Household debt has risen around the world. According to The Wall Street Journal:
A decade after the global financial crisis, household debts are considered by many to be a problem of the past after having come down in the U.S., U.K. and many parts of the euro area.
But in some corners of the globe—including Switzerland, Australia, Norway and Canada—large and rising household debt is percolating as an economic problem. Each of those four nations has more household debt—including mortgages, credit cards and car loans—today than the U.S. did at the height of last decade’s housing bubble.
The film “Black Panther” had an extraordinarily huge opening weekend. According to Box Office Mojo:
Atop the weekend box office with an estimated $192 million for the three-day weekend, Black Panther delivered the fifth largest three-day domestic opening in history and is currently expected to finish around $218 million for the four-day holiday weekend. The performance is also the largest February opening of all-time, the largest President’s Day weekend opening of all-time and gives Disney eight of the top ten domestic openings of all-time
Mercedes is the latest company to face an emissions measurement problem. According to Bloomberg:
Daimler AG fell after a German newspaper reported U.S. investigators detected software in its Mercedes-Benz diesel cars that might have been designed solely to pass regulatory emissions tests.
The vehicle maker developed several software applications that reduce or regulate the application of AdBlue fluid that helps eliminate harmful exhaust gases, Bild am Sonntag reported Sunday, citing confidential documents. Daimler employees doubted the legality of software functions that can help a tank of AdBlue last for the entire period between the car’s scheduled servicings, the newspaper said, citing internal emails.
Goldman Sachs says U.S. spending may hurt the economy. According to CNBC:
Goldman Sachs sees a tidal wave of red ink — and it may drag the U.S. economy into its undertow.
Federal deficit spending is headed toward “uncharted territory,” the firm said on Sunday, suggesting that the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans may not be able to count on the economic boost of tax reform for very longer.
In the wake of an ambitious infrastructure plan and a budget that drew fire from virtually all sides, Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients that the federal deficit would reach 5.2 percent of U.S. growth by 2019, and would “continue climbing gradually from there.”
More data support a recovery of the Japanese economy. According to Reuters:
Japan’s exports grew in January for a 14th straight month led by brisk shipments of China-bound hybrid cars and electronics parts, a sign solid global demand for Japanese goods continued to underpin growth in the world’s third largest economy.
Ministry of Finance (MOF) data showed on Monday that exports grew 12.2 percent in January from a year earlier, following a 9.3 percent year-on-year gain in the previous month. The result handily beat a 10.3 percent increase expected by economists in a Reuters poll.
Another top manager at Weinstein Company lost his job. According to CNNMoney:
One of the Weinstein Company’s top executives was fired on Friday night in an apparent response to the New York attorney general’s recent lawsuit against the company. The company’s board said it had “unanimously voted to terminate David Glasser for cause.”
Glasser was the chief operating officer. He was in charge of running the studio along with Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
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