Below are press releases from companies with preferred stock and/or baby bonds outstanding-or just news of general interest. News will be slow for the next 4-6 weeks until the 2nd quarter earnings season arrives.
ARMOUR Residential REIT, Inc. Announces Guidance for July 2024 Dividend Rate per Common Share
Abacus Life Announces Closing of Public Offering of 11,500,000 Shares of Common Stock
Liberty Broadband Corporation Announces Proposed Private Offering of Exchangeable Senior Debentures
Nervous? Me too. Some PhD student needs to chart the incidence of terms like ‘synthetic’ in the financial press against the timing of financial crashes.
And on cue, the WSJ had an article this week about yet another wave of ETFs that propose to limit downside risk using derivatives. ‘Portfolio Insurance’, anyone?
The Santander report is a good read on the state of the American Middle Class, as Santander defines it. Perhaps not as positive as they intended. My AI class said you can feed AI bad news then ask it to write a positive press release. (Not a surprising skill if you read quarterly earnings reports, )
The Middle Class, as defined, is doing fine, coping well with inflation and being resilient but they are cutting budgets and taking second jobs… but they haven’t moved bank accounts to get more interest. Debts are mostly being paid on time. The flip side is there are substantial past due loans 23% among what I’d call the upper middle class, banked consumers with 50-150 income. Banks are apparently getting nervous about this too.
Reports are that banks — with the blessing of the bank regulators — are starting to offload debt, including car loans using financial engineering that sounds right out of the subprime crisis, When I read words like synthetic, credit default swaps, leverage and hedge funds together with government regulators trying to cut corners to help out banks , I get nervous. (Today also a report of banks like Deutsche, CIBC and Goldman quietly trying to unload CRE before “game over” pops up on the extend/pretend pinball machine. And, a report of a regulatory decision to go easy on bank capital, which caused a pop in bank prices. )
Regional Banks Want to Slim Down. Hedge Funds Smell a Bargain.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/regional-banks-want-slim-down-093000450.html
Final takeaway is a changing preference between owning and renting in housing and a loss of faith in home ownership as pillar of financial security. The report seems to say that many now view renting as a pathway to financial prosperity, a change from my day.
JMO. DYODD
Sounds like everything is great then!
Nothing like double digit percentage late payments from the upper crust to make you feel that everything is as it should be.
One thing keeps me wondering about whether the economy is weaker than reported is the new “buy now pay later” fad popular with the young. (Get it now, pay in 4 EZ payments, no interest.) One TokTok influencer bought a 1500 designer purse she wanted so bad. Then bought something else. I think she was up to $50,000 or so and bragging about her nice lifestyle on not much income. Some young folks are calling it “buy now, pay never.”
As I understand it, BNPL debt is either not reported to credit bureaus or late reported / lag reported. So IMHO someone buying a house or a car may have weaker credit profile and be a higher credit risk to lenders than it seems because of hidden debt. Off balance sheet financing.
So there may be more risks hidden in bank consumer lending portfolios than the reported average credit scores show. Not quite the high drama of the “junk rated tuned into AAA” subprime loans where the teaser loans made good money for the originators then defaulted when the loans repriced to market 2 years later but in the “caution thin ice” category.
JMO. DYODD.
I’m nervous too. Some PhD student needs to run an analysis charting the incidence of terms like ‘synthetic’ in the financial press against the timing of financial crashes.
And on cue, the WSJ had an article this week about yet another wave of ETFs that propose to limit downside risk using derivatives. ‘Portfolio Insurance’, anyone?
@ BNJ Others
Last week I went to visit my local WINCO grocery store. For those in the Midwest, or East it is a warehouse supermarket type store. In some of the poorer neighborhoods, you will see them buying the GIANT bags of beans, rice, flour, etc.
I am blessed that I live in a neighborhood that had new homes a block away starting in the high 700s. They took the FOR SALE sign down, so I assume they are done. Don’t worry another lot was cleared on the next street. God only knows what they will want for the new ones!
Anyhow I go to the Deli counter and ask for a 1/4 lb of turkey for sammiches. I told they guy I order 1/4 lb so if it is a little heavier it is no biggie. He said no worries and that customers sometimes order “slices”. Huh, you mean they ask for a slice to eat right there. He says no.
Then he says that seniors come in and they only get a few slices because they are BROKE. I was literally speechless and almost came to tears. I couldn’t imagine G’pa & G’ma doing this. They are gone now so that’s not a worry.
So when people say, everything is GREAT I am skeptical. Sometimes when you look under the hood all is not kosher.
NWGG, One of my fav’s along with TJ’s and GO. Wish they would build one over this way. Stop at the Vaccaville store on my way to Sac. With all their bulk items I wonder about their shrink. When Covid hit and they had to pre-package the bulk items I bet that Shrink went down.
I wonder how restaurants are doing these days with older folks. I try to support local business, but I find it hard to justify eating out when we can eat just as good at home
NWGG another thing to consider is this might not be a indication of tight finances. There’s times seniors use grocery shopping as a social interaction.
I know my father in law after he was widowed went shopping just to see people. Next time you’re at the meat counter ask the clerk if these senior customers are in there every day or a couple days a week.
I hope you are right CM, but I dunno as he was pretty specific about the situation. We do have a nice country store as well where many seniors (mostly dudes) hang out and can have some coffee/snacks and “chew the fat” as they say.
As much as I can’t stand PDX, there is a general sense of giving to others. The area that I live in there are primarily tradesmen, farmers, retirees, and some urban professionals. There are more churches in my town than any town I’ve ever been in.
We have a Catholic run food bank about a block down the street. My 85 year old neighbor walks to the church every week for groceries. She lost her house when her husband died. They are so nice at the food bank that they give her a ride home to boot. Her hip blew out so she uses a cane to walk. There are usually as dozen or so people in line each week when I pass by.
My neighbor was getting meals on wheels for a while. Also really nice folks who not only bring a meal, but they also check on how their clients general well being is.
I think that at some level there may be some embarrassment or social stigma on taking charity for this demographic. This is a real pull yourself up by the bootstraps kinda folks in this area. Maybe admitting that you need assistance means that your family is no good, or that simply a mistake was made on finances, or that you are poor.