In this week’s Off The Cuff podcast, Chris and Mish Shedlock discuss:
- Oil And Stock Prices
- Correlated at 0.9 right now
- “A Serious, Serious Mess”
- The service sector quickly weakens
- Bank Losses
- Need to be taken, but whom will get stuck with them?
- Gold’s Shine
- Its relative performance for 2016 has been very good
This week Chris and Mish dive quickly into the fast-weakening economic data swirling around us, notably the eight sub-categories in the services sector that have recently entered contraction. Those, combined with the already-contracting manufacturing sector, add validation to the theory that the US is already in recession — it has just yet to be officially declared. Stocks and oil prices certainly seem to be pricing a whopper of a coming recession in.
As usual, the big banks are at the center of the set of concerns on Chris’ and Mish’s radar, especially as their stocks have dropped precariously over the past month. The weakening economic landscape is shining a brighter light on the potential for losses in their existing loan portfolios, and this has Chris and Mish asking the only question that matters: When these loans start failing, who is going to be saddled with the losses? The banks themselves? Their depositors? The taxpayers?
Meanwhile, the ‘most hated asset’, gold, is showing nice stability through the recent market volatility. It may just be time for the precious metals owners to
by kaakberg 
