Archive - Dec 2013

The last few days have seen significant shifts in the term structure of US Treasury bonds; auctions have not gone well and despite the world's expectations for 'taper' to lead to a surge in rates, the long-end of the bond-market has rallied. While Goldman might believe the 'bond bubble' is starting to pop, the following 223 years of Treasury yields (through free-markets and centrally-planned) sheds some light on what the 'new normal' level of rates really represents because, as we noted previously, the world is so levered now that any 'reversion' in rates is simply unthinkable.

Having had a few days to reflect on the all-knowing Bernanke's words (and deeds), here are a few thoughts on what was said (and not said)...

With a wave of detente spilling over the Middle East, following the surprising US overture to calm relations with Syria and Iran just months after it nearly launched an offensive war in the country over a few fabricated YouTube clops Looks like Africa will be the next geopolitical hotspot. But while France is the figurehead leading the offensive over west Africa, focusing on Mali and the Central African Republic, where they are "peacekeeping" (with the support of US drones), east Africa appears set for a full-blown flare out, with the Sudan area emerging as the dominant zone of instability and future escalation. Which is perhaps why not only a US aircraft, but a UN helicopter, both came under fire in the Sudan over the past 24 hours in what is assured to generate an "appropriate" response by the US.

I wonder who will prevail in the end?

"The powers of financial capitalism had (a) far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland; a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank... sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world." - Carroll Quigley, member of the Council on Foreign Relations

FX outlook through the end of the year...

It's no secret the US is facing a dilemma when it comes to its prison system. With the largest prison population and incarceration rate in the World, the US is facing severe overcrowding and more spending on prisons than education. What does the future hold for the US prison system?

"We simulated an adverse interest rate shock to estimate losses by bond funds from an instantaneous parallel shift in the yield curve of 100 basis points from current levels. We then compared the impact of such losses in today’s context to loss rates from a similar hypothetical scenario during the three previous periods of U.S. monetary policy tightening. Losses during each tightening cycle are calculated by averaging monthly estimated losses, where the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is used as a proxy for duration and mutual fund bond holdings are based on data from the Investment Company Institute. Figure 15 shows that losses could rise to nearly $200 billion, underscoring that current bond portfolios are vulnerable to a sudden, unanticipated rise in long-term rates."

Wondering what a 'market' looks like up, close, and personal in the seconds before, during, and after this week's "most important FOMC meeting ever." From SPY's 50-second lead on the news release to VIX's gap, and from crossed markets to e-mini futures leading the premature charge, Nanex's charts are a smorgasbord of SEC-inspiration...

34 years after Canada's Supreme Court upheld the country's anti-prositution laws, the highest court has struck down the nation's three prosititution-related laws in their entirety in a unanimous 9-0 ruling. Following the US' demand for minimum wage for strippers, AP reports Canada's ruling is a victory for sex workers seeking safer working conditions because it found the laws violated the charter guarantee to life, liberty, and security of the prison.

The unelected central planners at the Federal Reserve have decided that the time has come to slightly taper the amount of quantitative easing that it has been doing.  When this news came out, it sent shockwaves through financial markets all over the planet.  But the truth is that not that much has really changed.  The Federal Reserve will still be recklessly creating gigantic mountains of new money out of thin air and massively intervening in the financial marketplace.  It will just be slightly less than before.  However, this very well could represent a very important psychological turning point for investors.  It is a signal that "the party is starting to end" and that the great bull market of the past four years is drawing to a close.  So what is all of this going to mean for average Americans?  The following are 8 ways that "the taper" is going to affect you and your family...

Only 5% of hospitals in American saw year-over-year growth in overall admissions in November, according to Citi. This is the weakest inpatient admission rate on record and comes amid both doctor and patient uncertainty over the Obamacare changes. As Citi's Gary Taylor notes "the paralyzing effect of the impotent Obamacare rollout" and Medicare's new "two-midnight" rule will weigh notably on hospital earnings as doctor's employment and compensation modesl remain in flux. 13 days to go...

From the United States to Europe and Asia: The world's central banks are flooding markets with liquidity and pushing deeper into unknown monetary policy territory. Jim Grant tells Germany's Finanz und Wirtschaft that he "fears that this journey will not end well." The sharply thinking Wall Street veteran doesn’t trust the theoretical models of the central banks and warns of irrational exuberance in the financial markets adding that "the stock market is increasingly full of stocks that are borne aloft by hope rather than demonstrated performance."

While central bank intervention in the foreign exchange markets is nothing new, the last 4 years have seen unprecedented use of direct and indirect (jawboning) manipulation of exchange rates. As Goldman Sachs notes non-cooperative exchange-rate mechanics (i.e. currency wars) remains the new normal dynamic in world markets; and while some of the moves are generally consistent with cyclical (or structural conditions), efforts by central banks to 'manage' developed market rates in a low volatility range may come under further pressure with the Fed "tapering" as emerging market nations face money flow crises.

This past week the Federal Reserve began tapering their current large scale asset purchase (LSAP) program, more commonly referred to as Quantitative Easing (QE), by trimming $10 billion in bond purchases from the previous monthly totals.  This week's "Things To Ponder" is a diverse set of views on the potential effect of the taper on the financial markets and the impact to investors.  Regardless of your personal expectations as to the impact of the reduction of liquidity in the months ahead, it is always a good mental exercise to consider opposing viewpoints to balance your own views by eliminating confirmation bias.  Here are 5 disparate views on the effect, and potential outcome, of the Federal Reserve's latest move.