As I have expected, interest rates have started to rise, 90-day T-bills are testing 2.95%, up from around 2.85%. Definitely, with the campaign season kicking in, election spending will likely boost money supply in circulation, putting pressure on the Bangko Sentral to put a lid on inflation.
It's managable at present, considering that diffused tension in North Korea and Iran as well as a warm winter in the Northern Hemisphere, contributed to the stability of oil prices, for now. And with the strengthening peso (we import 99% of our oil requirements), inflation has been low for the past couple of months, about 4%, giving a much-needed breathing space for monetary authorities.
The current fall-out in the US housing sub-market, I'd like to believe, is an isolated case. Sub-prime refers to those with dent credit. I think that this market was all set to burst out, anyway. Lending to risky clients entails high interest rates and refinancing options may not have provided an effective safety-net for borrowers.
It hasn't spilled over to the main housing market yet, and as such, we can't really say that consumer spending in the US has indeed started to show signs of tapering off.
It's managable at present, considering that diffused tension in North Korea and Iran as well as a warm winter in the Northern Hemisphere, contributed to the stability of oil prices, for now. And with the strengthening peso (we import 99% of our oil requirements), inflation has been low for the past couple of months, about 4%, giving a much-needed breathing space for monetary authorities.
The current fall-out in the US housing sub-market, I'd like to believe, is an isolated case. Sub-prime refers to those with dent credit. I think that this market was all set to burst out, anyway. Lending to risky clients entails high interest rates and refinancing options may not have provided an effective safety-net for borrowers.
It hasn't spilled over to the main housing market yet, and as such, we can't really say that consumer spending in the US has indeed started to show signs of tapering off.
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