Archive - Oct 2015

"What we're talking about here is global Internet censorship. It will criminalize our online activities, censor the Web, and cost everyday users money. This deal would never pass with the whole world watching - that’s why they've negotiated it in total secrecy."

“Driven by a lust for power, greed, and a desire to improve their own financial position and reputation at the expense of investors and decency, a cabal of Pimco managing directors plotted to drive founder Bill Gross out of Pimco in order to take, without compensation, Gross’s percentage ownership in the profitability of Pimco." 

Are you ready for this... are you sitting down... you better be sitting down. Cause here it comes...

Following yesterday's flip-flop on TPP, Hillary Clinton has unleashed some new financial system 'policies' this morning, the most crucial of which includes the provision of a transaction tax which will dramatically penalize high-frequency traders (gratifying critics of HFT's instability-creating market structure). The question is, who is she trying to appease with this 'policy'? The answer is simple - Follow the money... once again.

The Power Elite aristocracy isn't dumb; they fully understand once the illusion of their shared purpose and identity with the commoners is shattered, their invulnerability is history.

"The BRL will continue to be under pressure. I think it will be a continuous and arduous political struggle from here and some will try to bring the impeachment proposal forward."

What may be the worst month in Volkswagen's corporate history is about to get a cherry on top, when the CEO of Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn is set undergo the Kangaroo Court treatment, when he testifies before a House Energy and Commerce  subcommittee investigating last month's admission the company had installed on-board computer software designed to cheat on government emissions tests in nearly 500,000 of its four-cylinder "clean diesel" cars starting with the 2009 model year.

As more and more "reputable" analysts realize that the 30 Year bull market in Treasury isn't going anywhere, another firm jumped on the "more easing" bandwagon overnight, when HSBC's Steven Major slashed his target yield on 10Y Treasurys for 2015 and 2016, from 2.4% and 2.8% to 2.1% and 1.5% respectively. The reason: more easing of course, or rather expectations for further ECB monetary easing which will help U.S. curve to perform.

Last month, when King Salman arrived in Washington to a fleet of Mercedes S-Classes, we asked if, considering the current circumstances, cutting back on spending might be in order. Indeed, in the wake of Saudi Arabia's move to tap debt markets, rumors have been circulating for months that the kingdom has enlisted the help of "advisers" to help rein in the ballooning deficit. Now, Riyadh has effectively declared a spending moratorium in the face of self-inflicted crude carnage.

The market is prone to temporary fits of shared enthusiasm – for emerging-market debt, for Internet stocks, for residential mortgage-backed securities, for Greek government debt. Traders need not wait to see when or whether the profits materialize. IBGYBG, they say – I’ll be gone, you’ll be gone. There are numerous routes to bezzle and febezzle...  traders borrowed money from the future. And then the future came, as it always does, turning the bezzle into a bummer.

Syrias indeed...

Just a day after no lesser world-renowned newsletter writer than Dennis Gartman went full bull-tard of crude oil (in $29.95 terms), Goldman Sachs has come out with a "lower for longer" warning about the crude complex noting that the gains have been exacerbated by still large short positioning and the break of key technical levels. Despite the magnitude of this rally, Goldman does not believe that data releases over the past week suggest a change in oil fundamentals. In fact, high frequency data continue to point to an oversupplied market despite a gradual decline in US production.

Not everything is "fine" in the land of European banks, in fact quite the opposite.

Job cuts have already surpassed  last year's total, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas with the highest annual total since 2009, when nearly 1.3 million layoffs were announced at the tail-end of the recession... so how does the government explain the fact that initial jobless claims have once again re-tumbled back to close to 42-year lows...

Having closed yesterday above the 200-day moving average for the first time since May, the weaker-than-expected Chinese equity market open sent the precious metal tumbling and it is extending losses in the early US session.