The total jumped by $351 billion in the third quarter, mostly due to mortgages and credit card usage, the regulator reports
US household debt jumped during the third quarter at its fastest pace in 15 years due to increases in credit card usage and mortgage balances, a Federal Reserve report revealed this week.
According to the Fed, total debt hit a record $16.5 trillion, up 2.2% from the previous quarter and 8.3% from a year ago. Households added $351 billion in debt for the July-to-September period, the regulator said.
The increase follows a $310 billion leap in the second quarter and represents an annual rise of $1.27 trillion. Debt has surged over the past year due to soaring inflation, rising interest rates and strong consumer demand.
The central bank noted that the biggest contributors to the debt load came from mortgage balances, which skyrocketed by $1 trillion from a year ago to $11.7 trillion, and credit card debt, which climbed to $930 billion.
The credit card balance collectively rose more than 15% from the same period in 2021, the largest annual jump in more than 20 years. The increase “towers over the last eighteen years of data,” according to Fed researchers.
Credit card, mortgage, and auto loan balances continued to increase in the third quarter of 2022 reflecting a combination of robust consumer demand and higher prices,” said economic research advisor at the New York Fed Donghoon Lee. “However, new mortgage originations have slowed to pre-pandemic levels amid rising interest rates.”
https://www.rt.com/business/566578-us-household-debt-skyrockets/
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday the upcoming start of ground strikes against drug cartel targets in Latin America.
He made the remarks during Christmas greetings to the military.
Trump said the United States was "now going after the land" in its fight against drug cartel targets, noting that drug trafficking by sea was down 96 percent.
The U.S. president also extended special congratulations to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, currently deployed in the Caribbean.
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China has begun operating the world's first intelligent ultra-large oil tanker powered by methanol, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Monday.
The tanker, designed to transport crude oil, was successfully put into operation in the city of Dalian in China's northeastern coastal province of Liaoning, the report said. State-owned company Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd independently designed and built the vessel, it added.
The tanker is approximately 333 meters (1,092 feet) long and can carry around 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, the CCTV reported. Designed to produce low emissions and having intelligent control capabilities, the tanker will serve the route to the Middle East, among others, according to the report.
The vessel is powered by a dual-fuel methanol engine, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 92% compared to conventional fuel, the CCTV reported. It is equipped with an intelligent ship platform, an intelligent liquid cargo ...
A car bomb has killed a senior General Staff member, officials have confirmed
Source: The Investigative Committee
A Russian general has been killed in a car bomb blast in Moscow, the Investigative Committee has reported.
Officials identified the victim as Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of operational training at the General Staff. According to the statement, an explosive device had been planted beneath the vehicle he was traveling in, and detonated on Monday morning in the southern part of the Russian capital.
The blast also damaged several other vehicles and seriously injured Sarvarov’s driver, media reports stated.
Russian officials said one line of investigation is an assassination carried out by Ukrainian intelligence services, noting that Kiev has previously used explosive devices in targeted killings of officials and public figures.
Last December, a bomb hidden in an e-scooter killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, commander of Russia’s Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense ...
