28 March 2019
Question: According to MSN: Money, what is the average auto loan debt?
China industrial profits suffer biggest fall in almost a decade – Pg. 4
– Profits at large Chinese industrial companies fell at the fastest pace in almost a decade at the start of 2019 in the latest sign of a slowdown for the world’s second-largest economy
– Uncertainty caused by the US-China trade war, as well as a government crackdown on China’s high levels of corporate debt, led to the country’s economic growth to decline to its slowest annual rate in almost three decades in 2018
African economy – Pg. 8
– Between 2000 and 2014, the stock of Chinese investment in Africa went from 2% of US levels to 55%….China will surpass US levels within a decade
– Lack of inputs and scarcity of foreign exchange are just two of the obstacles faced by Chinese entrepreneurs.
– There are cultural obstacles too. Across the continent, Africans accuse Chinese workers of refusing to integrate
Treasuries push higher as homeowners in the US rush to refinance mortgages – Pg. 21
– Homeowners across the US are rushing to take advantage of lower borrowing costs by refinancing their mortgages, helping in the process to fuel the sharp rally in government bonds
– Applications to refinance home loans rose about 12% in volume last week from the previous week…
– …investors who own the debt expecting to be paid a certain coupon for a certain period could soon find the loans fully paid off
– To guard against that possibility, some big money managers are buying US Treasuries and interest rate swaps in an attempt to offset, at least partially, the lost income from the mortgages
– The extent of the US Federal Reserve’s dovishness at its meeting last week caught investors off guard, prompting a rapid repricing of expectations for future interest rate increases. Treasury yields tumbled lower while weak economic data out of Europe intensified the rally in highly rated government debt
– Real estate investment trusts that invest in mortgages, along with bank and non-bank mortgage originators, are particularly keep on hedging because they have liabilities that do not fluctuate with interest rates in the same way as their mortgage loans
Answer: $31,455/$523/mo