by winston » Sat Nov 18, 2023 2:44 pm
Recent danger signals from the U.S. consumer
Hardship Distributions: The number of people taking “hardship distributions” from their 401(k) accounts jumped 13% between Q2 and Q3. This represents 18,000 people, which might not sound like many, but it represents the highest level in the past five quarters.
Credit Card Debt/Delinquencies: During Q3, credit card balances hit a new high of $1.08 trillion. Meanwhile, credit card APRs are pushing 30%. This has resulted in a surge in the rate of households becoming delinquent or entering serious delinquency. We’re now at the highest level since 2011.
Car Loan Delinquencies: According to Fitch, the percentage of subprime auto borrowers at least 60 days past due on their loans jumped to 6.11% in September. We’re at the highest level since 1994.
Savings Are Dropping: After a mild uptick in the personal savings rate in the first half of the year, savings have been falling. As you can see below, September’s personal savings rate of 3.4% is on par with summer 2008 levels when we were in a recession.
Consumer Confidence is Waning: The Conference Board’s most recent consumer sentiment survey from October 31st featured the title “Consumers Remain Pessimistic About the Future – Even as They Continued to Spend.”
Consumer confidence fell again in October 2023, marking three consecutive months of decline… Fewer consumers said that business conditions were good, and more said they were bad.
Source: investor Place
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