1.0Verbank Advisors & Agriculturehttps://verbank.luverbankfarmshttps://verbank.lu/author/verbankfarms/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content"><a href="https://verbank.lu/us-brazil-financial-news-2-27/">US + Brazil Financial News (2/27)</a></blockquote> <script type='text/javascript'> <!--//--><![CDATA[//><!-- /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(c,d){"use strict";var e=!1,n=!1;if(d.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},!c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage)if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(t)if(t.secret||t.message||t.value)if(!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var r,a,i,s=d.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),n=d.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=0;o<n.length;o++)n[o].style.display="none";for(o=0;o<s.length;o++)if(r=s[o],e.source===r.contentWindow){if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(i=parseInt(t.value,10)))i=1e3;else if(~~i<200)i=200;r.height=i}if("link"===t.message)if(a=d.createElement("a"),i=d.createElement("a"),a.href=r.getAttribute("src"),i.href=t.value,i.host===a.host)if(d.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),d.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(!n){n=!0;for(var e,t,r=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),i=d.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),s=0;s<i.length;s++){if(!(e=i[s]).getAttribute("data-secret"))t=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t);if(r||a)(t=e.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),e.parentNode.replaceChild(t,e)}}}}(window,document); //--><!]]> </script><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://verbank.lu/us-brazil-financial-news-2-27/embed/" width="600" height="338" title="“US + Brazil Financial News (2/27)” — Verbank Advisors & Agriculture" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe>UNITED STATES   Data this week for personal income and spending should confirm strong, healthy growth. Personal income grew 4.1%saar in Dec/17 and disposable income, 3.9%–significantly above the deflator for personal consumption expenditure (PCE) which is tracking 1.5%saar. Data for Jan/18 should follow the trend. Much of the growth comes from employment, and it should continue. The unemployment rate could drop, perhaps, close to 3.5%—well below its normal level. Increasingly, some of the growth in income is due to higher wages. And, given, the changes in the tax laws, more of this will go to disposable income; all buttressing consumption, the springboard to GDP growth. There is, however, another element, wealth—which is not included in the income report. Indeed, wealth is the largest swing component in total household income. Since the beginning of 2009 the net worth of the US household sector has increased by over $45trn. What does it do to consumption? Higher disposable income feeds directly to consumption. What about larger wealth? It does as well. However, since the crisis, the wealth effect (the propensity of households to consume their capital gains) is lower, significantly so. The change in behavior is still not well understood, but some aspects are […]