The wealth of Britain's 157 billionaires is now equivalent to more than a fifth of the country's entire GDP, according to analysis by the Equality Trust a fivefold increase since 1990. The charity describes the trend, based on data in this year's Sunday Times rich list, as Britain's ghost GDP: headline economic growth increasingly disconnected from everyday life.
In regard to credit performance for these pools, delinquencies of 30 days or more ended the third quarter at 5.65%, little changed from the second quarter but 33 basis points higher than a year earlier. Prepayment activity also ticked up, with conditional prepayment rates reaching 14.1% as conventional mortgage rates eased into the low- to mid-6% range and non-QM weighted-average coupons declined to the mid-7% range.
The U.S. economy seems immune to the turbulence created by Donald Trump. The first year of his second term in the White House has been fraught with upheaval due to his eagerness to impose a headlong agenda with a marked protectionist approach. Businesses are now inoculated against the vertigo and the uncertainty surrounding the Republican president. Since winning the election against Democrat Kamala Harris exactly one year ago, he has changed the world trade order in one fell swoop;