Gold Goes Vertical As Goldman Reiterrates Harsh QE Expectations

Well, we sure hope you, ahem, bought the dip. A $17 vertical move in minutes is an appetizer of what will happen when Bernanke says the wrong word at J-Hole (and he most likely will).

Artist's Rendering Of A BoJ Central Banker

Today.... in Tokyo:

Frontrunning: August 24

• Deflation: the Neutron Bomb of Balance Sheets  (and why Bernanke will destroy the dollar before he allows it) (Barrons)
• Captain Obvious headline of the day: Asia Slowdown to Have "Serious" on Affect Europe, Economy Chief Rehn Says (Bloomberg)
• Kan Says Yen Move Undesirable; Union Urges G-7 Action (BusinessWeek)
• BoE's Weale Says Britain Faces Recession Risk (Reuters)
• European Banks May Face More Frequent Stress Tests (Bloomberg)
• Libor Volatility is Price of Disrupted Credit (FT)
• We need more TBTFs around the world stat: Greek Banks Pressured to Merge as Economic Slump Hurts Profits (Reuters)
• Housing Slide in U.S. Threatens to Drag Economy Into Recession (Bloomberg)

Daily Highlights: 8.24.2010

• Asian stocks fall on economic growth concerns; Yen, Dollar gain.
• Coffee futures flirt with 13-year high on crop troubles.
• Greece asks EU, ECB for $8.2B loan disbursement as part of accord.
• Nikkei dips to 15-month low, with yen strength as 'usual suspect'.
• Obama may propose any federal backing of mortgages be paid for through fees on the lending industry.
• Oil falls a fifth day on concern over US supply gains, slowing recovery.

Numerous Rumors Of Imminent BOJ Intervention Drive USDJPY To 15 Year Low

As the USDJPY is currently probing fresh 15 year lows of 84.24, various London desks, Nomura, BNP and UBS are reporting that the last central bank bastion, the BOJ, is about to intervene. This despite Japanese Finance minister Noda earlier making no specific comment on FX intervention, although noting that the government needs to be flexible on policy response. Yet sending a somewhat contrary message, PM Kan said that sudden currency moves are not welcome and is watching the FX market closely. Also, the head of Japan's Rengo union has now called for a G-7 response to the near record JPY: looks like scapegoating the central banks' (transitory lack of intervention) for all economic ills is becoming a pandemic. Reuters is attempting to moderate the story somewhat by pointing out that some in the BOJ feel more evidence needed on damage from a surging JPY before easing policy. Yet the Yen vigilantes are out in full force, with the most recent 90 pip move driven by a push to force the BOJ's hand: at this point the likelihood of a bank intervention before September is material. Watch the Yen crosses for that very indicative V-fib 200 pip move that will signal that the BOJ has officially entered the currency destruction race. Elsewhere, the flight to safety and to bond bubbles continues, as the both the 10 and 30 Year German yields have fallen to fresh record lows of 2.237%and 2.894%, respectively.

Marc Faber And Peter Schiff Take On The Bond Bulls; The Rosenberg-Faber Gentlemen's Bet

The debate over whether bonds are in a bubble is very much the topic du jour, and while some deflationists like David Rosenberg believe that not only is there no bubble, but the 10 year will soon slide inside of its all time tights at under 2.1%, others believe the 30 years bull run in Treasuries is the dumbest thing since the dot com bubble, and that if anyone is hoping to make money, it should be on the countertrend. Two such Treasury bears are Marc Faber and Peter Schiff, both of whom were on CNBC tonight, and both were dissecting what in their view is the fallacy of the long-UST trade. As for the Faber-Schiff view, no surprise: Peter encapsulates it best: "the bond market is the mother of all bubbles right now, and when it bursts the losses will dwarf the combined losses of the stock market bubble and the real estate bubble. There is no way for the government to pay this money back." And echoing a topic Zero Hedge has been warning on extensively, namely the maturity of trillions in short-term debt that rolls every month, Schiff notes: "I am afraid is that when people realize we can't pay this money back, we aren't going to be able to roll over all this short-term debt. And so it's not just paying the interest, we are going to have to retire the principal." Peter Schiff is correct that inflating our way out of this debt bubble is a lose-lose proposition. Schiff also notes the stupidity of crowds, by highlighting that 10 years ago everyone was chasing risk, by piling into stock market funds, followed by everyone knows what. The outcome for bond investors is clear: "this decade is going to be the worst decade for bonds in US history. Bond holders are going to get wiped out. Either the government is going to default, or it is going to inflate, but either way the people holding the bonds, are holding the bag."

Daily Credit Summary: August 23 - Low Volume, Low Range, Low Growth

Spreads closed marginally wider, at the worst levels of the day, after an anemic volume day that only picked up in activity when we weakened. Overnight angst from Australia combined with some weakness in EU data was marginally trumped early on by M&A chatter and headline spin on US ECO data but further evidence of a deflationary view of the world (NSC 100Y issue) seemed to provide some downward pressure and despite valiant attempts to steepen the curve or drive AUDJPY up, stocks ended at their lows of the day as did spreads at their wides.

We have had a number of clients asking about our views on the forthcoming GM IPO. Suffice it to say, and in the interests of brevity, we are not overly impressed and worry about this on many fronts as anything but a flipper's fantasy (drop us a line for somewhat more coherent thoughts). Most notably we have noticed something rather fascinating in the Auto sector. The relationship between GM's 2016 bonds and the Ford Equity price has been amazingly (and we mean incredibly) consistent for many months now - a simple arb at around 2.5x Ford's stock price explains huge amounts of variance in the GM bond price and we suggest tracking this going into the IPO for any signs of a preference. One we would expect is selling of Ford to buy into the GM IPO in hopes of flipping soon after and still leaving the manager equally exposed to the Auto sector - this would also be interesting as the GM bonds have residual ownership in the new GM and may be a decent hedge here should the deal be 'better' than many expected. Just thinking out loud on this but we will keep an eye on it.