Revelations 18:9-11 “The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, 10 standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ 11 “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore
Important Takeaways:
- CNN’s Quest: ‘More Banks Are Going to Go out of Business’ — They’re ‘Stuffed’ with Bonds
- On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “One World,” CNN host, International Business Correspondent, and CNN Business Editor-at-Large Richard Quest stated that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike will make things “worse” for banks because “all the banks are stuffed to the gills with these government bonds” that will be devalued by the rate hikes. And predicted that there will be more banks going out of business, particularly state and regional banks.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
Important Takeaways:
- What the Fed’s rate hike means for your wallet: Quarter-point increase will add $1.7 billion to US credit card bills over the next year
- The Fed on Wednesday boosted its benchmark rate a quarter percentage point, to a range of 4.75 percent to 5 percent, its highest level in 16 years and up from near zero a year ago.
- The latest rate increase will cost American credit card users a collective $1.7 billion in added interest charges over the next 12 months, according to a study from WalletHub.
- That’s on top of the $30.4 billion more in credit card interest charges the study chalks up to the Fed’s prior rate hikes since last March, when the central bank’s policy rate was near zero
- Government data shows that the amount of consumer loans, including credit cards and other revolving plans with commercial banks, soared to $965.6 billion on March 8. That’s up from $830 billion at the same time last year.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived
Important Takeaways:
- Now that pandemic aid has vanished, bankruptcies are on the rise
- Total bankruptcy filings in January shot up 19% in January to 31,087, up 19% from a year ago, according to data from Epiq, a legal research firm. The number of Americans who filed for bankruptcy across Chapters 7, 11 and 13 shot up 20% in January from a year ago.
- The surge in filings comes as rising interest rates and high inflation continue to stress household budgets.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
Important Takeaways:
- Car Debt Is Piling Up as More Americans Owe Thousands More Than Vehicles Are Worth
- For the typical American, a new car is increasingly out of reach. Today, about two out of 13 people are making monthly car payments of $1,000 or more. For many, there’s no choice: They have few or no public transportation options and need a car to get to work, bring children to school and buy groceries.
- “Because these car loans are generally unaffordable at the outset, that means that every month, borrowers are getting closer to the financial edge,” said Kathleen Engel, a law professor at Suffolk University.
- The cost of new vehicles has risen 20% since the start of the pandemic, while used vehicles are still up 37% even after cooling in the fall.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Important Takeaways:
- 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck — ‘inflation is part of their everyday lives,’ expert says
- Even as the cost of living remains high, the number of Americans living paycheck to paycheck fell to 60% in January, according to a recent report.
- 45% of high-income earners, were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new LendingClub report.
- “Consumers have accepted that inflation is part of their everyday lives,” says LendingClub’s Anuj Nayar.
- A few key money moves can help your financial standing amid higher prices.
- At the end of 2022, credit card debt hit a record $930.6 billion, an 18.5% spike from a year earlier, and average credit card balance rose to $5,805, according to the latest report by TransUnion.
- Total household debt also increased by 2.4% to $16.9 trillion in the fourth quarter of last year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
Important Takeaways:
- Existing home sales unexpectedly fall in January for 12th straight month
- U.S. existing home sales slowed for the 12th consecutive month in January as high mortgage rates, surging inflation and steep home prices sapped consumer demand from the housing market.
- Sales of previously owned homes tumbled 0.7% in January from the prior month to an annual rate of 4 million units, according to new data released Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). On an annual basis, existing home sales are down 36.9% when compared with January 2021.
- It is the slowest pace since November 2010, when the U.S. was still in the throes of the housing crisis triggered by subprime mortgage defaults.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
Important Takeaways:
- Household debt hit record $16.9 trillion last quarter, as consumers loaded up their credit cards
- Total US household debt hit a record $16.9 trillion during the fourth quarter, an increase of $394 billion, or 2.4%, from the prior three-month period, according to the Fed’s latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. While the lion’s share of the debt is attributable to mortgages, the report showed that not only are credit card balances swelling at record levels, delinquencies are on the rise as well.
- Credit card balances increased nearly 6.6% to $986 billion during the quarter, the highest quarterly growth on record, according to New York Fed data
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
Important Takeaways:
- Pakistan food crisis exacerbated by wheat shortage
- Pakistan is currently suffering from skyrocketing prices and a shortage of wheat flour, with people waiting in line for hours to receive a single bag.
- In this Video one man has to choose to wait all day in line for a bag of food or go to work
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
Important Takeaways:
- The US consumer is starting to freak out
- The flush savings accounts and cheap credit that helped keep Americans spending at high rates since 2020 are disappearing
- Retail purchases have fallen in three of the past four months. Spending on services, including rent, haircuts and the bulk of bills, was flat in December, after adjusting for inflation, the worst monthly reading in nearly a year.
- Sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell last year to their lowest level since 2014 as mortgage rates rose. The auto industry posted its worst sales year in more than a decade.
- One factor making forecasting more difficult: While unemployment is trending at a half-century low, big companies including Amazon.com Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Microsoft Corp. have begun to cut jobs.
- Also weighing on many consumers: The rapid increase in rates in the past year, tied to Fed tightening, has pushed the cost of all types of debt higher.
- Mortgage rates reached a 20-year high last fall. Some 57% of consumers were concerned about making housing payments in the fourth quarter
- Additionally, tens of millions of Americans are set to start or resume making payments on student loans later this year, after the Supreme Court rules on President Biden’s student-debt cancellation plan. Payments have been frozen since March 2020, and are scheduled to begin again 60 days after litigation is resolved or the program is implemented.
- Many taxpayers will get smaller refunds when they file their returns in the coming months because Congress didn’t extend the breaks put in place at the height of the pandemic.
- S. factories, shippers and importers are pulling back, a sign they anticipate less demand from Americans in the months ahead.
- Inbound volumes at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California were down 20.1% in December from a year earlier, and have been behind 2019 levels since August.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
Important Takeaways:
- 57% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency expense, says new report. A look at why Americans are saving less and how you can boost your emergency savings
- According to Bankrate’s Annual Emergency Fund Report, 68% of people are worried they wouldn’t be able to cover their living expenses for just one month if they lost their primary source of income. And when push comes to shove, the majority (57%) of U.S. adults are currently unable to afford a $1,000 emergency expense.
- When broken down by generation, Gen Zers (85%) and millennials (79%) are more likely to be worried about covering an emergency expense.
- The top reason cited by respondents (74%) was inflation. Rising costs have put added pressure on the average American’s wallet
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