Archive - Jun 28, 2015

With intra-Europe relations hitting a new all-time low; and, having already been busted spying on Merkel, Obama got caught with his hand in Hollande's cookie jar this week, the following exultation from one of Germany's top politicians will hardly help Washington-Brussells relations. As Russia Insider notes, Oskar Lafontaine is a major force in German politics so it caught people’s attention when he excoriated Ash Carter and Victoria Nuland on his Facebook page yesterday... "Nuland says 'F*ck the EU'. We need need an EU foreign policy that stops warmongering US imperialism... F*ck US imperialism!" When he comes out swinging this way, you know something is changing. 

As we previously noted, liquidity is there when you don't need it, and it promptly disappears once it is in demand. Consider it "cocktease capitalism." If liquidity lasts longer than 4 hours, call the CFTC because you may be experiencing a spoof. Right now, the ultimate spoof is setting up as the credit default swap market collapses, and a global bond market margin call is just around the corner.

Reasoned market analysis will have to allow for stop losses getting off-side -- or panic-struck or trying to be prudent -- traders back to neutral, the potential consequences of the markets desks of every major central bank being on high alert and prepared to act (“plunge protection teams,” to use the vernacular of the financial crisis), as well as the frustrating reality of it being Sunday evening, which means markets will open ad seriatim and only slowly.

Contained-ish...

"More cynically, if a default of bank liabilities is inevitable, it may deem it better to ensure that domestic claimants on Greek banks switch into hard 'convertible' Euro banknotes (or offshore accounts), leaving the residual claimants (the ECB which has provided ELA funding) to take the loss."

Over the last few months the financial media has not only turned deaf ears to the drama, (out of boredom) they have also blindly discounted any contagion effects as “isolated” at best – relative periphery contagion at worst. In other words: Any and all problems can be contained, mitigated, or solved by none other than your friendly neighborhood Central Bank. After all, if you listen to the so-called “smart crowd” these bankers have powers even Zeus would envy. So why worry about a little turmoil at the foot of Olympus? In any hero-worship endeavor one thing must remain constant or it all falls apart. Those that worship can never witness any event regardless of how minor: that the gods are not all that they portend to be. In other words: Allow just one moment of truth to be witnessed showing frailty instead of omnipotence – and the whole ruse falls regardless of the size and strength of the monuments and temples built to honor. For they will be abandoned: sometimes slowly, at others - all at once.

With the ATMs running on empty and the banks set to be closed for a week, the German foreign office has some advice for anyone traveling to Greece...

As that €126 billion or so of total ECB/Eurosystem claims on Greek banks were "charged off" in case of a terminal Greek "event" then the entire ECB capital buffer would also be wiped out, leaving the ECB with negative equity. Translated: dear Eurosystem members: we need more cash.

After perusing a thousand views and pieces, many on the inevitable topic of ‘Da Referendum’, there is this huge divide between what a simple vote can and should be, and how it is perceived and presented, and this has left us wondering what causes the divide. Case in point, Bloomberg has a piece called “Tsipras Asking Grandma to Figure Out If Greek Debt Deal Is Fair”. The implied connotation being that asking grandma about anything other than knitting patterns and souvlaki recipes is asking for trouble. What does she know? Politics should be decided by politicians. Well, and bankers of course.

Update: GREEK BANKS TO REMAIN CLOSED UNTIL JULY 6 : KATHIMERINI

Despite the reassurances from any and all elected (and unelected) officials, given the run on bank ATMs in Greece has turned into a stampede, it is not surprising that the CEO of Piraeus Bank just announced Greek banks would remain closed for at least one week; further as reported yesterday, the Greek stock market will also remain closed. 

"The growing size of the asset management industry may have increased the risk of liquidity illusion: market liquidity seems to be ample in normal times, but vanishes quickly during market stress. This liquidity may be artificial and less robust in the event of market turbulence." So what's the solution? Unfortunately there isn't one. Instead, fund managers are simply resorting to emergency liquidity lines with banks which is just another manifestation of using cheap cash to delay the Schumpeterian endgame scenario which, if ever allowed to play out, will finally purge capital markets, reset the system, and free the world from the nefarious clutches of central bankers gone mad with delusions of Keynesian grandeur.

What to expect next week.

As America celebrates Gay Pride weekend with more exuberance than normal just 2 days after SCOTUS momentous decision, NATO ally Turkey appears not so keen for the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders to walk the streets of Istanbul with rainbow flags... #LoveLosesInTurkey

A little under 24 hours before Europe opens for trading, and just under 12 hours before the open of equity futures, and things are not looking good.