fbpx

investor net worth

The Greater the Stock Bubble, the Less Monetary Theory Holds

By |2014-08-26T16:42:10-04:00August 26th, 2014|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks|

The actual total accumulated balance for margin debt in reported stock accounts fell in July from June’s record amount. But even with a decline in stock-related debt investors moved even further toward complacency, as declines in free credit and available cash more than outpaced the drop in margin. As a result, net worth has never been lower as we have [...]

Margin Debt Returns

By |2014-07-29T14:37:18-04:00July 29th, 2014|Bonds, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks|

Margin debt again escalated in June, putting some emphasis back into the smaller caps and their high beta compatriots. After surpassing the dot-com bubble’s previous levels for both nominal margin usage and negative investor net worth in February, some caution was re-admitted if only briefly. There wasn’t much discernable impact on the broader market indices, more than suggesting that margin [...]

Leverage Channels

By |2014-06-10T11:44:33-04:00June 10th, 2014|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks|

Following up on yesterday’s observations about valuations in stocks, margin debt declined in April for the second consecutive month. The absolute change across both March and April is not very large, amounting to $27 billion or 5%. Total cash balances were essentially unchanged, meaning that investors retired margined positions and reduced overall leverage in retail accounts. Since there was little [...]

Margin Debt Matches Small Caps

By |2014-05-06T11:14:03-04:00May 6th, 2014|Markets, Stocks|

We still may not know the difference between cause and effect, but margin debt balances dropped in March for the first time in ten months. The $14 billion decline in margin debt was also coincident to an increase of $6 billion in relative cash balances in equity accounts at FINRA dealers. That meant total investor net worth “improved” by a [...]

The Year of Leverage

By |2014-01-28T17:38:23-05:00January 28th, 2014|Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks|

The theme of stock margin debt and its obvious correlation to QE episodes continued into December. Margin debt levels are at record highs, but more importantly investor net worth in the aggregate has finally closed in on the dot-com levels. While just a bit short of the most extreme month of the dot-com mania, margin debt and negative net worth [...]

Go to Top