Bank Meltdown! 😱 $11B+ in Sour Loans!

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Ah, yes, another day, another deluge of dreary digits. Observe, if you will, this grim tableau:

America’s leviathans of lucre, those behemoths of banking, are, it appears, experiencing a rather… robust surge in what one might delicately term “delinquent loans.” A report, you see, a report! Those flimsy things we treat as gospel.

The commercial and industrial loan delinquencies, those naughty little debts, at US banks executed a veritable jig in Q4 of 2024. A joyous leap upwards! While the total value of these so-called “loans” took a melancholic dip. A curious ballet of finance, wouldn’t you agree? S&P Global, those arbiters of economic ennui, are the bearers of this tidbit.

These delinquent C&I loans—oh, the jargon!—rose by approximately 6.4% from the previous quarter. A veritable frolic! And 19.8% year over year. Reaching the princely sum of $31.04 billion. With a delinquency ratio of 1.31%. Numbers, numbers everywhere! Like so many ants at a picnic. 🐜

This, my dears, marks a “significant uptick” (as the dreary report puts it) in sour loans. Major players, those titans of tedium—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs—are now collectively saddled with $11.8582 billion in these… “delinquent C&I loans.” One almost feels a twinge of sympathy. Almost. 😈

The overall C&I loan balance across US banks fell 5.2% quarter over quarter and 4.3% year over year to a mere $2.371 trillion. A trifle! Partially due to a classification change, a bureaucratic shuffle, excluding margin loans from the C&I category. Oh, the games they play! 🎭

Despite this decline in total loans, the rise in delinquencies, like a persistent rash, signals growing stress in the commercial sector. Bank executives, those paragons of pronouncements, have noted muted lending demand and cautious borrower behavior. As if the world were suddenly populated by misers! Scrooge McDuck’s influence, perhaps? 🦆

JPMorgan Chase COO Jennifer Piepszak (a name as delightful as a mouthful of pebbles) says much of the recent activity has been refinancing rather than new loan growth, attributing it to a “wait-and-see” approach among businesses. Waiting for what, one wonders? The apocalypse? 🤷‍♀️

Meanwhile, U.S. Bancorp CFO John Stern points to “pockets of growth” in corporate and middle-market lending but emphasized that growth remains inconsistent, with the potential for more economic clarity in the second half of the year. Clarity! As if such a thing exists in the murky waters of finance. A fool’s errand, I say! 🤡

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2025-04-12 17:41