A recent economic report from the New York Federal Reserve indicates that loan payment delinquencies for household debt reflected increases in the first quarter of 2017.
The increases were greatest in early delinquencies (defined as 30 days past due), but there was a slight uptick in serious delinquencies (90 days or more past due) as well. The increases appeared driven mainly by auto and credit card debt.
The report also indicates that stocks of U.S banks continue to underperform with U.S bank equities remaining lower while the broader stock market has increased by 7.6%. Bank equities declined between May and June by 4.5% compared to an increase of 1.3% in the S & P 500 index. Although equities for U.S companies increased as indicated by the S & P index, the dollar depreciated against other major currencies.
Other highlights from the report suggest that the housing market continues to improve, but still very gradually. Single family housing starts have remained trending upward, but only slightly. Multi-family remains volatile, though has been basically unchanged in terms of growth in the past two years.
The report contains a snapshot of all major economic indicators including the labor market, inflation, and business and consumer sectors:
https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/snapshot/snapshot_june2017.pdf?la=en.
