Archive - Aug 2012

Is the reality of different time-horizons and event discounting really starting to tell on markets? Equities have now sagged back lower while Treasury yields are accelerating lower and Gold higher. It seems that stocks fully comprehend that QE does not come without more pain in the short-term and are starting to price for that - while given the low/no cost of carry for Treasuries and Gold, the eventual reality of further financial repression and money-printing can be discounted in from longer maturities. It seems somewhat in-the-stars that the Fed will do more as they have convinced themselves that all is well with their extreme policies and short-term benefits outweigh ultimate costs, but this afternoon's disconnect between the QE-to-the-moon feeling in Gold and Treasuries and the QE-not-so-soon feeling in Stocks may well be a trend to watch as the only sure thing is when not if The Fed acts.

Have no fear; Europe closed and equities leaked so a quick series of European comments are more than required... Bankia, check! Bank backstops, check! ECB Bond-Buying Plan...

• *ECB SAID TO PLAN TO GIVE GOVERNORS BOND PROPOSALS ON SEPT. 4
• *ECB SAID TO HAVE NO PREFERRED OPTION FOR BOND PURCHASE PLAN YET

So no real idea what they are actually going to do. However!

• *ECB SAID TO GIVE CENTRAL BANKS 24 HOURS TO DIGEST BOND PLAN

With Spain's new-found belief in its own incompetence omnipotence, they are now throwing bad money after bad in advance of the European bailout by pre-bailing out (bridge recap?) Bankia via the FROB (and it seems like they are in a hurry):

• *SPAIN'S FROB SAYS TO INJECT CAPITAL IN BFA-BANKIA IMMEDIATELY

which makes sense given that:

• *BANKIA GROUP BAD LOANS RATIO 11% IN JUNE VS 7.63% IN DEC. (a 44% rise!!)
• *BANKIA 1H NET LOSS EU4.45 BLN VS EU201 MLN PROFIT A YR AGO

The bottomless pit will all be 'fixed' though by October (just like Dexia was?)

*BANKIA CHAIRMAN SAYS SPAIN, EU COMMENTS ARE `GREAT SUPPORT'

Perhaps it is the weight that is lifted from having to tow the propaganda life while under the influence of the Fed, but Robert Heller (ex Fed Governor) just laid out the 'translated' version of Bernanke's speech this morning. "I don't think the Federal Reserve will take any action, certainly not until the fiscal cliff, the fiscal uncertainties are actually addressed," which is similar to our interpretation of Bernanke's comments as he added "if they're not addressed and the economy falls off the cliff; yes, then you may get QE3," but "I don't see that happening before the election!" This great interview - somewhat stunningly truthy for CNBC - is well worth five minutes of your time (on this ever-so-hectic Friday before Labor Day) as Heller discusses teh fading impact of QE, the risk of enormous losses for the Fed, and the danger of believing in a 'safe' exit strategy.

This was the obvious conclusion anyone who actually bothered doing research would come to. Bernanke stated as far back as May 2011 that the consequences of QE outweighed the benefits. He also stated a month ago that for the Fed to buy too many Treasuries or Agencies would “hurt” the financial system.

Sigh. Spain's IBEX gained over 3%; Italy's MIB gained over 2%; and all but the UK's FTSE equity index ended very nicely green today (all jerked higher by Spain's comments on their bad-bank and then Bernanke's cover). However, European Government Bonds (EGBs) failed dismally. Spain's 10Y spread to bunds ended the week 46bps wider and Italy 15bps wider and while some point to the short-end as evidence that all is well, Spain saw modest weakness in the 2Y today post Bernanke (though Italy rallied). The curve steepening was dramatic to say the least as the market appearsd to be increasingly assuming the ECB will monetize short-dated govvies - our own view - consider what the implied forward financing costs are given these steep curves as clearly noone trusts this as a solution and will merely subordinate the entire market.  Spain 2s10s curve is now at its steepest on record at 328bps! and this is not helping:

*SPAIN’S CATALONIA REGION CUT TO JUNK BY S&P, OUTLOOK NEGATIVE

But buy stocks...

Upcoming calls from Ben and Mario to the governments?

Get your act together, there’s just so much that can be done.

Odd and contradictory ROn / ROff close

The market is indeed a discounting mechanism it appears. In a mere 20 milliseconds, the world's 'traders' had managed to read Bernanke's 4549-word script, interpret it (as bearish in this case - which apparently is wrong now?) and start to sell down the major equity indices. As Nanex points out, not only was the reaction lightning fast (actually faster than lightning) but it occurred in their newly created 'fantaseconds' as trades were timestamped 'before' the bids and offers were even seen in the data-feed. How long until the machines can interpret Bernanke's 'pre-QErimes' and really front-run reality?

In the immortal words of the Jackson 5: "I'll Be There" seems to be the meme du jour - which appears to us to be the same message that Bernanke (and his proxy Hilsenrath) have been on for a few years now. However, in case you hadn't had enough sycophantic central-bank-fellating 'hope', the WSJ's front-man just reiterated for one and all that Ben's our man. In our subtle opinion, it seems however that perhaps Bernanke was a little disingenuous with his talk of 'policy tool effectiveness' - as clearly his efforts have not had the desired economic effect so far (or he would not need to reiterate the ability to do more of the same).

Ben's prepared remarks went off embargo at 10:00 am Eastern. The text (just the body, excluding appendices) had 4,549 words, 254 commas and 173 periods. It took Goldman 40 minutes to read it, write a 579 word response, proofread, get it through compliance, and shoot it to all clients. The title? "Bernanke Makes Case for Effectiveness of Unconventional Easing" of course, even though the real shocker in the speech was that Bernanke for the first time as far as we recall admitted that the sentiment that QE is not working may result in a Catch 22 where every incremental and larger QE episode has diminishing returns (just as we have been warning for years). 

It's been 20 minutes and in that time we have been entirely depressed as every risk-on asset dumped to the day's lows or lower and now we are entirely euphoric - there is still hope - as Gold/Silver make new highs, stocks recover all their losses, Treasury yields continue to fall, and EURUSD does, well, we are not sure really... Meanwhile, European Sovereigns are all cracking wider...

In continuing my rant on the Apple v. Samsung verdict, I wish to make clear once again that the vast majority of consumers of Google's and Apple's products are absolutely oblivious to the business model of Google, the business practices of Apple and the shadowy aggressive survival tactics of the behemoth that is Microsoft. If I am correct in this assertion then the potential ramifications of Apple actually defeating Samsung in the patent case decided last week is also lost on most.

Bernanke takes the wind out of the market's euphoric sails: "Substantial further expansions of the balance sheet could reduce public confidence in the Fed's ability to exit smoothly from its accommodative policies at the appropriate time. Even if unjustified, such a reduction in confidence might increase the risk of a costly unanchoring of inflation expectations, leading in turn to financial and economic instability."

After this morning's low volume stop-run to the highs (divergent from Spain's 10Y fulcrum security), we have gone nowhere during the day-session so far - even with a small miss on Chicago PMI and beat in Confidence. But with a few minutes to go until his big moment, markets are trading in a QE-ON mode in anticipation of Ben's big words (except FB -4%). Treasury yields down, USD down, Stocks Up, Gold Up, Oil Up. Primed for disappointment...