Archive - Apr 24, 2015

Surprise!!

"A government shutdown is very probable in the next three months due to the absence of liquidity to operate," Puerto Rico's finance officials warn, in an effort to shock lawmakers into action and avoid a potential "PRimbo".

There was once a time, perhaps, when unprecedented things happened only occasionally. In today’s financial markets, unprecedented things are commonplace. The Queen in Lewis Carroll’s ‘[Alice] Through the Looking-Glass’ would sometimes believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast. She is probably working in the bond markets now, where believing anything less than twelve impossible things before breakfast is for wimps.

Having prpmised silver-linings after each and every disappointing data item of the last two months, it appears even the sell-side's most ardent optimist has thrown in the towel (along with Goldman) as Deutsche's Jo Lavorgna stokes the "no rate hike please" meme after today's dismal durable goods data...

A woman who was arrested for allegedly plotting to break her husband out of jail pens an expletive-ridden tirade against a judge who dismissed her $10 billion lawsuit against the state. She also included an eloquent tax manifesto for good measure.

"The EU and US need to hear the pleas coming from the southern European countries, as well as those of the refugees. The humanitarian catastrophe has reached large scale, with profound and irreversible consequences. Greece is paying a disproportionately high price, although Greece played no role in triggering this catastrophe. The EU and the US have the moral obligation, which is also consistent with their long-term interests, to take the necessary steps to put an end to the suffering of those in war zones, while at the same time preventing Greece’s collapse under the mounting pressure of refugees."

Amid the 'glorious' earnings last night, Nasdaq is on its own today, surging to higher highs as The Dow and S&P are unch to down. As this exuberance exudes, gold and silver are being smashed lower... which is odd given The ECB's threat to pull Greek financing. Crude prices are also tumbling post-Durable Goods.

Show me the money!

The recent unprecedented surge in oil imports has again prompted a review of things here. In a prior story, we wrote that the lack of capacity to process light sweet crude at refineries produced via shale plays could be playing a role in the stock build. As mentioned previously, refineries over the next 24 months are expected to add 700,000 B/D in capacity to handle this type of crude. In the meantime, we have noticed an unusual amount of crude being imported, possibly as a result of this imbalance in refinery capacity. Or could it be that a more sinister plot is afoot?

All the comparisons to 2000 seemed a little far-fetched.........until today.

Be careful of blowback as Troika said they are "turning hostile" in Greece today...

Having missed expectations for 5 of the last 7 months, Durable Goods New Orders jumped 4% MoM in March - the biggest jump since the July Boeing aberration (all driven by a 112% surge in defense Aircraft new orders). Durable Goods New Orders (ex-Transports) fell 0.2% MoM (missing expectations of a 0.3% rise) for the biggest YoY drop since 2012, and under the covers it is ugly - Capital Goods New Orders non-defense, ex-aircraft have now fallen for 7 straight months, missing expectatons dramatically (-0.5% vs +0.3% exp.). These numbers have never fallen for this long a period without a recession.

UK debt has continued to rise throughout the recovery and has soared to an eye-watering £1.48 trillion. In recent days, a slew of foreign exchange analysts have warned that the pound is vulnerable to falling in value. The incumbent government have not reined in public and trade deficits and have been accused of juicing the property market and the economy to postpone a crisis until after the election. 

"One day while Sarao is busy trying to trick the U.S. stock market into falling, the market collapses, more sensationally than it has ever collapsed. And instead of digging some hole in Hounslow in which he might hide for a decade or so, or fleeing to Anguilla, where he has squirreled away his profits, he stays in his parents’ home and keeps right on spoofing the U.S. stock market -- and then is shocked when people turn up to accuse him of wrongdoing. He’s not some kind of exception to the standard operating procedure in finance. He’s a parody of it."