Archive - Jun 10, 2011

I'm working on the backend.

Unrestricted in its growth by any constitutionally mandated limits on its ability to create and manipulate money – the official currency now being nothing more than IOUs redeemable in nothing more tangible than coins made out of base metal alloys with inflated face values – and supported by a Supreme Court that has unequivocally demonstrated a willingness to ignore or sign off on egregious tramplings of the Constitution, the stage is set for the U.S. government to evolve into something far more dangerous on the domestic front. All it requires now is a triggering event, and it would be naïve to think that such an event won’t occur. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not this decade – but when it inevitably does, the federal government already has all the precedents it needs to do “whatever it takes.” This absence of legal restrictions on its actions is the very foundation of fascism.

“…through thousands of years of Chinese history, I know no example where outside pressures about the domestic structure of China produced domestic changes in, in [cq] China. ...”

Many have asked for it, so here it is: the full list of gentlemen (and ladies) attending this year's Bilderberg conference. Some wonder if like in previous years, when following the group's 2009 and 2010 meetings in Greece and Spain, the host countries have subsequently had to deal with some sad episodes of sovereign insolvency, if 2011 host Switzerland, despite its ironclad Swiss National Bank (except for all those dollars on the balance sheet of course) may be next...

As we all know, it is usually impossible to predict the future...

This week's truly market moving headlines, courtesy of Bloomberg (these are real)

RANsquawk Market Wrap Up - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 10/06/11

Tastes fine, and saves on lighting bills!

I hope not! But ignorance is not bliss ...

As the superimposed chart below demonstrates, the current 6 week drop, which is the longest in the last 9 years, or since 2002, may just be the beginning. And while our prediction that 2011 is a replica of 2010 is now confirmed, the far scarier possibility is that the next comparison to 2011 is 2002 - if that year is any indication, the SPX will drop to ~1000 before rebounding: obviously at that point the Fed will have no choice but to proceed with QE3, or the downward momentum will accelerate in what may then become a repeat of October 2008, and all those predictions for an S&P 400 would promptly be validated.

The most recent CFTC Commitment of Traders report is out. As usual the most interesting data can be found in the FX spec update which does not disappoint. Just as we predicted, as the EUR surged over the past 14 days so did non-commercial net specs. The number which is through Tuesday, probably increased even as the EUR got hammered over the past 24 hours, dropping 250 pips in two days. Expect the usual piling out through the front door as specs bail once again. At that point the time to buy the EUR will come. Of the other two major pairs, the USD and the JPY, the Yen increased in long exposure while the Dollar saw the first decline in 8 weeks: just in time for the USD to jump once again.

The down leg of the “V” is well underway. When does the up leg begin, and when should we start positioning for it? Toyota’s Motor’s stunning year on year decline in domestic sales of -69%. Quantitative easing nearly triple the Federal Reserve’s own recent QE2 efforts on a per capita basis. GDP growth as high as 3% in 2012, taking it to the top of the pack of developed nations. (EW), (FXY), (YCS), (TM), (NSANY), (FANUY), (CAJ), (KMTUY).

The trading gods have blessed us with an opportunity to print money like the big boys. Jump in you are missing out on all of the fun.

The Fed just released the final POMO schedule which completes QE2: the total amount of bonds to be monetized will be $60 billion (at the upper end of the range) and with that the QE2 portion of monetary stimulus is over. Notably, there will be two POMOs on June 20. What is interesting, is that the Fed will continue the QE Lite portion as expected, with what appears to be a modest weekly POMO to the tune of $3.5 billion on July 6 and July 11, meant to replenish the bonds that mature and prepaid MBS. Alas, as the total notional shows, and as Zero Hedge expected, the $7 billion in two weeks is woefully inadequate to provide the Shadow QE that many have expected. It is interesting that as part of QE Lite the Fed will focus on what appears to be the 4-5 years part of the Curve.

Frankly, we couldn't care less about the content of Sarah Palin's emails. But some do. And since Alaska office has made it prohibitively difficult for most to access this collection in non-electronic format, requiring up to $750 in physical content fees, below we provide a link to the only resource that currently provides the most comprehensive selection of the just disclosed Palin email archive. The redacted emails can be found here.