Rock-bottom rates and easy lending standards have allowed US companies to pile on record levels of debt, sparking concern from regulators about the risk the credit markets may pose to the U.S. economy.
When asked about asset bubbles and potential fallout when the current US economic expansion cools down, Yellen singled out high corporate debt levels as a worry, according to a recording obtained by LPC/IFR, divisions of Refinitiv.
“I have expressed concerns about leveraged lending,” Yellen said during a keynote discussion that was closed to the press. “I do think non-financial corporations have run up, really, quite a lot of debt.”
Later today, Feb. 27th, a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) is expected to hit Earth’s magnetic field. CIRs are shock-like structures at the leading edge of solar wind streams. There’s a 50% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms today, increasing to 55% tomorrow as the solar wind behind the CIR surrounds our planet. Arctic auroras could descend to northern-tier US states such as Maine, Minnesota, and Michigan.
A spokesperson at the organisation said: “A large hole in the Sun’s atmosphere is facing Earth and sending a stream of solar wind in our direction. Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are likely when the gaseous material arrives on Feb. 27th and 28th. Solar wind speeds could top 500 km/s (1.1 million mph), sparking auroras around the Arctic Circle and possibly even in US states along a line from Maine to Washington.”
It is widely believed solar storms are one of the “biggest threats” to mankind.
They can cause massive problems for power supplies – triggering blackouts that could prove fatal.
The U.S. government said on Wednesday it is issuing new rules barring airlines from carrying potentially hazardous lithium-ion cells and batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft, and setting new requirements for transporting them on cargo planes.
The U.S. Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) unveiled the new rules after Congress last year ordered the agency to complete them by early 2019. The agency is adopting requirements that have been in force in other countries since 2016.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed gun confiscation into law for New York on Monday.
The law takes effect 180 days from the date of signing.
Buffalo News reports that the law allows that “family members, school administrators and law enforcement officials can seek to get guns confiscated from people deemed by courts to be an ‘extreme risk’ to themselves or others.”
Enjoying a cold beer may not be so pleasant now that testing has revealed 14 top beers, including Coors Light and Heineken, contain traces of glyphosate from Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer.
Scientists looked at five wine brands, one cider and 15 top beer brands including Coors Light, Miller Lite, Budweiser, Corona, Heineken, Guinness and Stella Artois and found glyphosate in all but one, Peak Organic IPA.
Tsingtao was found to be the worst beer for glyphosate, with 49.7parts per billion (ppb), and of the five wines, the 2018 Sutter Home merlot had the highest levels of glyphosate, with 51.4 ppb.
High winds haranguing the eastern seaboard of the US are also launching vast sheets of ice off the Niagara River onto dry land in what has been dubbed an ‘ice tsunami,’ much to the consternation of local residents.
Wind speeds of up to 75 mph, hurricane strength, have damaged power lines and felled trees in some parts of the Great Lakes region, including both the Canadian and US sides of Niagara Falls.
A Finnish border guard was, quite literally, stopped in their tracks Sunday after a ‘new island’ appeared in the middle of the frozen Lake Inari without warning.
The US has announced a fresh round of Venezuela-related penalties, adding four new individuals to a list of people already subject to Washington’s hit-list of restrictions.
Former Venezuelan vice president Ramon Carrizales and former minister of defense Jorge Garcia Carneiro have both been added to the list, along with Socialist Party politicians Rafael Lacava and Omar Prieto.
Days of heavy rain in the Deep South have triggered landslides that have closed several major roadways. At least three deaths are connected to the rains.
By Sunday the heavy rain had ended, but forecasters warn that river flooding will persist and even become worse in some parts of the South this week.
Scientists in Germany now have ‘sunlight’ at the touch of a button having successfully turned on the world’s biggest solar simulator for the first time.
It’s been called the “holy grail” of bees, and hasn’t been seen alive since 1981. Now Wallace’s Giant Bee has been rediscovered in the wild, 38 years after scientists thought it had gone extinct.
The United Nations is warning that Egypt and Saudi Arabia could soon be in the midst of a plague of locusts as an outbreak in Sudan and Eritrea is rapidly spreading along both sides of the Red Sea.
Heavy rains in the region sparked a breeding frenzy and have unleashed two generations of the swarming insects since October, according to a dire warning from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
As Russia bolsters its efforts to secure and tap the Arctic, both the UK and the US have been vowing to meet its “challenge” – a premise that could lead to war, experts say, if their naval powers could muster the capabilities.
“It’s nobody’s lake,” said US Admiral James Foggo in a recent interview with US media – the latest in a string of American warnings against Russia’s northward push. His concern is primarily for “Arctic Council nations – of which we are a member,” and which are not interested in the Northern Sea Route being exploited by adversary powers like Russia and China.
UK Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson recently joined the chorus of warnings, saying Britain would “stay vigilant to new challenges” by “sharpening our skills in sub-zero conditions, learning from longstanding allies like Norway or monitoring submarine threats with our Poseidon aircraft.”
But Russia is better positioned both legally and physically to oversee the Arctic and, while still dangerous, the bellicose statements carry little weight for the reality on the ice
