Archive - Dec 2012

One month after what was dubbed the most anticipated jobs report of all time, we are getting what may be the biggest dud of a monthly NFP update in recent years. The reason is twofold: i) everyone knows it will be ugly, with consensus looking at a +87,000 print, far below the mid-100s seen in the recent past, whether due to a catch up to the pre-election "spin" or due to impacts from Hurricane Sandy and ii) the report will have so many 'adjustments' embedded in it, anyone with a 1st grade econ-propaganda education will be able to spin it upward as they see fit. What is certain is that the broader mainstream media will continue to focus purely on the quantitative aspect of the report, while the real story over the past 3 years has been a qualitative one: a shift to lower paying jobs, a painfully slow (if any) rise in average hourly earnings, a transformation of the US labor pool to "Just In Time" inventory as virtually all new hiring needs are met by temps, and finally a secular shift to an older labor force, as job creation in the 25-54 category since January 2009 is still negative!

• Bundesbank cuts growth outlook as crisis bites (Reuters)
• Strong quake hits off Japan near Fukushima disaster zone (Reuters)
• Greece to Buy Debt It Already Owns to Reach Target (BBG)
• Draghi’s Go-to ECB Seen Risking Credibility Through Overload (BBG)
• Judge urges Apple and Samsung ‘peace’  (FT) ... Alas only the US government has a Magic Money Tree; others need profit
• Fed Exit Plan May Be Redrawn as Assets Near $3 Trillion (BBG)... make that $5 trillion this time in 2014
• Level Global, SAC Fund Managers Ruled Co-Conspirators (BBG)
• Egypt demonstrators reject Mursi call for dialogue (Reuters)
• Japanese Dealerships in China Retrench in Wake of Dispute (BBG)
• Apparel factory fire reveals big brands' shadowy supply chainsa (Reuters)
• Republican Defectors Weigh Deal on Tax-Rate Increase (BBG)

In a day in which it was all supposed to be about today's far weaker (because there is a perfectly good alibi in the face of Hurricane Sandy) Nonfarm payroll report, expected to print at 85,000, due out in 2 hours, once again it is the the "rest of the world" that stole the scene, starting with a reality slam out of Germany whose Bundesbank came out with revised forecast for German economic growth, which collapsed projected 2013 growth from 1.6% to a tiny 0.4%, adding that there are "growth projections risks to the downside" in effect all but sealing Germany's recessionary fate in the coming year, and send the EURUSD to overnight lows. Sure enough, as if to confirm this forecast, moments ago German Industrial Production in October tumbled -2.6%, on expectations of an unchanged print. None of this should come as a surprise to our readers whom we have been warning for weeks and months that the European economic malaise is spreading closer to the core with each passing day. What this means is that as we have been saying for months, slowly but surely the narrative that the ongoing German bailout of Greece is crushing the AAA-rated economy will become louder and louder until it is the German people themselves who demand a severing of all ties with Greece.And speaking of Greece, there are simply no words to explain the stupidity of what may be happening there. Perhaps the following Bloomberg headline captures it best: Greece to Buy Debt It Already Owns to Reach Target. Er, LOLWUT?

As of the end of November, the Consumer Discretionary sectot was the winner year-to-date with financials close behind (both up around 23%). The clear loser across asset classes is Crude Oil (down around 10%). We suspect at the start of the year that very few 'managers' or strategists would have expected anything like the distribution of outcomes that we see here - with EURUSD unchanged and Hedge Funds up just over 3% on average for the year. Some context for what 'could' happen in the remaining three weeks of the year.

Just one more QE-episode... growth will come in two quarters, we promise... housing has bottomed... stocks 'signal' all is well. We have heard these 'meme's a thousand times and yet still what is borrowed is given to shareholders and animal spirits (judging by the dismal confidence among small business leaders) remain mired in the quagmire of uncertainty and risk aversion. Nowhere is this more evident than the roll-over (and now falling) demand for new loans across global credit markets. This is not large public companies borrowing at ultra-rich spreads, courtesy of Bernanke's financial repression forcing supply into IG and HY markets, to merely charm pension funds with dividends; this is real demand for credit (per loan officer surveys) all turning down as the balance-sheet-recession continues.

"Propaganda is to Democracy, what the bludgeon is to the Totalitarian State."--Noam Chomsky

A “new era”: 48% of the French consider themselves living in poverty or on the way to it.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is one of the most important organizations we have in America today.  While most of the country lays fast asleep to the dangers of the encroaching surveillance state, the EFF is always vigilantly at work on the front lines.  In their latest article, they show that military drones are already flying all over these United States and, using information received from a FOIA lawsuit they provide important details on what is flying and where.  You may be shocked at some of their conclusions.

There are two approaches to being a sell-side, talking-head, strategist when it comes to China. If China is rising, then hey, global growth is recovering and China's transition is going well - so buy US equities levered to China. If, however, China is falling (or out of favor) then US equity markets are the cleanest dirty shirt and decoupling is the new normal. Thus, no matter what, being long US equities is your staple investment advice - heck it's worked for a few decades, why not? Well the truth is that, empirically, the correlation between US Machinery or Tech Hardware stocks and the Chinese market has risen for six years straight. In other words, there is no decoupling (ever); as goes China, so goes US equities - and that sensitivity has never been higher.

Below is a list of the 4 largest Federal Reserve asset category by notional as of today:

• Treasurys:  $1,655,889 million
• Mortgages: $883,627 million
• Other assets: $209,863 million
• Agency debt: $79,283 million

Quietly, the Fed's Other Assets have overtaken Agencies, and are now the Fed's third largest asset category and about four times the total Fed capital of $55 billion. We have written about these "other assets" in the past; we will likely write about them in the future again, for the simple reason that the chart showing the Fed's notional holdings in this category correlates quite clearly with the parabolic Greek unemployment rate.

Here's 'Buck' to explain, in plain English, "one of the most complex 'but effective' institutions in the United States - The Federal Reserve System". Whether you view for the pure irony of it - or pass on to an Econ PhD friend, this animated cartoon from the St. Louis Fed (funded by our cliff-invoked taxpayer money we are sure) takes us from inception around one hundred years ago to the present-day and covers the three divisions (Reserve Bank, FOMC, and Board of Governors) and three responsibilities (providing financial services, conducting monetary policy, and supervising banks). It seems 'Buck' had not been informed of the other and varied roles the Fed plays in the world's populations' lives. How long before this is required viewing for all K-12 schools nationwide?

We have maintained (here and here) for quite some time that the only true "consumer confidence" statistic one should look at is that of gun sales.  The bottom line is, as Mike Krieger so rightly points out, people do not hoard guns when they are confident about the future of the country, and gun sales have never been better.  More evidence emerged as Smith & Wesson just announced record financial results.

Isaac Newton, the father of classical mechanics and progenitor of nearly every technology we use today, was easily one of the top 10 most influential minds in all of human history... Yet as accomplished as he was, Newton credited the brilliant scientists and philosophers who came before him, acknowledging that his insights would not have been remotely possible without the foundations laid by great thinkers– Archimedes, da Vinci, Descartes, etc. No doubt, all great ideas flourish by expanding upon the works of others. Unfortunately, so do terrible ones. And one of the worst ideas in history that continues to play out today is the grand experiment of fiat money. The idea is simple. Rather than allowing money to be scarce and have intrinsic value, our fiat system grants power to a tiny elite to conjure money out of thin air. Presumably, if the ones in control are smart, honest guys, then everything should be fine. Fiat was a total failure right from the beginning... and yet the economic engines deep below are steered by people who worship at the cult of bad ideas.