Archive - Aug 2011

As both Italian and Spanish bond spreads continue slowly creeping wider toward the half a century territory, we are reminded once again that once both countries pass 450 bps, LCH will automatically hike collateral triggers for both countries, in essence initiating another waterfall effect whereby less cash is released upon repo, requiring more bonds to be pledged, which in turn means other assets have to be sold off to make up for the shortfall, which in turn leads to a sell off of the underlying financial institution (recall that banks in Europe buy their nation's sovereign debt and immediately pledge it back via various repo mechanisms) and so on. What this practically means is that the bond vigilantes now have a far more achievable task in terms of endgoals when it comes to punishing the offending debt, in this case Italy and Spain. Expect a prompt move to this appropriate level as debt holders start panicking what an extra margin demand will mean for them, and in turn try to lock up cash at current repo levels.

After a brief intermission in which even the robots apparently took some long overdue shut-visual sensor, things are back in motion, with both French and Italian CDS pushing out to record wides, France hitting 150, 7 bps wider, while Italy rising 15 bps to over 405 bps at last check. And what is more disturbing for all those who keep pounding the table that Spain should blow up first dammit so stop looking at Italy, Italian 10 Year yields just surpassed those of Spain, for the first time since April 2010. Elsewhere, as Bloomberg reports, the Yen has resumed its rally as the BOJ, has ceased its intervention after spending over Y4 trillion according to some accounts, only to realize what we said from the beginning: the yentervention will fail. "Both BOJ and SNB have made clear they oppose further currency appreciation but absence of other safe-haven alternatives means the yen and swiss franc will remain in demand", Lutz Karpowitz, strategist at Comerzbank, writes in note. And some more observations courtesy of Bloomberg: "Confidence is waning over EU policymakers’ ability to contain debt crisis, Derek Halpenny, strategist at BOTM-UFJ writes in note. These will make it all the more difficult for BOJ to find intervention success in yen. Without further BOJ intervention, intensifying risk aversion will result in further yen gains, Halpenny adds." What is ironic is that the Italian stock market is rebounding rapidly from overnight lows of -3.and 5%, is now green courtesy primarily due to alleged additional ECB bond purchases of Italian bonds, which rumor has in turn stabilized Italian financial stocks which are, as expected, soaring. We are confident this response will be as transitory as all other central bank interventions.

A snapshot of the European Morning Briefing covering Stocks, Bonds, FX, etc.

Market Recaps to help improve your Trading and Global knowledge

"The whole world is mad" - so says Marc Faber when beginning his latest observations of the markets in the attached Bloomberg TV interview. "Stocks will be dropping 30%, then rallying 20%, and dropping another 30% -  that's going to be the pattern. And whoever can't live with that shouldn't be buying equities at all." And while the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, said "there is a case to be ultrabearish about everything, and markets are going to go lower" he notes that markets are "extremely oversold" and he expects a "snap-back" rally in the U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 Index of about 40-50 points. That said, Faber sees no new highs in 2011. He concludes that he can already smell QE3, and that the next week will be important to see if Bernanke is a true money printer or an amateur, and if he is a true money printer he will start printing soon." Couldn't have said it better ourselves.

260% profits in 48 hours? Global markets in full meltdown mode? Bank runs imminent? Is this an all out collapse or will the global central financial planning cartel reign it in via the bear market rally from hell. Well, here's a few steps to take either way...

The meek and somnolent shall inherit nothing, because Europe just came back online and the apocalypse has resumed. Italian, Spanish and Belgian bonds opened lower, with spreads to Bunds surging the most since before the euro was introduced in 1999 (but before it was abolished in 2012). Specifically, the yield on 10-year Italian bonds jumped 19 basis points to 6.38% as of 7:40 a.m. in London after reaching 6.40%, the highest since 1997. The spread over bunds was as wide as 414 basis points. The yield on two-year Italian notes jumped to more than 5 percent. Additionally, the FTSE was down 2.7% as of first prints, the CAC 40 down 2.% and the lovely Italian FTSE MIB did open, however down 3.3%. We give it a few hours before it implodes. Furthermore, both Dexia and Intesa Sanpaolo are now limit down. US futures are down 7.5 and dropping. And this is just the beginning...

Goldman has kept mostly mum about tomorrow's NFP number for one simple reason: the BLS apparently has not leaked it to anyone, which explains why a rumor leaked by Larry Kudlow of all people has the power to move the EURCHF by 100 pips. Should tomorrow's BLS surprise there is just one conclusion that can be derived: any concerns of data leak from the BLS can be discarded. Which probably means that the NFP will be inline. Or not. As Goldman's Andrew Tilton explains there are just as many potential upside catalysts as downside, namely (to the upside) i) Jobless claims have moved lower since early July, ii) The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) nonmanufacturing employment index has held up, iii) The ADP employment report was reasonably healthy, while on the converse side we have i) Companies have begun to pull job advertising, ii) Manufacturing employment looks shaky, iii) Layoff announcements picked up in July. Taken together one can see why the Fed can push the data in either way, and the conclusion is that if the Fed wishes to pre-announce QE3, the NFP will be a major disappointment to where not even the robots can levitate the market higher, while on the other hand if Bernanke and kleptocratic company wish to extend and pretend for another two weeks in hopes that Mars, Alpha Centauri or Kang and Kodos will descend with an endless Jack in the Box full of Bernankebux, then it will print well over 100k. Alas, since every piece of news lately has been sold off we believe even a sizable beat will result in only a modest upside following by a massive fade, as the market refuses to rally without some evidence of QE3. Either way, for those who care about Goldman's thought, here they are, 5 short hours before the real deal.

Relevant News by www.thetrader.se

When we last looked at the Bank of America joke of a "non-settlement" settlement for a paltry $8.5 billion when $424 billion in total misrepresented (530 in total) Countrywide mortgage trusts were at stake, we said, "we are confident that the legal process will prevail and that the presiding judge on this case, and if not him then certainly the New York District Attorney, will step up and demand a thorough reevaluation of the settlement process." We were, oddly enough, correct. According to a just released filing from the New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Bank of America (and Bank of New York Mellon, one of the tri-party repo banks mind you), violated New York state law and "misled investors." In a knock out punch to Bank of America (and Brian Lin who was profiled here previously), the  bank allegedly violated the New York’s Martin Act and misled investors about its conduct tied to mortgage securitization as Bloomberg summarizes. Schneiderman said he has "potential claims" against Bank of America Corp. and its Countrywide Financial unit. As Zero Hedge alleged all along, "The proposed cash payment is far less than the massive losses investors have faced and will continue to face." What does that mean? Well, as the countersuit by the FHLB indicated (which we are certain will be the basis for the NY AG claims), the likely final settlement is probably going to be about $22 to $27.5 billion. Which also means that the bank's Tier 1  capital is about to be discounted by about 25% lower. Which, lastly, means that the stock is about to plunge due to a massive litigation reserve shortfall which will have to be plugged with, surprise, a new equity capital raise. Which brings us to our original question: got CDS (which closed around 200 bps today, roughly 25 bps wider - it is going much wider tomorrow, especially if the expected Sarkozy-Merkel-Zapatero meeting achieves absolutely nothing)? Cause this baby is going down...and it is probably about to be broken up into good BAC and bad bank, consisting almost entirely of all legacy Countrywide operations. Said otherwise, it could well be time for a CFC-BAC CDS pair trade.

Being honest, no one knows. But, using the current road map it appears we may have a little more selling before a decent move higher. Below is the updated 2007 "analog" as compared to the current market. Few interesting points. At some point this market will rally and will rally hard. Remember there are a lot of participants who view this selloff as excessive and based on fear. They view the macro data as a soft patch and see the Fed ready to launch QE3. When this market rallies they will be very loud in their "I told you calls." Many shorts with conviction after a day or two of market strength will in fact panic and begin to believe in the health of the economy contrary to what they know in their heart.  When studying the 2007-08 chart remember Bear Stearns was "bailed out" by JPM in March 2008 which caused a multi month rally that preceded the epic selloff. My personal view is we are headed for a similar epic selloff. I'm not sure when but suspect it is sooner than most think. BAC breaking down could very well be the modern day LEH failure. We are surrounded by "black swans" right now from rumors of Italian run on the banks to failed Spanish auctions and more.

I've got my head out the window
-And my big feet on the ground

Must ... not ... eat ... dirt ...

We're on the edge, and the Fed is going to do the wrong thing.

"This is the idiocrasy of this stuff. This is why we're in a worldwide financial crisis because there's no business sense any more in the foreclosure industry, none. And it blows my mind. Totally blows my mind.'' Circuit Judge Amy Williams

The irony about the blow up over the past month in "all things Italian" is that the facts about its sovereign debt and viability profile have always been available for anyone to not only see, but make the conclusion that the situation is unsustainable. The fact that so few dared to do so only confirms that affirmative confirmation bias that dominates within 99% of the investing population. Sites such as Zero Hedge and others had been warning for over a year that the Italian "contagion" (which is a misnomer: Italy's lack of viability is perfectly-self contained: it does not need Greece or Portugal to blow up, and can do so perfectly well on its own, but the punditry certainly needs a scapegoat, in this case the incremental layering of "revelations" about how insolvent Europe is) and we have long presented primary source data confirming just how precarious the house of cards is not only in Italy but everywhere else too. Regardless, no matter how conventional wisdom got to the big picture revelation of just how ugly Italy's reality is (and don't think for a minute that Spain is any better) the truth is that the cat is not only out of the bag, but is widely rampaging through the china store (no pun intended), high on speed and methadone. So for everyone who still wishes to know why the Italian jobs is very much hopeless absent the ECB stepping in an bailout out the country, below is a succinct list of 15 bullet points courtesy of The Telegraph, which explains all there is to know about the country's current predicament. In retrospect we certainly can not blame Tremonti for wanting to get the hell out of there.