Bank lending shows economy in bad shape: Dick Bove
With big banks set to begin releasing their quarterly earnings, Rafferty Capital Markets banking analyst Dick Bove says their results will show the Trump rally is pretty much dead, telling the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney, “Well, basically it will show that the economy is not moving forward.”
Bove sees weakness in most areas of lending, saying, “Other than, you know, construction loans and loans on multi-family apartment buildings you don’t have strength showing up in the loan books of banks anywhere in the country.”
When Varney asked, “Does that mean that the economy is slowing?” Bove responded, “It would suggest very strongly that the economy is not moving rapidly, yes. In other words, you know, if you say that bank lending is a proxy for, you know, growth in the economy, you know, basically bank lending is showing an economy which is not growing at a very rapid rate at all.”
According to Bove, compounding the issue are signs that with an increase in cash in the economy, banks are lending to subprime borrowers again causing a rise in loan losses.
“Ultimately you’re going to be increasing loan losses, loan loses went up in 2015, they went up in 2016, they’re going to go up this year. So if you get slow loan growth, an increase in loan losses, you know, you’ve got some issues that you have to deal with.”