Archive - Sep 24, 2012

While Nomura's Bob Janjuah remains 100% correct in his diagnosis and prognosis of the current 'grossest misallocation and mispricing of capital in the history of mankind', his tactical short was stopped out last week. The modest loss on the position though provided clarity on the importance of the 1450 level for the S&P 500 and he remains confident that on a multi-month timeframe he expects 800 to be hit with only a muted 10% possible upside in global equities due to underlying growth, debt and policy-maker concerns. Critically, he suggests it is premature to go aggressively short risk at this precise moment, urges traders to stay nimble, and warns "...risk assets are in a bubble which of course can extend, but which can reverse sharply and suddenly. Up here, 'valuation metrics' are not going to help much... this bubble could extend for maybe a few months and by up to 10%, ...but that we could see global equity markets 10/15% lower in virtually a 'heartbeat'."

There was much riding on the Apple update for the first weekend sales from the new iPhone 5 and here they are.

• APPLE SAYS IPHONE 5 FIRST WEEKEND SALES TOP 5M.

This number would be great if only it wasn't 50% off the highest whisper estimate of up to 10 million sales in the weekend. It is also the reason why the stock is now sliding down well over 2%, threatening to light the AAPL hedge fund hotel on fire.

Confirming the dismal picture of advanced economy import and export declines we discussed yesterday, the following chart provides everything you need to know about the world's economic quagmire but were afraid to ask. Of course, all the time the central-printers of the world are willing to debauch themselves there will be momentum-chasing monkeys to maintain the blue-pill illusion of a healthy stock market as indicative of a healthy economy - but should you choose to swallow the red pill, this chart of a plunging global trade volume may raise anxiety levels a little above their current multi-year lows.

Ray Dalio, founder and co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, L.P. and one of the most successful hedge fund managers of all time told Maria Bartiromo last week that he owns gold and that he sees no “sensible reason not to own gold”. The interview was part of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Corporate Program's CEO Speaker Series, which provides a forum for leading global CEOs to share their priorities and insights before a high-level audience of wealthy and influential CFR members.  The respected hedge fund manager suggested that a depression and not a recession was likely and warned of social unrest and the risk of radical politics as was seen with Hitler and the Nazis in the Depression of the 1930’s. Dalio spoke about how “gold is a currency” and when asked by Bartiromo “do you own gold?”, he smiled and said “Oh yeah, I do.” The admission elicited a laugh from the CFR audience. Dalio’s interview is important as it again indicates how slowly but surely gold is moving from a fringe asset of a few hard money advocates and risk averse individuals to a mainstream asset. Wealthier people and some of the wealthiest and most influential people in the world are slowly realising the importance of gold as financial insurance in an investment portfolio and as money. This will result in sizeable flows into the gold market in the coming months which should push prices above the inflation adjusted high of 1980 - $2,500/oz. The interview section where Dalio is asked about gold by an audience member begins in the 43rd minute and can be seen here.

Just when we thought Europe has already used the kitchen sink and then some in its arsenal of bailout ideas, here comes Spain proving there is always "something else." Bloomberg reports that the insolvent country which is not really insolvent as long as people keep buying its bonds on hopes it is insolvent, is launching "lottery bonds". To wit: Spain to sell bonds through state-run lottery operator to fund regional bailouts, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg’s Esteban Duarte and Ben Sills. The issue is part of €6 billion financing through Sociedad Estatal Loterias & Apuestas del Estado which is raising syndicated loan. Loterias official said financing details haven’t been completed. In other words, the national lottery, which as in Spain so everywhere else, is nothing but an added tax on a country's poor population but one which provides at least a tiny hope of a substantial repayment (which never happens for the vast, vast majority of players) so few actually complain about paying it, is about to shift the bailout cost to the nation's poorest. Who benefits? Why Spiderman towel makers of course. And insolvent banks.

Risk-averse sentiment dominated the first half of the session today, as market participants digested yet another disappointing macro economic data release from Europe (German IFO), which fell for a fifth consecutive month. In addition to that, EU’s Van Rompuy said that he sees tendency of losing the sense of urgency, likely pointing the finger at Spain which is yet to request monetary assistance to prevent another speculative attack. It remains unclear when the official request will be made, but there is a risk that the application will only take place after regional elections in late October or even after the Eurogroup meeting in November. Finally, German finance ministry spokesman said that leveraging the ESM to EUR 2trl, as reported by Der Spiegel over the weekend, is not realistic and called the report completely illusionary. As a result, peripheral bond yield spreads are wider, with Italian bonds underperforming as markets prepare for this week’s supply from the Treasury. Heading towards the North American cross over, EUR/USD is seen lower by around 75pips and is trading in close proximity to the 1.2900 level, with bids said to be placed below. Talk of dividend related buying in GBP/USD, as well as EU budget related selling in EUR/GBP by two different UK clearers helped support GBP/USD. Going forward, there are no major economic releases set for the second half of the session, but the BoE will conduct its latest APF and the Fed will buy between USD 1.5-2bln in its latest POMO.

• World on track for record food prices 'within a year' due to US drought (Telegraph)
• Foxconn halts production at plant after mass brawl (BBC)
• Germany Losing Patience With Spain as EU Warns on Crisis Effort (Bloomberg)
• Fed Recovery Doubts Spur Investor Bid for Treasuries (Bloomberg)
• Japan protests as Chinese ships enter disputed waters (Reuters)
• In Shark-Infested Waters, Resolve of Two Giants Is Tested (NYT)
• China jails Wang Lijun for 15 years (FT)
• China closes in on Bo Xilai after jailing ex-police chief (Reuters)
• European Leaders Struggle to Overcome Crisis Stalemate (Bloomberg)
• Politicians 1: Austerity 0 - Portugal Gives Ground on Worker Contributions (WSJ)
• Obama Controls Most of His Money as Republicans Have More (Bloomberg)
• Coeure Says Not Clear That Further ECB Interest-Rate Cut Needed (Bloomberg)
• France Seeks Labour Overhaul (WSJ)

The last time we saw a bevy of regurgitated European rumors shortly refuted was last Friday. Today we get a redux, following a hard push by none other than Spiegel (precisely as we predicted a month ago: "And now, time for Spiegel to cite "unnamed sources" that the EFSF is going to use 3-4x leverage") to imagine a world in which the ESM can be leveraged 4x to €2 trillion. This is merely a replay of last fall when Europe's deus ex for 2 months was clutching at a cobbled up superficial plan of 3-4x EFSF leverage, which ultimately proved futile. Why? Because, just like in 2011, one would need China in on this strategy as there is simply not enough endogenous leverage in either the US or Europe which would make this plan feasible. And China, we are sad to say, has a whole lot of its own problems to worry about right about now, than bailing out the shattered dream of a failed monetary unions still held by a few lifelong European bureaucrats, which this thing is all about. As expected, moments ago Germany refuted everything. Via Reuters: "Germany's finance ministry said on Monday that talk of the euro zone's permanent bailout fund being leveraged to 2 trillion euros via private sector involvement was not realistic, adding that any discussion of precise figures was "purely abstract." This also explains why we devoted precisely zero space to this latest leverage incarnation rumor yesterday: we were merely waiting for the refutation.