Archive - Jun 4, 2014

As we have heard numerous times this year already, tomorrow may be 'another' most important day of the year/cycle as Mario Draghi and his band of merry men at the ECB appear to be finally cornered (by market exuberance, macro weakness, and excess positioning) into "doing" something as opposed to just talking about it. While we have discussed the ins and outs of the potential for a small focused ABS bailout QE, negative rates, and why whatever Draghi does tomorrow will have minimal impact on the real economy; Bloomberg provides a quick and easy guide to the five things to watch for from Mario Draghi tomorrow...

Last week, when President Obama made his trip to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, he claimed that "America's war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end." This turned out to be the greatest applause line of his speech. With his assertion, Obama, in effect, declared himself the hero of the Afghan war -- the one who put an end to that nightmare. But what Obama failed to mention was that it was his war, and that nothing but unattractive scenarios lie ahead for that war-torn state.

After last weekend's schizophrenic expanding (official) / contracting (HSBC) Manufacturing PMI, China's Services PMI printed at 50.7 - its lowest since August 2011, as the business expectations index dropped to an 11-month low. The Composite PMI improved (after 3 months of contraction) but most notably, the composite employment declines at the fastest pace since Feb 2009. What is perhaps most worrisome is, as Markit notes, "The latest survey signalled the second-weakest degree of optimism since the series began in November 2005."

China is unlikely to show weakness losing face in front of the international community, while it is too late in the game for Vietnam or even the U.S. to back out of the situation.

Until yesterday, a piece of the global spying puzzle was missing: not because it did not exist, but because certain of Snowden's preferred outlets had refused to reveal it. That piece, as Duncan Campbell of The Register (incidentally Campbell has been breaking exclusives for more than three decades: he was the first journalist to reveal the existence of GCHQ in 1976) revealed yesterday, is the GCHQ's (and thus indirectly the NSA's) top secret middle eastern Internet spy base located in Seeb, Oman (officially known as Oman Comms Link Site 1), smack in the middle of the middle east, located southwest of the Straits of Hormuz, and in close proximity to America's closest petroleum-exporting "friends": Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Frustrated with their representation in government, residents in two of California’s northern counties are heading to the polls to decide whether they should consider seceding from the state. As Reuters reports, campaigns in both Del Norte and Tehama counties are underway to convince residents that permanently separating from California is in their best interests. As many as 16 counties in northern California could potentially join the movement, AP reports, though official secession would require approval by the state legislature as well as the US Congress. If they all decide to seek separation, the counties would make up about a quarter of California’s territory..."We have the water, forests, timber, we have the minerals. We have unspoiled agricultural land. We would be the wealthy state if we were allowed to go back and use our natural resources ourselves."

How many more of these annual disappointments does it take before the world gets the joke...

According to a recent survey by the MacArthur foundation, during the past three years, over half of all U.S. adults (52%) have had to make at least one sacrifice in order to cover their rent or mortgage. Such sacrifices included getting an additional job, deferring saving for retirement, cutting back on health care and healthy foods, running up credit card debt, or moving to a less safe neighborhood or one with worse schools. More disturbingly, the survey also found that while there are some indicators that the American public’s views about the housing crisis are shifting toward the positive, large proportions of the public are not feeling the relief: seven in 10 (70%) believe we are still in the middle of the crisis or that the worst is yet to come. 

"Banks are worried about their exposure," warns one warehousing source, "there is a scramble for people to head down there at the minute and make sure that their metal that they think is covered by a warehouse receipt actually exists." The rehypothecated catastrophe that we discussed in great detail here (copper financing), here (all commodities), and here (global contagion) appears to be gathering speed as the China's northeastern port of Qingdao has halted shipments of aluminum and copper due to an investigation by authorities after they found "there is a discrepancy in metal that should be there and metal that is actually there."

The best lies contain elements of truth. The truth here is that the East is forming alliances in opposition to the West, the West is involved in underhanded covert operations all over the planet, and both “sides” are in fact on the verge of a catastrophic battle for supremacy. The great lie is that important details have been left out of our little story. Both sides are merely puppet pieces in a grand game of global chess, and any conflict will ultimately benefit the small group of men standing over the board. They include the international financiers who have influenced the very policy fabric of each government toward a climactic crisis which they hope will finally give them the “New World Order” they have always dreamed of.

One of the things that this era of American history will be known for is conspicuous consumption. Even though many of us won't admit it, the truth is that almost all of us want a nice vehicle and a large home. They say that "everything is bigger in Texas", but the same could be said for the entire nation as a whole. We live in a debt-based system which is incredibly fragile. We experienced this firsthand during the last financial crisis. But we just can't help ourselves. We have always got to have more...

The week ending May 30th was an odd week for many... US treasury bond yields were collapsing but US equity prices were soaring to ever higher higher highs on weaker and weaker data. We know institutional asset managers were net sellers during this time and we know that the indiscriminate and non-economic corporate buyback-machine was in full swing but still... who was really the bid day in day out with no sense optimal timing... Thanks to tonight's Japanese flows data, we know... Japanese investors bought the most foreign stocks in that week since 2009...

"... there might not be any army groups encroached on the border. But the warning signs are just as clear as they were back in Poland in 1939. This is not a consequence free environment. Unfortunately, most people are just as oblivious..."

Marc Faber explains To Bloomberg TV in this brief clip just what he would do it put in charge... and nails it..."...if I were a Central Bank, I would be the greatest hawk in the world. I would squeeze the system like a lemon and bring inflation down to deflation, because deflation has some advantage for the majority of people, for the majority of people."

Let's go on to assume that nothing is going to change. The stock market is simply going to keep going up. Slowly, yes, but up nonetheless. The central bankers will, whenever required, create whatever programs, easings, or other actions are required to keep supporting equities. And, simply stated, the rich will just keep getting richer. What would this all mean?