Deja vu it ain’t, at least according to the gurus at Bloomberg.
The U.S. looks unlikely to suffer the same sort of swoon
this year as the one in 2011: Household, bank and company balance sheets are
stronger, and the shocks hitting the economy so far are weaker, with retail
sales rising more than forecast as gasoline prices show signs of slipping from
an early-year increase.
Consumer-loan delinquencies fell across the board in the fourth
quarter, the first time that’s happened in eight years, according to the
American Bankers Association in Washington. Banks have reduced leverage, with
financial-institution debt as share of the economy at its lowest level in a
decade. And corporations are flush with cash: The ratio of liquid assets to
short-term liabilities is the highest since 1954, based on data compiled by the
Federal Reserve...
“It feels eerily similar to last year, but fundamentally
it’s quite different..."
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