New Post

Good morning. US stock futures moved higher in Monday morning trading as investors prepared for the start of a busy week for corporate earnings and await the latest interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve.

📉 US credit cardholders facing “persistent debt”

📝 Our report: American credit cardholders collectively handed over a whopping $130 billion in interest and fees in 2022 according to the latest report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB’s breakdown showed that credit card companies charged consumers more than $105 billion in interest and some $25 billion in fees, the highest amount recorded in the CFPB’s data history.

 🔑 Key points:

• As interest rates and fees spiked in 2022, more Americans had a harder time paying down their credit card debt.

• According to the report, the average cardholder carried $5288 in credit card debt at the end of 2022, up 24% from 2021, and back to late 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

• Nearly 10% of credit card users found themselves in “persistent debt” meaning, they were charged more in interest and fees each year than what they paid towards their principal.

💡 So what: When an individual accumulates too much credit card debt it can have several negative consequences including financial strain, limited scope for savings and investments and even the potential for bankruptcy. Keeping credit well managed is often a key element of personal financial management and provides a pathway for long term wealth creation.

Monday - No Major Economic News

Tuesday - US Consumer Confidence

Wednesday - Federal Reserve Decision On Interest Rates, Fed Chairman Powell Press Conference

Thursday - Initial Jobless Claims (wk end Oct 28)

Friday - US Unemployment Rate

💰 Here are a few passive income ideas!

😊 Harvard professor explains the key to happiness!

🏦 Bank or credit union? Which is right for you?

💸 UAW, Ford reach tentative agreement in wage negotiations

WHAT: United Auto Workers leaders have given the nod to a tentative deal with Ford, a move that brings an end to intense negotiations between the union and the auto giant over worker compensation. As part of the deal, full time workers will get at least 30% pay hike, a victory for the union in its fight to roll back 15 years of concessions.

WHY: The new deal also includes $8.1 billion in manufacturing investments and could give workers up to $70,000 in extra pay over the four and a half year life of the contract.

🛑 ECB to hold hand on rate increases…

WHAT: The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to hit the snooze button on interest rate increases, declaring a brief hiatus in its rate hiking spree. In a recent interview Croatian Central Bank chief Boris Vujcic said that the ECB had “finished with the process of raising rates for now”, citing a fall in inflation and dampened bank lending.

WHY: ECB President Christine Lagarde also recently indicated that another hike isn’t currently required and markets and economists expect borrowing costs to stay at current levels into 2024.

🍗 Poultry companies unite over pollution ruling

WHAT: A group of poultry manufacturers are clucking at a federal judge, asking him to dismiss a ruling that they polluted an Oklahoma watershed. Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Minnesota-based Cargill and over a dozen other chicken producers said in a recently filed motion that evidence in the case is now over 13 years old and should be considered “constitutionally moot”.

WHY: According to a January ruling, the companies were deemed responsible for pollution of the Illinois Watershed by disposing of chicken litter or manure that leached into the river.

✏️ DMB Insider Quiz ✏️

🧑‍💻 We read your emails and poll replies daily.

Hit reply and let us know what you want more of!

See ya next time, Daily Market Briefs