Archive - Apr 1, 2014
The Housing Bubble Is Still Raging In These 20 "Buy-To-Rent" Cities, And Burst In These 20 Others
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 22:43 -0500
As the following table also by RealtyTrace confirms, the US still has an abundance of "own-to-rent" cities, where one can generate a return as high as 30% in one year, if one is willing to drive through the downtown area at 65 mph. Places like bankrupt Detroit, where the median sales price is $45K, and somehow the average market rent is $1.1K, meaning one can recoup their investment in just over 3 years! (how Detroit's residents can afford $1K on rent is another of those great mysteries of life). In other words, the housing bubble will still be raging in these 20 cities, at least until such time as the yield drops sufficiently due to soaring prices that the Blackstones of the world are forced to dump other people's money in such undervalued places as Ulan Bator and Almaty.
Saudi Arabia Passes New Law That Declares Atheists "Terrorists"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 22:05 -0500
Nothing like being close allies with one of the most despotic, Medieval and backwards societies on planet earth. Never forget, the USA brings democracy to the world! With the exception of puppet governments sitting on billions of barrels of oil reserves and disturbing ties to the 9/11 attacks. Those governments we love.
Did Cliff Asness Just Blame Zero Hedge For Starting The Anti-HFT Movement?
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 21:28 -0500
Five years ago, we were the first to bring the world's attention to the staggering profitability of several firms that engaged in 'high frequency' trading that presented themselves as 'liquidity providers' and suggested (in our ever so humble way) that mark liquidity was in fact shrinking and this could lead to a 'black swan of black swans' long before the flash crash was even dreamed of. Fast forwarding to today, after hundreds of articles, not only is the mainstream "getting it" but such behemoths as Cliff Asness - who happens to run one of the world's biggest quant funds - are forced to pen a WSJ op-ed to explain it's all a fallacy and blame a lowly blogger (or digital dickweed) for starting all this naysaying five years ago.
An App for Your Country?
Submitted by Capitalist Exploits on 04/01/2014 21:10 -0500Did Facebook really just buy a company at THESE Valuations?
Equity Futures Spike On Chile Earthquake, USDJPY Momentum Ignition
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 20:23 -0500
If bad news is good news; then devastating earthquakes are awesome... Copper prices popped and dropped on the new of the Chile quake (as it is near a mining region) but it is the price action in JPY (and therefore implicitly US equities) that is just farcical - and no, there's no news, no China stimulus, no Japan stimulus, no data... just this utter insanity...
Things That Make You Go Hmmm... Like Iron Fists And Velvet Gloves
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 20:00 -0500
Many commentators point to the potentially devastating effect on Russia’s economy that the sanctions put in place by the EU and the US might have, whilst others emphasise Russia’s moves to strengthen their ties to the East and reduce reliance upon their Western trading partners. But as Grant Wiliams notes in his latest letter, men like Putin understand the ruthlessness required to keep an iron grip on power, and the press is largely an irrelevance to them, while those in the West prefer the velvet glove approach — writing checks to their electorate, taking the softly, softly approach with their foreign policy, and constantly courting the press — desperate for approval (echoes of Sally Field once again). How this plays out is anybody’s guess right now, but this much I know: one should NEVER underestimate the ability of the average Russian to bear hardship, nor should one ever underestimate the West’s lack of fortitude once any situation becomes politically unpalatable.
The Most Contrarian Pair Trade Today
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 19:42 -0500
What has worked for much of the last two years, and judging by today's epic squeeze in stocks, is still working... is to bet against the most extreme positioning. So, on that basis, the following rather contrarian pairs trade should be ripe for major convergence...
MeeT TYLeR DuRDeN...
Submitted by williambanzai7 on 04/01/2014 19:25 -0500High Frequency Nemesis...
Massive 8.2 Quake Hits Near Chile Coast, Tsunami Warning Issued; Residents Evacuating
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 19:20 -0500
UPDATE: *FIRST TSUNAMI WAVES REACH CHILE COAST, RADIO COOPERATIVA SAYS
At shortly after 1945ET, a massive 8.2 (revised up from 8.0) earthquake hit close to the coast of Chile:
*MAGNITUDE 8.0 QUAKE HITS OFF COAST OF CHILE, USGS REPORTS
*CHILE QUAKE MAGNITUDE REVISED UP FROM 8.0 TO 8.2 BY USGS
*FLASH: TSUNAMI WARNING ISSUED AFTER MAGNITUDE 8.0 QUAKE HITS OFF
*QUAKE CUTS ELECTRICITY SUPPLY TO MUCH OF ARICA, CHILE: TVN
The BBC reports the quake was shallow (which means it felt more powerful) and the tsunami wave's arrival is imminent. Copper prices are jumping on the news as the region is an active mining area.
Goodbye HFT: Virtu "Delays" IPO In Aftermath Of Michael Lewis Book Furor
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 18:54 -0500We know what you're thinking... why didn't Virtu Financial's CEO Chris Concannon ban Twitter and YouTube? It seems that is the only thing the HFT firm is incapable of as just too much public scrutiny from various fact-full blogs and a major expose of the reality of the US stock 'market' was too much for even the greatest fools in the market to be fooled by:
- *VIRTU SAID TO DELAY IPO AMID FUROR OVER MICHAEL LEWIS BOOK
As we warned previously, it was only a matter of time before the hubris of VRTU's own trading perfection swung around and crushed it: "Simply put, first it was their boastful trading record that got the NYAG involved, and then Lewis slammed the door shut."
The Top 25 "Greatest Fools" In The World
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 18:40 -0500
And by 'greatest fools' we mean sovereign wealth funds that stand ready to soak up any and every heavily-marketed pitch that comes their way...
SEC Has Opened Several HFT Probes
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 18:14 -0500
To think all it took to wake up not only the FBI (which generously provided a phone number to all interested parties so others could do its work for it) but the porn-addicts at the most corrupt, complicit and clueless, not to mention bought and paid for, "regulator" in US history, the SEC from a five year slumber - yes, we started warning about HFT in April of 2009 - was one Michael Lewis book. Moments ago we learned that the SEC, with a five year delay, has opened several investigations into HFT.
China's Smog Crisis Bestseller: Bags Of Fresh Mountain Air
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 17:37 -0500
No, this is not Tuesday Humor or an April Fool. As the WSJ's China Real-Time blog reports, this is also not a scene from Spaceballs. In the smog-ridden city of Zhengzhou, a Henan-based travel company shipped 20 bright blue bags of fresh mountain air to show oxygen-deprived city residents what they’re missing. Of course, as we have noted previously, the canned-air idea is hardly unique to Henan: Rags-to-riches Chinese tycoon Chen Guangbiao began selling such cans in 2012.
European Fears: Deflation
Submitted by Pivotfarm on 04/01/2014 17:18 -0500European leaders may have felt a momentary brief lapse in the wary feeling of disdain that has existed between them for years now, but that was once exacerbated by the financial crisis and the entire PIGS- story that ensued, with the debt crisis.
This Is Where Today's Buying Deluge Came From
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/01/2014 17:10 -0500
While QE may have tapered to a "measly" 55 billion per month, on just the first day of April risk assets experienced the additional benefit of over two full months of QE injected into the stock market in one single day!





