There were more signs of a retail apocalypse in the first quarter of this year.
Defaults by retail companies rated by Moody’s hit an all-time high in Q1. There were a total of nine defaults among Moody’s-rated retail corporates. According to Wolf Street, total corporate defaults in Q1 were up 22% from last year, and the nine retailer defaults accounted for nearly 1/3 of them.
As Wolf Street put it, these are not mom-and-pop stores. These are retailers large enough to be rated by Moody’s – “corporations that make up the core of the Brick-and-Mortar Meltdown.”
One of the favorite Republican talking points is that tax cuts will “pay for themselves” by spurring economic growth. This seems plausible. But GOP talking heads underestimate just how much growth would be necessary to pay for the massive tax cuts and spending increases recently passed by Congress. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office released its analysis Monday and said that the tax cut plan will “balloon” the deficit over the next several years.
The stock market continued its yo-yo ways on Friday. After three straight days of healthy gains, the Dow Jones Industrials fell 572 points to end the week, closing below 24,000. The Nasdaq also plunged, dropping 161 points.
Peter Schiff has been saying for weeks this is a bear market. Well, now even Pres. Trump has said investors may see some short-term pain in the stock market. But the president says it will all be worth it because we will get long-term gain, referring to the benefits we’ll reap when we win the trade war. In his most recent podcast, Peter said that’s not how it’s going to play out.
We’re going to have short-term pain and then the pain is going to get worse in the long-run.”
The big problem is, nobody is really ready for any pain at all.
It looks like the subprime auto loan bubble has popped.
Last year, we reported that the auto industry’s check engine light was on. Now it looks like the thing is totally breaking down. Small subprime auto lenders are starting to go belly-up due to increasing losses and defaults. As ZeroHedge noted, “we all know what comes next: the larger companies go bust, inciting real capitulation.”
North American funds gobbled up gold last month as gold-backed ETFs collectively added 22.5 tons of the yellow metal globally in March.
Overall, gold-backed ETFs increased their holdings to 2,415 tons worth an estimated $102.8 billion, according to data released by the World Gold Council.
“As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.” – Prov. 26:11
It appears there is some repeat folly brewing.
Remember subprime mortgages? Well, they’re back.
There has been a lot of volatility in the stock market over the last couple of months. Peter Schiff has been saying we are already in a bear market. But most mainstream analysts remain upbeat. They insist the recent volatility is normal. The economy is picking up steam. Inflation remains tame. The jobs market continues to grow. Everything is great!
But there are realities underlying this market few people seem to be paying any attention to, and they reveal a serious disconnect between corporate America and Wall Street.
Companies are drowning in debt.
Gold demand will increase modestly in 2018 as mine production remains flat, according to an industry report.
Metals Focus released its Gold Focus 2018 report this week. It projects a 1% increase in gold demand this year with stronger physical investment, jewelry and industrial demand partially offset by a drop in central bank buying.
After rallying on Friday, stocks tanked on Monday, dropping over 450 points. In fact, it was the worst first day of the second quarter since the Great Depression.
Most analysts blamed the plunge on the escalating trade war, but Peter Schiff has a different take. He said it was just another bad day in a bear market. In fact, he said the market could have rallied because the Chinese response wasn’t as bad as it could have been. But when you’re in a bear market, all news is bad news.
The trade war is heating up. Could it jump-start a breakout in gold?
Some analysts think so.
China fired a salvo in what could become a full-blown trade war on Monday. The Asian nation slapped tariffs of up to 25% on 128 US products including frozen pork, wine and steel pipes in retaliation for US tariffs levied on Chinese steel and aluminum.
