Archive - Nov 2013

You know it's bad when...

With the market ebullient at the prospect of more "miracles" from Yellen, we thought it worth dusting off the following brief clip discussing what it would mean to "end the Fed." In order to answer this question, we examine countries throughout history that did not have an established central bank. So who performs the functions of a central bank in these countries? Professor White cites private institutions, including clearing house systems, banks, and financial companies, as the main actors in the monetary systems of countries without a central bank. Ultimately, he concludes that the Federal Reserve is not necessary. Evidence shows that nations can survive without a central bank. What the Federal Reserve does well can be done even better by private institutions, and the institution is capable of serious errors.

The third stage of bull markets, the mania phase, can last longer and go farther that logic would dictate.  However, the data suggests that the risk of a more meaningful reversion is rising.  It is unknown, unexpected and unanticipated events that strike the crucial blow that begins the market rout.  Unfortunately, due to the increased impact of high frequency and program trading, reversions are likely to occur faster than most can adequately respond to.  This is the danger that exists today. Are we in the third phase of a bull market?  Most who read this article will say "no."  However, those were the utterances made at the peak of every previous bull market cycle.

How many more quarters of this Einsteinian insanity will it take for investors to realize the sell-side analysts' "forecasts" are worse than useless...?

One of the biggest lies in finance is this perpetual deception that inflation is good. Ben Bernanke, the current high priest of US monetary policy, recently remarked that it’s “important to prevent US inflation from falling too low.” Well of course, we wouldn’t want that, would we? Just imagine the chaos and devastation that would ensue if the cost of living actually remained… you know… the same. One shudders at the mere thought of price stability.

The implication of this particular and quite unprecedented shadow banking circle jerk, which could very easily make even the direct wealth transfer resulting from trillions in QE pale by comparison, is so stunning that we leave it up to the reader to come to their own conclusion.

This objective report concisely summarizes important macro events over the past week. It is not geared to push an agenda. Impartiality is necessary to avoid costly psychological traps, which all investors are prone to, such as confirmation, conservatism, and endowment biases.

As we "forecast" this morning (and a month ago - if our extrapolation of the Fed's balance sheet is correct - i.e. no Taper - that the S&P 500 Fed L-A-B-I-A should be around 1800 by year-end), the Fed can be proud that they managed (remember it "costs" $3.25bn in POMO to create 1 S&P 500 point) to get the key US equity index - the S&P 500 - near the critical 1,800 level...

How could such a monetary disaster happen in a civilized and advanced society, leading to the total destruction of the currency? Many explanations have been put forward. It has been argued that, for instance, that reparation payments, chronic balance of payment deficits, and even the depreciation of the Papermark in the foreign exchange markets had actually caused the demise of the German currency. However, these explanations are not convincing. Looking at the world today - in which many economies have been using credit-produced paper monies for decades and where debt loads are overwhelmingly high, the current challenges are in a sense quite similar to those prevailing in the Weimar Republic more than 90 years ago. Now as then, a reform of the monetary order is badly needed; and the sooner the challenge of monetary reform is taken on, the smaller will be the costs of adjustment.

Yet another chart that perfectly tracks the performance of the S&P (or Fed balance sheet). Guess what it shows...

Would printing the cash to fund pensions for low-income retirees trigger inflation? It's more of an open question than we might imagine at first glance.

"We fumbled the rollout on this health-care law," could be President Obama's understatement of the century. In the month-or-so since Obamacare was unleashed 106,185 people enrolled (based on a loose re-definition by the White House). However, in that same period, the WSJ reports a stunning 4.02 million people received policy cancellations. So, in a month, a total of 3,918,205 fewer people are now 'enrolled' in a heathcare plan than before Obamacare. So far, California, Florida, and Washington are suffering the most under Obamacare...

The Republicans' "Keep Your Health Plan Act of 2013" bill has passed the House (as somewhat expected). However, what is more critical - as we noted previously - is that a large number of Democrats broke ranks and voted for the bill.

• *HOUSE VOTES 261-157 FOR REPUBLICAN BILL ON KEEPING HEALTH PLANS
• *THIRTY-NINE DEMOCRATS JOIN REPUBLICANS ON HEALTH-POLICY BILL

39 House Democrats voted in favor, shunning Obama's proclamation that he would veto the bill (which he described as "threatening the health care security of hard working, middle class families,") anyway if it came to his desk. It is unlikely to pass the Senate.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange admits that in July it was hacked:

• *CME HAD CYBER INTRUSION IN JULY, SOME CUSTOMER INFO COMPROMISED
• *CME: SOME CUSTOMER INFO ON CME CLEARPORT PLATFORM COMPROMISED
• *CME GROUP NO EVIDENCE TRADES ON CME GLOBEX ADVERSELY IMPACTED

Algos # 0001 through #9999 now have their Vacuum Tube Security Number leaked

Starting from a simple loan (remember them), credit markets have evolved many innovations to cater to an increasing need for leverage (intrinsic firm leverage - levered loans to high-yield bond market; and extrinsic instrument leverage - securitizations and derivatives) for issuers, traders, and investors. However, as the following maze of the history of debt, NY Times shows these have led to many costly crises (and will do in the future...)