Archive - Mar 3, 2010

• China's hidden debt to reach 96% of GDP, compared to the IMF's estimate of 22% (Bloomberg)
• Here come the idiots - Banks summoned to EU to discuss sovereign CDS market (Bloomberg)
• Upwardly biased ADP continues longstanding tradition of prior downward revisions (Bloomberg)
• US said to tell hedge funds to save euro records (Bloomberg, first reported on Zero Hedge)
• SEC supervisor surfed tranny porn to cope with stress [and self-loathing from working for an incompetent bureaucracy] (Dealbreaker, h/t plastic man)
• Europe's original sin (WSJ)
• Rumors of Ukraine's default to become certainty: Tymoshenko loses Ukraine vote, moves into opposition (Bloomberg)

• Asian stocks, currencies climb on Greece optimism; MSCI erases 2010 loss.
• Australia GDP growth accelerated to 0.9% last quarter - fastest pace in almost two years.
• Euro rises, Greek spreads narrow on new measures.
• February US auto sales better than expected despite snow, Toyota; Ford bests GM.
• FCC's new plan to propose $25B in new federal spending for high-speed Internet lines.
• Greece passes $6.6B more deficit cuts to avert fiscal 'catastrophe'.
• Oil hovers below $80 in Asia after mixed US inventory report suggests sluggish demand.
• AK Steel hikes prices of carbon steel products by $40 per ton.

From Dow Jones: Greek PM Says If EU Doesn't Help Greece It May Go To IMF. Also, this is the definition of a complete lack of leverage: Greek Cabinet Member: PM Says Greece Needs EU To Show Its Support Now, and that the Time for EU Help Has Arrived. And screw strikes - here comes the civil war:

• Greece to cut public sector salary benefits by 30%,
• Cuts wages across the board.
• Establish emergency tax of 1% for salaries over €100,000
• Freeze public sector hiring in 2010, and in 2011 one new job will be filled for every 5 retirements

And all this is followed by a cold water throwing Angela Merkel who just said that the Friday meeting will be purely on the "State of things" and no aid to Greece will be promised.

As always, pure anarchy - should be enough for some 1-2% worth in computerized S&P buying on a few hundred ES blocks.

RANsquawk 3rd March Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.

The year 2009 was the year of reflation theories and bubble blowing. Theses of "Green Shoots", catching the bottom, and QE reigning supreme were the order of the day. Sure enough, asset prices (nearly all of them) went one direction, straight up. We all saw it coming, but guys like me who actually count the money and rely on the fundamentals didn't believe it was a sustainable gain. It wasn't a bull market, but a bear market rally. After nearly one year, the reflationists have had their hay day, or have they?

RANsquawk 3rd March Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc.

Daily snapshots of AUDCAD, EURJPY, EURUSD, USDJPY & USDCHF

The outlook for the economy is bleak, at best. The stimulus package should have been at least $1.2 trillion. Any major spending cuts will produce “Hoover” outcomes. An extreme form of “trickle down economics" quickly reached a dead end. The banks’ accounting loopholes were so imaginative that not only were shareholders and regulators deceived, senior management was clueless as well. The winner of the Nobel Prize in economics reveals how “information asymmetry,” led to the financial crisis. The repeal of Glass-Steagle was a disaster. No wonder Main Street feels cheated.