The Next Shoe To Drop: European Insurance Companies - Assicurazioni Generali CDS Explodes

As the idiot market relishes in yet another day of foolish self-delusion that the most globalized market in history can simply decouple between the two largest economies in the world (Europe as a whole is far larger than China), things are starting to stir beneath the surface in Europe. While it is now given that no state will be allowed to default, no market will be allowed to trade down, and no bank will ever be impaired as long until the current flawed economic fundamentalist religion is violently overthrown, the question now becomes (just like it did in the America in late 2008) how far down the foodchain with the global Bernanke put stretch? Case in point: Italian insurance company Assicurazioni Generali (CDS ticker: ASSGEN). The proximal reason - today the company's CDS spread has gone vertical, wider by 34 bps on the day, or about 20%, to 184 bps. Why is this happening? Simple: ASSGEN has total assets of €423 billion, and more worrisome, a fixed income portfolio of €262 billion, of which 93% is European-bond based (Italy 28%, France 22%, Germany 25%). We all know what has happened to Italian bond prices in the past weeks: as of today, Bund spreads have just hit a fresh all time high. But all this is irrelevant since the bank must have a capital buffer to accommodate the losses. After all, what idiot would run a company with almost €300 billion in Euro-facing bond exposure and not factor for deterioration in risk after the events of May... Well the ASSGEN CEO may be just such an idiot. The company's balance sheet as of 9/30 discloses that the firm had a mere €10 billion in tangible capital (excluding €10.7 billion in intangible assets). So let's recap: €262 billion in Euro bonds on.... €10 billion in tangible equity! A 26x leverage on what is promptly becoming the most impaired asset class in the world. We are amazed that it has taken the market so long to realize that European insurers are the next shoe to drop, and doubly amaze that instead of trading points up, ASSGEN is only 184 bps. We give it a week.

Surge In GLD December $145 Call Volume

While it is not surprising that 9 out of the top 10 option classes in GLD are calls, what is odd is that the most actively traded call by a substantial margin are the December $145 strikes. In other words, specs are betting that gold will move $60 higher in the next three weeks. Judging by today's 4% move in silver, the less valuable cousin may have a comparable move.

US-Europe Decoupling At All Time Record As SovX - Implied Correlation Spread Indicates Historic Domestic Complacency

In last night daily report by BofA's Jeffrey Rosenberg, one chart stands out: the spread between the 12 month S&P 500 top 50 Implied Correlation (generically a proxy of broad US equity risk) and the Sov X, or the blended sovereign risk as indicated by CDS, which recently hit an all time high. In a nutshell: the spread has never been bigger, confirming that US domestic complacency over all things European (and the continuing levitation in stocks) has reached unprecedented levels, as absolutely no fundamentals can stand in the path of the hedge fund levered beta year end rally. In other words the China-US fatally flawed "decoupling" of 2007 has been replaced with a decoupling between the US and Europe. This will also end in tears. And this is happening even as European markets are unraveling, and as the EURUSD is tumbling, guaranteeing a drop in both US exports and the top line for US MNCs. But why worry: as 58 year old Valerie Whelan yesterday summarized it best: "It's capitalism gone mad." Every move in risk assets higher is merely a bet that central bankers can kick the can down the road for one more day. Nothing else. That it is unsustainable is guaranteed. Willem Buiter makes the case all too clearly that Europe will go bankrupt soon. We expect someone to make the same argument about the US very soon, especially if China does in fact commence tightening, leaving the chairman no other choice than to open the liquidity floodgates in one last attempt to preserve the dying economic system, however, this time without the benefit of being able to export inflation to China.

Macro And Market Thoughts From David Rosenberg

David Rosenberg summarizes his latest views on Europe, the EURUSD, risk, volatility, bond curves, gold, geopolitics, oil, a subsidized shopping season courtesy of no mortgage payments, and two years of home inventories.

Chicago PMI At 62.5 Vs Expectations Of 59.9, And Previous Print Of 60.6

The Chicago PMI came at 304,955. Not really, but the index whose New Orders came at the highest since May 2007 has about as much credibility as anything out of the BLS these days. US Chicago PMI (Nov) M/M 62.5 vs. Exp. 59.9 (Prev. 60.6), highest since April 2010

PMI Components

• Employment: 56.3 vs. Prev. 54.6
• New Orders: 67.2 vs. Prev. 65.0, highest since May 2007
• Prices Paid: 70.7 vs. Prev. 68.9, highest since April 2010
• Production: 71.3 vs. Prev. 69.8, highest since April 2005

Yes, the prices paid surging means margings are taking, but who cares. After all, there are headlines to fudge R2D2's fuzzy logic with.

Case Shiller Confirms House Market Deterioration Accelerates

The Case Shiller Home Price index declined to 147.49% YoY compared to 148.59 previously. The Composite-20 Index increased 0.59% YOY on expectations of a 1.0% Increase, prices in Q3 dropped by 2.0%, with a 0.8% drop in September. In absolute terms, the Composite-20 index is back to December 2007 levels. Then again, this is data as of September so it merely confirms that the housing double dip as of three months ago was accelerating. From the release: "Another weak report; weaker than last month. The national index is down 1.5% from the third quarter of last year and 15 of 20 cities are down over the last 12 months. Other than Tampa, FL, there are no new lows this month but many analysts will argue that a double dip will be confirmed before Spring. While some of the bad numbers may reflect the end of the government’s tax incentive for first time homebuyers, there are other problems weighing on the housing market.” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. “The national economy is certainly the number one issue for housing. Additionally, there is a large supply of houses on the market and further, hidden, supply due to delinquent mortgages, pending foreclosures or vacant homes. New construction is running at less than half the pace needed to meet normal demand, so a sustained recovery could be a ways off." And that's from S&P.