Archive - Nov 2011

To some, only "Lunatics and Hacks" believe in gold and a system based on real money. To others, one look at the chart below showing the relative performance of gold and the S&P YTD is enough to determine who the lunatic and hack truly is.

The message of the market has been very clear the last week or two and we have been actively discussing it - the hope that was priced into equity markets is being discounted back to the reality that was always priced into credit markets. HYG, increasingly liquid, accessible, and actively traded has become the weapon of choice for hedgers and shorts and once again today it dramatically underperformed. IG credit also underperformed as we suspect the relatively low cost of carry made it an attractive macro-overlay into a long weekend of possibilities. Commodities in general converged back on the inverse of the USD performance of the week, down around 1.5% (with the exception of Copper which is -4% on the week as China hopes fade). Equity weakness was generally supported to the downside by CONTEXT's broad basket of risk assets - especially as TSYs rallied aggressively in the afternoon following the record 7Y auction. AUD remained the ugly duckling of the week in FX land (as carry was unwound) but EUR's slide was the biggest driver of DXY's strength as it gained around 1.3%. Evidently very few wanted to go home long into this weekend and ES dumped into the close ending the week -4.5% or so with a major volume surge at the very end.

Happy T-Day!

In case you were wracking your brain for the last time it seemed so dismal in the equity markets during such a thankful and rejoiceful week, well its at least 10 years ago! This week's displeasing  equity move is the worst of the last 10 years - beating 2008 to the downside which managed a late recovery. 2002 had the best performance and just in case someone tries to sell you on the recovery this week, the average performance from 11/18 to 11/24 over the past 10 years has been a rather lackluster -0.2% - admittedly better than the -3.8% the S&P is currently looking at. Who are we to thank for this?

Perhaps - Happy Thanksgiving ECB?

Five months ago, when Italian yields were still tame in the 3% ballpark, and not 7% where they are today, we suggested that based on trading patterns and overall volume in Goldman's dark pool, Italy may be about to experience a "Greek episode." Days later we were proven right as Italian yields and spreads started their relentless move wider, with only those who had access to Sigma X being able to get an advance whiff of what was about to happen. Well today we are happy to report that the German diversion may have worked: the truth is that nobody appears to care about Germany. Instead what everyone does seem to care about, is the nation with the greatest combined debt (government, corporate and household) to GDP in the world. Yup. The UK.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2011 TO ALL OF ZERO HEDGE!!!

Earlier this morning the anti-gold brigade was foaming in the mouth on the news that the German central bank had for the first time in a year sold gold. As it turns out they were half right: the bank indeed sold gold: a 'whopping' 150,000 toz or about $250 million worth... But not in the open market, and not even to natural buyers of physical like Sprott and everyone else not infatuated with voodoo theories of infinite repoability of debt. They sold it to the German ministry of Finance... to mint commemorative coins. Coins which we are now confident will be promptly mopped up by the general public. Following the sale Germany will be left with a modest 109,194,000 troy ounces, enough to allow the country to gladly tell Europe to do some anatomically impossible things and to fall back to a hard asset baked currency if and when it should so desire.

UPDATE: BofA +37.5bps to 480bps - record wides.

As financial equities are underperforming so we are also seeing the major US banks widening in CDS land - closer and closer to record wides in the case of BofA (with 20bps of its Oct11 intraday wides) and GS (beyond Oct11 wides but below 2008/9 wides). Their credit curves are also inverting further as equity catches up to recent weakness in credit which has seen almost constant derisking since the start of November.

Yesterday we reported that the Arab League (with European and US support) are preparing to institute a no fly zone over Syria. Today, we get an escalation which confirms we may be on the edge. Just out from CBS: "The U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens in Syria to depart "immediately," and Turkey's foreign ministry urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling through Syria." But probably the most damning evidence that the "western world" is about to do the unthinkable and invade Syria, and in the process force Iran to retaliate, is the weekly naval update from Stratfor, which always has some very interesting if always controversial view on geopolitics, where we find that for the first time in many months, CVN 77 George H.W. Bush has left its traditional theater of operations just off the Straits of Hormuz, a critical choke point, where it traditionally accompanies the Stennis, and has parked... right next to Syria.

As the panic from the busted German 10 Year auction earlier has settled, the money has gone to the last "safe" place for fiat (until the world wakes up to the fact that the "US is not Germany" and comprehends that it actually is) and flooded today's final of the week $29 billion 7 Year auction. The auction was a massive success: it priced at 1.415%, the lowest yield ever, and well inside of the WI which was trading at 1.44%. Not only that but the Bid To Cover soared from 2.59 to 3.20, the second highest ever except for May's 3.24. The internals were a little shaky, with Directs taking down a record 18.85%, and Indirects responsible for 39.88% (the balance going immediately to repoing Dealers). Still there is no denying it: when the panic is palpable, the last safe place for the time being are US bonds. And with that auction, total US debt, which was at $15.042 trillion, has now been pushed above $15.1 trillion a few days after we passed $15 trillion for the first time ever, once the $60 billion in new debt issued this week settles. As a reminder, the debt ceiling currently is at $15.194 trillion, which means there is about two auctions worth of issuance left before the US has to deal with the whole temporary debt ceiling hike all over again - luckily it will be merely a Senate vote (democrat controlled), so there will be no full blown scandal. The scandal will come soon enough.

Our good friend Doug B., a financial advisor based in Boulder, CO, has done well for his clients by keeping them heavily weighted in bonds. In the essay below, he explains why he intends to stick with this strategy even though many of his peers expect a rebounding stock market to outperform fixed-incomes in the years ahead.  For Baby Boomers in particular, the deflationary trend that buttresses Doug’s strategy holds stark implications.

The market always goes up during Thanksgiving week.

How are all the major hedge funds doing month and year to date? Here is your answer.

Following the earlier spirited defense of JEF by Oppenhemier and outright bashing of Egan Jones, Sean Egan fires right back. "Synopsis: Prior reports excluded projections because of the skewed financials relating to the FYE change; a more granular liquidation analysis is avail. upon request. JEF needs to raise equity (i.e., $1B) AND deleverage to reduce its 9.5+% LT yield. JEF's total debt to capital is 90.4% vs. 67% for IBKR, 62% for RJF and 43% for GFIG. GS and MS have ratios near 88% but they are significantly larger and should have some federal support via their banking charters. Furthermore, MF's freezing and shortchanging client funds have increased scrutiny of other medium-sized brokers. Raising $1B in new equity and reducing assets by $5B would reduce total debt to capital to only 86%. Watch the cost and availability of funding. We will cut without a major deleveraging."