Der USA Bären-Thread

Credit card delinquency rates slipped at three major U.S. lenders last month, suggesting fewer Americans are falling behind on bills.

Charge-off rates also dropped at Capital One Financial but rose at Bank of America and Discover Financial Services, according to regulatory filings on Monday.

The delinquency rates, which stabilized in January, signal it is less likely that the card issuers will have to write off bad loans in the future. Charge-offs are loans the companies do not expect to be repaid.

The data build on similar trends in January, suggesting the worst may be over for U.S. consumers.

Shares of the three lenders were mixed: Discover rose 0.2 percent, while Bank of America slid 1 percent and Capital One was off 1.9 percent. Shares in the sector were broadly down ahead of details of a U.S. Senate plan to revamp financial regulation.

JPMorgan Chase , Citigroup and American Express were expected to report the February performance of their credit card portfolios later on Monday.

Capital One said accounts at least 30 days delinquent—an indicator of future loan losses—declined to 5.51 percent in February from 5.80 percent in January. Its annualized net charge-off rate for U.S. credit cards fell to 10.19 percent from 10.41 percent.

Capital One is the third-largest U.S. issuer of Visa Inc branded credit card and the fifth-largest issuer of MasterCard branded credit cards.

Credit Suisse analyst Moshe Orenbuch said trends at Capital One were better than expected. "Charge-offs and delinquencies improved in both card and auto finance segments," the analyst told clients in a note.

Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank, said its delinquency rate dropped for a third straight month, to 7.23 percent in February from 7.35 percent in January. Charge-offs rose to 13.51 percent from 13.25 percent.

Discover Financial's delinquency rate was 5.50 percent last month, down slightly from 5.55 percent in January. Its charge-off rate jumped to 9.11 percent from 8.58 percent.

Kostet eine kraftvolle Regulierung der Finanzmärkte Wachstum?

Sie verhindert hoffentlich das Entstehen neuer Blasen und einen Kollaps des Finanzsystems. Das wäre positiv für die gesamte Wirtschaft.

Sie befürchten also langfristig keine Wohlstandsverluste?

Auf lange Sicht bin ich tot.

Komplettes Interview hier

http://www.faz.net/s/...9FA546814DC3F9A383~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes fell back two points to 15 in March as poor weather conditions and distressed property sales posed increasing challenges to both builders and buyers, according to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, released Monday.

In declining two points to 15 this March, the HMI returned to where it was in January 2010, losing the ground it had gained in the intervening month.

Each of the HMI’s component indexes fell in March; the component gauging current sales conditions declined two points to 15, while the component gauging sales expectations in the next six months declined three points to 24.

The component gauging traffic of prospective buyers declined two points to 10.

Regionally, the HMI results were mixed in March. While the Northeast posted a five-point gain to 23 and the West posted a one-point gain to 15, the Midwest HMI slid three points to 10 and the South HMI edged down one point to 18.

“The lack of available credit for new projects, the large number of distressed properties for sale and the continuing hesitancy of potential buyers due to the weak job market are definitely weighing on builder confidence at this time,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.

“That said, the inventory of new homes on the market is at an extremely low level, and we do expect a 25 percent improvement in new-home construction in 2010 over 2009 to rebuild inventory and meet expected pent-up demand," said Crowe.