Courtesy of Pam Martens.
Interest Coverage Ratio (ICR). Source: IMF
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 24, 2017
According to recent studies, U.S. corporations’ debt levels could pose some serious headwinds for the United States’ economy in the next major downturn. In April, the International Monetary Fund announced the following red flags:
The U.S. corporate sector has added $7.8 trillion in debt and other liabilities since 2010;
Among S&P 500 firms, median net debt “is close to a historic high of more than 1 ½ times earnings”;
Looking at a “broader set of nearly 4,000 firms accounting for about half of the economy-wide corporate sector balance sheet, suggests a similar rise in leverage across almost all sectors to levels exceeding those prevailing just before the global financial crisis”;
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