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U.S. Treasury Suspends SLUGS To Avoid Debt Ceiling Breach
Actually, it is SLGS standing for State and Local Government Series securities.
May 15 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Treasury Department said it will suspend sales of State and Local Government Series non-marketable securities to help keep funding the government to stay within the statutory debt limit.
The suspension of the sales until further notice will be effective at 12 p.m. Washington time on May 17, the department’s Bureau of Public Debt said in a statement today. “The suspension will assist Treasury’s management of the debt subject to limit,” it said in the statement.
The move is the first of several possible “extraordinary measures” the Treasury can take to avoid breaching the nation’s debt limit while the Obama administration and Congress negotiate a longer-term solution.
Here is the US government debt limit and US government debt outstanding.
And here is your share of debt.
How much SLGS are outstanding? Just enough to squeeze under the debt limit.
One month SLGS rates are virtually zero, but were above 5% in 2007.
SLGS are a drop in the Federal bucket, so look for additional tricks to avoid breaching the ceiling.
It figures.
NY Fed: Student And Auto Loans UP, DC And Maryland Lead In Student Debt
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced that households continued to improve their finances during the first three months of 2013 (for the most part). Outstanding household debt declined approximately $110 billion from the previous quarter, due in large part to a reduction in housing-related debt and credit card balances. Meanwhile, delinquency rates for each form of household debt declined, with about 8.1% of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency, compared with 8.6% the previous quarter.
Here is the report:
Mortgages, the largest component of household debt, fell in the first quarter of 2013. Mortgage balances shown on consumer credit reports stand at $7.93 trillion, down $101 billion from the level in the fourth quarter of 2012. Balances on home equity lines of credit (HELOC) dropped by $11 billion (2.0%) and now stand at $552 billion. Household non-housing debt balances were roughly flat, with increases in auto and student loans, by $11 billion and $20 billion respectively, offset by decreases in credit card balances ($19 billion) and other consumer loan balances ($10 billion).
About 309,000 consumers had a bankruptcy notation added to their credit reports in 2013Q1, a 16.8% drop from the same quarter last year, and the ninth consecutive drop in bankruptcies on a year-over-year basis.
On the housing front, the combined Real Estate Owned (REO) by Fannie, Freddie and the FHA declined to 189,5291 at the end of Q1 2013, down from 192,720 in Q4 2012, and down 9% from 209,077 in Q1 2012. The peak for the combined REO of the mortgage giants was 295,307 in Q4 2010.
Nevada and Florida are improving in mortgages 90+ days late, but still lead the nation.
Now for student loans. Washington DC and Maryland lead the nation in student debt per borrower. DC leads the league with the average loan balance over $40,000.
Colorado and New Hampshire join DC in the share of consumers with student debt.
And like serious mortgage delinquencies, Florida is once again a leader. The lowest delinquency rate is South Dakota, at just over 6.5 percent, while the highest is in West Virginia, at nearly 18 percent.
Jobs Recovery? Non-Farm Payrolls Leap +165k After BLS Birth/Death Adjustment Of +193k
Good News! Non-farm payrolls increase by 165,000 and the unemployment rate declined to 7.5%.
Bad News! It had to be helped by a 193,000 increase due to the BLS Birth/Death adjustment. So, it appears that the actual gain was only 50,000. And 9.55 million Americans have given up looking for work. Not to mention 89,936,000 NOT in the labor force.
May 3 (Bloomberg) — Employment picked up more than forecast in April and the jobless rate unexpectedly declined to a four-year low of 7.5 percent, showing federal budget cuts failed to destabilize the U.S. labor market.
Payrolls expanded by 165,000 workers last month following a revised 138,000 increase in March that was larger than first estimated. The median forecast of 90 economists projected a 140,000 gain. Revisions added a total of 114,000 jobs to the employment count in February and March.
The BLS’ Net Birth/Death Adjustment added 193,000 all by its lonesome. Ah, an assumed recovery!
Although unemployment declined, U6 unemployment rose to 13.9%.
The number of discouraged workers rose from 803,000 to 835,000, an increase of 33,000.
And labor force participation remained the same.
Civilian employment to population ratio actually increased!
The employment to population ratio tracks the Case-Shiller 20 house price index.
And here is where the job creation was … or wasn’t.
The US economy allegedly added 165,000 jobs but US businesses paid $323.2 million less in total wage compensation. Aggregate weekly hours worked in retail plunged by 0.7% in April, which is the equivalent of cutting 11,000 jobs.
Declining hours, BLS “adjustments,” etc. Not as good an employment report as some thought.
