Archive - Jun 13, 2010

Even as the UN is formalizing its response to Iran, the Persian Gulf country is preparing to set sail three ships with aid for the Gaza Strip, AFP reported earlier and was cited by the Jerusalem Post. The ships are only awaiting for final permission from the Iranian Foreign Ministry, without regard for Israel's potential retaliation should Iranian ships approach Israel territorial waters. And with over 100,000 Iranians having volunteered to sail onboard, this will unlikely be diffused with mere diplomacy. At least some of the escalation rhetoric this weekend was slightly moderated after Haaretz refuted an earlier report by the Times of London that Saudi Arabia has opened up an air corridor for an Israel strike is false: "Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, the Saudi envoy to the U.K. speaking to the London-based Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, denied that report, saying such a move "would be against the policy adopted and followed by the Kingdom." As for the Iranian overture, the piece de resistance is that Iran will also send a plane to Egypt, carrying 30 tons of medical aid, and forcing the involvement of even more third party actors who would certainly prefer to be impartial in this very unstable time. Once again, Gulf (the other Gulf) tensions are escalating, and there seems nothing on the horizon to set anyone's mind at ease. But somehow headlines about the return of the global recovery are once again making the rounds.

Canada is moving in the right direction on pensions. Expanding the Canada Pension Plan is definitely a step in the right direction.

And there are those who wonder why the US has spent countless dollars and thousands of dead soldiers protecting a few desolate mountain passes in Afghanistan. And no, it turns out it is not just the opium trade. The NYT reports that "The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials." The article continues, "The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe." Ah yes - "previously unknown." Yet the punchline of the piece : "The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists." Because $1 trillion worth of minerals just lie there waiting to be discovered almost 10 years after the initial incursion. Next thing you know FCX already had an entire mining infrastructure in place just in case a contingency like this miraculously occurred. In the meantime, look for gold prices to plunge as the newly uncovered gold deposits are rumored to be "large" enough to once again refill Fort Knox and to push the supply curve three miles to the right.

The crisis in Europe is causing concerns about deflation in the U.S. and other developed economies. However, looking further up the supply chain, an entirely different picture emerges.

Three days ago we brought attention to Soros' most recent outburst of negativity in a speech presented during a conference in Vienna, in which he said that "The collapse of the financial system as we know it is real, and the crisis is far from over. Indeed, we have just entered Act II of the drama." Below is the full text of Soros' speech. A teaser: "The first phase of the maneuver has been successfully accomplished – a collapse has been averted. In retrospect, the temporary breakdown of the financial system seems like a bad dream. There are people in the financial institutions that survived who would like nothing better than to forget it and carry on with business as usual. This was evident in their massive lobbying effort to protect their interests in the Financial Reform Act that just came out of Congress. But the collapse of the financial system as we know it is real and the crisis is far from over."

Another important piece of news that was lost in last week's "oilflow" in addition to the failed Chinese bill auction previously discussed on Zero Hedge, was the Hungarian 12-month bill auction on June 10th, which aimed to raise 50 billion Hungarian Forints ($214 million), of which the government only accepted HUF35 billion in offers. It is unclear if submitted bids actually topped 50 billion, yet the inability to find a mere $64 million at acceptable terms is very troubling. Fitch immediately stepped in to diffuse the situation, which is still very tense courtesy of the prior week's commentary out of Hungarian politicians that the country is in dire a situation as Greece: "Fitch Ratings has said on Friday that while Hungary’s Government Debt Management Agency (ÁKK) was able to sell less 12-month discount Treasury bills than it originally planned yesterday, the undersold debt auction means no threat to the country’s financing ability, but it does highlight its vulnerability that was exacerbated by "misjudged comments" by members of the new government" as portfolio.hu reports. The failed auction, does "highlight Hungary's ongoing vulnerability to global investor risk aversion, sharpened recently by misjudged comments by the new Hungarian government, and post-election uncertainty over the outlook for public finances in the context of an already high gross government debt burden."

Bye bye BP?

In a stunning development, and what may be the biggest loss for the Federal Reserve's lobbying power in history, the FT reports that "Banks are likely to lose a key lobbying battle in the US over whether they will be forced to spin off their lucrative swaps desks, according to people familiar with financial reform negotiations in Congress. Defeat, which would be a further blow to Wall Street, has been made more likely by Paul Volcker, the influential former Federal Reserve chairman, softening his opposition to the provision." If this indeed happens, the fallout for the US financial system will be dramatic, as numerous Wall Street spin offs would have to occur immediately in order to preserve CDS trading, an event that would will also adversely impact valuation multiples. The biggest problem with the Blanche Lincoln proposal, however, is that it still appears nobody really knows just what its full implications are. And adding more fuel to the fire, is the latest whisper from Volcker, whom many thought had relented on toning down his Volcker proposal to prohibit prop trading by banks: "Some senators want to modify the Volcker Rule, which also prevents banks from owning or sponsoring hedge funds in the name of risk reduction, to allow banks to “organise” a hedge fund and make an investment in a small amount of capital alongside a customer. But Mr Volcker thought that would be the thin end of the wedge, adding “from my point of view, I’d like it pure”. Could Wall Street be finally losing its tentacular grip over Washington? We, for one, will not believe it until we see it: after all Chris Dodd and Barney Frank's unfettered access to lifelong indulgences from the Clearing House Association lies in the balance.

The most recent iteration of the ES-EURJPY decoupling trade spotted on Friday was a little stubborn going into Friday's close. We were almost worried we may lose this guaranteed money maker for a second. Those worries are now gone: this is the 6th time the observed risk-FX docoupling trade has closed in 6 observations, and in 6 (and a half) trading sessions. With cumulative P&L over the past week starting to become material, on a standalone, unlevered and/or annualized basis, we are stunned that this trade continues to manifest itself with such regularity.

Risk assets now back in play with the Euro going vertical in Asia trade. Perhaps we can see Erin, Michelle C-Squared, Amanda, etc. celebrate tomorrow by loosening up a few buttons on those silk blouses....

LOL....

As promised, we bring you Goldman's response to our earlier query on whether any ethics waivers have been used in the prior five years by executive or non-executive employees of GS. It appears all of Goldman's workers have conducted themselves with the utmost ethical standards (at least from their perspective) and no waivers have been requested. To wit:

Tyler:

Thanks for your message. The ethics code, including waiver provision, was required under SarbOx. No waivers have been requested.

Regards / Lucas

This only leaves former GS CEO Hank Paulson as a prominent user of an ethical waiver, when employed by the FRBNY as we wrote previously, specifically in the context of bailing out Goldman Sachs.

Last week, with little fanfare, among the ever deteriorating oil spill crisis, the White House quietly noted the issuance of an executive order "Establishing the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council", in which the president, citing the “authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America” is now actively engaging in "lifestyle behavior modification" for American citizens that do not exhibit "healthy behavior." At least initially, the 8 main verticals of focus will include: smoking cessation; proper nutrition; appropriate exercise; mental health; behavioral health; sedentary behavior; substance-use disorder; and domestic violence screenings. Eventually we fully anticipate that the program will also target such wholesome activities as screening for precious metal holdings, monthly minimum usage of available revolving credit (and a minimum threshold thereto) and the susceptibility of an individual to stay current on one's mortgage. Additionally, the president will establish yet another Advisory Group, composed of "experts" picked from the public health field, and one which tracks the successful uptake by the US population of the precepts for a better functioning society that the president deems important. Cosmo culture has just been adopted by the White House, where Big Brother is now in the business of counting calories, and soon, your bars of gold.

Now that the market has decisively entered into correction territory, two of the most bullish investment banks around, Goldman and Deutsche Bank, are long overdue for reports that describe just how this event was dully expected and in fact, priced in, and that investors should in now way draw and conclusions about a potential recession emerging from something as innocuous as a recession. Furthermore, the 10%+ pullback is "perfectly normal", and has no impact on either Goldman's 1,250 or DB's 1,375 end of year target for the S&P. And yet, there is a 'but' - both firms now sound far less confident than they did a few short months ago, and the hedging of year end targets has begun (more so at GS than DB). And while Goldman's report is more focused on the European context, and is thus appreciably more bearish, Goldman's tone is far more subdued than Deutsche's, which is understandable: with assets at two thirds of German GDP, and with a government dead set on minimizing bank bailouts for the foreseeable future, the German bank has far less margin for reality than the primary recipient of Hank Paulson's bailout generosity.

Investors remain bearish, and buying into last week's weakness continues to be the right play -- so far. However, a positive outcome is far from certain especially since there is an apparent lack of conviction amongst the "smart money".

Chiswick's (and, of course, Goldman's) very own European permabull, Erik Nielsen, who just like his other N-11 permabullish colleague is sorely lamenting the Hand of Clod, is back to discuss the merits of flying transatlantic coach, the wonderfully sound economic edifice that is Europe, and the "overblown" concerns over the Swiss National Bank building up an FX reserve position that is approaching one half of Swiss GDP. As Erik observes: "now there is someone – appropriately – not worrying about their balance sheet!" - indeed, why worry. When the time to really worry comes, it will be far too late.