Showing Stress.....& The Impotent Fed.

I think it is safe to say that the spreads in the auto & credit card segment will spike much higher in the coming quarters.... And this trend will spread around the globe.....

Ich bin mir ziemlich sicher das die Risikoaufschläge besonders im PKW und Kreditkartenbereich in den nächsten Quartalen noch erheblich steigen werden. Und das betrifft dann nicht nur die USA betreffen...... Passend hierzu aus der FAZ Unternehmensanleihen : Dunkle Wolken über spekulativen Werten

Worry About Stretched Firms,Consumers Hits Debt Markets WSJ
A range of corporate bonds and securities backed by consumer loans and mortgages have sagged in recent weeks to levels last seen in March, when worries about a financial crisis hit a high.

This time there is much less panic, but concern is building about the health of businesses and consumers.

The weakness is most visible in the debt of auto makers, retailers and companies in sectors reliant on consumer spending. Bonds issued by some financial institutions are also strained.

While a large-scale credit meltdown looks unlikely now, rising bond yields will make it harder and more expensive for corporations and individuals to finance their businesses, homes, education and day-to-day expenses.

Investors are demanding higher interest rates on most corporate and asset-backed debt. The average junk bond now yields around 8.1 percentage points more than Treasury securities, or 11.5%. That compares with a yield of 11.1% and spread of 8.6 percentage points on March 17, according to data from Merrill Lynch & Co.

Average spreads on bonds backed by auto loans and credit cards are three percentage points and 2.1 percentage points, respectively, close to their highs this spring. .....

Moody's Investors Service recently surveyed 31 companies that distribute gas to households. Of the group, 18 companies said an increasing number of customers were falling behind on their gas bills this year compared to last year

> No surprise to see that banks are once more procyclical in their lending habbits ( Same is happening in Europe WSJ: Euro Banks Tighten Lending Standards via Calculated Risk) ....... Too bad that there is so far no bill/law that allow Bernanke & Paulson to order banks to lend...... But with all the attempts we have seen you can´t even rule this out for the future ........ :-)

> Schon bemerkenswert wie es Banken immer wieder schaffen Ihre Kreditvergabekriterien immer prozyklisch dem Markt anzupassen anstelle in Zeiten des offensichtlichen Exzesses gegenzusteuern ( gleiches passiert auch in Europa Banken geizen mit Krediten FTD ).... Zu dumm das es bisher noch keine gesetzliche Handhabe für Bernanke und Paulson gibt die Banken zu verpflichten mehr zu vereleihen.... Nach allem was bisher aus den USA gekommen ist kann man aber selbst das zukünftig nicht mehr ganz auschließen..... :-)

Bankruptcies And Defaults Gather Pace

And the "official" recession hasn´t even started yet......

Und das obwohl die "offizielle" Rezession noch nicht einmal begonnen hat.......

Bankruptcies and defaults gather pace FT

The number of companies defaulting on their junk-rated debt and filing for bankruptcy in North America is running at its fastest pace in five years amid the slowing economy and contraction in credit markets.

So far this year, 28 “entities” have defaulted, according to Standard & Poor’s. The defaulted debt of the one Canadian and 27 US companies totals $18.4bn and exceeds the 17 defaults in the US for all of last year

As economic conditions deteriorated...and volatility in the financial markets protracted, corporate casualties began to emerge at a rate unseen in years,” said Diane Vazza, head of S&P’s Global Fixed Income Research Group. “The surge of defaults in the early months of 2008 is the first leg of an extended period of high default occurrences that will characterise the rest of 2008 and 2009.”

> and much much longer......

> und wohl noch wesentlich länger......

S&P said the pace of US defaults in the first five months of the year is the fastest since 2003.

The US is leading the global default rate for companies, said Ken Emery, senior vice-president at Moody’s.

The global default rate for speculative-grade companies rose to 1.7 per cent in April, up from 1.5 per cent in March and a multi-decade low of less than 1 per cent last year, said Moody’s.

Meanwhile, in the US the default rate rose from 1.8 per cent in March to 2.1 per cent in April. Moody’s expects the global default rate to reach 4.98 per cent by the end of the year, with defaults in the US reaching 5.7 per cent. In Europe the default rate is currently 0.7 per cent.

> I assume that we no way near the peak........ Especially when you look at the following table..... The market share of junk in 2007 was even more depressing.....

> Bin mir ziemlich sicher das die aktuellen Zahlen den USA nicht das Ende der Fahnenstange sind.... Das gilt besonders dann wenn man sich die nachfolgende Tablle ansieht...... Für das Jahr 2007 sah das ganze sogar noch depresseiver in Sachen Junkmarktanteil aus......

This week the latest Federal Reserve Senior Loan Officer survey highlighted tougher lending conditions from banks to lower-rated corporate borrowers. In spite of the recent rally in credit markets, the number of junk-rated companies trading at highly elevated levels remains well above normal.

“This increases the risks to the weakest links, entities rated B minus or lower,” said S&P. Weak links, which are three times more likely to default than the rest of the speculative grade market, rose to 101 entities in April. This was compared with 78 at the end of 2007 and a 10-year low of 64 in July.

“If the recession is deeper and longer than expected and lending constraints worsen more markedly, the default rate could be significantly more pronounced and severe, possibly reaching 8.5 per cent,” said S&P. Such a rate would reflect 136 defaults.

Credit Quality in a Freefall

I assume that lthe majority of these distressed companies have bought back shares during the past few years....

Ich gehe jede Wette ein das die Mehrzahl der jetzt betroffenen Firmen in den letzten Jahren fleißig Aktien zurückgekauft haben.....

Credit Quality in a Freefall / CFO.com
The distressed-debt ratio quadruples in a month's time though some signs point to a light at the end of the tunnel.

Credit quality deteriorated steeply from mid-October to mid-November despite the recent actions by the Federal Reserve to stimulate credit markets.

As of Nov. 15, $36.2 billion worth of debt was in distressed issues, more than four times the $8.6 billion reported a month earlier, according to Standard & Poor's. Distressed debt as a percentage of total debt recorded its largest monthly increase in five years, more than doubling to 4.9 percent from 2.3 percent. The ratio was as low as 2.1 percent 12 months ago.

Distressed credits are defined as speculative-grade-rated issues that have option-adjusted spreads of more than 1,000 basis points relative to Treasuries.

Other metrics also suggest that the credit crunch continues to impact the overall credit markets. For example, the non-distressed speculative-grade bond spread widened to 502 basis points in mid-November from 392 basis points a month earlier, according to S&P.

In addition, the total number of rated companies with issues trading at distressed levels ballooned to 224, almost double the 120 in October, according to the report.

S&P noted that of the 224 companies on this month's distressed list, half had either negative outlooks or ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications. The outlooks on 39 percent of the companies were stable, 7 percent were positive, and 4 percent were developing.

Of the 52 companies listed at the 1,000 bps level, 27 were rated "B-" or lower, and 39 were on CreditWatch with negative implications or had negative outlooks.

Not surprisingly, financial issues are suffering the most. Of the $36.2 billion of distressed issues, finance companies had the largest exposure, constituting 45 percent of the total debt affected, according to S&P. Next came media and entertainment at just over 20 percent.

Brokerage and finance companies displayed the highest distress rates as a share of total speculative-grade-rated issues, at 20 percent and 13.6 percent, respectively.

Not all of the news was bad. S&P pointed out that the U.S. speculative-grade default rate — typically the last indicator of stress within a credit cycle — hit an all-time low of 0.98 percent at the end of October, down from a previous low of 1.13 percent in September.

"Though default risk is rising, this year's default count continues to be constrained in part because of limited refunding needs, as well as structural concessions that avert payment default," S&P said in its report.

Year to date, the U.S. has recorded 13 defaults. "The U.S. speculative-grade default rate remains suppressed and is likely to post a year-end 25-year low of close to 1 percent,” S&P predicted.

> This low defalut rates ratios will dramatically spike during the years to come....

> Diese paradisischen niedrigen Ausfallraten dürften für lange lange Zeit Geschichte sein.....

Credit Cards & Junk Default Rates

Pimco is out with a new report A Hard Day’s Knight: The Global Financial Market Confronts Uncertainty, Not Just Risk (and the Difference is Important) I have taken the two charts out of context to point to two post i have done in the past few days.

Pimco hat einen neuen Report herausgebracht. Ich habe hier mal 2 Charts aus dem Post zum Anlaß genommen um meine Posts aus den letzten Tagen zu ergänzen. A Hard Day’s Knight: The Global Financial Market Confronts Uncertainty, Not Just Risk (and the Difference is Important)

Topic One "Credit Cards"

I think it is safe to say that the credit card spread will "adjust" sooner than later.......

Ich denke man braucht kein Hellseher zu sein um vorherzusagen das der Spread für die Kreditkarten sich demnächst wohl "anpassen" wird....

Topic Two "Junk-Grade Defaults"

Keep in mind that over 50% of US bonds issuance was junk in 2007. Compare this table with the precitction for defaults from Moody´s .....

Behaltet bei Betrachtung dieser Tabelle im Hinterkopf das im Jahr 2007 über 50% aller US Anleihen die begeben worden sind in die Kategorie "Junk" fallen. Vegleicht die Tabelle mit der Prognose der Ausfälle von Moody´s .....

Junk-Grade Defaults ‘More Likely’ / FT

I´ll bet that we will see much higher default rates than the agencies are forecasting. When you look at the spreads (chart Bespoke) there is much more room to the upside. Especially when you keep this in mind

Ich bin mir ziemlich sicher das wir in der Zukunft noch deutlich höhere Ausfallraten sehen werden als jetzt vorhergesagt werden. Hier ein Spreadchart via Bespoke der sehr anschaulich zeigt das hier noch "Luft ist". Das gilt insbesondere wenn einige Details näher beleuchtet werden.

More securities than ever have the lowest rankings, with CCC ratings assigned to 26.5 percent of the new debt, according to New York-based Fitch Ratings. That compares with 15 percent in 2006 for debt that itch says has a ``high default risk.''

Bonds that allow companies to pay interest in extra securities instead of cash, including toggle notes, accounted for almost 9 percent of high-yield debt sold this year, compared with less than 1 percent three years ago

Junk Grade Defaults More Likely / FT
Moody’s Investors Service said last month that company default rates in the junk-grade sector would rise by nearly 300 per cent as the credit squeeze hit the wider economy.

The agency predicted that the global speculative-grade default rate would rise from 1.4 per cent now, meaning only 1.4 per cent of the companies rated have defaulted in the past year – to 4.1 per cent in a year’s time and 5.1 per cent in two years’ time.

> Compare the prognosis (dotted chart-line) from the beginning of 2007 with the latest estimate. They had "calculated" roughly a 36% lower default rate. Here is another number that is hinting that the models from the rating agencies one more are outdated.....

> Vergleicht die Prognose im Chart von Anfang 2007 mit den aktuellen "Erwartungen". Hier noch eine weitere Hausnummer die darauf deuten läßt das die Modelle der Ratingagenturen in guten wie in schlechten Zeiten Ihren Zweck evtl. nicht erfüllen......

Distressed Bonds Increase Most Since 2003 / Bloomberg

The corporate bond market's favorite securities last year, so-called distressed debt, yield at least 10 percentage points more than Treasuries. Since June, the amount of distressed bonds has risen more than fivefold to $24.8 billion, according to an index Merrill Lynch & Co. began compiling in 1997.