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Household debt rises modestly in Q2: New York Fed Household Debt Report. (00:22) Cannabis MSOs rise as Harris picks pro-marijuana Gov. Tim Walz as running mate. (01:43) Hyundai (OTCPK:HYMTF) to invest $28M in Thailand for EV assembly and batteries. (02:36)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit released on Tuesday, total U.S. household debt climbed by $109B, or 0.6%, to $17.8T in Q2 2024 from Q1. Compared with a year ago, household debt rose by $733B, or 4.3%.
The survey showed that consumers turned to home equity lines of credit to tap their home equity rather than refinance at the current high interest rates.
HELOC balances increased by $4B, the ninth straight quarterly increase since Q1 2022, reaching $380B.
Credit card balances stand out in this report. Those balances increased by $27B to $1.14T during the quarter, an all-time high.
Aggregate limits on credit card accounts rose modestly, by $69B, or 1.4% from Q1 2024.
The New York Fed said aggregate delinquency rates were unchanged from the previous quarter, with 3.2% of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency. Over the last year, ~9.1% of credit card balances moved into delinquency.
Large cannabis multi-state operators are higher after Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a noted marijuana reform supporter, as her running mate for the Democratic presidential ticket.
In May 2023, Walz signed into law an adult-use marijuana bill that also expunged non-violent cannabis convictions. Sales in the state are expected to begin in Q1 2025.
“By legalizing adult-use cannabis, we’re expanding our economy, creating jobs, and regulating the industry to keep Minnesotans safe,” Walz said at the time.
Harris has supported the Biden administration’s efforts on cannabis legalization on the federal level and moving marijuana to a Schedule III substance from Schedule I. That’s a change from her days as San Francisco District Attorney.
The biggest MSO gainers on the day so far are Green Thumb Industries (OTCQX:GTBIF) (~11%) and Cresco Labs (OTCQX:CRLBF) (~6%).
Hyundai Mobility Manufacturing (Thailand), a unit of Korea’s Hyundai Motor Company (OTCPK:HYMTF), plans to park 1 billion baht (~$28M) to assemble electric vehicles ((EVs)) and produce batteries in Thailand.
The factory will be located to the southeast of the capital city—Bangkok, and the production is set to begin in 2026, according to Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI).
Currently, Thailand’s EV sector is dominated by Chinese manufacturers like BYD Company (OTCPK:BYDDF) (OTCPK:BYDDY) and Great Wall Motor (OTCPK:GWLLF) (OTCPK:GWLLY).
The project is a part of ‘Thailand’s plan to become a production hub for electric vehicles, known as the EV 3.5 package’, the BOI said.
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Catalyst watch:
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The J.P. Morgan Auto Conference will feature appearances by Aptiv (APTV), AEye (LIDR), Gentherm (THRM), and Cooper-Standard (CPS).
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The Raymond James Industrial and Energy Conference will feature presentations by SkyWest (SKYW) and Hess Midstream (HESM).
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Brown & Brown (BRO) will hold a conference call to discuss the acquisition of Quintes’ insurance operation.
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Judge Nelson to hold status conference in FTC lawsuit to block Kroger’s (KR) purchase of Albertsons (ACI).
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Shareholders of WalkMe (WKME) will vote on the $1.5 billion acquisition offer from SAP SE (SAP).
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Costco (COST) will release its July Sales Report postmarket.
Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is up 0.9% at $73 per barrel. Bitcoin is up 4% at $57,000.
In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.7% and the DAX is up 1%.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ:UPST) is up 24% after the company reported better than expected Q2 results and issued strong guidance for Q3.
On today’s economic calendar:
Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
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