Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Update: Week Of August 5
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/07/2009 - 08:53
Foreign holdings of USTs and Agencies increased by $23.5 billion monthly to $2,810 billion from $2,787 billion in the prior month. This is now less than 20% of the comparable increase in Securities Held Outright by the Federal Reserve, implying foreign purchasers are starting to fall far behind in their purchases of US securities relative to the Fed's monetization rate.
Frontrunning: August 7
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/07/2009 - 07:56- Nonfarm payrolls down 247,000, right on top of Goldman's whisper estimate, unemployment rate now 9.4%, bonds yields explode (BLS, AP)
- Insider trading probe at SocGen cost former IB chief his job, TCW co-founder Robert Day also under investigation (Bloomberg)
- Australian workers cut work hours instead of firing (Bloomberg, h/t Aditiya)
- Jonathan Weil: Blowing up your company gets raised to art form (Bloomberg)
- It's not all golden at Goldman (Reuters)
- Goldman Sachs is (not) ripping you off (Ritholtz)
Daily Highlights: 8.07.09
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/07/2009 - 07:25- Most major Asian stock markets move lower ahead of US jobs data.
- BoE to inject an addln $85B in new money into the U.K. economy.
- Car shoppers can purchase via $2B 'cash-for-clunkers' program through Aug.
- Initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 38,000 to 550,000 last week.
- Fewer layoffs expected in July as recession winds down, but few new hires.
Fannie Needs $10.7 Billion In New Treasury Capital
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 17:31And the green shoot hits just keep on coming. If you wondered why FNM stock has been flying lately, here is your answer: the company's net worth has dropped below zero again.
Ironically, that pretty much explains the upward movement of all underlying stocks these days.
TrimTabs' Charles Biderman Destroys The Labor Mirage
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 16:50Why is it that people who base their opinions on facts come off significantly less amusing than the clownshoes who predict a future based on hope and personal conflict of interest bias. Watching a boring TrimTabs' Biderman debate with some guy named John Herrmann (not to mention some other "portfolio manager" named Ron Insana) who sounds like he just came out of accounting one oh one in Rose-Colored Glasses community college is simply deliciously hilarious.
The Fed's UST-POMO Pyramid Scheme Exposed
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 15:21In a brilliant piece of investigative reporting, Chris Martenson (original article here) has uncovered that the Fed, merely a week after issuing $28 billion in 7 year bonds (which Zero Hedge discussed previously) via its puppet, the US Treasury, of which $10 billion ended up being purchased by primary dealers, has turned and bought 47% of the primary allocated bonds in Open Market Purchases. This is undisputed monetization removed simply via one primary dealer and less than 5 days of temporal separation in order to leave no easy trace.
Credit Suisse - Market Now At Euphoric Levels
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 14:25
Credit Suisse's global risk appetite index is now at "Euphoria" levels, matching the highs from November 2007, and has retraced from "Panic" at the fastest rate since the October 1987 crash. Next official stage on this index: "Irrational Exuberance" although at least now it has gripped the entire market, not just tech stocks.
The Goldman Guns Are Out, Payroll Improvement Projected Next
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 13:58First the 85 Broads roll one of them out at CNBC, depositing the permabullish dinosaur Abby Cohen to preach how the bull market has just restarted compliments of the mega squeeze in AIG, FNM and CIT (in finance you are as valuable if you bat 0.000 as if you bat 1.000), and now, hot on the hells of Hatzius' upgrade to Q2 GDP from 1% to 3%, they roll out another macro bullish piece, saying July nonfarm payrolls will be up to -250,000 from -300,000 (the question of whether the 50,000 actually matters in any scheme of things, is irrelevant). Ironically, it was yesterday that Jan thought projected employment assumptions wouldn't budge. So much has changed in 24 hours.
Bleaker Fed Fund Outlook Now Than At Bottom Of Market
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 13:22
The poll for what the Fed Fund Rate will be on December 16 indicates that a progressively higher number of people see no chance of a rate increase (or vote in the 0.25% bracket) compared to a majority who in March saw a marginal increase to 0.5%. Inflation - good luck with that. The people have spoken, and deflation is here to stay.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D) Called A Liar, Shouted Down For Presenting Misleading Economic Data
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 12:42The American people are becoming more educated... and more angry...
REIT Simon Property Group To Raise Half A "Trillion" In New Notes
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 12:29Either:
i) the company is now directly competing with Ben Bernanke in who can raise $1 trillion in toxic debt first
ii) Simon's PR department just tipped their hand on what their ultimate Debt/FFO target is
iii) Reuters is sending a subliminal message from the CMSA that the whole securitization thing is no longer an issue, and there is pent up demand for well over a trillion in 4th lien debt "secured" by Eskimo igloos and Gobi desert-based condo-hotels
Schizophrenic NASDAQ Voluntarily Eliminates Its Own Flash Orders
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 12:08The Nasdaq, which recently was quite vocal in its condemntation of Flash orders, yet forgot it offers Flash orders itself, has taken matters into its own noble hands (and luckily out of those of the SEC's chairwoman). From a just issued press release:
TICK Downtrend Continues
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 11:59
Are the redbull drinking, Acutane gulping, reversion chasing momos losing steam?
Guest Post: On The Sodini Diaries, And The Anxiety Of The Employed
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/06/2009 - 11:41"What I’m about to say brings me no joy or satisfaction, and I fervently hope I am completely wrong, but I expect a lot more shootings like the Sodini killings to happen over the next couple of years. Sodini had other, rather tragic circumstances that drove him to murder, but one cannot deny that his anxiety over his continued employment was a big part of what drove him to shoot innocent people. I am certainly not excusing him—not in any way, far from it. But it behooves us to read the Sodini diaries and get a clear sense of the man, so that we might begin to understand the country we have created."
