Thursday March 23 2017 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:            

Used Car Prices Crash Most Since 2008 - (www.zerohedge.com) According to NADA Used Car Guide, wholesale prices on used vehicles are getting crushed. Used Market Update: In a reversal of what typically occurs in February, wholesale prices of used vehicles up to eight years old fell substantially last month, dropping 1.6% compared to January. The drop was counter to the 1% increase expected for the month and marked just the second time in the past 20 years prices fell in February (last years’ scant 0.2% being the other instance). NADA Used Car Guide’s seasonally adjusted used vehicle price index fell for the eighth straight month, declining 3.8% from January to 110.1. The drop was by far the worst recorded for any month since November 2008 as the result of a recession-related 5.6% tumble. February’s index figure was also 8% below February 2016’s 119.4 result and marked the index’s lowest level since September 2010. Incentives Jump by 18.1%: Automakers grew incentive spending once again in February, making it the 23rd month in a row where spending was increased. On average, spending reached $3,594 per unit versus $3,043 per unit in February 2016 according to Autodata.

Say Hello to $3 Trillion in Forgotten Debt - (www.bloomberg.com) Companies have been on a borrowing binge, but you wouldn't always know the full scale of their liabilities by looking at the balance sheet. This makes it hard for investors to compare businesses that fund their activities in different ways. Happily though, that's about to change. How come? The answer is buried in the notes to financial statements (you know, the ones you don't bother reading). It's here that companies have parked about $3 trillion in operating lease obligations, according to Bloomberg data. For non-financial companies, those obligations equate to more than one quarter of their long-term (on-balance sheet) debt. 

Greece Edges Toward Another Crisis as Bailout Quarrel Persists - (www.bloomberg.com)  Greece is set to miss yet another deadline for unlocking bailout funds this week, edging closer to a repeat of the 2015 drama that pushed Europe's most indebted state to the edge of economic collapse.... While Tsipras had promised the long delayed review of the latest bailout would be completed by March 20, a European official said last week that reaching an agreement even in April is now considered a long shot. ... The two sides are still far apart on reforms demanded by creditors in the Greek energy market and the government in Athens is resisting calls for additional pension cuts. And while discussions continue on how to overhaul the labor market, a finance ministry official said in an email to reporters on Friday that the issue can't be solved in talks with technocrats.

Why raising interest rates this week may have been a bad idea - (www.washingtonpost.com) One of the big surprises over the past 18 months is that the job market continues to be so strong, able to pull people back into the labor force who gave up looking for work altogether, Kashkari wrote. The United States added 235,000 jobs in February, official data show, far above the level needed to keep up with population growth. "This surprised us a bit because it suggests that there were many more people who were interested in working than historical patterns predicted," he said. ... "Today's hike seems to signal that Fed policymakers think that we're currently at or very near full employment, and that failing to slow the pace of economic growth in coming months would soon lead to accelerating wage and price inflation. They could be right, of course, but it is important to note that there is little in actual economic data to indicate this," Bivens wrote.

The Four Biggest U.S. Banks Top $1 Trillion - (www.bloomberg.com) The four biggest U.S. banks were worth the most on record versus China’s "Big Four" this month, as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. rallied 30 percent since Donald Trump was elected president. The American quartet’s combined market value closed above $1 trillion for the first time last month, a milestone Industrial & Commercial Bank Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp., Bank of China Ltd. and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. surpassed in 2015. The four Chinese banks, the world’s most profitable, were worth about the same as the U.S. foursome as recently as June.

OTHER STORIES:

Wall Street little changed; Nasdaq off intraday record - (www.reuters.com)
Kashkari Emerges as Opposing Voice as Fed Shows Optimism - (www.bloomberg.com)
Why Not Everyone Thinks Smart Beta's a Smart Idea: QuickTake Q&A - (www.bloomberg.com)

U.S. Stocks Fluctuate, Bonds Rise as Dollar Slips: Markets Wrap - (www.bloomberg.com)
Dollar Hits Fresh Four-Month Low as Traders Follow Recent Trends - (www.bloomberg.com)
UK PM May to trigger Brexit on March 29: spokesman - (www.reuters.com)