I’ve written over the past couple of years (link) about U.S. banks’ rapidly growing preference for lending to other financial institutions (nondepository financial institutions/NDFIs) and for the purpose of buying securities (margin loans) in lieu…

I wrote yesterday about the ongoing explosion of margin debt provided by broker-dealers: it hit a new record of $1.5 trillion in June, up nearly 50% YoY and growing wildly disproportionately to the U.S. economy…

As cartoonishly good as the big U.S. banks’ 2Q results were (thanks to trading and investment banking activity) to borrow a phrase from Jonathan Weil of the Wall Street Journal (link), just as cartoonish has…

As Jonathan Weil of the Wall Street Journal reported this morning (link), all five big banks that reported their 2Q results yesterday topped revenue and earnings estimates, and some of the numbers were “cartoonishly good.”…

I recently wrote about the ongoing shift in the U.S. Treasury market from price-insensitive holders such as foreign governments and the Federal Reserve (Fed) to price-sensitive holders such as hedge funds (link). I concluded that…

Predictably (link), the biggest U.S. banks reported blowout results in equity trading and investment banking (Wall St. activities) this morning, with their equity trading revenue nearly doubling versus a year ago in some cases. Meanwhile,…

Delta topped consensus 2Q earnings estimates and guided above consensus for 3Q, bearing in mind that the airline caters to high-income customers. Delta’s CEO said on CNBC (link) that “our consumers are at the top…

I just wrote about PepsiCo’s 2Q operating profit miss and about intensifying category weakness among consumer companies owing to rising inflationary pressures (link). I neglected to mention that Costco’s June same-store sales growth was lower…

I’ve been writing for well over a year about deteriorating discretionary sales in the U.S. (most recently here, just over a week ago), evident in a wide range of consumer companies’ results as well as…

I wrote yesterday (link) about the ongoing reclassifications/restatements of bank loan data following a reporting change that bank regulators made effective in 4Q24. The reporting change required more granular reporting of banks’ loans to nonbanks/nondepository…

For several quarters (I last wrote about the trend here), the Federal Reserve (Fed) has reported a reclassification of bank loans from commercial and industrial (C&I) and consumer loans (i.e., loans to the real economy)…

This morning’s disappointing June jobs report highlighted an ongoing trend: the disproportionate share of total and private sector payroll growth coming from healthcare and social assistance. They contributed 95% of the growth in private payrolls…

U.S. retail sales were up an eye-opening 6.9% YoY in May (link), prompting commentary about the supposed strength/resilience of consumer spending (link). Commentators acknowledged that much of the growth came from inflation but nonetheless characterized…

I’ve been writing for nearly two years about U.S. banks’ surging loan growth to nonbanks/nondepository financial institutions (NDFIs) such as private credit and equity funds, broker-dealers, hedge funds, etc. dating back to the launch of…

I’m back from a brief hiatus. The zaniness in asset markets continues, with SpaceX’s $25 billion bond issuance going from having been more than 3.5 times oversubscribed to experiencing significant selling pressure in the span…