JUST IN: Personal interest payments in the US hit a record $506 BILLION in July
During the first 7 months of 2023, Americans paid a total of $3.3 TRILLION in personal interest. This is up a staggering 80% since 2021 and nearly above the entire 2022 total. The worst part? These numbers do NOT include interest on mortgage payments. Source: The Kobeissi Letter, FRED
Is the 60/40 portfolio overvalued?
In August 2021, the combined valuation of overall equities and US Treasuries had reached its most expensive level in 130 years. To put the current valuation imbalance into perspective, its recent peak was a staggering 61% higher than its previous peak in the early 2000s. Although prices have corrected somewhat, particularly in the Treasury market, multiples are still elevated today. Source: Tavi Costa, Bloomberg
US High Yield spreads moved down to 3.78% this week, the tightest we've seen since April 2022
Source: Charlie Bilello
The top 3 country equity ETFs in 2023:
1) Argentina $ARGT: +34.7% 2) Greece: $GREK: +32.5% 3) Nigeria $NGE: +29.8% Just like everyone predicted. Source: Charlie Bilello
Heat map of the S&P 500's $SPY performance so far in 2023
Source: Evan, Bloomberg
Money sent on the bitcoin blockchain this year has surpassed PayPal and is nearing Visa
Source: Documenting Bitcoin
Top five stocks by market cap are c.50% of Nasdaq-100 Index market cap
Source: SG
The 10 largest companies in the S&P 500 now make up 34% of the index with an average P/E ratio of 50x
This is the highest percentage since 2001 during the Dot-com bubble. Even in the 2008 bubble, this percentage peaked at ~26%. These same 10 companies have accounted for ~80% of the Nasdaq's entire rally this year. Markets are increasingly held up by a few stocks, particularly in the technology sector. Source: The Kobeissi Letter, Apollo
