Archive - Nov 2013

Goldman's (and NY Fed's) Bill Dudley: "I am not yet convinced that breaking up large, complex firms is the right approach.  In particular, these firms presumably exist, in large part, because there are scale or network effects that allow these firms to offer certain types of services that have value to their global clients.  These benefits might be lost or diminished if such firms were broken up.  In addition, the costs incurred in breaking up such firms need to be considered.  Finally, the breakup of such firms would not necessarily result in a significant reduction in overall systemic risk if the resulting component firms were still, collectively, systemic. "

No one has any good answers but it seems carry is being unwound in a hurry as US momos are hammered. Whether Draghi's move shocked EURJPY riders enough to spark some major anxiety is unclear but Japanese stocks are now down over 440 points from early highs (to one month lows), US equities at their lows, and USDJPY blown back below 98.00.

We previously discussed what happened the last time that IPOs were outperforming the broad market by as much as they are now but thanks to the exuberance of the last month, it seems we have broken another 'record'. Year-over-year absolute gains in Bloomberg's IPO index have only been higher once in history - in 1999; and current levels have been notable resistance for the exuberant spurts of the last 6 years...

As we reported previously, for the third quarter in a row, Obama's favorite punching bag bank - JPMorgan - reported a statistically impossible zero trading day losses. Some suggested that since in the New Normal market in which it is virtually impossible to lose money this was to be expected; either that or just because banks work purely to satisfy client flow and have little principal risk, there is little reason for them to actually lose money trading. Both these ideas got blown out earlier today when Goldman reported that in the third quarter, the FDIC-insured hedge fund's trading loss days soared to a total of 15 days: a whopping 23.4% of the total 64 trading days in the quarter.

Supreme Court Rules You No Longer Have the Right to Remain Silent

Presented with no comment...

On Thursday, November 7, 2013, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) halted trading in all OTC Equity Securities pursuant to FINRA Rule 6440(a)(3). FINRA determined to impose a temporary halt because of a lack of current quotation information. Therefore, FINRA has determined that halting quoting and trading in all OTC Equity Securities is appropriate to protect investors and ensure a fair and orderly marketplace. The trading and quotation halt began on Thursday, November 7, 2013, at 11:25:00 a.m. E.T. FINRA will notify the market when trading may resume.

For a few brief minutes this morning, the world celebrated Mario Draghi's 'surprise' rate cut as just the medicine that an all-time high stock market needs to go even higher. European stocks popped champagne-like (with Italy and Spain jumping 2 to 2.5% on the news), EUR collapsing, and peripheral bond spreads dropping notably. However, as he began to speak and it was clear that growth is not there, deflation is a real risk, and - most importantly - there will be no LTRO anytime soon, market reversed and did not look back. It seems, as JPM warns, an LTRO is no longer likely early next year, and the market appears to be disappointed by that. Of course a few more down 2% days (4% drop from highs) and we are sure Draghi will find a way to unleash more...

Having now tripled since August, Bitcoin's break above $300 ($324 highs) raises an important thought experiment - can a digital currency act as a global reserve currency?

There is no news as a catalyst here but bonds, FX, commodity, and stock markets are smashing around as Twitter break below its open price. JPY is rushing higher against the USD (as is EUR which has retraced Fib 61.8% of its losses from Draghi). Treasury yields are collapsing. Nasdaq and all the other US equity indices are dumping as momo names suffer the most.

Yeah, I know... It's different this time!

Nope, no bubble here... Having traded up to $50 (over 33x Price-to-Sales), it seems hitting every analyst profit target (aside from Topeka's Anthony) within one hour of its release was enough for most... The 'profit-taking" has started and now TWTR is trading back below its break price... But do not worry - everyone can rest assured as Cramer just said "we're out of the woods here." Of course, as everyone knows, it's not where you start, it's where you finish that counts...

Today, all eyes are on the ECB rate decision. The ECB is expected to leave rates unchanged at 12:45 GMT (7:45 EDT), but may indicate that it will reduce rates soon which would be gold supportive, particularly in euro terms.

+75% at the open... (and is now up to $47.23)... HFT activity is extreme

With JPM having stolen the spotlight for every possible instance of fraud and market manipulation in the past year, it was easy to forget there are other prominent banks that engage in precisely the same deceptive practices as, well, everyone else. One such prominent bank is none other than everyone's old favorite bloodthirsty mollusc, Goldman Sachs, which in a filing reported that "currencies and commodities were added to a list of financial products and related activities that are subject to investigation. The filing also added options trading and technology systems and controls to the list." So, pretty much everything is being investigated.