Archive - Jan 2014

The 1,582-page (apparently bipartisan) omnibus spending bill announced last night adds up to a cool $1.1 trillion. As Bloomberg reports, lawmakers notes "not everyone will like everything in this bill," and we can see why. There is no IMF funding, nothing that "blocks Obamacare," the IRS gets a reprimand - barring them from targetng groups based on their ideological beliefs, preserves language that blocks Federal funding for abortions and spending any money to legalize marijuana. But, perhaps the most critical aspect of the bill is the NSA is required to give Congress number of phone records collected, reviewed during last 5 yrs, including estimate for records of U.S. citizens (among other things). Will that be one step too far for the administration?

Stocks may be masquerading as a big bounce today, driven by a VIX slam which has gotten the algos to ramp the S&P higher and of course a perfectly innocuous gold slam which as usual took out the entire bid stack, but the real money is furiously going elsewhere, such as today's 4 Week auction. Two things were notable: first - the rate was a solid 0.000%. This is not that surprising: after all under ZIRP, and as long as the Fed has control and the USD is the reserve currency, ultra-short term maturities are cash equivalent, which is why investors don't mind getting zero return in exchange for 1 month maturities.  However, what was far more notable is that the Bid to Cover in today's auction just soared to 6.36x, highest than last week's 5.66x, and the highest since December of 2011, when the scramble into short-term paper was a function of year end window dressing (made since unncessary courtesy of the Fed's Reverse Repo facility). So while algos are levitating stocks higher based on simple carry currency/VIX correlations, why the sudden real money scramble for the safety of near-term paper?

It would appear that in order to appease the masses - despite his recent small bump in popularity post-Affair - France's President Hollande has gone full Socialist-tard. Aside from promises to cut spending by EUR50 billion in the next 3 years (so less taxes?), Hollande has suggested...

• FRANCE'S HOLLANDE SAYS FRANCE MUST PRODUCE "MORE AND BETTER"
• HOLLANDE SAYS COMPANIES WILL IN RETURN BE GIVEN QUANTITATIVE TARGETS FOR HIRING, TRAINING
• HOLLANDE SAYS PUBLIC SPENDING CUTS CAN BE MADE WHILE PRESERVING FRENCH SOCIAL MODEL

Channeling Stalin, he further calls for "more economic governance of the Euro-zone" and the creation of a Franco-German energy company and more tax-harmonization with the Germans. We are sure Merkel will be over-the-moon at that suggestion.

DEA Agent and Justice Department Official Testify In Court that the U.S. Backed the Sinaloa Drug Cartel Between 2000 and 2012

Well that escalated quickly... As Europe closes, the precious metals complex is slaughtered on the altar of higher stocks and lower bond prices...

Yesterday we saw that JPY crosses lost their momentum-igniting effect on stocks as US equities suffered. This morning has seen the machines fall back to their old standard - the VIX slammer. However, while VIX is being slammed, stocks are not rising as much as expected. Trannies are back into the green year-to-date but we note more importantly that this most recent wrench higher has lifted S&P 500 futures to yesterday's closing VWAP - a crucial levels for market-making algos to make money. Silver is spiking once again; bonds are selling off very modestly (+2bps) and the USD is fading slightly.

"...in these artificial markets the percentages are skewed towards the bulls for now." - Deutsche Bank

Despite sovereign bond yields plumbing new record lows and the Prime Minister proclaiming (against Draghi's advice) that the nation has turned the corner and is out of the crisis; Spain's record unemployment and record loan delinquency is showing up in a major credit-creation-crushing way for small businesses. As Bloomberg's Jonathan Tyce reports, Spanish new business lending rates just experienced the largest 2-month surge in over a decade to their highest since 2008. At 4.04%, new business loans trade over 300bps above two-year sovereign debt (and are diverging) as the efforts of Europe's 'whatever it takes' central bank are being entirely wasted in terms of reaching the Keynesian growth-driving economy. We suspect this surge will once again raise talk of a rate-cut (and expose the impotence of the ECB's transmission mechanisms).

Remember when everyone said rising rates would not cripple mortgage origination and the lending pipeline? Well, tell that to the largest US mortgage lender, Wells Fargo...

The Status Quo views real estate bubbles as a "good thing": as home prices rise, the homeowner's collateral (equity) rises, creating both a psychological "wealth effect" (now that we're richer, we can afford to borrow and blow more money) and a temporary (and thus phantom) increase in collateral that will support more household debt. What few seem to realize (or discuss) is how rising home prices push rents higher.This is an entirely pernicious effect, as renters aren't getting any more "home" for the higher rent--they're paying more money for the same shelter. Central Planning pushing housing prices higher is not win-win--it is lose-lose-lose.

The Greek economy initially slipped into a deflationary trend in March 2013 and for the 10th month in a row in December, Bloomberg's Niraj Shah notes that EU-harmonized consumer prices dropped 1.8%. This is the longest deflationary streak since 1968 (largest in record according to Bloomberg data) as the Greek economy remains 21.3% smaller than it was in the third quarter of 2007. Of course, this doesn't matter to the dash-for-trash-grabbing fast-money muppets who have driven Greek stocks up 19% in the last 9 days to their highest in almost 3 years; because, as is the only important fact, Stournaras says recovery is coming any minute...

Following ongoing promises from the Fed that the Taper will continue at a pace of $10 billion per month come rain or shine, suddenly good news are critical for stocks, as the stock market is desperate for a strong economy to which Yellen can pass the baton. It did not get that with Friday's payrolls number so it was hoping for some good news in today's retail sales. And judging by the market response to the just released December retail sales, it got it, if only for now: headline December retail sales rose 0.2%, on expectation on a 0.1% increase even as auto sales tumbled -1.8%. Retail Sales ex autos rose 0.7% higher than the 0.4% expected, while ex autos and gas was up a more modest 0.6%, also better than the 0.3% expected.  How is it possible that December retail sales according to the US government were better than expected, when every retailer has posted abysmal results? Well it seems the Census Bureau merely engaged in some recalendarization, with November numbers all revised substantially lower: headline down from 0.7% to 0.4%, ex autos 0.4% to 0.1%, and ex autos and gas from 0.6% to 0.3%. In other words, a complete wash with today's "beat." So when netting away the calendar effect of an early start to the holiday season, perhaps the only value added data in the retail sales report was the data involving Electronics and Appliance Stores.They posted the biggest 2 month drop in 2 years!

The rally is running out of steam, and there is a real possibility of a trend change.

"For the first time this quarter, we were able to clearly observe the existence of funding costs in market clearing levels" - JPM

• House Unveils $1.01 Trillion Measure to Fund Government (BBG)
• Credit Suisse Tells Junior Bankers to Take Saturdays Off (BBG)
• Spot the odd word out: ECB Sees Bad-Debt Rules as Threat to Credible Bank Review (BBG)
• Insert laugh track here: Spain GDP grows at fastest pace in almost six years (FT)
• Scandinavian Debt Crisis Waiting to Happen Puzzles Krugman (BBG)
• Fed Said to Release Plan to Limit Banks’ Commodities Activities (BBG)
• Thai Protesters Extend Blockade After Rejecting Poll Talks (BBG)
• China provinces set lower growth goals for 2014 (BBG)