US junk bond issuers are poised to unleash a new wave of refinancing activity after back-to-back years of low volume, as the share of debt with near-term maturities climbs to the highest level in over a decade. The amount of outstanding junk bonds set to mature in 18 to 36 months has soared to levels
Higher credit yields increase corporate capital costs. And higher cost of capital puts pressure on coverage ratios and corporate profitability. With lower coverage ratios and lower profitability, credit risks increase, and the result is that credit spreads should go wider. That is, however, not what is happening at the moment. The current disconnect between credit
Consumers should be spending less by now. Interest rates are up. Inflation remains high. Pandemic savings have shrunk. And the labor market is cooling. Yet household spending, the primary driver of the nation’s economic growth, remains robust. Americans spent 5.8% more in August than a year earlier, well outstripping less than 4% inflation. And the
Americans are falling behind on their auto loans at the highest rate in nearly three decades. With interest rate hikes making newer loans more expensive, millions of car owners are struggling to afford their payments. It’s a clear indication of distress at a time when the economy is sending mixed signals, particularly about the health
The U.S. is in the midst of a housing crisis, but there’s still plenty of millions of empty homes. Indeed, a recent analysis of the 2022 American Community Survey by LendingTree Inc. has unveiled a perplexing phenomenon in the United States — an estimated 5.5 million vacant housing units in the nation’s 50 largest metro