Debt Levels Archives - Page 14 of 16

March 19, 2012

EconoMonitor » All Feasts Must Come to an End: China’s Debt & Investment Fuelled Growth

Satyajit Das: New lending by Chinese banks in 2009 and 2010 was around 40% of GDP. New bank loans in 2009 and 2010 totalled around $1.1-1.4 trillion, an increase from $740 billion in 2008. Total outstanding loans in the economy have jumped by nearly 50 per cent over the past two years.

Around 90% of this lending was directed towards investment in building, plant, machinery and infrastructure by State Owned Enterprises (“SOE”). In 2010, China allocated over $2.6 trillion to investment expenditure – the highest proportion of GDP of any major economy in the world. According to the World Bank, almost all of China’s growth since 2008 has come from “government influenced expenditure”.

via EconoMonitor : EconoMonitor » All Feasts Must Come to an End: China’s Debt & Investment Fuelled Growth, Part 1.

Colin Twiggs

Colin Twiggs is a former investment banker with almost 40 years of experience in financial markets. He co-founded Incredible Charts and writes the popular Trading Diary and Patient Investor newsletters.

Using a top-down approach, Colin identifies key macro trends in the global economy before evaluating selected opportunities using a combination of fundamental and technical analysis.

Focusing on interest rates and financial market liquidity as primary drivers of the economic cycle, he warned of the 2008/2009 and 2020 bear markets well ahead of actual events.
He founded PVT Capital (AFSL No. 546090) in May 2023, which offers investment strategy and advice to wholesale clients.

March 17, 2012

Steve Keen: Australia & Canada face debt-deflation crisis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=f7iK4DHPr9E#!

[23 minutes]

Colin Twiggs

Using a top-down approach, Colin identifies key macro trends in the global economy before evaluating selected opportunities using a combination of fundamental and technical analysis.

March 17, 2012

Real Recovery: America’s Debt is on the Decline

[A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute] estimated that home equity loans and cash-out refinancing increased consumer spending by a percentage point to 3 percent growth a year during the housing bubble years. But with that source of debt financing gone, retailers are more likely to see 2 percent annual growth over the next few years, which is about where it has been in recent months.

via Real Recovery: America’s Debt is on the Decline.

February 23, 2012

Canada’s Household Debt Is Rising – WSJ.com

OTTAWA—Increased household debt in Canada, underpinned by rising house prices and low interest rates, poses a key domestic risk to financial stability, the Bank of Canada said on Thursday.

The finding, contained in the central bank’s quarterly economic review, was the latest in a series of warnings from economists and Canadian officials that high consumer borrowing has emerged as one of the economy’s biggest risks. Household debt stood at over 150% of personal disposable income as of the third quarter of last year, the report noted.

via Canada’s Household Debt Is Rising – WSJ.com.

February 15, 2012

Greek death spiral accelerates – Telegraph Blogs

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: This is what a death spiral looks like. It is what can happen if you join a fixed exchange system, then take out very large debts in what amounts to a foreign currency, and then have simultaneous monetary and fiscal contraction imposed upon you.

Germany discovered this on the Gold Standard when it racked up external debt from 1925 to 1929 (owed to American bankers) in much the same way as Greece has done.

When the music stopped – ie. when the Fed raised rates from 1928 onwards – Germany blew apart in much the same way as Greece is blowing apart. This is not a cultural or anthropological issue. It is the mechanical consequence of capital flows into a country that cannot handle it, as Germany could not handle it in the late 1920s.

via Greek death spiral accelerates – Telegraph Blogs.

February 9, 2012

Australia: Credit growth

Latest stats from the RBA show that the sharp contraction in business credit has slowed, but growth of personal credit (mainly mortgage finance) is at its lowest rate since the early 1990s and is trending downwards. Credit growth does not have to fall below zero for it to have a negative impact on the economy. A fall in the rate of credit expansion will slow the rate of economic growth.

Australian Credit Growth

January 25, 2012

What’s Going on With Debt in U.S.? – Real Time Economics – WSJ

The chart shows clearly the build up of debt heading into the bust, and the subsequent deleveraging. Overall public and private debt, by this measure, peaked at 302% of GDP in the first quarter of 2009. Since then, it has fallen to 279% as the economy has grown and some private players have lightened their debt loads.

US Debt by Sector as Percentage of GDP

via What’s Going on With Debt in U.S.? – Real Time Economics – WSJ.

Comment: ~ The Financial sector can be ignored as this merely acts as a conduit for, and mirrors, the other sectors. My concern is that Government debt is growing at a faster rate than the fall in Household and Nonfinancial Corporations debt. That is unsustainable and is likely to reverse after the November elections. At which point the economy will contract.

January 17, 2012

Nouriel Roubini’s Global EconoMonitor » The Straits of America

Given the bearish outlook for US economic growth, the Fed can be expected to engage in another round of quantitative easing. But the Fed also faces political constraints, and will do too little, and move too late, to help the economy significantly. Moreover, a vocal minority on the Fed’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee is against further easing. In any case, monetary policy cannot address only liquidity problems – and banks are flush with excess reserves.

Most importantly, the US – and many other advanced economies – remains in the early stages of a deleveraging cycle. A recession caused by too much debt and leverage (first in the private sector, and then on public balance sheets) will require a long period of spending less and saving more. This year will be no different, as public-sector deleveraging has barely started.

via EconoMonitor : Nouriel Roubini’s Global EconoMonitor » The Straits of America.

January 11, 2012

Westpac: Follow that Flow

The US recovery from the 2007–2009 recession has been particularly disappointing, in part due to the moribund state of the housing market.

The state of the housing market is in part a symptom of excess leverage, the US’ core concern.

Excess leverage will continue to weigh on US economic growth, restricting it to a sub-trend pace for the foreseeable future, resulting in a need for further QE.

….. Given the size of the US’ debt stock and the lack of assets set aside to fund future pension liabilities, it is logical to conclude that above-trend growth conditions are a long way off. In the meantime, households and government authorities will remain heavily exposed to any further deterioration in conditions, whether it be domestic or foreign (i.e. Europe) in origin.

QE3 will be needed merely to help protect against a further deterioration in economic conditions. Such a program would have to be large in scale and in coverage, likely covering USTs, mortgage securities and, with time, the existing debt of SLGs.

A final point: the degree of easing required to alleviate the financial stresses the US economy currently faces (and hopefully at least maintain the current level of activity) has not been recognised by markets. Given the precarious state of Europe, the market will likely take its time in coming to terms with the US’ own concerns. But, when the spotlight falls on the US, we expect a greater awareness of US credit risk and the absence of near-term growth prospects will see yields rise and the US dollar fall.