Archive - Sep 2014

High-yield credit canaries are singing again... Blackrock will be in full panic mode...

Bendy phones are not a feature, it would seem... as Apple agrees to replace 'faulty' iPhone 6s. And iOS upgrade SNAFUs are not helping - so much for 'execution'.

Because nothing says efficient market and fiduciary duty like waiting for the US equity market to open to send a huge sell order through the silver futures market... Running the entire stack (and this all resting stops), however, silver has immediately bounced back... Gold was relatively unaffected. Copper had also got plugged early on and is now ripping higher.

As the price of precious metals that is eschewed daily by status-quo-hugging talking-heads on business media as indicative of the days of hard money being over continues to come under 'pressure', demand for physical gold remains extremely high. With India's festive season about to begin, The Hindustan Times reports a massive surge in gold smuggling in the last 10 days as heavy demand for gold during Dussehra (for which booking and supply starts today when Navratri begins) has dragged 50 tonnes of gold across the borders to avoid the government's capital controls.

What goes up must come down. The saying applies not only to aircraft, but aircraft orders. As a reminder, last month the volatile nondefense aircraft order category soared by 318%, leading to a 22.6% increase in headline Durable Goods, a record monthly swing courtesy of Boeing conducting its own "subprime for flying clunkers" program which sent airplane orders to an all time high. And now that the bumper airplane order month is over, with all orders purchased on credit gobbled up by yield-starved investors of course, the anticipated drop took place, with durable goods sliding by a record 18.2%, a fraction worse than the -18.0% expected.

After last week's tumble to 280k, initial jobless claims rose modestly this week to 293k (slightly better than expected) but remain near a dovish-Yellen-crushing 14-year low. Continuing claims also remain at cycle lows around 2.4 million (rising modestly - by 7k - this week). The labor department cites no unusual or estimated claims this week. It appears this is as good as it gets and the Fed has reached its 'job-creating' mirage peak...

ISIL and what's up with the markets

• Apple CEO Cook Goes From Record Sales to IPhone Stumbles (BBG)
• Deal With Saudis Paved Way for Syrian Airstrikes (WSJ)
• Drone delivery: DHL 'parcelcopter' flies to German isle (Reuters)
• Tory Burch Hires Ralph Lauren Veteran as Co-CEO (WSJ)
• Apple releases iOS 8 workaround to fix dropped cell service (Reuters)
• Ukraine Probes Ex-Minister Over $3 Billion Russian Bond (BBG)
• Goldman Sachs-Led Group Near Deal to Buy Messaging Startup Perzo (WSJ)
• U.K. Seeks to Criminalize Manipulation of 7 Benchmarks (BBG)

It has been a relatively subdued session, with not much action in either stocks or bonds - European stocks rise for the second day on US market momentum from yesterday; Asian stocks are mixed advance while metals decline with Brent, WTI crude, U.S. equity index futures. The biggest highlight in overnight action, however, was once again the Dollar whick climbed to a fresh 4-year high, on pace to strengthen for 2 straight months for first time since March. The reason: ongoing sentiment that there will be a major dispersion between central banks, with the USD tightening just as other central banks join the liquidity fray. To wit, ECB data showed that lending decline in Europe slowed to -1.5% y/y in Aug. vs -1.6% in July and the latest statement from Draghi who said in Lithuania that economic reform possible without devaluing currency.

* Where is Venezuela's 366 tonnes of gold?
* Does Venezuela still control and own unencumbered it’s own gold reserves?
* Is any of the country's gold encumbered, loaned or leased to Goldman Sachs or other banks?
 

New Boogeyman Has ALREADY Been Debunked

The Canadian government has had to warn its citizens not to carry cash to the USA because the USA does not presume innocence but guilt when it comes to money...

"Are you confused by what is going on in the Middle East? Let me explain."

Thanks to a dizzying barrage of lies, mainstream media fear-mongering and a couple of beheadings, the Obama Administration finally achieved its long sought after war in Syria. The tactic that proved most effective in mobilizing the American public back into a shivering, post-9/11 fetal position, was the same tactic used by elites in the UK to convince Scotland against voting for independence. That tactic... is fear.

While it is easy, even sentimental, to pin what may (or may not) be a bubble, or as some call it - market - top on the recent liquidity and euphoria-soaking IPO of China's megaretailer Alibaba and its sliding chart since it broke for trading, a la what the Blackstone IPO did to the previous bubble, it is also wrong. The reality is that the attention of what few carbon-based investors and traders are left, is glued to very different chart: the one below from Deutsche Bank, showing the  between the S&P and the total assets owned by the Fed. Read on for the reason why.