Category: Recession

Economics Update

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Employment Chart H/t Calculated Risk

Home Vacancy, Home Ownership Rates, and Rental Vacancy Rates Also Courtesy of Calculated Risk


Some Improvement on Homeowner Vacancy Rates


Note that the Rental Vacancy Rate is an All Time High

Thursday is the new jobless day, and new unemployment claims were basically flat, falling from 531,000 initial claims to 530,000. The 4 week moving average, a generally better metric, was down to 526,250, from the previous week’s 532,250, and continuing claims fell to 5,797,000 down 148,000 from last week’s 5,945,000.

All in all, generally good news.

Additionally, US GDP increased at a 3.5% annual rate in the 3rd, which is a solid, though not stellar, growth rate.

By way of example, the recovery in the early 1980s was around 7% for a full year.

There is also the question about how much of this was driven by cash for clunkers driven auto sales, and the first time home buyer’s tax credit.

The former has expired, and the is due to expire, though I would only give it a 1:2 chance that Congress won’t renew it.

In any case, the 30-year fixed mortgage was basically flat this week.

The market’s reaction to the GDP news was as expected.

There was movement from safety to higher rates of return, which drove US Treasuries down, and their yields up, and the Dollar fell.

Anticipation of a recovery also drove oil higher, to back above $80/bbl.

Economics Update

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Remember yesterday, when I said that consumer confidence fell? Well, that was the Conference Board. According to Nielsen, U.S. consumer confidence is up for the first time since 2007, as well as most of the rest of the world.

I think that both organizations conduct reputable surveys, but they got different answers because they asked different questions. This is something that one should consider for any survey.

In the world of slightly more objective metrics, we have durable goods orders rising for the 4th time in 6 months, which is good news, but New home sales unexpectedly fell.

I’m not sure why new home sales falling was “unexpected”. They are recorded when the contract is made, and not when they close, whereas existing home sales are recorded at closing, which means that people who had not bought new homes by the end of August, were really pushing it to qualify for the first time buyer tax credit, which require that the deal be closed by the end of November.

The end of the tax credit is why mortgage applications fell, even though rates fell.

In fact the divergence between new and existing home sales (more later) is a real indicator of how much that tax credit is goosing things.

In the world of central banks, the Norwegian central bank raised its benchmark rate, but the New Zealand bank kept its rate steady.

Of course, there is some apples and oranges here, because Norway raised its rate to 1.5%, and the Kiwis kept their rate steady at 2.5%.

In either case, the markets are not being optimistic, with oil falling below $78/bbl, and the dollar and yen strengthening on a flight to safety.

Economics Update

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Case Shiller Graph Pron (Both) Courtesy Calculated Risk


Woah: Las Vegas -55%, Phoenix -53%, Miami -46.9%

In the, “Well, this can’t be good,” category, we have the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell, with the numbers for the current economic situation falling to a 26 year low.

Still, we have seen the Case-Shiller home prices rising for the 4th straight month, though, with the expiration of the first time home buyer tax credit, and the end of the home buying season, I do not expect this to continue.

In the old standbys, oil was largely unchanged, remaining just below $80/bbl, and the dollar rose on concerns about the consumer confidence numbers.

Economics Update

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Chicago Fed Index Chart Pr0n H/t Calculated Risk


Your Moment of Zen

We have some dueling indices today, with the ATA Truck Tonnage Index falling, and the Chicago Fed reporting that its Midwest Manufacturing Index rose in September to levels approaching where they were prior to the recession.

Overseas, we have the Bank of Israel leaving its benchmark rate at .75%, German consumer confidence falling, and the South Korean economy growing at its fastest pace in 7 years, so it’s more mixed signals.

We are seeing an increased risk appetite among investors, which has driven treasuries lower, and pushed their yields up, though a statement by an official in the Chinese central bank that China should diversify its currency holdings, may have been a factor too.

In real estate, home prices in California fell by 7.3% from a year ago, largely on increased foreclosure sales.

In energy, oil fell again, and the dollar rose from this year’s lows, which would indicate a reduction in risk appetite, which is kind of counter to the results with the US treasuries above.

Finally, watch the video, it’s funny, in an, “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” way, and one note to the non-Brits, “Freddy” is Sir Fred Goodwin of the £ multimillion pension.

Economics Update

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Scary Picture of the Day:
Commercial Mortgage Back Security Amounts by Maturity Date


Or Maybe this is the Scary Picture, H/T Calculated Risk


Philadelphia Fed Index, State by State


Philadelphia Fed Index, Historical

As a Friday bonus, here is Barry Ritholtz, of The Big Picture schooling a blissfully ignorant ‘Phant Congressman on the Consumer Protection Agency:

Good news, everyone Existing home sales hit a two year high…Or maybe not…As Barry Ritholtz notes, there is an increase only when factoring seasonal adjustments, it fell otherwise, and those adjustments are problematic when under such circumstances.

Reinforcing Mr. Ritholtz’, and my, opinion of the state or real estate is the fact that Freddie Mac’s September delinquencies hit an all time high. (top graph)

More generally, we have the Philly Fed State Coincident Index continuing to show widespread weakness. (3rd and 4th graph down)

Also, we have the little employment tidbit that the
average unemployment period has hit 6 months, an all time high.

On the other side of the pond, UK GDP fell at twice the forecast rate, 0.4%, in the 3rd quarter.

Finally, both the dollar and the Pound Sterling rose against the Euro, and oil fell again, though it is still above $80/bbl.

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Unemployment Chart Pr0n Courtesy Calculated Risk


Adjusted vs. Nonadjusted Claims Courtesy of J. Bradford DeLong


10 Year SA vs NSA, H/t The Reconstruction

It’s what Atrios calls “New Jobless Day,” and initial claims rose by 11K to a seasonally adjusted 531,000, but the 4-week moving average, which I consider to be a better metric, was basically flat, falling by 750 to 532,250, and continuing claims fell 98K to 5.92 million.

BTW, look at the graphs of the seasonally adjusted vs the non-seasonally adjusted numbers on the right.

I’m not sure how well the adjustments work in the current crisis, but it does smooth out the numbers somewhat, but you can clearly see some artifacts, January 2009, of the adjustments.

It’s even clearer in the bottom graph which goes back 10 years: Seasonal adjustment generally works, except when it doesn’t.

There is a potential cloud on the horizon from China, where authorities are starting to talk about reducing their economic stimulus package because of inflation concerns.

There is a possibility that a reduction in stimulus may have an oversize effect, particularly since official Chinese economic numbers are pretty Mickey Mouse.

If this is the case, it might put a further crimp in world trade.

In any case, the Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose for the 6th straight month in September.

Calculated Risk: Apartment Rents “Plunge” in the West: also means that house prices have to fall to get back in line with rent to own ratios

In any case, the unemployment numbers drove oil prices down slightly, to $81.19/bbl, and the dollar strengthened slightly vs the Euro and yen.

Economics Update

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Unemployment by State, h/t Calculated Risk


Architectural Billings Index, h/t Calculated Risk

Permanent Layoffs, h/t macroblog, which led Calculated risk to note that that it’s not a jobless recovery, it’s a “job-loss” recovery

The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, a collection of “anecdotal” data (it’s really more than “anecdotal”, but you know economists) about the economy, was released today, and it shows that the economy is stabilizing, with that data showing either flat, or slight upticks, in economic activity.

We also got the state by state unemployment report for September, and it is ugly. (see bottom pic)

In real estate, mortgage applications fell sharply on higher rates, and the Architectural Billings Index rose, but remained below 50, indicating further contraction in nonresidential construction

The news in the Far East was pretty good though, with the decline in Japanese exports slowing to a 10-month best, and China’s GDP growing by 8.9% year over year, though Chinese statistics are always somewhat suspect.

In energy, oil rose to a 1-year high, $81.37/bbl, and the dollar weakened to a 14 month low, hitting $1.5014:€1.0000, so the buck and a half barrier is broken again.

Economics Update (a Day Late)

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H/T Calculated Risk for the Graph Pr0n


Yeah, CR again, this time LA Port Traffic

Notwithstanding green shoots, it still appears that consumers, who account for 70% of GDP,* remain pessimistic, with the Consumer Sentiment Index falling to 69.4, down from August’s 73.5, and well below the forecast that the number would be flat.

On the other hand, industrial production rose 0.7% in September, and capacity utilization (see top graph) rose to 70.5%.

You also have a secondary indicator of the economy, port traffic for the LA/Long Beach ports continues to fall.

Additionally, the banks who actually do make loans to real people, as opposed to the Wall Street parasites, are not doing well, with Bank of America posting a loss, and credit card delinquencies are rising.

Wall Street may be doing fine, but main street is still being hammered.

Meanwhile, in energy, the industrial production numbers drove oil to a 12-month high, and the US dollar recovered a bit, though it is still down for the week

*Or maybe not, see here.

Economics Update (a Day Late)

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Unemployment Numbers, Actual v. Seasonably Adjusted


Philly Fed Graph Pr0n Courtesy Calculated Risk


NY Fed Graph Pr0n Courtesy The Bonddad Blog

So, Seasonally adjusted first time unemployment claims fell to 514,000, the lowest level since January, the 4 week moving average fell by 9K to 531,500, and continuing claims fell 75K to 5.99 million, the first time that the number has been below 6 million in 6 months.

Well, sort of anyway. As Brad Delong notes, the non-seasonally adjusted number actually went up:

Unemployment Insurance claims rose from 452,000 last week to 504,000 this week, but the seasonal adjustment factor fell from +72,000 to +10,000, leaving seasonally-adjusted claims falling from 524,000 to 514,000.

Considering the strangeness of the times that we are currently going through, this does mean that the SA numbers have a bit of flakiness.

Still these numbers, as well as the New York and Philadelphia Federal Reserve activity indices are definitely trending better.

The reason that I think that this is a pause, rather than a recovery, is because the underlying problems remain unresolved, with foreclosures hitting an all time high in the 3rd quarter.

About 1 out of 136 homes got a foreclosure notice in the past quarter.

That along with the fact that the CPI numbers are showing that “Owners’ Equivalent Rent” is falling, which implies that home prices have even farther to fall before the rent/own ratio is back to where it should be imply to me that the real estate crash is still on the down slope.

Additionally, it’s clear that consumers are still stretched, with Capital One credit card defaults rising in September.

30 year fixed mortgage rates remain below 5%, though they are up a bit this week.

In energy, oil is now at a 2009 high, and in currency, the
dollar rose against the Yen, but fell against the Pound Sterling and Euro.

Economics Update

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Retail Sales, Courtesy Calculated Risk


DJIA Since Late 1998

As much as I think that the crossing of arbitrary numbers is bullsh#@, and I think that covering the daily swings of the market is bullsh#@, and I think that the Dow Jones is perhaps an even bigger load of bullsh#@, the fact that the DJIA topped 10,000 today is the obvious lede in today’s economics news.

The Dow closed at 10015.86, the highest number in over a year.

It should also be noted this makes the return on the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the past 10 years roughly 0%.

I still think that this is a dead cat bounce, fueled largely by the Federal Reserve printing money and laundering it into the stock market through the banks.

It appears that the Federal Reserve is similarly dubious about the meaning of the recent rally, as the newly released FOMC Minutes make notes about “Considerable Uncertainty” about the strength of the recovery, once the stimulus package wraps up.

When one looks at things like falling retail sales in September with the expiration of “cash for clunkers”, (though the number did beat expectations) and US business inventories falling in August, there is little sign that all this money doing anything but creating an equities bubble.

In real estate, we are seeing mortgage applications fall again as rates for the 30 year fixed mortgage head back above 5%.

The energy and currency markets are ecstatic about breaking the 10K barrier, which drove oil above $75/bbl for the first time in almost exactly a year, and because people are optimistic, and hence no longer looking for a safe haven, the Dollar weakened to $1.4924:€1.0000, the lowest number in 14 months.

Economics Update

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Well, if you are a small business that relies on CIT for your credit, you have a problem, because the company’s CEO is resigning as a likely prelude to bankruptcy.

There are over a million small and medium sized businesses that rely on CIT for their credit.

Additionally, the meltdown among the monoliners continues apace, with Fitch downgrading Assured Guaranty from AA+ to AA, which, given the fact that their business is basically renting out their credit rating, they are pretty close to “toast” status.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, investor confidence in Germany has fallen for the first time in 3 months, down to 56 September’s 57.7 and well below the forecast of 58.8.

Meanwhile, we are seeing increased demand for Treasuries because foreign investors think that they have become cheap with the falling dollar, and investors are expecting a rebound in the dollar when the Federal Reserve finally does tighten monetary policy.

It appears that this optimism also pushed the price of oil to $74.15/bbl.

Economics Update (a Day Late)

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Foreclosures hitting high end homes


Hotel Pulse Index


Baltic Dry Index, a Measure of Shipping Demand, Courtesy Barry Ritholtz

You know, there are very few guaranteed money makers, but one is owning baseball club, and the Chicago Cubs have just filed for bankruptcy, which says something about the state of the economy.

I know that this is really an artifact of Sam Zell’s completely idiotic business model, which seemed to be:

  1. Collect Underpants
  2. ?
  3. Profit

Except, of course, Zell was collecting short term loans, rather than underpants.

Of course, it’s not only big debtors like Zell who are getting into trouble. You are seeing foreclosures increasing among more expensive homes, which gives the lie to the constant refrain from many in the right wing that it’s all the fault of those n*gg*rs irresponsible borrowers.

It’s going to get worse, and it’s likely to create another crisis if Wells-Fargo’s numbers on Option ARMs carry across the industry, which are unbelievably grim:

“Several of our investors have questioned the current loss severity in light of negative amortization and home price decline,” researchers wrote in the report. “Our analysis suggests that option ARM loss severity will likely range between 60% and 70% provided home prices have stabilized.”

So 60+% of the option ARM are expected to go bad, even if house prices are not falling any further.

We are also seeing a continued drop in hotel activity, which implies that both consumer and corporate travel remain moribund.

The bottom piece of chart pr0n is the Baltic Dry Index, basically an index of shipping costs, though it is also a very good proxy for shipping demand, and this appears to indicate that the need for shipping, and hence the level of international trade, is still well off.

We are some seeing some interesting activity in US Treasuries now, with bonds rising, and their yields thus falling, on the expectation that the Fed will print more money and that inflation will remain low, but Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) are also showing signs of expanded demand, which implies that at least part of the bond market is betting on increased inflation in the relatively near term.

We have some good news, in that the recession appears to be well and truly over…..In New Zealand, with retail sales jumping there.

This would explain why both the $NZ and the $Aus rose significantly yesterday….Well, that and the fact Australia’s central bank raised rates last week.

The US dollar was otherwise mixed, weaker vs. the Euro, but up vs. the Pound Sterling and Yen.

Oil rose yesterday too, as a result of a combination of cold weather in the US and optimism about the economy.

Economics Update (Catching Up)

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Unemployment Claims, Courtesy Calculated Risk


Consumer Credit, Courtesy of EconomPic


Office Vacancies, Courtesy Calculated Risk


Office Investment, Courtesy Calculated Risk


Strip Mall Vacancies, Courtesy Calculated Risk

So, we have some news on the unemployment front, with new unemployment claims falling to 521,000, a 33,000 drop, with the 4 week moving average falling 9K to 539,750, and continuing claims falling by 72K to 6.04 million.

We also have some good news from Australia has become the first G-20 central bank to raise its benchmark rate, by 25 basis points (¼%) to 3.25%.

My guess is that the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) is premature in this action, as is generally the case with first movers coming out of a recession, but it means that the next central bank will likely be correct, or at least less wrong, as the second movers, such as the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, who both kept their rates unchanged, generally are in such things.

Still, 3¼% is pretty damn low by historical standards.

It could be that Australia’s rate hike may force other central banks’ hands though, as their rate increase appears to have pushed prices down, and yields up, on US Treasuries.

We also saw retail sales rising for the first time in over a year in September, and the Institute for Supply Management has released its Non Manufacturing Index, which rose to 40.9, up from 48.4 in August, and the first time that it has been above 50, meaning expansion, as opposed to that whole 2nd derivative is positive thing, for the first time in 11 months.

So, it appears that there is some sort of recovery in the works, assuming that something else bad does not happen, like US apartment vacancy rates hitting a 23-year high and rents falling, consumer credit continuing to contract, CRE taking a hit as office vacancies go up as rents go down, along with strip mall vacancies hitting a 17 year high, and wholesale inventories falling in August.

Much of what worries me is real estate, though it has to be said that mortgage applications have risen as the rate for a 30 year fixed mortgage has fallen to 4.87%(!).

It does appear that the good economic news, along with the Australian rate hike, has had an impact on currencies and energy, with oil rising above $71/bbl, and the dollar falling on both an increased risk appetite, and downward pressure from the Aussie rate hike.

As to how much is optimism, and how much is the rate hike, the fact that gold hit a new high, and gold is typically seen as a hedge against uncertainty leaves me inclined to lean toward the pessimistic view, but then again I always lean toward the pessimistic view.

This Ain’t Your Dad’s Recession

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Fall in employment participation at post Great Depression high


U3 to U6

So, we have the numbers for September today, and they really suck.

The non-farm payrolls fell by 263,000 in September, well above the consensus estimate of 175,000, and the unemployment rate (U3) went from 9.7% to 9.8%.

Additionally, the numbers for factory orders fell in August, as did non defense capital goods, durable goods, and manufacturing inventories fell by for the 12th straight month.

Unless you are a banker, or Obama’s economic team, this is not a recovery.

Kevin Drum, citing Brad Delong and Andrew Samwick, note that workforce participation has fallen further than at any time since the Great Depression.

The numbers, peak to trough declines in workforce participation.

  • 1948 — 2.2%
  • 1953 — 3.1%
  • 1958 — 2.5%
  • 1960 — 1.4%
  • 1969 — 1.9%
  • 1974 — 2.4%
  • 1979 — 3.0%
  • 1990 — 2.0%
  • 2000 — 2.7%
  • 2008 — 4.6%

This is just really scary stuff, particularly when, like me, you are looking for a job.

Economics Update

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Well, notwithstanding the “green shoots” that every fool (Ben Bernanke) is crowing about Consumer Confidence fell to 53.1 in September, down from 54.5 (revised) in August, and well below the predicted 57.0.

While this may not effect spending for the Christmas holiday, it does look like it’s putting a crimp in Halloween spending, with consumers planning to spend about 20% less this year.

Of course, we are still seeing some good news, such as the Case-Shiller home price index rising for the 3rd straight month, but, as Barry Ritholtz notes, it’s still down 13.3% for the year.

I would also add, that these are seasonally adjusted numbers, which really make no sense when a market is as out of whack as this one is, it’s YoY that gives meaningful data.

We also have the Chicago Fed’s National Activity index falling in September, to -.90, from August’s -0.54, indicating further contraction.

Overseas, we are seeing more good news though, with consumer confidence in Germany increasing to a 16 month high, and the Brazilian central bank being confident enough that it is starting to clamp back down on credit, which means that they are worried about inflation.

One hopes that the Brazilian bankers are not jumping the gun here.

In insurance, we have a bit of nostalgia, with the monoliner insurers popping up their head again, as S&P cut both MBIA, Inc. and MBIA Insurance credit ratings, to BB-minus and BB-Plus respectively.

Both ratings are below investment grade. (i.e. junk)

In energy, it looks like the consumer confidence numbers have driven oil prices down, to $66.71/bbl, and it looks like natural gas prices are about to fall off a cliff, because the salt domes, depleted oil fields, and aquifers used to story the fuel have reached capacity, meaning that anything pumped has to be sold, and delivered as soon as it leaves the ground.

Gasoline prices are continuing their fall too.

Meanwhile, the dollar is up, largely on increased worries about the economy, though the rate cut by Russia’s central bank has also made the USD more attractive to investors.

Economics Update

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Blah, blah, blah!

Well, let’s lead with housing sales, since it gives me an opportunity to start with one of my pet peeves: Journalists pumping up news as better than it is.

CNN leads with New home sales rise for 5th straight month in August,which sounds good, sales went from a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 429K, up from July’s 426K, so what’s the problem?

Well the problem is that the forecast was for 440K, and a 3K gain is about ¾%, nothing to phone home about, and as Calculated Risk so ably notes when he looks at the numbers and declares that sales were flat, “This is a slight increase from the revised rate of 426 thousand in July (revised from 433 thousand).” (emphasis mine)

So there was an increase relative to the revised figure, but a drop when compare initial figure to initial figure, and in any case, an honest description for this would be “flat”, or “down slightly”, not a hed screaming a 5th straight month of increase.

In either case, we are still seeing week demand for manufactured goods, as evidenced by the 2.4% drop in durable goods orders, though the Truck Tonnage Index rose in in August, which compares to the drop in rail traffic I reported 2 days ago.

In the world of finance, banks losses in big mofo loans, the so-called syndicated loans, tripled in 2009.

In energy, revelations regarding Iran’s nuclear program and potential sanctions pushed oil up, though it is still well below $70/bbl, and in currency, the dollar fell broadly, hitting a 7½ month low vs the Yen, and remaining near the 1-year low vs the Euro that it hit a few days ago.

Economics Update

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Unemployment Graph Pr0n Courtesy of Calculated Risk

Exhaustion Rate Graph Pr0n Courtesy of zero hedge

Initial claims for unemployment fell this week again, down 21K to 530K, but that’s because unemployment claims from last week were revised to 551. The first count was 545K, so the apples to apples delta is 15K, not 21K (I love how it always seems to work out this way).

The 4 week moving average fell too, 553.5K, down from 546.5K, and continuing claims fell 123K, to 6.138m from last weeks 6,261m.

Note, however, that continuing claims do not count folks who are on extended benefits, or who have exhausted benefits, and that the exhaustion rate has hit a new record, with 52.40% of all people filing for unemployment exhausting their benefits before they find another job.

In real estate, existing home sales fell for the first time in 5 months, and we are hearing dire warnings about a shadow inventory of 7 million foreclosures which have yet to hit the market, either because the lenders are hip deep in foreclosures, and the process is proceeding slowly, or because they are holding off to avoid selling into a down market.

The down housing market has been good for treasuries, with prices rising, and yields falling, as people flock to their relative safety.

The quest for safety has investors running back to dollars, driving the greenback up, and pushing oil down below $66/bbl (!).

Someone is not believing in recovery here.

Economics Update (a Day Late) (Again!)

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I know that there is a lot of talk about the recession ending, but all the metrics that involve manufacturing real items in the united states, are down, case in point, the AAR’s report on rail traffic, which is down, 17.1% YoY, which is, as Yves Smith notes, down to 1993 levels.

I’m not saying that the rest of the world is not showing signs of recovery, after all the economic powerhouse New Zealand’s economy has left recession, and the $NZ is hitting records, but for the United States, things are not looking better for the rest of us.

Actually, we are seeing some positive movement in US manufacturing, like GM adding shifts at its plants, though this appears to be one part “cash for clunkers”, and one part having to make up for other plants that have been closed.

We are seeing some action though in Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury land, where US Treasuries are up, and hence yields are down, largely on the expectation that the Fed won’t do anything to interest rates.

More importantly, we are seeing evidence that the Fed is looking at winding down its money printing. They are not doing it yet, but the Bernanke and crew are in preliminary discussions with bond dealers to implement reverse repurchase agreements in order to get a trillion dollars or so out of the money that they pumped into the economy:

Central bank officials are discussing plans to use so- called reverse repurchase agreements to drain some of the $1 trillion they pumped into the economy, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. That’s where the Fed sells securities to its 18 primary dealers for a specific period, temporarily decreasing the amount of money available in the banking system.

Well, the intent is clear, though the mechanism is as clear as mud to me.

In the always fun areas of energy and currency, oil rose because the dollar fell to a one year low, $1.4778:€1.000, though this is still about a dime below the peak in early July of last year.

Economics Update (a Day Late)

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ABI Graph Pr0n H/t Calculated Risk

The index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6% in August, the 5th straight month, which implies very strongly that the recession ended in July or August.

I don’t really see this as a “recovery for the rest of us.” Even the most optimistic forecasters see a slow recovery in unemployment, and real-estate, which took us down in the first place, looks like it will do so again, this time on the commercial (CRE) side too.

We are seeing mortgage delinquencies hitting 7.58%, up from 7.32% in July and a new record, and AIA’s Architectural Billings Index fell in August, which indicates that future activity is trending down in 9-12 months.

Additionally, the YoY price of CRE fell 27%, and rents are down too, everywhere.

Rents are falling at near rates not seen in nearly a ¼ cedntury on some of the most prestigious streets, 5th and Madison Avenues in New York, the Champs-Elysees in Paris, London’s New Bond Street, and Causeway Bay in Hong Kong,

This is a real problem because the mortgages on these properties are typically 5 years, and if the owner is under water at the end of their loan, they default, because they cannot rollover into a new loan.

Unlike a home loan, the owner cannot just sit tight.

It appears that the currency and the energy markets are concerned about this too, with Oil falling on demand concerns, and the dollar rising as investors look to a safe haven.