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3 Aug 2023

China's currency regulators are asking some commercial banks to reduce or postpone their purchases of U.S. dollars

That is in order to slow the yuan's depreciation, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The informal instruction, or the so-called window guidance, is the latest in a series of steps taken by authorities this year to bolster a currency that has been hit by China's faltering post-pandemic economic recovery and rising yields for the U.S. dollar and other major currencies. Source: Reuters

3 Aug 2023

Robinhood now makes much more collecting interest on client cash than from its core business.

This is $234 million that RH's customers should be collecting but they are currently handling to the Trading App. Source: www.zerohedge.com, Robinhood

3 Aug 2023

Do US cyclical equities look vulnerable given the extent of growth optimism currently priced in vs. the weakness of ISM manufacturing?

Source chart: Goldman

3 Aug 2023

Despite the strong upward move of the Citigroup US economic Surprises index and the strong YTD performance of financial assets, there are signs that things are that rosy for the SU economy

Source: TaviCosta

3 Aug 2023

The average interest rate on US credit card balances has spiked to 20.7%

With data going back to 1994, that's the highest rate we've ever seen. Meanwhile, delinquency rates on credit card loans from small lenders are now at an all time high of 7.1%. That's above the 6.0% peak in 2008 and up sharply from 3.8% in 2020. Source: Charlie Bilello, The Kobeissi Letter

3 Aug 2023

US interest expenses have surged by about 50% in the past year, to nearly $1 trillion on an annualized basis

Source: Lisa Ambramowicz, Bloomberg

3 Aug 2023

Note that US Sovereign risk (aka CDS on 1-year US Treasury) was completely unmoved by the Fitch downgrade.

Source: Bloomberg, www.zerohedge.com

3 Aug 2023

Treasuries haven’t been this ineffective as a stock hedge since the 1990s. The one-month correlation between the two assets is now at its highest reading since 1996

Source: Lisa Abramowicz, Bloomberg

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