Archive - 2013

Today's market moving news (or at least what should be market moving news) comes from hyper discounter extraordinaire, Family Dollar, whose stock is getting clobbered on what is merely the latest downward outlook revision (because as much as the Fed would like, reality, and cash flows, still do matter). Yet, while earnings not only for the $0.99 store but for the entire S&P will be atrocious something that apparently only selling copious amounts of VIX and buying up the ES in hopes of lifting all sinking boats can fix, it is the comments on the conference call that are most disturbing. To wit...

Banzai7 Coffee and Beverage Warning!

The IMF reported Q3 currency composition of foreign exchange reserves at the start of the week when many were on holiday. We offer the following observations. 1. As a whole, central banks drew down reserves during the financial crisis and have been rebuilding them. Total fx reserves stood at $10.78 trillion at the end of Q3 2012. This compares the estimated value of all above-ground gold (@~$1670 an ounce) of $8.49 trillion. 2. This represents a $610 bln increase over Q3 2011. This compares with the estimated value of the new gold produced in 2011 of about $125.5 bln. The bulk of the increase in currency reserves (~3/4 or $414 bln) came from countries that report the allocation of their reserves. China and some Middle East countries are strongly suspected not to report the allocation of their reserves.

I left yesterday for the bobbling heads - to the artists of verbiage that weave arguments of their own accomplishments much as the artists of Three Card Monty hide the truth behind their shells. Yesterday we had a nice rally in the equity markets. No surprise; the sigh of relief was palpable that Congress did something, anything to address our fall over the cliff. I would not get too excited however. We raised taxes, we penalized those succeeding and we did it in a meaningful manner. We did not cut the national debt as sung by the chorus across the airwaves. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office we decreased revenues by $3.6 trillion over ten years. We did not protect the middle class, but because of the expiration of the payroll tax decrease, Federal taxes will rise for 77% of all working Americans. Thus we rewarded non-working Americans at the expense of those with jobs. The game was the continuation of postponement and avoidance and reckless governance of the nation.

Presenting two covers to commemorate what may be the most dysfunctional Congress in the history of the US: the 112th, whose final official day is today. The only Congress that will be worse is the 113th, then the 114th and so on.

Having passed the 'easy-do-nothing' bill that created a 5% uplift in US equities, D.C. have left the most difficult set of issues for last: entitlement reform, which Republicans have said they will insist upon in return for raising the debt limit, and tax reform, which the President has said he will insist on in return for entitlement reform. The upshot is that reaching an agreement on the next debt limit increase could be at least as difficult as the last increase in August 2011. As Goldman notes, the next debate on the debt limit will be the fifth "showdown" on fiscal policy in the last two years. Adding further angst, in the summer of 2011 politicians had started the debate some three months prior to the real deadline. This time it appears that nothing serious will happen until the 11th hour as usual, meaning far more last minute volatility. However, one new twist to this now familiar routine may come from the rating agencies, which look likely to be more active in 2013 than they have been since 2011.

Thirty years ago, the USSR was better known as the "Evil Empire." Fast forward to today, when its successor Russia, is apparently the "Tax Free Empire", and less socialist than France, at least to infamous millionaire expatriate Gerard Depardieu, who as reported previously has paid €145 million in taxes over 45 years, and who demonstratively decided to give up his French passport in the wake of France's socialist 75% millionaire tax (subsequently ruled unconstitutional), and as of today, has just been granted Russian citizenship.

It would seem initial claims can be summed for 2012 in one word, 'average'. This last print of 2012 was almost perfectly at 2012's average of 372, the biggest miss since the first week of November and the Sandy disturbance. Notably, last week's print was revised higher (after 19 states failed to report and were 'guessed at) by 12k jobs to 362k having now risen for 3 weeks in a row (on a seasonally adjusted basis). When we scratch below the surface at non-seasonally-adjusted the numbers are much more concerning than a rampaging equity market would care to note, NSA initial claims rose 40,459 to 495,588 on the week. Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania saw the biggest rises in claims while California dominated the drop in claims (by state) down 11,789. 73k Americans lost Extended Unemployment Benefits in the week ended December 15th.

Yet another headscratcher in the endless litany of Baffle with BS data, this time from the ADP Private Payrolls report, traditionally a laughing stock when it comes to its NFP forecasting powers (we will spare readers the correlation scatterplot which shows a 0 correlation), which not only revised its November print from 118K to 148K (just so it mysteriously coincides with the November NFP number of 146K), but saw the December private jobs number surge to 215K on expectations of a 140K print. The primary reason for the spike, a +39K surge in construction jobs, supposedly in the aftermath of Sandy, as well as some +53 job additions in trade, transportation and utilities. Also, how ADP gets +14K financial jobs in the peak financial layoffs month (to avoid year end bonuses of course), is anyone's guess. And while we should worry about that unemployment rate rapidly approaching the 6.5% Bernanke QE4EVA threshold end (don't worry, tomorrow we will find that the labor participation rate mysteriously has started to grow again to actually push the unemployment rate higher now that the Obama re-election is no longer an issue), we definitely should not worry about America's manufacturing renaissance, as the country lost yet another 11,000 manufacturing jobs - the 6th month in a row with mfg job declines (sorry Ohio, better luck next time).

Back in April 2012, in "How The Fed's Visible Hand Is Forcing Corporate Cash Mismanagement" we first explained how despite its best intentions (to boost the Russell 2000 to new all time highs, a goal it achieved), the Fed's now constant intervention in capital markets has achieved one thing when it comes to the real economy: an unprecedented capital mismanagemenet, where as a result of ZIRP, corporate executives will always opt for short-term, low IRR, myopic cash allocation decisions such as dividend, buyback and, sometimes, M&A, seeking to satisfy shareholders and ignoring real long-term growth opportunities such as R&D spending, efficiency improvements, capital reinvestment, retention and hiring of employees, and generally all those things that determine success for anyone whose investment horizon is longer than the nearest lockup gate. Today, one calendar year later, none other than Bill Gross, in his first investment letter of 2013, admits we were correct: "Zero-bound interest rates, QE maneuvering, and “essentially costless” check writing destroy financial business models and stunt investment decisions which offer increasingly lower ROIs and ROEs. Purchases of “paper” shares as opposed to investments in tangible productive investment assets become the likely preferred corporate choice." It is this that should be the focus of economists, and not what the level of the S&P is, as it is no longer indicative of any underlying market fundamentals, but merely how large, in nominal terms, the global balance sheet is. And as long as the impact of peak central-planning on "business models" is ignored, there can be no hope of economic stabilization, let alone improvement. All this and much more, especially his admissions that yes, it is flow, and not stock, that dominates the Fed market impact (think great white shark - must always be moving), if not calculus, in Bill Gross' latest letter.

• Obama Signs Bill Enacting Budget Deal to Avert Most Tax Hikes (BBG)
• GOP Leaders Take Political Risk With Deal (WSJ)
• Basel Becomes Babel as Conflicting Rules Undermine Safety (BBG)
• Portugal Faces Divisions Over Austerity Measures (WSJ)
• The Fiscal Cliff Deal and the Damage Done (BBG)
• Cliff deal threatens second term agenda (FT)
• Deposits stable in euro zone periphery in November (Reuters)
• Fresh Budget Fights Brewing (WSJ)
• China Poised for 2013 Rebound as Debt Risks Rise for Xi (BBG)
• Who's Afraid of Italian Elections?  (WSJ)
• China services growth adds to economic revival hopes (Reuters)
• Asian Economies Show Signs of Strength (WSJ)
• Japan’s Aso Targets Myanmar Markets Amid China Rivalry (Bloomberg)

The bipolar mood swing over the short-term band aid Fiscal Cliff non-solution may be over, and finally the market, which yesterday saw the official breach of the debt ceiling on the final day of 2012 on paper may be starting to look forward 58 days to that day in February, or more likely March, when the real catalyst as we have said all along- the increase of the US debt ceiling by another $2.4 trillion - has to be resolved. Futures are down a modest 5 points even as the EURUSD slide continues now that year end window dressing repatriation means European banks no longer need to show the currency on their books - at some point the EURUSD-ES correlation algos will kick in but not yet. Keep in mind that in the summer of 2011 the debt ceiling negotiations started some two months before the D-Day in early August, this time around politicians, who have learned nothing, will likely leave all debate until the very last moment once again, as the democrats assume the GOP will fold like a cheap lawn chair once again, even as the tensions at the GOP to do just the opposite hit a fever pitch. Which is why not even Goldman Sachs, as confirmed in a note by Alec Philips last night (coming shortly), cares to predict what (or when) the "debt ceiling 2013" outcome will be.

Though the banking elite are now increasingly being exposed for their criminal activities against humanity in their theft of citizens’ wealth, rarely is another one of their greatest transgressions, their theft of citizens’ minds and the process by which they target and transform young adults into docile, obedient creatures through institutional academia, ever discussed.

• Introduction – Gold’s Gains In All Fiat Currencies in 2012

• Much of Gold’s Gains in 2012 On 11% Price Gain in January 2012

• Japanese Yen Shows How Gold Protects From FX Devaluations

• Food Inflation Risk As Wheat and Soybeans Surge in Price

• Currency Wars and Competitive Currency Devaluations

• Gold Remains Historically and Academically Proven Safe Haven

• Conclusion – Gold in 2013