Archive - Feb 2010

Cliffnoting the just released Bernanke testimony in praise of the printing presses. Lots of theory, no forward looking calendar. "At some point" in the future liquidity will be tightened. But not yet. Not yet.

RANsquawk 10th February US Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.

"Where a Member State is in difficulties or is seriously threatened with severe difficulties caused by exceptional occurrences beyond its control, the Council may, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission, grant, under certain conditions, Community financial assistance to the Member State concerned. Where the severe difficulties are caused by natural disasters, the Council shall act by qualified majority. The President of the Council shall inform the European Parliament of the decision taken." - Maastricht Treaty, Article 103(a)2

Confusion reigns day 2, only this time add a pinch of political dissent. Germany's ruling coalition of the Free Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union has commissioned a parliamentary report which concludes that "member states may not guarantee the debts of another member state" reports daily Handelsblatt.

For all Commodore 64 HFT setups expecting an imminent relief rally following a formal Greek bailout announcement, you may have to wait at least two more days. Dow Jones reports that a German official has said that finance ministers meeting this afternoon are "unlikely to make any decision and there is no aid for Greece on the agenda of Thursday's summit of EU leaders." Furthermore, "There doesn't exist any decision on such aid and it also isn't pending at present". Additional data points to the shape of the bailout: it appears a guarantee is the only, if any, way to go, after a source noted that a "refinancing of debt is not in Greek interest, as it would be seen as a default." With €3 billion in ten year notes set for auction by Portugal, we could be in for a very volatile day. The Portuguese 10 year Bund spread is currently 11 tighter to 137 bps.

More as we get it.

Toyota has been slammed by the perfect storm. Dozens of deaths, thousands of accidents, and a worldwide recall of 9 million vehicles. What happened to the serial killer of American car companies. Toyota has not turned into GM overnight.

Goldman's Erik Nielsen lands the bombshell that the Greek deficit mysteriously increased from €29.4 billion to a shopping €37.9 (keep in mind, this is not Bernanke notation where only quad- prefixes impress people at this point). This increases the (running) 2009 budget deficit from 12.2% to 16%! While certainly not the last time we hear of "prior revisions", the question of just how patient Germany will be, should this number approach, oh say, 50% once the artificial support of various Goldman swaps expires (and at 50% the BSDs like Goldman will surely round up to 100%), is very much open.

• China's exports jump 21% as imports gain 86% in January, Government says.
• Fed to reveal its strategy for raising interest rates.
• Germany along with EU plans to offer Greece, other members loan guarantees.
• Japanese core machinery orders increased 20.1% in Dec, much better than expected.
• Oil drops to near $73 in Asia after report shows US crude supplies jumped last week.
• Stocks, commodities, Korean Won rise on speculation of Greek aid, China's growth.

The Chinese dumping story is really catching on. After even Alphaville reprinted it, it seems that everyone in the blogospehere is aware of the imminent, and far greater than a Greece contagion, danger of Chinese dispositions. Here is David Goldman who originally broke the story for Asia Times' Inner Workings blog, discussing not only Chinese dumping and the implication for cost of capital (ca. 11 minutes into the clip), but shares color on the topic du jour, Greece, along with Rick Santelli and Larry Kudlow.

EURUSD is testing the channel support here. Various officials commenting that no bilateral agreement has been discussed or signed are putting risk under pressure. It's almost like watching Congress fumble the vote on the stimulus package. The good news is that if you thought US politicians are terrible, you can find comfort in that they are no better in Europe. We still expect a multi-lateral resolution in the end. - Nic Lenoir

RANsquawk 10th February Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.

Hundreds of pension experts are to meet in Edinburgh next month to discuss the challenges facing the pension market. Proposals call for pensions to take a greater role in demanding a crackdown on excessive bank bonuses. Pensions are also putting pressure on hedge funds to lower fees. Are pensions tightening the screws, or just screwing around?

It is beyond a hallucinogenic-induced pipe dream to even consider that the Eurozone will come out of this attempt at replicating the US "extend and pretend" policy intact and unscathed. The US won't even get away with it, and we have the world's reserve currency printing press in our basement running with an ink-based inter-cooled, twin-turbo supercharger strapped on that will make those German engineers green with envy, not to mention green with splattered Greenback printer ink as the presses go berserk!

[1] S&P 500 Futures (ES) continuous contract Daily ~ 05:05. [2] ES 514229 share ~ 05:11. [3] ESH10 1-minute ~ 05:10. [4] ESH10 1-minute ~ 05:19. [5] ESH10 1-minute ~ 05:32. [6] ESH10 - Block Buys / Sells of 50+ ~ 05:35. [7] ESH10 Matrix ~ 05:35. [8] ESH10 1-minute ~ 05:57. [9] ESH10 1-minute ~ 07:27. [10] ESH10 1-minte ~ 07:43 [11] ESH10 Matrix ~ 07:44. [12] ESH10 - Block Buys / Sells of 50+ ~ 07:44. [13] ESH10 1-minute ~ 07:59 ... Price action this morning is within a channel that has shifted lower to 1068.75 on the up and 1062.25 on the down with 1072.75 and 1078 serving as upside extensions while any break of 1058.75 would likely test the 1051 - 54 weekly pivot