Archive - Jul 29, 2011

This the final final version of the Boehner bill which is "supposed" to pass Congress. We haven't read it yet. We doubt anyone else will either.

This is what America has devolved to. Pretty much sums it up.

This is perfectly bullish. As is Tullet Prebon's market of 0.30 bid and 0.21 offer. The whole market has now officially ODed on crazy pills.

Just to make things a little more interesting, and better for Greece, we have learned of a shocking mass resignation by virtually all of Turkey's armed forces. According to Reuters: "The head of the Turkish armed forces General Isik Kosaner along with the heads of the ground, naval and air forces have resigned, broadcaster CNN Turk reported on Friday. The reason for their resignations was not immediately clear. Tensions between the military and the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan have been high in recent years and the Supreme Military Council was due to hold a major meeting next week."  We have also learned that the Turkish AKP government is planning to hand over its struggle against the PKK to local police forces. In essence, Turkey is now effectiely defenseless. This is the perfect time for Greece to invade Turkey, and promptly flip it to the Fourth Reich in exchange for some debt forgiveness. There you go: we can spin idiotic things like the best of CNBC too.

The final collapse of our credit expansion boom approaches. We have a choice over the next week. We could voluntarily abandon further credit expansion by voting for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution or we can raise the debt ceiling, pretend to cut spending far in the future, and allow our currency system to experience a catastrophic final collapse. We’ll take what’s behind door #2 Johnny. The vested interests in Washington DC and Wall Street only care about power and wealth. They will never abandon credit expansion. It’s their drug. They must have it. They are addicted to it. They will keep injecting it into our system until they overdose America.

Update 2: Cantor says has votes to pass bill

Update: Sure enough: Boehner tells reported "I am smiling"

As expected earlier, the news of America's economic tumble are completely ignored now and the S&P is well above the levels before the GDP announcement. In fact, following a headline earlier that the GOP is preparing to amend its bill the computers went out in full rampage mode as the quote stuffing chart below demonstrates so vividly, the headline scanners did their job and robot after robot rushed to outrun each other for every available offer. We give this rally a few minutes before some republican says that the Boehner plan will in fact pass in current form, and the robotic buying spree turn into a dumpathon.

Bernanke and the Fed have to re-evaluate the grade they gave to QE2. How we have such a massive revision in Q1 GDP is hard for me to understand. Seriously, we need to find a way to get better data, but with a 0.4% quarter right in the heart of QE2, it is clear it did nothing to help the real economy. And yes, it is getting old, but I will say it again, the market is not the economy. I am now cutting all my short. I had cut some coming into this week, as I was scared of the rally, but kept enough on that I can't complain too much. I am flat and tempted to go long. We've had a big move, and government resolution is likely to come, but it feels like that is a crowded trade. No one seems really afraid, and everyone seems to expect a bounce. Just because everyone expects it, doesn't make it wrong, but I'm concerned that all the longs will pop out of their holes the second a deal is announced. They will look around for someone to panic and take them out of their positions on the debt ceiling news. Then they will look some more, and then realize that no one is caught short or surprised and they will scurry to get out of their positions. Well, I just convinced myself to go back to putting on a small short.

It's time for your daily teleprompted brainwashing. Frontal lobes: out.

Some Charts before you panic by www.thetrader.se

Oklahoma's AG, Scott Pruitt, launched an investigation on Thursday into whether financial institutions are properly handling state pension funds...

The adverse data onslaught continues with both the Chicago PMI and the UMichigan Consumer Confidence numbers coming in weaker than expected. Chicago printed at 58.8 on expectations of 60.0, down from 61.1, while consumer confidence was quantified with laser-like precision by UMichigan at 63.7, below expectations of 64.0, and the lowest since March 2009. The data behind the headlines was even uglier, as the Employment index in the PMI printed far lower, from 58.7 to 51.5, even as priced paid increased (yes, inflation) from 70.5 to 71.7, while new orders declined from 61.2 to 59.4. At the same time long-term inflation expectations are getting anchored ever higher, as the 5 year inflation rose from 2.8% to 2.9%, while the condition index plunged to 75.8, the lowest since November 2009. At least people's outlook on the future was unchanged at 56.0. Then again, all economic data is now irrelevant as everyone is preparing to listen to the republicans, the teleprompter and the democrats in that order imminently.

From an email just sent out by Morgan Stanley's David Greenlaw:

The NY Fed just asked primary dealers to come downtown today at noon to meet with Fed and Treasury Dept officials. We expect to hear them outline a contingency plan for next week. Details to follow.   

Here are some of the first sell-side and media perspectives on the abysmal Q2 GDP. And of course, nobody could have foreseen this huge collapse in the US economy. Nobody.

It's a good thing the BEA has two revisions to its GDP data or else someone would think that the government is purposefully fudging data. Below is a comparison between the Final Q1 GDP, which was released on June 24, and today's epic Q1 re-revision. From 1.9% to 0.4% in one easy Qe3 enabling step.