Great Debt Unwind: Bankruptcies by Consumers and Businesses Jump

The Debt Slaves are beginning to buckle under their loads. Consumer and business bankruptcies are rising again, after declining for years since the Financial Crisis. That’s not a propitious sign.
For bankruptcy filings by businesses from large corporations to tiny sole proprietorships, the dance started in November 2015. At first it was the energy bust. But bankruptcies of energy companies have tapered off with new money surging into the oil & gas sector once again. But bankruptcies in the retail sector are steadily worsening, and other sectors too have picked up the slack.
And so here we go again. Total US business bankruptcies in May rose 4.7% year-over-year to 3,572 filings, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. That’s up 40% from May 2015 and up 10% from May 2014.

This post was published at Wolf Street on Jun 6, 2017.