Archive - Jul 18, 2011

Here are the Status Quo's most important investment "stories:"

1) China will continue booming for decades
2) U.S. equities will continue soaring as profits continue rising
3) The U.S. dollar will continue heading down because Bernanke wills it to do so

I would love to believe these magical tales, but the charts cast a skeptical pall on the happy stories. Beauty and uptrends alike are in the eye of the beholder, so maybe you see uptrends in equities here; I don't.

A snapshot of the US Afternoon Briefing covering Stocks, Bonds, FX, etc.

A few days ago when we demonstrated the most recent bond issuance by Bank of America in which the firm issued $2.5 billion in new bonds, we said "BAC is largely underreserved for a settlement of this size which means its Tier 1 capital ratio will likely be impacted due to a major outflow of cash." Obviously the implication was that a capital raise is imminent. And while we were not exactly expecting the bank to access the equity capital markets (immediately), we knew cash would have to come from somewhere. Sure enough, Bank of America just issued $2.5 billion in 5 year bonds. So just when does the equity raise come? Two questions: is this funding simply to replenish the cash to have a decent Tier 1 ratio, or is the bank merely preparing for a waterfall of litigation now that the seal has been broken?" Well, the reason why the bank's stock just tumbled to fresh multi-year lows, and just on top of John Paulson's cost basis is a report from Bloomberg's Hugh Son which confirms our worst fears about the bank: "Bank of America Corp. (BAC) may have to build its capital cushion by $50 billion and renege again on Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan’s pledge to raise the firm’s dividend as mortgage losses drain funds." Next up, after investors balk to buy bonds from the firm at preferential rates, is Bank of America coming to market with another equity raise in full confirmation that the emperor is indeed naked... and Moynihan is about to be sacked.

Over 3 weeks ago, before Italian treasury spreads blew out by several hundred basis points, and before Italian bank stock trading halts became a daily occurrence, we suggested that the European contagion was shifting to Italy based on Goldman dark pool Sigma X trading. To wit: "Today's most active names are Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo. Translation: someone is actively positioning for serious action in Italy shortly." That someone sure was right, and it is precisely this trifecta of stocks that at last check was halted on the Borsa. Well, based on today's action at Sigma X, the next, and probably biggest domino may be about to fall: the UK itself, because coming in at position #2, just behind UniCredit, we see Lloyds Banking. And if Lloyds goes, the ones that will follow are Barclays and RBS. At that point, the financial crisis goes global.

This must be another one of those things that accompany the American economy one year into the recovery (Tim Geithner^©).

It's getting very scary out there. First there has been an unsubstantiated rumor that Spanish PM has resigned based on an El Pais editorial, and then we have the fact that Greek 2 year bonds have just collapsed by another 2% to an all time record 35.19%. The cherry on top are reports that Intesa Sanpaolo and some other volatile bank shares are suspended after continuing their last week plunge. One day soon the entire European stock market will just shut down and not reopen (which will naturally simply be an excuse for the US HFT lobby, which now feels unfairly attacked for being a malicious parasite, to levitate the Russell 2000 to unseen levels).

I know you may think I am crazy, and I am, but it is looking more and moron like this may be the only way to settle it...

While others huff and puff, and threaten to do what had to be done ages ago, the one truly independent and capable NRSRO, Egan-Jones, downgraded the US from AAA to AA+ over the weekend.

Remember when car sales where supposed to boost industrial production when all they did was boost GM's dealer channel stuffing to a new all time record? Today, courtesy of Stone McCarthy we transpose the observation about what is really happening in the car space (i.e., not adding to GDP) to airplane orders as an indication of how airlines view the future of the global economic "recovery." Boeing, which recently completed its stint at the seminal Paris air show, reported just 48 orders in June. This is the worst air show showing for the bellweather airplane maker in the last 6 years with the exception of 2009 when the global economy was in freefall. Bottom line: upcoming durable goods reports will likely be weaker than expected due to a drop in Boeing bookings, and while this is a volatile series, it ultimately is money that enters, or not as the case may be, the US economy. More importantly, if the Paris Air Show is any indication, one can write off the thesis of increased infrastructure CapEx spending in H2. So much for the hockeystick economic growth in the second half of 2011.

Legal analysis carried out by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has ruled that pension promises made to current and retired members are a “vested right” and protected under State and federal laws...

The Treasury released its May Treasury International Capital data today, which confirms recent trends: while China, both domestically and through the UK, and Japan both added to their gross exposure of US debt in May, Russia's holdings continued to tumble in line with warnings out of Moscow discussed previously and with the continued Kremlin rotation out of Treasurys and into gold. And while Putin has obviously had enough with shenanigans in the US, the same can not be said for his posturing colleagues in China (and Japan) who at least two months ago, brought their holdings of US to 2011 (and record) highs of $1159.8MM and $912.4MM respectively. So much for China dumping bonds. Another source of Treasury demand: petrodollars, which saw their UST holdings in May hit an all time high of $229.8 billion. Overall, gross purchases of Long-Term US securities by official and private foreign buyers declined modestly to $44.6 billion from $44.8 billion. Netting out foreign securities purchased of $21 billion, yields net flows of $23.6 billion on expectations of $40 billion, or in other words May saw a modestly lower inflationary impact due to an influx in foreign capital in the US economy. Also when netting out US purchases of foreign securities as well as changes in bank dollar-denominated liabilities the net number was -$67.5 billion.

Still don't have your playbill for the latest installment of beltway Kabuki? Confused by what each actor's motivations are in the "great compromise" farce? Here is The Hill with a summary of who wants what so that the race for this year's Nobel prize in most dramatic on screen teleprompted performance is no longer confusing to anyone, especially since the Treasury Secretary is applying for the Nobel prize for most clueless assorter hanger on, with his "we have no Plan B" approach to worst case contingencies.

To allay their concerns, the council took out a controversial clause, which said that any violation of the law would void a foreclosure sale...

The picture portrayed by last week’s EBA’s stress test results on the European banks failed to re-ignite appetite for risk today, as many market participants questioned the validity of the tests, which ignored a potential Greek default scenario. Moreover, markets remained apprehensive about any concrete outcome from the Eurozone leaders’ summit this Thursday, and together with concern surrounding the successful passage of a raft of supply from Eurozone countries, such as Spain, later this week promoted risk-aversion. This prompted European equities to trade under pressure, led by financials, whereas marginal widening was observed in the Eurozone peripheral 10-year government bond yield spreads. Elsewhere, strength in the USD-index weighed upon EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and commodity-linked currencies. Moving into the North American open, the economic calendar remains thin, however the TIC flows data and NAHB housing market report from the US are due later in the session. Markets also look ahead to corporate earning results from IBM, whereas in fixed-income, French T-Bill auctions are scheduled for later.

• Reid, McConnell Push Revised Debt Measure as Obama Seeks to Avoid Default (Bloomberg)
• Fallback plan gains momentum in debt talks (RTRS)... aka the "change nothing" plan, and raise debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion
• China house price inflation slows in June (FT)
• Riksbank Members Fear Greek Failure Could Spark Real Crisis (Market News)
• European Stocks Retreat for Third Day After Bank Stress Tests (Bloomberg)
• ECB would reject defaulted Greek bonds as collateral (RTRS)
• Greek debt cut won't solve problem - ECB's Weidmann (RTRS)
• An Arrest and Scotland Yard Resignation Roil Britain (NYT)
• Japan set to ban Fukushima cattle shipments after radioactive meat scare (Guardian)
• Spain and Italy top results in stress tests (FT)