Archive - Jan 2013

January 29th

Tyler Durden's picture

Bank Of Israel Head Stanley Fischer Stepping Down





In a shocking development, one which comes out of central planning left field, after eight years in his role as safe-guarder of the Shekel, the head of the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer - Ben Bernanke's personal mentor, and famous underwater investor in AAPL - has announced his intention to step down. This resignation comes 10 months (and $100 less in AAPL) after the central bank's announcement to begin buying foreign stocks. Is this a harbinger of the change in the old brigade, and does it make Bernanke's departure one year from today virtually assured - we hope to find out, unless, of course, the most aggressive and ambitious central banking experiment in history to keep the global house of cards afloat fails in the meantime.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Action Over; Reaction About To Commence





The one thing that all of us know, surely all of us must know at least this, is that markets do not go forever in one direction. I am not speaking here of the pecularities of a day or of trying to eke out some trade but of shifts in circumstances and sentiments that sets the direction upon a new course. We live in a world recently comprised of three basic tenets; postpone, make up facts to suit the goals of some nation or nations and throw money at anything that moves. This is an inherently unstable construct and yet that is what our brilliant leaders have embraced. I will tell you this; when chicanery is trotted out as truth, when liabilities are not counted, when losses are termed investments, when the only answer to anything is the printing of more small pieces of green and blue paper then trouble is approaching with a capital “T” and the future is a bleak cloud of foreboding.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Spain Is World's Most "Miserable" Nation, Worse Than Greece, Venezuela And South Africa





A quick ranking of the world's most "miserable" countries, based on the conventional measure of the Misery Index which is simply the Unemployment Rate plus Inflation, shows just why most people in Spain are, well, less than happy (and Spain is damn lucky there is no subset of the Misery index for just those aged 25 and under as we would certainly need a bigger chart). As the chart below shows, the Spanish "misery" is now the greatest in the world, at some 30%, and is worse than South Africa, Greece, Venezuela, Argentina and Egypt.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

VMWare Plummets 17%: Goldman Removes It From "Conviction Buy" List, Keeps It Just A "Buy"





Yesterday $42 billion tech behemoth VMWare stunned its investors when not only did it cut guidance, announcing that global demand is sliding, scaling back products but also disclosing a 7% workforce cut: hardly the stuff that global recoveries are made of. Sure enough, the stock is getting clobbered -17% lower this morning with the weakness likely to spread to the rest of the tech space. But just in case there was any confusion who was making money into last night's epic collapse, and was selling the stock to muppets who were told it was not only a Buy, but a "Conviction Buy", and to buy with both hands no questions asked, look no further than the usual suspect.

 

EconMatters's picture

Blatant Price Manipulation Takes Place Every Day in Oil Markets





Every single day the oil market is manipulated, it is easy to see, right out in the open, and nobody does anything about it.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Frontrunning: January 29





  • U.S. Wants Criminal Charges for RBS (WSJ)
  • Bernanke Seen Buying $1.14 Trillion in Assets in 2014 (BBG)
  • Irish banks at mercy of international paymasters (Reuters)
  • Do badly, and we will let you do even worse: Rehn Signals EU May Ease Spain Budget Goal in Austerity Retreat (BBG)
  • Too Soon to Celebrate for Europe's Banks (WSJ)
  • Army says political strife taking Egypt to brink (Reuters)
  • Media Firms Probed on Data Release (WSJ) - No Criminal Charges Seen
  • Japan’s Government Proposes First Spending Cut in 7 Years (BBG)
  • Nazi Goebbels’ Step-Grandchildren Are Hidden Billionaires (BBG)
  • Goldman seeks to reduce China exposure (FT)
  • More than 70% of Chinese airports generate losses (People's Daily)
 

RANSquawk Video's picture

RANsquawk EU Market Re-Cap - 29th January 2013





 

Tyler Durden's picture

Overnight Sentiment Pulled Lower By Drop In Carry Funding Currency Pairs





Following yet another quiet overnight session, futures have surprised many walking into work today as the traditional overnight levitation is strangely missing. The reason for that may be the lack of the traditional for 2013 lift in various funding currency pairs, with both the USDJPY and the EURUSD lower. While there was no major macro news, the former may have been dragged lower by various comments from the German BDI industry federation chief who said he is worried about the devaluation race stemming from Japan's central bank policy echoing Merkel's comparable sentiment and revealing that the EURUSD may have topped out, while the latter was pushed lower following today's 7 day ECB MRO, which saw some €124.1 billion allotted at a 0.75% yield. This was largely in line with expectations, with Barclays seeing some €135.4 billion maturing, while BNP had expected modestly more, or some €150 billion. The MRO is the first such operation, with tomorrow's 3 month refinancing operation likely to give a better glimpse of the bank's post-LTRO repayment funding needs. Whether it is this, or the market finally demanding some action out of central banks which, except for the Fed, have been in constant promise mode, or just a random walk, is unknown, but for now the carry funded nominal devaluation of risk may have topped out.

 

January 28th

williambanzai7's picture

LeS BaNKRuPT SLoB...





Vive Les Finance!

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Department of Homeland Security to Purchase 7,000 "Assault Weapons"





The hypocrisy of the government knows no bounds. The writing on the wall couldn’t be clearer.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

Bernanke To Oprah: "I've Been Doping for Years"





Beginning with the "Yes or No" questions only, everyone's favorite talk-show host takes on The Bernank in this earth-shattering interview. While Lance Armstrong managed to keep the dream alive for over a decade as all around him showed point-blank-proof of artificial stimulation, it took Oprah to get the truth from his lips (oh and a USADA threat). It seems The Federal Reserve has been forced to 'fess up in this entertaining interview as Bernanke sits sobbing across from Ms. Winfrey - and comes clean to years of monetary policy artificial stimulation and performance-enhancing economic-doping. Just like Armstrong, Bernanke admits that it is widespread and that this generation of central bankers "all do it" as he notes that "some retard from the FT or NYT will write excruciatingly thoughtful op-eds about how this is actually a good thing." From the raging parties at Club-Fed to "good f##king times" with Alan Greenspan to "telling people to chillax and enjoy the good times" as the housing bubble popped, Bernanke leaves us with these chilling words: "Buy food, guns, and gold, this $hit is about to get real!" Print-strong.

 

Tyler Durden's picture

"We Are Doneski Gorgeous!" - How Bond Trading On Wall Street Really Works





"Jesse Litvak arranged trades for customers as part of his job as a managing director on the MBS desk at Jefferies.  Litvak would buy a MBS from one customer and sell it to another customer, but on many occasions he lied about the price at which his firm had bought the MBS so he could re-sell it to the other customer at a higher price and keep more money for the firm.  On other occasions, Litvak misled purchasers by creating a fictional seller to purport that he was arranging a MBS trade between customers when in reality he was just selling MBS out of his firm’s inventory at a higher price.  Because MBS are generally illiquid and difficult to price, it is particularly important for brokers to provide honest and accurate information. The SEC alleges that Litvak generated more than $2.7 million in additional revenue for Jefferies through his deceit.  His misconduct helped him improve his own standing at the firm, as his bonuses were determined in part by the amount of revenue he generated for the firm." 

 

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