Archive - Feb 2015

Amid a plunge in new orders to Jan 2014 lows, the ISM Manufacturing index slid to 53.5 (missing expectations of 54.5) to its lowest since Jan 2014 - confirming Markit's US PMI. New export orders contracted. employment growth slumped to 7 month lows, and inventories surged. In addition, after December's tumble in construction spending, January's bounce was only half as much as expedcted (+0.4% MoM vs +0.7% expected) missing for the 6th month in the last 7.

Having fallen 4 months in a row in December to its lowest since last January, one could have been forgiuven for expecting the ubiquitous hope-driven bounce we so often see in soft-survey-based data and sure enough, Markit's US Manufacturing PMI eked out a very small (53.9 vs 53.7 previous) rise in January - hovering at practically one-year lows. On the heels of China's disappointment, it appears the cleanest dirty short of America is not decoupling too much (if at all). This is not the "crisis has passed", "economy is strong" narrative-confirming data that Obama and The Fed would have everyone believe and as markit notes, “Manufacturing remains in a lower gear compared to that seen last summer... adding to the suspicion that the pace of economic expansion in the first quarter could even fall below the 2.6% rate seen in the final quarter of last year."

The new Greek PM has a thing against ties; The new Greek finmin, on the other hand, has a thing for boots and barbour jackets as seen in this series of photos of him arriving from Paris (where he secured French support for the Greek debt "renegotiation") for a meeting with UK chancellor George Osborne.

GoD Save The Banks...

One word - Apple. Not only is Apple single-handedly moving S&P 500 earnings, it is now - thanks to the planned issuance of $5 billion of debt to fund moar buybacks - shifting the US Treasury market as rate-locks slam yields higher in an illiquid market...

It appears the new narrative for why oil prices surged Friday and this morning is that a record-breaking drop in the US Rig Count means production levels will drop (and thus Saudi Arabia wins). This was enough to spark a melt-up squeeze on Friday which extended this morning running stops above $50.50. However, since that stop-run was exhausted, prices have tumbled back lower - testing a $47 handle - as investors realize the link between production and rig count is spurious at best and anti-correlated at worst.

Simply atrocious income and spending numbers: if this data is even remotely correct, then the balance sheet of the US consumer is in horrible shape.

The world is running out of oil. Peak Oil is a reality, all that is open to debate is how fast production will drop off, and how quickly the world will simply run out of oil. The lack of certainty is due to the fact that (as with everything else) we can’t trust the “official” numbers fed to us, with respect to either global production or global reserves.

How can traders prepare for the rest of 2015 after a volatile January

Moments ago, following our chart showing the devastation in Q1 earning forecasts, Exxon Mobil came out with its Q4 earnings, and - as tends to happen when analysts take a butcher knife to estimates - beat EPS handily, when it reported $1.56 in EPS, above the $1.34 expected, if still 18% below the $1.91 Q4 EPS print from a year earlier. A primary contributing factor to this beat was surely the $3 billion in Q4 stock buybacks, with another $2.9 billion distributed to shareholders mostly in the form of dividends.  However, while XOM did the best with margins and accounting gimmickry it could under the circumstances, there was little it could do to halt the collapse in revenues, which printed at $87.3 billion, well below the $92.7 billion expected, and down a whopping 21% from a year ago. And this is just in Q4 - the Q1 slaughter has yet to be unveiled!

In a few minutes, Exxon (first, then all other energy companies) will confirm if the earnings collapse so many had predicted to take place in Q1 as a result of plunging crude prices will materialize. Wait, did we say "so many", make that nobody. Here is what Factset has to say about forecast Q1 energy earnings: "On September 30, the estimated earnings growth rate for the Energy sector for Q1 2015 was 3.3%. By December 31, the estimated growth rate fell to -28.9%. Today, it stands at -53.8%." Just a little off.

It's not exactly the same as if Wall Street were to unionize and demand higher wages, but when US energy workers - supposedly the best paid profession away from those who BTFD or BTFATH for a living - go on strike, it is time to pay attention, which is precisely what happened yesterday afternoon, when US union leaders launched a large-scale strike at nine refineries after failing to agree on a new national contract with major oil companies. It marks the first nationwide walkout since 1980 and impacts plants that together account for more than 10% of US refining capacity. The United Steelworkers Union (USW) began the strike on Sunday, after their current contract expired and no deal was reached despite five proposals.

• Germany Sees No Need to Scrap Troika in Overseeing Greek Turnaround (WSJ)
• European markets subdued as Chinese data weighs (Reuters)
• U.S. Oil Workers Strike Enters Second Day as Crude Prices Slide (BBG)
• Oil prices rally above $55 as investors pile in (Reuters)
• Obama Wants a New Tax on U.S. Companies' Overseas Profits (BBG)
• If Trading Bonds Is Hard, Think About Pain When Rates Rise (BBG)
• Julius Baer Braces for Swiss Franc Impact (WSJ)
• Coke, Budweiser win as Super Bowl ad battle gets serious (Reuters)

The overnight session had been mostly quiet until minutes ago, when unexpectedly WTI, which had traded down as low as the mid $46 range following the weakest Chinese manufacturing data in two years, saw another bout of algo-driven buying momentum which pushed it sharply, if briefly, above $50, and was last trading about 2.6% higher on the day. In today's highly correlated market, this was likely catalyzed by a brief period of dollar weakness as well as the jump of EURCHF above 1.05, within the rumored corridor implemented by the Swiss National Bank, which apparently has not learned its lesson and is a glutton for a second punishment, after its hard Swissy cap was so dramatically breached, it hopes to repeat the experience with a softer one around 1.05. Expect to see even more FX brokers blowing up once the EURCHF 1.05 floor fails to hold next.