Archive - Apr 7, 2011

Tyler Durden's picture

$40.005





Lights out

 

Tyler Durden's picture

As China Raises Fuel Prices For Second Time in 2011, WTI Passes $111





The ongoing total decimation of the dollar is sending everything that still has value through the roof. Case in point: WTI which just passed $111 for the first time since 2008. And with Brent waiting with open arms at $125 it is only a matter of time before gas prices in the US will make the teleprompter advise anyone who doesn't have Discount Window access to trade in their inline 4 for the "Wealth Effect." In the meantime, a centrally planned China was just forced to hike gas prices for only the second time in 2011 (lucky them): "April 7, China, Asia’s largest oil consumer, raised retail prices of gasoline and diesel for the second time this year, starting Thursday, as international crude oil prices continue rising, China Business News reported on Thursday. The benchmark retail price for gasoline will rise by RMB 500 a metric ton on April 7 and that for diesel will increase by RMB 400, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said on Wednesday. According to several energy information institutions, the retail price of 90# gasoline will rise by 5.63% to RMB 9,380 per tonne, and that of 0# diesel will gain 4.9% to RMB 8,530 per tonne, the paper said." Bottom line - pretty soon the entire WTI curve will be in backwardation.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Water Leak Found At Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant





Just out from Reuters:

WATER LEAK FOUND AFTER LATEST QUAKE AT JAPAN'S ONAGAWA NUCLEAR PLANT BUT NO CHANGE IN RADIATION LEVELS-NHK

WATER LEAKS AT ONAGAWA NPP FROM REACTOR 1,2 SPENT FUEL POOLS

Onagawa is the plant which as we disclosed earlier experienced an almost critical power failure following today's new earthquake off the Sendai coast. One wonders just how much "undisclosed" news will start leaking. Surely just as the shut down of America is sending futures surging, this news should levitate the Nikkei by a few percent.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Failure To Reach Budget Resolution Sends Dollar Plunging, Silver At New Post Hunt High





Following news that an 11th hour attempt to resolve the budget impasse between Obama, Reid and Boehner has failed, the dollar, and all related carry pairs, are getting obliterated. At last check the EURUSD was north of 1.4350, while all Yen funding pairs rose back to intraday highs. Which in this bizarro
world also means that futures are now at highs: yes - a government shut down is bullish for stocks. The good news for those who continue to believe, what is only being realized by others, namely that the dollar's days are numbered is that silver has just touched $39.85: a fresh post Hunt Brother high. Gold is following suit.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Global Tactical Asset Allocation Q2 Update On Commodities





A somewhat contrarian view on commodities from Global Tactic Asset Allocation: "Most commodities remain deeply overvalued. As with other assets it does not really matter in the short-term (as long as the trend is positive) but it is paramount for longer-term projections. We have little doubts that commodity long-only who buy to hold are going to experience a >50% drawdown (from current levels) on their industrial metals, crude oil and agricultural positions sometimes in the next 24 months. Demand has been artificially boosted by China strategic reserve building, infrastructure intensive fiscal stimulus, booming demand from the rest of emerging economies and, as the trend persisted, by trend followers and money managers new attraction to the sector (you know it is not correlated so you should buy them to diversify your portfolio... sorry it WAS not correlated...). The introduction of physically-based ETFs is not helping in this matter as it represents a big short-term increase in marginal demand especially when the Fed is still busy implementing QE2."

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Guest Post: And This Year’s Nobel Prize In Doublethink Goes To…





General Tommy Franks, the rather straight-talking former commander of the war in Afghanistan way back in 2001, once described US defense policy wonk Doug Feith as “the dumbest fucking guy on the planet.” Feith, a bumbling architect of the failed Bush Doctrine, now has an intellectual match in Christina Romer, the former Chairwoman of Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors. Romer appeared Thursday on the Daily Ticker, leaving no doubt that she should be the undisputed frontrunner for the Nobel Committee’s much anticipated Doublethink Prize. Warning, do not watch this video while eating: food projectile WILL permanently damage your computer.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

And In The Meantime, The Adjusted Monetary Base....





...is up by $51 billion in two weeks. But, once again, before people freak out that this is some crazy scheme to flood the market with money (nothing crazy about that scheme: it has been going on for 2 years), keep in mind: this is merely the delayed catch up of the SFP program unwind and the ongoing increase in Treasury holdings by the Federal Reserve Capital, ULC. Nonetheless, it is disturbing that the gradual phase out in the build up of the Adjusted Monetary Base, exclusively due to the rise in Excess Bank Reserves, is still proceeding at a 100%+ CAGR.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

US Prepares Operation "Boots On The Ground" A/K/A "The Presidente Was Only Keeeding"





The natural step in the US-led invasion of Libya's oil fields, which could be seen from a mile away and as was discussed on Zero Hedge previously, is about to unfold with the proverbial silver-tipped bang. Courtesy of Army Gen. Carter Ham we learn that the Nobel war prize winner "may consider sending troops into Libya with a possible international ground force that could aid the rebels, the former U.S. commander of the military mission said Thursday, describing the ongoing operation as a stalemate that is more likely to go on now that America has handed control to NATO." Nothing like a little land war in Asia, er, Africa, to distract the peasantry from an insolvent government which can't legally issue any more debt on top. Make no mistake though - this is all about "humanitarian intervention."

 

George Washington's picture

Ongoing Cover Up of Nuclear Crisis By American and Japanese Governments and Companies





Crisis? What crisis? Nuclear power is TOTALLY safe!

 

Econophile's picture

What Is Happening In The CMBS Market And Why Is It Relevant To Recovery?





The CMBS market gives us an inside look at the credit quality of many CRE loans which are the key to recovery. This article tells you why it's important.

 

williambanzai7's picture

BaNZai7 DuFFs THe MaSTeRS





Got me them Quadruple Bogey blues...

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Presenting The First Chinese Aircraft Carrier





After reverse engineering virtually every product known to man, the Chinese have now applied the same skill to the only component of their military that was so far missing: an aircraft carrier. Earlier today, Xinhua revealed the first official pictures of what will soon be China's first aircraft carrier, now expected to enter operation by the end of the year. As the NYT reports: "The photos of the carrier, the Varyag, which China bought from the Ukraine in 1998, appeared Wednesday on the Web site of Xinhua, the state news agency. It was the first time that Xinhua had given visual evidence of the carrier project, which is widely seen as a linchpin of China’s military modernization and naval ambitions. The carrier is being rebuilt in the waters of Dalian, a coastal city in eastern China. Xinhua cited a military analysis magazine based in Canada, Kanwa Asian Defense Review, as saying that the ship will be ready to sail this year. The fact that Xinhua used that information in a photo caption appeared to be an official endorsement of that view."

 

RANSquawk Video's picture

RANsquawk Market Wrap Up - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 07/04/11





RANsquawk Market Wrap Up - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 07/04/11

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Guest Post: Silver Is Getting Too Popular… Right?





It’s no secret that the silver market is red hot. As I write, silver American Eagles and Canadian Maple Leafs are sold out at their respective mints. Buying in India has gone through the roof, especially noteworthy among a people with a strong historical preference for gold. Demand in China continues unabated. Silver stocks have screamed upward. So, as an investor looking to maximize my profit, I have a natural question: is the silver trade getting too crowded, meaning we’re near the top? Have the masses finally joined the party such that we should consider exiting? After all, it’s not a profit until you take it, and you definitely want to sell near the top.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Former BOE Policymaker On ECB Hike: "Pretty Big Mistake" - Explaining The Irreconcilable Euro Tensions In One Paragraph





David Blanchflower, professor of economics at Dartmouth College and a former policy maker at the Bank of England, was on Bloomberg earlier, discussing the flawed ECB decision to hike rates by 25 bps, just a day after Portugal went bankrupt, and calling it quite right, "a pretty big mistake." Blanchflower understandably compares today's move to the ill-fated hike in 2008 when the ECB was forced to promptly reverse course and loosen substantially when the bottom fell out of the market, although in reality today's situation is nothing like 2008 when one accounts for the EFSF which is essentially a Central Bank within a Central Bank: a pseudo pre-funded SPV whose only job is to provide liquidity to those countries in the block who are insolvent (and in the process keeping peripheral inflation rampant), while at the same time tightening liquidity in the core. In essence the ECB has been split in two: a good central bank and a bad central bank. The problem is the funding for the bad central bank is contingent on Germany which is becoming increasingly disenchanted with the whole failed Euro experiment, yet which is unable to leave the EUR since the DEM would surge by orders of magnitude to account for the country's strong economy, thereby burying the export sector. That in a nutshell is the summary of the tensions in Europe. And yes, Blanchflower is spot on that this house of cards construct held together by spit, superglue and prayer will all fall apart very soon.

 
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