Archive - Feb 2013

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. 

With Dow at 14,000 and rates rising, those that need to take commissions and get their ratings up are seeing the 'conventional wisdom' seemingly proved right. However, Rick Santelli does not see it quite as clearly. Bianco Research's James Bianco joins Santelli for what they call 'mythbusting' as the two skeptics rightfully expose the unreality of the 'fiscal cliff' fears, the untruth that is the 'Great Rotation' due to tax concerns ahead of the fiscal cliff, and dismal performance of the Fed's failed forecast ranges. As extreme monetary policy continues (crisis-mode) - seemingly in absolute opposition to what the talking heads will say about jobs and the economy - Santelli and Bianco conclude that "right now the market is not bothered by [the Fed setting rates], but at some point it might be, Trust Capitalism" as they reiterate the need for Market Forces to be allowed to act. 3 minutes well spent.

While Q4 earnings are sagging notably (as we pointed out here - 8% lower than pre-earnings-season expectations), the incessant ratcheting down of the expectations as the season progresses enables an ever-more-desperate sell-side to opine on the eventual 'beat' that evolves from a lower and lower bar. As Morgan Stanley's Adam Parker notes, however, the results have been massively top-heavy as the largest 10 earnings beats have contributed over 90% of the S&P 500 uspide in aggregate earnings. MSFT and JPM alone account for 50% of that beat. But with guidance plunging, Parker sees 2013 consensus estimates of $112 massively out of line with reality.

While we can only hope the following screed posted in an otherwise serious BusinessWeek, by David Kemper, CEO of Commerce Bankshare, and more importantly, a former president of the Federal Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve and thus indicative of the kind of "advice" the Fed receives, is a joke we have a very nagging feeling that the text below is actually serious. Which is why instead of Friday humor, we have decided to err on the side of caution and call this segment Friday tragicomedy. Because with a statement such as the following: "Why not expand the Fed balance sheet exponentially, from its current $3 trillion to $33 trillion... Would $30 trillion in extra buying power be inflationary when our entire current GDP is only about $15 trillion? Maybe, maybe not—but we need a game-changer here. First let’s celebrate the Fed’s record profits and its contribution to reducing our deficit. Then let’s seize the moment to do something truly grand: eliminate that stubborn deficit. We have the tools, and I, for one, say let’s give it a try."... it shows that the idiotic trillion dollar coin, Sheila Bair's farcical suggestion to let every American borrow $10 million from the Fed at zero rates, or even our suggestion from a year ago that the government build a Death Star, may appear as sheer genius in comparison to what else the Fed may be considering, and implement, before all this is said and done.

Some nations around the world have cut back on household spending amid a growing sense that the current debt burdens are unsustainable and perhsps current lifestyles could be modestly sacrificed in the hope of a more sustainable tomorrow. There is, however, one rather large nation that has not only not slowed its spending habits but has accelerated it - can you spot which one?

No problemo....

Amid the euphoria of today's crossing of the Dow's Maginot Line at 14,000, Kyle Bass provided a few minutes of sanity this morning in an interview with CNBC's Gary Kaminsky. Bass starts by reflecting on the ongoing (and escalating) money-printing (or balance sheet expansion as we noted here) as the driver of stock movements currently and would not be surprised to see them move higher still (given the ongoing printing expected). However, he caveats that nominally bullish statement with a critical point, "Zimbabwe's stock market was the best performer this decade - but your entire portfolio now buys you 3 eggs" as purchasing power is crushed. Investors, he says, are "too focused on nominal prices" as the rate of growth of the monetary base is destroying true wealth. Bass is convinced that cost-push inflation is coming (as the velocity of money will move once psychology shifts) and investors must not take their eye off the insidious nature of underlying inflation - no matter what we are told by the government (as they will always lie when its critical). Own 'productive assets', finance them at low fixed rates (thank you Ben), and finally, on HLF, don't bet against Dan Loeb.

One can stretch and spin the Q4 earnings reality to suit their particular sales pitch, or one can look at the facts. And the facts, as we first showed a week ago in "Q4 Earnings Season: Far Worse Than Most Suspect", is that before the start of Q4 earnings, the S&P 500 was expected to make $25.51 in earnings. Three weeks later, after half the companies had reported, the number declined to $24.03, with some $9.70 of actual reported earnings and the balance estimated. Now, a week later, the latest revision shows even more deterioration in earnings, which with 66% of companies my market cap reporting are now just $23.48, 8% lower than the estimate at the start of earnings season, with under $10 of earnings left in estimated EPS and the balance already in the books. As Goldman explains what this means for earnings on a year over year basis: "Our interim revised 4Q 2012 EPS estimate is now $23.48 implying negative 1% growth versus 4Q 2011 ($23.73)."

There are no limits on Central State and financial Aristocracy exploitation, but there are limits on what debt-serfs can pay. Since we can't print money, there are limits for us debt-serfs. There are also limits on how much we can extract from a neocolonial/neofeudal system as wages. This neocolonial/neofeudal financialization model will implode under its own weight, and that will be the crisis.

The NY Fed is the single most powerful entity in charge of the Fed’s daily operations. How can any investor believe that the Fed can manage the system and restore trust when the NY Fed granted MF Global primary dealer status a mere nine months before the latter went bankrupt?

There was a time when Goldman's Tom Stolper lost money for Goldman's clients with such speed and fury, it left people's head spin (see here when he was closed out in a matter of days). There was also a time when Stolper was supposed to be stopped out but refused to do so until the EURUSD cross actually closed trading inside his stop zone (which it eventually did). Today, however, the second the EURUSD touched above 1.3700 the Goldman strategist decided to get the hell out of dodge and has picked up his 400 pips since putting on the long EURUSD reco several weeks ago. With that last reco, Stolper has modestly redeemed himself, and all those who had listened to his previous recos have made some 400 pips, which hopefully should compensate for some 5000+ pips in cumulative downside to date.

There is a rising roar of bulls stampeding to the Japanese stock market. Whether due to Abe's apparent "this time it's different" cratering of the JPY to aid exports (and avoid deflation) or just plain old momentum (as the Nikkei 225 is nominally up almost 8% in January). However, just a little reminder that this return is priced in those increasing worth-less JPY. For all those exuberant overseas investors eying the gains, the reality is that, in USD, Japan's stock market is almost perfectly unchanged since 12/28 - Currency Wars indeed...

"Punxatawdry Ben is the annual bellweather of false profits; he prints predictably and then the ink disappears."--WilliamBanzai7

Between Hess' plant closing and scheduled maintenance, the squeeze appears to be on the refining space and wholesale gasoline prices are smashing higher. Along with flares in geopolitical risk (Ankara today and Israel/Syria earlier in the week) driving underlying crude prices,  Gas prices (at the pump) are surging - to record highs for the first week of February as per AAA, hitting an all time high of $3.465 for this day and just surpassing last year's price of $3.455; and based on where wholesale prices are (given the lag), we could be seeing $4.00 gas at the pump in the next few weeks.