these young people want to do away with the United States entirely. To many of us, such a notion is unthinkable, but the idea that the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. government should be done away with is really starting to catch fire among certain circles.

For example, on Sunday Antifa activists were boldly chanting “no border, no wall, no USA at all”

Open borders protesters and members of the left-wing anarchist group Antifa chanted death to America during a counter-protest in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

In a video by Breitbart News’ Ian Mason, Antifa members and open borders activists can be heard and seen marching down streets throughout Washington, DC, demanding an end to the United States.

“No border, no wall, no USA at all!” Antifa and open borders activists chanted.

This is what they actually want.

They want a world without national borders, and they want a world in which the United States has been absorbed into a global socialist entity.

And as far as Antifa is concerned, they would be happy to achieve this goal by peaceful means, but they have also publicly embraced violence if that is what is necessary.

On Sunday, Antifa demonstrators in D.C. were also openly advocating the “overthrow of the United States government”

Antifa and other left-wing groups gathered at Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington, DC, on Sunday carrying signs that reveal one message loud and clear: Remove racist President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence from office and overthrow the United States government.

People passed out “Trump Pence Must Go” stickers and carried signs and banners displaying anti-Trump slogans, including, “Drive Out Trump Pence Fascist Regime.”

You can see some of the protest signs that demonstrators were displaying right here.

Of course Antifa represents a relatively small (but growing) portion of the overall population.

But a movement that represents a whole lot more people is the Democratic Socialists. Thanks to her recent stunning victory in New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become their new standard-bearer, and she is publicly calling for the abolition of ICE

Democratic New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explained her belief that abolishing the Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is “common sense” during an interview on CNN with John Berman on Thursday morning.

“I think now, we’re starting to realize that ICE — part of that suite of legislation has a structure that allows for civil rights and human rights abuses,” Ocasio-Cortez stated. “And, you know, it may seem like a radical position, but I actually think it is very, very common sense. You know, we should not be separating children from their families.”

But if we don’t have anyone enforcing or protecting our borders, then it would essentially mean that we don’t have any borders at all, and that is precisely what they want.

For Democratic socialists like Ocasio-Cortez, a lack of money is never a concern. They believe that we can completely open up our borders and allow millions upon millions of new immigrants to come pouring in, and that we can also afford to provide free healthcare, free college education, free basic housing and a whole host of other social benefits to them and to everyone else that is already living here.

And even though we are already 21 trillion dollars in debt, somehow we supposedly have the resources necessary to pay for all of this.

I know all of this sounds crazy, but this is what they want, and they are passionate about getting it.

Today, the radical left completely dominates our system of public education, and that is why so many of our young people have become radical leftists. And many of these “true believers” openly talk about a “revolution” in the United States.

Even big stars such as Michael Moore are speaking about “a real insurgency”these days. In his new film, Moore claims that Donald Trump will be “the last president of the United States”, but he doesn’t give any specific details.

So what exactly did Moore mean by that?

Somebody needs to ask him that question.

Sadly, these leftists ultimately don’t want more liberty and freedom.

Instead, they want a world that they can “transform” into their own image. They want a world where free speech is highly censored on the Internet, where your money is taken and “redistributed” to someone else, and where even the smallest details of your daily life are micromanaged “for the good of humanity”.

Ultimately, what they crave is tyranny.

They better be careful what they wish for, because someday they might end up getting it.

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Missouri Democrats Retract Welcome to Pro-Life Voters

Missouri’s Democratic Party has no room for voters who lean left but oppose abortion.

In June, the party added an amendment acknowledging that abortion is a contentious issue and emphasizing that pro-life Democrats are “welcome.” The amendment did not change the party’s longtime platform, which recognizes a woman’s right to abortion.

“We respect the conscience of each Missourian and recognize that members of our party have deeply held and sometimes differing positions on issues of personal conscience, such as abortion,” the amendment read. “We recognize the diversity of views as a source of strength, and welcome into our ranks all Missourians who may hold differing positions on this issue.”

The amendment survived less than two months. The state party’s central committee voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to remove and replace it. The new amendment affirms “a woman’s right to choose and the right of every person to their own bodily autonomy and to be free from government intrusion in medical decisions, including a decision to carry a pregnancy to term, and oppose any efforts to limit access to reproductive health care.”

What’s wrong with courting voters whose views on abortion don’t match the majority of party members? According to Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Stephen Webber, it’s all about party unity. “We got it right, and the final product is something that can unify the whole party,” Webber tells The Kansas City Star.

But Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America, says Missouri Democrats are simply alienating potential voters. “At what point will the abortion-rights progressives be held accountable for prioritizing their single issue above the health and success of the Democratic Party?” she said in a statement.

Nobody asked the Missouri Democratic Party to oppose abortion itself. The amendment in question simply allowed for a bit of ideological diversity. That might hurt them in the Show Me state. Both houses of Missouri’s legislature are currently controlled by the GOP, and Gov. Mike Parson (R) is a pro-life conservative. At the state level, Democrats obviously aren’t doing a great job of appealing to Missourians.

At the federal level, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D–Mo.), who’s very much pro-choice, is widely seen as one of the Democratic senators most likely to lose her seat come November. Pro-life groups have pounced on her pro-choice bonafides, as has her Republican opponent, Attotney General Josh Hawley.

Instead of welcoming pro-life liberals, Missouri’s Democratic Party is leaving them out in the cold, says Darryl Jeffries, a pro-life Democrat who attended Saturday’s committee meeting. “It just sounded like I was disenfranchised and wasn’t welcome,” Jeffries tells The Star. “I call myself moderately pro-life; I don’t have all the answers. But the language I heard was ‘We really don’t want to hear from you people.'”

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The $289 Million Dollar Verdict Against Monsanto Is Scientifically Outrageous

DeWayneJohnsonPOOLNew/REUTERS/NewscomI am truly sorry that DeWayne Johnson is suffering from non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), but years of scientific research has determined that it is exceedingly unlikely, despite the outrageous verdict of a California jury on Friday, that he contracted NHL from using the herbicide glyphosate. Applying the relatively low standard of proof required in California civil courts that a claim is “more likely to be true than not true,” the jury awarded Johnson a $289 million judgment including $250 million in punitive damages against Monsanto, the maker of the herbicide.

This is an injustice. So far every regulatory agency that has assessed the safety of glyphosate has concluded that it is unlikely to be a human carcinogen at doses at which people encounter the herbicide. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s December, 2017, draft human health risk assessment concluded that “glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” The agency’s assessment additionally found “no other meaningful risks to human health when the product is used according to the pesticide label.”

Similarly, a 2015 evaluation of the herbicide by the highly precautionary European Food Safety Authority concluded that “glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans.” Another EFSA review in May covering all crops treated with glyphosate included “a risk assessment which shows that current exposure levels are not expected to pose a risk to human health.”

Specifically relevant to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a long run study of more than 50,000 licensed agricultural pesticide applicators in North Carolina and Iowa published in May reported that “in this large, prospective cohort study, no association was apparent between glyphosate and any solid tumors or lymphoid malignancies overall, including NHL and its subtypes.”

So given the reams of solid scientific evidence for the safety of glyphosate, how did the jury get their verdict so wrong? Among other things, the court allowed Environmental Defense Fund activist Christopher Portier to mislead them by permitting him to serve as an expert witness for the plaintiff Johnson.

As I reported earlier, Portier chaired the Advisory Group to Recommend Priorities for the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) which recommended that the agency evaluate glyphosate. He subsequently served as an invited specialist to the IARC group that evaluated studies related to glyphosate and the risk of cancer. In 2015, the IARC issued, partly as a result of Portier’s influence, a scientifically flawed monograph that classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen.

After he retired from National Center for Environmental Health, Portier began working in 2013 as a senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), an activist group that has long opposed many aspects of crop biotechnology and the use of glyphosate. In a 2014 letter to the journal Environmental Health Perspectives defending a scientifically discredited study on biotech corn, Portier listed only his affiliation with the IARC. The IARC did later disclose Portier’s affiliation with EDF, but the agency apparently failed to consider the possibility that his work with anti-pesticide activist group might amount to a conflict of interest.

Just after the IARC issued its glyphosate monograph, Portier signed lucrative contracts with a couple of big civil litigation law firms to work as an expert witness asserting that glyphosate likely caused specific cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These same law firms have now lined up thousands of clients claiming that glyphosate caused their cancers.

Jurors see the sympathetic plaintiffs before them and understandably want to help them and punish those who putatively caused them harm; thus a verdict of $289 million. But the jurors do not see the substantial harms caused by the possible removal of a safe herbicide from the market including lower crop productivity, increased soil erosion, additional deforestation, lower farm incomes, increased food prices, and the deployment of more dangerous herbicides.

Given the overwhelming scientific evidence that glyphosate is not carcinogenic, it is well beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury has been badly misled into getting its verdict wrong in this case.

Disclosure: The 100 shares of Monsanto that I bought with my own money have now been sold to Bayer.

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Dead. Cat. Bounce..?

This…

Emerging Market FX rallied broadly on the day (after the biggest 4 day drawdown since Lehman) – its best day in three weeks…

 

The Argentine Peso slipped lower in the late day…

 

Of course, all eyes were on the Lira as it rallied back up to unchanged from Friday’s close… After its biggest single-day loss ever, the lira rebounded most since 2001…

 

Chinese stocks gave back a little of Monday’s surge gains…

after dismal macro data…

European stocks gave back Monday’s gains… despite the lira support

And of course, if the Lira is fixed then panic-buy US equities… (NOTE the serious panic-bid as the nasdaq dared to go red in the first 30 minutes)…

 

Futures show the real chaos across the US open, rip back higher, and then closing fade… (NOTE futs could not break above their overnight highs)

 

Of course, ‘ye olde’ opening short-squeeze is back…

 

Tesla shares were a disappointment and more bullshit was spewed to save Musk from jail…

 

FANG Stocks continued the pattern of early gains and late weakness…

 

Treasury yields limped higher on the day…

 

But 10Y Yields remain well below the 3.00% level still…

 

The Dollar Index managed to scrambled back up to new cycle highs…

 

All was not well though as EURCHF continued to tumble… (very defensive)…

 

Offshore Yuan limped back to unchanged on the day – near cycle lows…

 

Cryptos continued to plunge – withe Ethereum drastically underperforming Bitcoin…

 

Bitcoin did drop back below $6000…

 

And Ethereum fell to 8-month lows relative to Bitcoin…

 

Copper was the big commodity loser today, along with crude…

 

WTI remains rangebound (ahead of tonight’s API inventory data)…

 

Finally, we note that since Larry Kudlow was unleashed, King Dollar has crushed the barbarous relic…

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US Household Debt Hits Record $13.3 Trillion

Total household debt hit a new record high, rising by $82 billion to $13.29 trillion in Q2 of 2018, 3.5% higher than a year earlier according to the NY Fed’s latest household debt report. It was the 16th consecutive quarter with an increase in household debt, and the total is now $618 billion higher than the previous peak of $12.68 trillion, from the third quarter of 2008.  Overall household debt is now 19.2% above the post-financial-crisis trough reached during the second quarter of 2013.

Mortgage balances—the largest component of household debt—rose by $60 billion during the second quarter, to $9.00 trillion. Credit card debt rose by $14 billion to $829 billion; auto loan debt increased by $9 billion in the quarter to $1.24 trillion and student loan debt hit a record high of $1.41 trillion, an increase of $2 billion in Q2.

Balances on home equity lines of credit (HELOC) continued their downward trend, declining by $4 billion, to $432 billion. The median credit score of newly originating mortgage borrowers was roughly unchanged, at 760.

Mortgage originations edged up to $437 billion in the second quarter, from $428 billion in the first quarter. Meanwhile, mortgage delinquencies continued to improve, with 1.1% of mortgage balances 90 or more days delinquent in the second quarter, versus 1.2% in the first quarter.

Most newly originated mortgages continued went to borrowers with the highest credit scores, with 58% of new mortgages borrowed by consumers with a 760 credit score or higher.

Outstanding student loan debt was mostly unchanged in the second quarter and stood at a record $1.41 trillion as of June 30. Auto loan balances also hit an all time high, as they continued their six-year upward trend, increasing by $9 billion in the quarter, to $1.24 trillion. Meanwhile, credit card balances rose by $14 billion, or 1.7%, after a seasonal decline in the first quarter, to $829 billion.

Despite rising interest rates, credit card delinquency rates eased slightly, with 7.9% of balances 90 or more days delinquent as of June 30, versus 8.0% at March 31. The share of consumers with an account in collections fell 23.4% between the third quarter of 2017 and the second quarter of 2018, from 12.3% to 9.4%, due to changes in reporting requirements of collections agencies.

Meanwhile student loan delinquencies remain stubbornly just above 10%, a level they hit 6 years ago and have failed to move in either direction.

In some good news for the student loan debt seriously delinquent student loans, those 90 days or more behind, declined in the second quarter to 8.6% from 8.9% in the prior quarter.

“Aggregate household debt grew for the 16th consecutive quarter in the second quarter of 2018,” said Wilbert van der Klaauw, New York Fed senior vice president.

“While overall delinquency rates have remained stable at relatively low levels, transition rates into delinquency have fallen noticeably for student debt over the past year, reflecting an improved labor market and increased participation in various income-driven repayment plans.”

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