Archive - Oct 15, 2012

WTI crude started moving first but soon afte the US day session opened we saw EUR weakness, US strength and precious metals started to fade rapidly. Gold and Silver have now retraced the post-FOMC Bernanke-Bump, but remain above the Draghi-Day levels...

While European equities, sovereigns, and corporate credit all seem cock-a-hoop at the tail-risk mitigation efforts of the Draghi 'promise'; demand for the safety of Swiss interest rates has quietly been creeping higher. Swiss 2Y rates are now at almost six-week lows (below -18bps), its lowest since the Draghi 'believe' speech... it seems not everyone 'believes'.

Just when we thought we may finally get one decent economic data point which even we could get excited about, we decided to look at the Non-Seasonally Adjusted September retail sales data. After all the $4.7 billion seasonal increase in headline retail sales was the second highest ever (in absolute terms, second only to 2004). Turns out our curiosity was an enthusiasm-dowsing mistake, as a number which on the surface looked good, was hardly validated by the Not-Seasonally Adjusted number, which plunged by $31.9 billion. How does this September sequential change compare to previous years? See the chart below and decide for yourselves if the massive NSA plunge in September 2012 merits the second best seasonally adjusted retail sales increase in history.

The bottom line on Citigroup's just released results: the firm reported an adjusted adjusted Net Income number of $3.268 billion ($1.06 EPS), which was "better" than the expected $0.97 (just like JPM's bottom line was better and the initial spike higher in the stock price promptly reverted into the red once people read the footnote text). How did Citi get to this number? It started with an unadjusted $964 million of Net LOSS and then added back a tax provision, CVA losses (as its spread tightened in the quarter), the loss for the sale of MSSB ($4.7 billion pre tax), and miraculously got to $3.3 billion. The MSSB and CVA/DVA adjustment also miraculously increased total revenues from $13.951 billion to $19.411 billion, making a sequential unadjusted 25% drop in Revenues equal to a 3% increase. But even if one were to assume that the bank's $3.3 billion uber-adjusted Net Income number is meaningful in any way, it is certainly notable that $1.509 million of this, or nearly 50% came from the tried and true gimmick: Loan Loss Reserves, which boosted EPS by the same percentage, even as the firm saw its Net Credit Losses soar by 11% from Q2, to $3.979 billion. This was a bigger LLR than in Q2 ($984MM) and Q3 2011 ($1,422MM). Same old goosing gimmicks, different day.

The Japanese Yen has been one of the strongest currencies among the developed nations of the world since the end of LTRO (up 6%). This strength (repatriation flows and or carry unwind?) combined with a dismal domestic economic growth environment appears to have pushed Japanese firms to spend spend spend for growth. The latest and greatest Softbank/Sprint deal will shift this year's Japanese corporate acquisition of foreign companies to near-record levels. As Bloomberg Briefs notes, this will be the country's largest overseas acquisition on record - exceeding Japan Tobacco's $19bn acquisition of the UK's Gallaher Group in 2007. However, this growth-buying-spree does not come cheap as ratings are under pressure and while LBO-style financing might make the deal 'cheap' at first, at some point the cycle will re-emerge; but for now - it appears the BoJ (who we are sure are watching intently) should maybe leave intervention off the table until Japan owns it all again and becomes even more too-bigger-to-fail.

The economic data twofer this morning was a beat and a miss. Retail sales increased by 1.1% on expectations of a 0.8% increase, with the last month's data being revised from 1.2% to 0.9%. Headline retail sales, ex autos was up 1.1% on expectations of a 0.7% print, and up from an upward revised 1.0%. Some of the main drivers in the September retail sales pick up were in electronics and appliance stores, which rose 4.5% from August (thank you iPhone 5), Gasoline Stations +2.5%, and Motor vehicle and parts dealers 1.3%, which continue to be a notable driver of retail strength for the second month in a row. As for the miss, it came from the Empire Fed, which increased from September's -10.41, to -6.16, but missed expectations of a -4 print. New Orders improved modestly from -14.03 to -8.97, and ironically was the only subindex in the entire report that staged an increase. Shipments declined to a negative print, from 2.75 to -6.40. Declines were also recorded in Delivery Times, Unfilled Orders, Inventories, Prices Paid, Prices Received, the average Employee Workweek, and most importantly, Number of Employees which declined from 4.26 to -1.08. Not even the forward looking indicators, so critical to consumer "confidence" managed to rise, dropping from 27.22 to 19.42.

You know the drill: please point out on this chart, which shows the yearly change in average hourly earnings for all US private workers, just where is this so-called "recovery", which an additional $6 trillion in public debt, and 5 quantitative easing episodes, have allegedly created out of thin air. For those confused, like us, we bring attention to the fact that in the past two months we have seen the smallest Y/Y increase in avg hourly earnings. Ever.

• Hilsenrath Humor du jour: Bernanke Advocates Stronger Currencies (WSJ)
• Auditors want two more years for Greece on deficit (Spiegel)
• More bluster: Schaeuble Rules Out Greek Default as Samaras, Troika Bargain (Bloomberg)
• And even more bluster: De Jager Says Greece Needs to Make Fiscal Reforms Immediately (Bloomberg)
• Global Economy Distress 3.0 Looms as Emerging Markets Falter (Bloomberg)
• Central bank governor stresses inflation control (China Daily)
• Greek Yields Reach Post Debt-Swap Low as Bunds Slip on Schaeuble (Bloomberg)
• Roth and Shapely win Nobel prize for economics (Reuters)
• Fed chief rounds on stimulus critics (FT)
• IMF Board Sees Biggest Power Shift Reshuffle in Two Decades (Bloomberg)
• EU Girds for Summit as Nobel’s Glow Fades on Crisis Response (Bloomberg)
• Japan security environment tougher than ever (Reuters)

After starting the overnight trading at its lows, the EURUSD has once again seen the now traditional overnight levitation, this time with absolutely no economic news, in the process raising equity futures across the Atlantic, even as unfounded Chinese optimism for more liquidity has waned leading to the SHCOMP closing down 0.3%. Perhaps the most notable event in the quiet trading session so far has been the surge in 10 year Greek debt whose yield has tumbled to post-restructuring lows, driven by more and more hedge funds piling in to piggyback on Dan Loeb's recent public GGB purchase announcement (strength into which he has long since sold), and hopes that Greece will somehow see an Official Sector Initiative (OSI) to make recovery prospects for Private Investors more attractive: a capital impairment the ECB has said would happen only over its dead body. But in the new normal, facts and rules are for chumps, and only exist to be broken. More on this amusing stupidity here. Amusingly, this comes just as Greece’s Staikouras says the economy’s downward spiral is not over yet. But, again, who cares about fundamentals.

A new week begins. Here are the major global market-moving events to look forward to for both the next week, and for the remainder of October and November.