Archive - Mar 2014

One month ago, when we last looked at the incredible amount of Chinese new loan issuance, a topic which even the mainstream media is slowly starting to circle in on as the primary source of hot money flow creation in the world, we found the highest loan notional issued by the country's semi-sovereign banks since 2009, and the largest one-month ever monthly total in the largest aggregated, Total Social Financial, series, which rose by an unprecedented CNY2.6 trillion, or over $400 billion in one month! That was just before the tremors surrounding first the potential defaults of several Chinese shadow-banking Trusts, and certainly before the first official corporate bond default which took place last week. Overnight, the PBOC released its latest, February, loan data. As expected, it reveals something else entirely.

AUDJPY (and therefore US equities) is sliding this morning after the ubiquitous pre-open melt-up providing a green open for retail investors to believe in. Notably, from the close before Putin's press conference, the Nasdaq is underperforming all major indices (and Trannies soaring) but this morning has seen almost one-way traffic since the open. Treasuries are unch today as are precious metals (recovering from early losses) and the USD is modestly higher driven by AUD and GBP weakness.

Everyone knows the dollar is unstable, and falls alarmingly over long periods. And yet we still presume to use this paper to measure the value of gold! Amazing.

£9.48 in 1973 would have the same spending power as £100 today. The rising cost of retail goods means someone who was a millionaire 40 years ago would need £10,553,000 today to enjoy the same spending power.

The Turkish Lira is tumbling this morning (+150pips at 2.22); rapidly devaluing back towards pre-emergency-rate-hike levels and Turkish bond yields have surged back to levels seen in mid-2009. The driver appears to be the release of several political prisoners, suggesting the President is starting to lose control and given that 'political stability' is the key factor for many of these EM debt markets. The government, however, remains adamant that an "operation" by some institutional holders of lira bonds to "threaten" Turkey's economy started after the probe into government corruption began in mid-December.

Beware the Ides of Farce!

People apparently don't eat pizza when it is snowing... Or during an economic recovery... And certainly not when celebrating the market's all time high 5 year bull "market" anniversary. That is the conclusion one can derive from the just filed Sbarro Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which just happens to be the company's second in three years after it did the same in April 2011. The filing itself, which lists assets and liabilities between $100 and $500 million, is not surprising following on the heels of the announcement last month, when Sbarro said it would close 155 of 400 North American restaurants to cut costs. The reason for the Chapter 22 as it is known in restructuring circles: too much debt (so... debt isn't wealth?) and declining customer traffic, which like in the McDonalds' case has nothing to do with a cash strapped US consumer, but the nagging fear, which came true in January, that it would snow during the winter. Oh, and there is also no inflation, even though as Moody's warned in January, Sbarros was striggling with "high food, labor and occupancy costs."

One of the two men who used stolen passports to board the missing Malaysia Airlines jet has been identified according to the nation’s inspector general of police. Authorities are not releasing details of his nationality but confirmed he is neither Malaysian nor from Xinjiang, China (the home of the Uighur separatists who have come under suspicion following Taiwanese authorities tip last week warning that terrorists were targeting Beijing’s international airport).

That Ukraine "drill" may be coming at just the right time. Just out from Reuters:

• RUSSIAN TROOPS OPENED FIRE DURING TAKEOVER OF UKRAINIAN MILITARY POST IN CRIMEA, NO ONE WOUNDED -INTERFAX QUOTES UKRAINIAN BASE COMMANDER

And at the same time:

• RUSSIA'S PUTIN SAYS TOLD FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV TO INVITE U.S. COUNTERPART KERRY FOR MORE CONSULTATIONS ON UKRAINE
• RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER LAVROV SAYS HAD INVITED KERRY TO RUSSIA TODAY, BUT KERRY SAID ON SATURDAY HE WOULD LIKE TO POSTPONE VISIT

No de-escalation yet. Any minute now though. The market said so.

Iron Ore prices have dropped 25% since the end of last year, sending the key steel-making component into a bear market after slumping by over 9% overnight - its biggest daily drop on record. We warned last week this was likely to happen on the heels of Copper prices fell on monetary financing fears as we explained here how Iron Ore replaced copper as the collateral pool for new loans (following China's clampdown on cash-for-copper deals last year) and stockpiles hit record highs. What is further hurting the Iron ore prices are concerns over China's new anti-pollution reforms which are set to close thousands of furnaces.

Just out from the Ukraining defense ministry:

• UKRAINE ARMED FORCES CONDUCT TRAINING DRILL: DEFENSE MINISTRY
• UKRAINE DEFENSE DRILL AIMED AT TESTING `COMBAT READINESS': MIN

It may not be an abrupt ICBM launch, but it certainly increases the odds of some unintentional, or fully intentional, provocation between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries which as we have been following over the weekend, are amassing in very disturbing numbers in Crimea and, soon, east Ukraine.

Moments ago McDonalds reported its latest monthly comp store sales numbers. Printing at -1.4% for the US, this was a nearly double miss to expectations of a 0.6% decline, and was the 4th consecutive monthly drop in annual sales - the longest such stretch in the past decade and likely longer. Looking at this data, there are two observations: i) Americans, courtesy of record obesity rates, are finally getting serious about their health, and have shunned the infamous 99 cent deep fried meals or ii) courtesy of the Fed's "Fed's recovery", the average American can no longer even afford sub-$1 deep fast food.

The disgusting images of face-mask-wearing Chinese going about their daily business in minimal visibility and lung-busting conditions are strewen across the interwebs. However, even fake sun-rises pale into significance when the full dismal reality of China's pollution problem is put in context. Perhaps the following chart is why China's latest round of reforms appear to 'declare war on pollution'.

This week brings a slew of central bank meetings: At the forefront will be the BOJ meeting on Tuesday where no changes to monetary policy are expected. However, we will be watching the commentary closely for hints to further monetary easing in the coming months. Goldman, and others, still expect the BOJ to provide additional stimulus in the second quarter of this year as the impact of the consumption tax hike on the economy becomes visible - it is that expectation that sent the USDJPY above 100 in late 2013 and any disappointment by the BOJ will certainly have an adverse impact on the all important Yen carry pair.  In terms of the key data to watch this week, the themes of recent weeks remain the same: US activity data, with retail sales and the U. Michigan Consumer sentiment survey the main releases, European inflation trends (French and German HCPI data on Thursday and Friday, respectively), and finally external balances in EM. Within that group, the latest data points for trade and current account balances in India, Turkey and South Africa will receive the most attention.

• Index of largest Chinese stocks drops to lowest since February 2009 (BBG)
• Plane-Debris Hunters Seek Suspected Aircraft Window Part (BBG)
• New-Home Building Is Shifting to Apartments (WSJ)
• Forward Guidance Risks Stoking Instability, BIS Says (BBG)
• Alleged Bitcoin Millionaire Nakamoto Gets $28,000 Donations (BBG)
• Mexico kills drug kingpin reported dead years ago (Reuters)
• Tencent to Buy 15% Stake in JD.com to Boost E-Commerce (BBG)
• Bitcoin exchange MtGox 'faced 150,000 hack attacks every second’ (Telegraph)
• Noyer Says Stronger Euro Creates Unwarranted Pressure on Economy (BBG)
• Russian Forces Gain in Ukraine as Separatist Vote Looms (BBG)