Archive - Mar 2014

Having heard the great and good declare this morning's "beat" on the headline NFP data as indicative of 1) the recovery is awesome; 2) the reason why stocks have been rallying; and 3) the recovery is awesome... it appears between a rising unemployment rate, tumbling average hourly earnings, and Gazprom's threat in Europe, stocks are taking this "good news" as "bad news." Confirmed by Hilsenrath that the taper is on - which is what bonds, gold, and the dollar appeared to be saying - the S&P 500 having spiked 10 points is now 13 points off its highs and in the red for the day...

As we showed moments ago, the scariest chart of today's nonfarm payroll report was the plunge in average weekly earnings. For those curious why US workers are unable to make any headway in obtaining higher wages, the following breakdown of just where the 175,000 (seasonally adjusted, because apparently now seasonal adjustments work again) February job gains were should provide some color. Unfortunately, as has been the case for the past several months, well over half the total job gains in February were in industries that pay the least.

In order to normalize for the weekly hours worked, we decided to look at the big picture which ignores hours worked, and average hourly earnings. So we looked at average weekly earnings. In February, this number was $682.65, down from $683.74 for production and nonsupervisory employees. However, the real impact of declining wages is seen nowhere better than in the annual increase in average weekly earnings. The chart below needs no explanation: when wage growth is at 1%, or half of the Fed's inflation target, you will not get any sustained economic recovery. And what if one looks at the average weekly earnings of all employees? Well, we just hit a new post-Lehman low. 5 years into the "recovery", weekly earnings growth is the lowest it has been in 5 years!

We have discussed the sword of Damocles that is hanging over the heads of the Ukrainian (and European for that matter) people for some time. The dominant role that Russia plays in providing energy is becoming critical, however, as Gazprom notes:

• *GAZPROM SAYS TODAY IS DEADLINE FOR NAFTOGAZ TO PAY FOR FEB. GAS
• *NAFTOGAZ OVERDUE PAYMENTS AT $1.89B FOR GAS SUPPLIES: GAZPROM
• *GAZPROM SAYS NAFTOGAZ ISN'T OBSERVING CONTRACT
• *GAZPROM: UKRAINE DEBTS CREATE 'RISK OF RETURN TO SITUATION AT BEGINNING OF 2009' (when Gazprom cut off Ukraine gas supplies)

Of course, the US agreed to $1b bailout yesterday - but that's not supposed to be used as a direct transfer payment to the Russians.

Will London's current property bubble play out to be one of the most costly ever and end up costing UK and foreign investors billions?

The knee-jerk reaction to a better-than-expected (and entirely noise-driven) payroll number (with a rise in the unemployment rate) is a rip higher in stocks and collapse in bonds and precious metals. The USD is surging as USDJPY instantly hit 103.50 (breaking through its 50DMA) providing all the juice stocks need to test that critical Goldman 1,900 year-end target for the S&P 500. It seems, just as we warned earlier, "whatever the number, the algos will send stocks higher - that much is given in a blow off top bubble market in which any news is an excuse to buy more."

So much for the weather. As we warned earlier today, when we said that with everyone expecting a miserable print the only possible result would be a large "beat", sure enough that's precisely what happened. Breaking it down:

February payrolls: +175K, Exp. 149K, Last revised from 113K to 129K).
Unemployment rate: 6.7%, Exp. 6.6%, Last 6.6%.
Labor participation rate: 63.0%, Last 63.0%

Today's consensus estimate for the non-farm payroll is for a 149K increase broken down as follows among some select banks:

• Bank of America 115K
• Deutsche Bank 120K
• Goldman Sachs 125K
• Citigroup 135K

Why is the expectation so low? Why cold weather of course - the same cold weather that supposedly impacted December and January data. Then again, one wonders just what is the seasonal adjustment factor for if not to adjust for the, gasp, seasons. So when one puts the February actual number in the context of its average adjustment over the past decade, what does one get? Simple - a boost of 1.5 million "jobs" which exsit nowhere in the real world but in some Arima-X-13 spreadsheet.

It appears Obama's latest "one hour" conversation with Putin has just made things downshift from bad to worse. Moments ago Russia accused the European Union of taking an "extremely unconstructive position" by freezing talks on easing visa barriers that complicate travel between Russia and the EU over Ukraine. "Russia will not accept the language of sanctions and threats" and will retaliate if sanctions are imposed, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement about agreements reached at an emergency EU summit on Thursday. And assuring that the imminent Crimean referendum due in just over a week will rapidly deteriorate the current detente was overnight news that Russia's upper house of parliament will support Crimea in its bid to join the Russian Federation, the speaker of the upper house of parliament said Friday. "If the people of Crimea decide to join Russia in the referendum, we, as the upper house, will certainly support this decision," Valentina Matvienko said at a meeting with Vladimir Konstantinov, his counterpart in the Crimean parliament.

...haven't traveled to NASCO facility but this operation is legit and the technology is outrageously valuable

• Putin rebuffs Obama as Ukraine crisis escalates (Reuters)
• Behind the $100 Billion Commodity Empire That Few Know (BBG)
• Initial Public Offerings Hit Pace Not Seen in Years (WSJ)
• Russian Parliament Will Back Crimea Split From Ukraine (WSJ)
• Nakamoto Named as Bitcoin Father Denies Involvement, Flees Press (BBG)
• Chaori Can’t Make Payment in China’s First Onshore Default (BBG)
• Zombies Spreading Shows Chaori Default Just Start (BBG)
• Pimco's Gross declares El-Erian is 'trying to undermine me' (Reuters)
• U.S. Fighters Circle Baltics as Putin Fans Fear of Russia (BBG)

Today's nonfarm payroll number is set to be a virtual non-event: with consensus expecting an abysmal print, it is almost assured that the real seasonally adjusted number (and keep in mind that the average February seasonal adjustment to the actual number is 1.5 million "jobs" higher) will be a major beat to expectations, which will crash the "harsh weather" narrative but who cares. Alternatively, if the number is truly horrendous, no problem there either: just blame it on the cold February... because after all what are seasonal adjustments for? Either way, whatever the number, the algos will send stocks higher - that much is given in a blow off top bubble market in which any news is an excuse to buy more. So while everyone is focused on the NFP placeholder, the real key event that nobody is paying attention to took place in China, where overnight China’s Shanghai Chaori Solar defaulted on bond interest payments, failing to repay CNY 89.9mln (USD 14.7mln), as had been reported here extensively previously. This marked the first domestic corporate bond default in the country's history - indicating a further shift toward responsibility and focus on moral hazard in China.

A disaster of epic contortions...

UPDATE: It's happened - China has suffered its first domestic corporate bond default as Chaori fails to meet interest payments on schedule and rather more surprisingly failed to receive a last-minute mysterious or otherwise bailout...

*CITIC BANK WON'T HELP CHAORI MAKE INTEREST PAYMENT: 21ST HERALD

Ever since the specter of the first real domestic default on a Chinese corporate bond hovered over the markets, the Chinese credit markets have been leaking lower. The last 3 days have seen the biggest drop in Chinese credit markets in almost 4 months. That situation, wistfully occurring half way around the world while US equity markets press on to ever more exuberant (and ignorant) heights, meant at least 3 other Chinese firms pulled their bond issues today and, as Reuters reports, has "triggered widespread upheaval in the bond market." Banks are awash with liquidity (as indicated by low repo/SHIBOR rates) but clearly unwilling to lend and external investors are now running scared.

The biggest Asia-Pacific defense story this week is China’s decision to increase its defense budget by 12.2 percent to about $132 billion for the next fiscal year. Notice that the figure is noticeably uncorrelated with China’s 7.7 percent actual growth rate (with a 7.5 percent target rate). The numbers are expected, of course, and send a clear signal across the region that China is taking its investments in military hardware seriously. Contrast the Chinese trend with the United States’ belt-tightening on defense spending. The United States and China are, of course, nowhere near to a convergence in defense spending.