Archive - Jul 3, 2015

BACKGROUND

The referendum on Sunday will likely have a significant impact on the prospects of Greece reaching a new bailout agreement and the immediate future of the governing Syriza party. Following the expiration of the second bailout and the missed IMF repayment on 30th June, Greece has had to impose capital controls while negotiations between the country and its creditors have been put on hold until after the referendum. Eurozone officials have indicated that a “No” vote would likely mean a Greek exit from the currency union although the Greek government sees the vote as only pertaining to the terms of a bailout programme.

The ECB is moving to backstop Bulgaria's banking sector in an effort to get ahead of a Greek contagion."The ECB would provide access to its refinancing operations, offering euros to the banking system against eligible collateral," Bloomberg reports, citing unnamed sources. 

The timing of the release of The IMF's 'Greece needs a debt haircut no matter what' report this week was odd to say the least. Being as it confirmed everything the Greek government has been saying and provided the perfect ammunition for Tsipras to spin Sunday's Greferendum as a Yes/No to debt haircuts - something everyone can understand (and get behind). It is understandable then that, as Reuters reports, Greece's eurozone allies tried to block the release of the damning report this week but the Europeans were heavily outnumbered and the United States, the strongest voice in the IMF, was in favor of publication, sources said. While The IMF concluded, "Facts are stubborn. You can't hide the facts because they may be exploited," one wonders if this move merely reinforces Goldman's concpiracy theory.

Stock buybacks have been in the news lately, as their growing size has lead to criticism, especially from politicians who believe they contribute to economic inequality. But the simplest critique of the practice of buybacks can be made on economic grounds, in terms of value created or destroyed.

Athens floods to Syntagma square to demonstrate their support for a "No" vote in what may be one of the biggest demonstrations in history.

"Introducing a new currency is a pipe dream and the likely result is a broken financial system reliant on a neighbor’s currency (the euro) and banking system. The choice is not 'do you accept the core’s terms your government has rejected?' Rather, it is 'do you want Greek banks to function independently?' and, de facto, do you want to be able to use the cash machine tomorrow?"

The idea that our large-scale problems could be fixed with systemic reforms is enticing: replace the thousands of pages of tax code with a simple flat tax without deductions, for example, or the replacement of too big to jail/fail banks with community-owned banks that served the public, not shareholders. But the attraction of reforms is a siren song, because our system is run by vested interests for vested interests, period. Any real reform is Dead On Arrival (DOA) because any real reform threatens the swag and security of vested interests.

On what is obviously a quiet day, with US cash markets closed, US equity futures drifted quite notably weaker from overnight highs. Aside from total chaos in the last second of trading today, Nasdaq futures were down 0.3% (having been up over 0.2% at Europe opened) and The Dow dropped 80 from the highs. It appears the machines forgot it was a holiday as the standard US open to EU close trend reversal occuurred before dropping after Europe closed.

"U.S. regulators are sounding the alarm about banks’ exposure to oil-and-gas producers, a move that could limit their ability to lend to companies battered by a yearlong slump in prices," WSJ reports, reinforcing the notion that North America's "zero hedged" O&G sector is in for a rough ride.

"...If the S&P500 were to come down by 50% look at the bright side. The Millennial generation can finally buy into America’s future at a good price. Look at what they are facing right now: very little return on their savings and very lofty prices that they have to pay to invest in their future.  So we often forget that these wrenching dislocating financial events, particularly for older generations, can create opportunities for the young, and often create space for something more durable for the times to be built. So I’ll just summarize it with Schumpeter’s phrase: creative destruction. That’s how I prefer to see what happens in a Fourth Turning."

In the utopian world of US equities - where every dip is a buying opportunity and "The Fed's got your back," - it is blasphemous for anyone to suggest this state of affairs cannot go on forever is extreme. However, as China encountered an accelerated version of the farce that the US has experienced in the past few years, the same "The PBOC's got your back" mentality dominated every fundamental fact and central bank omnipotence was doctrine. That is until 2 weeks ago... when modest efforts to rein in exponentially-growing leverage pricked the new normal's narrative. Now every "save" by the government and every plunge protected is sold into by a desperate population burned...

Trading at its lowest since early April, WTI Crude has re-tumbled again today to a $55 handle as Greferendum deleveraging and Iran chatter send futures down 2.5%... Brent crude neared a break below the crucial $60 level in early trading.

An important message from your Northern European brothers and sister...

...while the media gets overly excited about monthly job growth, the reality is that job growth has been little more than just a function of overall population growth. This isn't something the fosters long-term economic expansions that generate higher levels of prosperity... and if you think low interest rates necessitate high stock prices, that wasn't the case in the 1940s when interest rates were low and stock prices were below their long-term average relative to past earnings.

What if your country didnt really exist?