🚨US consumers have NEVER been more indebted: "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) transactions are estimated to hit $116.7 billion in 2025, an all-time high, according to Emarketer. That would be double the 2022 total and 7 times higher than in 2020.👇 https://t.co/29HolN8Qz5
Margin pressure from OEM. AI reshaping the BDC. Inventory thinning. EV shifts. Kevin Wruck, General Manager of @dahlauto, and @JasonGraciano, Partner & General Manager of @WPHonda, break down how today’s GMs are managing pressure without letting noise dictate performance. https://t.co/HA9dPjgdim
🚨The stock market has been a casino for YEARS: Call options now make up 68% of total options volume, the highest since the meme MANIA in 2021. That’s just below the meme-stock frenzy peak of 72%. In the 2022 bear market, it was just 42%.👇 https://t.co/u2fOwz2kcX
The US stock market is exhibiting several indicators reminiscent of the 2000 Dot-Com Bubble, with market valuations reaching unprecedented levels. NVIDIA's market capitalization now represents 3.6% of global GDP and 13.4% of US GDP, surpassing the entire stock markets of the UK, France, or Germany. The Warren Buffett indicator, which measures the US stock market capitalization to GDP ratio, has hit a record 210%, a 45 percentage point increase over the past three months and well above the Dot-Com peak of approximately 144%. The US accounts for about 50% of the global stock market value despite comprising less than 5% of the world's population, while the European Union holds 9.8% of global market capitalization with 9.1% of the population. US tech stocks dominate the market, with the top 10 stocks comprising 39% of the S&P 500, up from 27% at the Dot-Com peak, yet these companies generate only 30% of the index's earnings, a gap that is widening. Market speculation is rising sharply, with the Speculative Trading Indicator experiencing one of the steepest three-month increases ever recorded, surpassed only by the Dot-Com Bubble and the 2021 meme stock frenzy. The Shiller price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio on the S&P 500 stands at 38.8 times, the highest since the Dot-Com Bubble burst, and higher than 96% of historical readings. Margin debt surpassed $1 trillion in June for the first time since 2021 and is expected to approach $1.1 trillion in July, reflecting heightened risk appetite among retail investors. Call options constitute 68% of total options volume, near the 2021 meme stock frenzy peak of 72%, compared to 42% during the 2022 bear market. Meanwhile, US money market fund assets, although reaching a record nominal $7.9 trillion, represent only about 13.4% of the S&P 500's market capitalization, below the historical average of 19%, indicating limited potential inflows into stocks. Consumer debt is also rising, with "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) transactions projected to reach $116.7 billion in 2025, doubling the 2022 total and seven times the 2020 level. In the auto industry, buyers are accumulating debt amid record negative equity levels, with 26.6% of trade-ins underwater in Q2 according to Edmunds. Additionally, top earners in the US are increasingly falling behind on credit card and car payments. Industry leaders note ongoing margin pressures from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), inventory constraints, shifts toward electric vehicles (EVs), and the impact of artificial intelligence reshaping business development centers (BDCs).