Archive - Jul 24, 2012

The importance of the negative credit outlook from Moody’s lies less in the realm of financial markets, given how little investors seem to value the views of the credit rating agencies. Rather the major importance lies in the policy and political reactions to the rating actions. As UBS notes, there is a risk of popular (not political leadership) adverse reaction. The media in Germany (where there is a tradition of media hostility to the Euro periphery) or in the Netherlands (approaching a general election in September) may portray this as "we are being dragged down by the Euro periphery". If that does transpire it could easily fan the flames of populist resentment of the Euro still further. Critically, if the media attribute (or mis-attribute) the blame to the periphery, there could be obstacles to that integrationist momentum. The reality of a common monetary policy and the necessity of some kind of communalized fiscal responsibility are being brought to bear on the Euro area polity - but markets seem confused. CDS markets are pricing Germany's risk as if it was becoming increasingly encumbered to the periphery and yet the FX market is dragging EURUSD lower on expectations of massive upheaval and potential SPexit with no German 'unlimited' support. CDS appears to fit with raters, FX more with haters - or as UBS points out, perhaps all is not well in Germany as it "has demonstrably failed to grow its way out of debt."

A few weeks ago America had to go through the supreme political theater that was the SCOTUS' unprecedented and uber-political decision on Obamacare, which in attempting to overcome allegations of partisanship, only succeeded in reinforcing these even deeper. Now, with everyone expecting Bernanke to launch QE every time there is a 1% downtick in the Russell, our honorable Chairsatan is in the same position: he needs to do something but can not afford to appear political with the presidential election just over 3 months away. In other words, from the soap opera about the Supreme Court of the US, we now move to the one about the Supreme Federal Reserve of the US. And the trouble for those whose investment strategy is hope and prayer is that the Fed is becoming aware of this reflexive phenomenon, and just for that reason may delay QE until September, by which point the US, and global economy, will be in freefall.

Despite some early angst, Treasury yields have been crushed lower today. Down 7bps from their European close levels, 30Y is trading with a 2.45% handle for the first time ever and 10Y now with a 1.39% handle. Both all-time record lows as the 2Y auctions with a 4x bid-to-cover as 2s5s flattens to almost five year lows as the Fed's ZIRP and Europe's NIRP has pushed investors to front-run into preservation of capital instead of pushing them out on the risk spectrum. For those who care (instead of preferring to listen to dividend-stock-touting talking heads), 10Y TSYs have plenty of room to run if rates keep falling (15% upside if Japanification takes hold) - which prompts the question - just what is the interest expense convexity for the Government if rates were ever to rise from here?

"While there are many reasons to be bearish on stocks, there is only one good reason to be bullish. The only bullish hope is that the Bernanke Put again will save the stock market" is the salient reality that TrimTabs' CEO Charles Biderman exclaims in his latest clip. Shifting to 100% bearish this weekend for his institutional clients, he believes that even if the Fed QuEases again, the equity pop is well-discounted and will have at most a 10% impact before he sees at least a 20% drop from April highs followed by potentially worse as the realization of the fiscal cliff begins. The glass-half-full-of-truth Biderman notes four specific reasons for his bearish call: from wage and salary growth slowing to barely positive YoY, to the Fed's inability to create any multiplier effect to boost the economy; and from the slowing global economy where "low tides will uncover all the hidden garbage created by booms" to the basic supply/demand of stock and money based on his 'Demand' index dropping to six-month lows. His bearish view is not even predicated on Europe's conflagration accelerating which would simply add more fuel to the growing fire.

Lost generation of Spain.

A tax collector rant.

David Einhorn throws France under the bond vigilante bus, last seen meandering back and forth all over Spain and Italy: "Under the new regime, France is now cozying up to its new anti-austerity, pro-money-printing allies, Italy and Spain. This makes sense when one considers that France's economy is more akin to that of its southern neighbors than it is to the German economy. Strangely, the French bond market hasn’t figured this out just yet."

Back in early May we noted that the 'strength' of EURUSD (at the time around 1.30) implied an expectation of a $700bn Fed NEW QE is on its way very soon - in fact, as recent developments by the two central banks have demonstrated, it was the ECB that added assets (and liabilities) over the past two months, even as the Fed has shed some excess weight. In those following six weeks, EURUSD has fallen nearly 1000pips in our favor as the FX market has finally given up hope of imminent printing (with only the most addicted of markets - US equities - left 'believing'). As Fed and ECB balance sheets have shifted in the last few weeks, so the new 'QE-less' target for EURUSD is around 1.1850 (200 pips lower), though we would suggest taking some healthy profits to leave a runner.

"What's the difference between the US and Europe?" 'About Six Years' is the punchline that CNBC's Rick Santelli ascribes the apparently magnanimous view that Europe is so much different from us. Between PIMCO's Kashkari pontificating on unsustainable debt (and the Fed's need to 'do something', and Liesman still defending the Fed with all his might, Santelli loses it - noting Kashkari's intelligence, he rhetorically asks "Do you really think [the Fed] is the solution?" - and rightly so. "It's all band-aids," he exclaims, adding that "the problem is insolvency." Speaking out loud what many are thinking, Rick blasts the hypocrisy of the Kashkaris of the world who opine on solutions (and band-aids) while missing the critical underlying problem - that no one is accountable. Between Reagan, 'unreal' spending cuts, compromised 'bad' resolutions, and the continuing ostrich economics in the US mainstream, Santelli tells it like it is - as hard as it is for the CNBC anchors to hear.

Spain's IBEX equity index closed at Euro-era lows today having dropped over 10% in the last 3 days (crushing the hopes of the afternoon post-short-sale-ban squeeze yesterday). This leaves IBEX down over 30% for the year (and Italy down over 18% YTD). Add to that; inverted long-end curves in Spain (and almost Italy), all-time record high short- and long-term spreads for Spanish debt and euro-era record high yields, record wide CDS-Cash basis, dramatic short-end weakness in Italy, new low negative rates in Switzerland (-46bps) and Germany (-7bps), and EURUSD at its lowest since June 2010 at 1.2059. But apart from that, the EU Summit seems to have done the trick nicely. Financials have been crushed in credit-land as subs notably underperform seniors and HY and IG credit continues to lead the equity markets lower in reality. Meanwhile, remember Greece? 30Y GGBs have dropped almost 20% in price in the last few days and have closed at all-time record low closing price at just EUR11.55!! S'all good though - where's Whitney?

It has been a while since Greece made the front pages. That changes now:

• GREECE SEEN MISSING EU/IMF DEBT REDUCTION TARGETS, FURTHER DEBT RESTRUCTURING NECESSARY - EU OFFICIALS

And to think all those knife catchers said the Greek bonds were the slam dunk trade of the year. All of them are about to get taken to the cleaners. As are their newsletter sales.

The chart below, which compares the change in the Richmond Fed and the Non-Farm Payrolls print, is self-explanatory. Of course, if we are indeed about to get a -400,000 NFP print, then the prayers of all those newsletter sellers whose only "thesis" is more easing, are about to be answered.

Start...

The first is a long-term chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). The recent price history has traced out a pattern that looks remarkably similar to the one that presaged the crash of 2008, with one difference: massive quantitative easing and Eurozone bailouts pushed the B leg into an overextension. If this pattern is valid, the C leg down could be a real doozy.

UPDATE: *ITALIAN TWO-YR NOTE YIELD RISES ABOVE 5%, 1ST TIME SINCE JAN 11

While every wannabe bond-trader and macro-strategist can quote 10Y Spanish yields, and maybe even knows what the front-end of the Spanish yield curve is doing (and why), there are three very significant events occurring in the Spanish sovereign credit market. First is the inversion of the 5s10s curve (5Y yields were above 10Y yields at the open today); second is the velocity with which 2s10s and 5s10s have plunged suggesting a total collapse in confidence of short-term sustainability; and perhaps most critically, third is the record wide spread between the bond's spread and the CDS (the so-called 'basis') which suggests market participants have regime-shifted Spain into imminent PSI territory (a la Greece and Portugal) as opposed to 'still rescuable' a la Italy for now. As we pointed out earlier, there is little that can be done (or is willing to be done) in the short-term, and the inevitability of a full-scale TROIKA program request is increasingly priced into credit markets (though its implicatios are not in equities of course).