Archive - Apr 28, 2015

Despite the weather, home prices surge more than expected in February (as we presume those who braved the icy or heaty weather were desparate to buy). S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City index rose 0.93% MoM (vs 0.7% exp) and 5.03% YoY (vs 4.70% exp.). San Francisco led the way with a 2.0% MoM surge and Cleveland and Las Vegas were worst with home prices falling.

Something has changed. We have become used to the daily beat down on precious metals at around the 8am-9amET period... but the last two days have seen a significant reverse of that... Silver (and gold) are pushing notably higher once again this morning...

Will a desire to protest the current establishment see Nigel Farage's UKIP broaden its mandate in the upcoming election? This UK election will mirror many elections around Europe (since the crisis started) in focusing on inequality and the need for political protest. This could make for big moves in the mandates... We foresee Scottish National Party and UKIP protest votes proving far more numerous than the latest polls suggest.

Greece must pay $3.8 billion to the IMF over the course of the next month and most analysts believe they will not be in a position to do so unless they can access the outstanding $7.2 billion in funds that form part of the existing program. Ukraine have also been flirting with a default.

Overnight we got the latest proof that there is nothing worse for an economy than to be run by a bunch of central planning academics who get "advice" from Paul Krugman. The reason: Japan's retail sales which crashed by 9.7% Y/Y, the biggest annual drop in history. To be sure, the biggest reason for the annual drop was the base effect with the surge in demand last March ahead of the April 2014 consumption tax hike, but the drop was bigger than what consensus had expected, as expectations were for a -7.3% drop. And confirming that things are getting worse on a sequential basis as well, was the 1.9% drop in sales in March compared to a 0.7% increase in February. In fact, as the chart belows show, on an indexed basis, the March retail sales print was one of the worst since last year's tax hike.

An inauspicious start to China's local government debt swap initiative has the PBoC scrambling to determine the best way to facilitate the successful issuance of new municipal securities as several provinces have reportedly canceled or delayed offerings. Now, the question is whether Chinese LTROs will be enough, or whether outright QE will ultimately be the only option.

• Maryland Governor Calls in National Guard to Control Baltimore Riots (BBG)
• Fed Seen Delaying Liftoff to September to Push Down Unemployment (BBG)
• Nepal PM says toll could rise to 10,000 (Reuters)
• China Readies Fresh Easing to Tackle Specter of Debt (WSJ)
• ‘Damned Lies’ Threaten to Overshadow U.K. GDP in Election Fight (BBG)
• Uncertainty Over Impact of a Default by Greece (NYT)
• Why the Cost of Hedging European Banks Stocks Has Soared (BBG)
• Carinthia cash crunch gives Austria its own mini-Greece (Reuters)

The 20th century could be categorized as THE century when communications took off and we started living in each other’s pockets. Lives had been ruined by war, trouble and strife. Wealth had been redistributed beyond belief.

With US Q1 GDP set to be a huge disappointment to initial estimates of 3% growth set at the beginning of the year, and since plunging to 1% or lower when it is reported later this week because, well, it inexplicably snowed in the winter for the second year in a row, earlier today we learned that US harsh weather cross the Atlantic and landed in the UK where ONS reported that the economy grew at a tepid pace of just 0.3% in the first quarter, well below consensus estimates of 0.5%, and at the lowest pace since Q4 2012 when GDP posted a 0.3% drop.

Following yesterday's early MNI rumor that a Chinese QE is being "considered" and which sent the Shanghai Composite surging 3% and led to an initial boost in US stock futures, overnight the PBOC scrambled to once again deny such speculation. Of course, going full "cold Turkey" on Chinese stimulus would be too much for the market to handle, so in a piece by the WSJ also released overnight, the author said the PBOC would pivot from outright QE to mere LTRO, which is also not new and was reported over a week ago here in "China Floats QE Trial Balloon, PBoC May Launch LTROs." In any event, for now at least, Asian stocks are not happy despite Apple's latest blockbuster results, and neither is Europe, with the Stoxx 600 down 1%, and even the E-mini is hugging 2100 unable to levitate on any imminent central bank intervention.

According to Bloomberg, the Greek government is €400 million short of the amount needed for payment of pensions and salaries this month, citing a Kathimerini report. Surprisingly, this takes place even as Greece’s IKA, OGA pension funds have been informed by the government that amount needed for payment of pensions will be deposited today, while the Greece’s OAEE pension fund has said payment of pensions won’t be a problem. In other words, someone is not telling the truth: either there is enough money or there isn't. And if the latter case is valid, then either the government or the pensions are now openly lying to the population.