Archive - Aug 17, 2015

"The BBC's Jonathan Head, who is at the scene, says there appear to be both dead and injured, amid a huge amount of chaos. There are burnt motorbikes on the main road, with paramedics and police trying to take the injured away, he says."

It appears faith in The Fed is falling. A disastrous Empire Fed print (following weak Japan growth overnight) has led to a decidedly risk off move this morning. The move seems to signal like a "QE4"-on trade (USD down, bonds bid, PMs up) but the equity market weakness suggests trust that the recovery hope The Fed keeps spewing just is not there... in other words - for stocks, "bad" news is no longer good news as the narrative begins to break...

Having 'stabilized' in recent months, The Empire Fed Manufacturing Survey just collapsed to -14.92 (from 3.86) missing expectations of 4.50 by the biggest margin since 2010. Across the board it was a bloodbath with New Orders crashing, inventories plunging and employment lower (with both workweek and number of employees falling). The headline data would have been worse were it not for the concurrent spike in 'hope' - highest since April.

Perhaps at the margin, weak Japanese GDP - as it heads for a quintuple-dip recession - could be today's catalyst but both crude and copper prices are re-tumbling this morning, pressing cycle lows. The USDollar is drifting higher and dos not appear a major driver today. However, broadly speaking malinvestment-driven overcapacity and the collapse of fake credit-fueled demand continue to provide the backdrop for commodity carnage...

• Markets will be keeping a close an eye on what action/if any the PBoC take to try and keep Chinese growth prospects on course.
• Main releases this week come in the form of US and UK CPI reports and the FOMC minutes release

It was a quiet start to the week today with just the June Euro area trade balance (which rose €21.9bn vs €23.1 bn expected, up from €21.3 bn) in the European timezone and Empire manufacturing and NAHB housing market index for August this afternoon in the US. Under the radar, but perhaps the most news today, is the June TIC data which will likely confirm the ongoing liquidation of "FX Reserves" aka TSYs by "Belgium" aka China. Expect another $15-20 billion drop in Belgian Treasury holdings in the month of June.

• Oil moves nearer six-year low on Japan data, oversupply (Reuters)
• Commodity Slide Spurs Treasuries as Emerging Markets Extend Drop (BBG)
• Because 7 years is "just right" - BOE Official Says Don’t Wait Too Long on Rates (WSJ)
• How Medicare Rewards Copious Nursing-Home Therapy (WSJ)
• Millennials Are Developing Parents’ Taste for Jaguars, Cadillacs (BBG) ... and even more debt
• Mexican Billionaire’s Firms Swept Up in U.S. Probe of Citigroup (BBG)

Moments ago, Morgan Stanley did it again just as expected, only this time it at least followed protocol when it announced it is raising its price target on TSLA from $280 to a whopping $465, or just shy of $61 billion in implied market cap. Incidentally at this price TSLA would be the biggest US automaker, surpassing not only GM's $50bn in market capo, but also Ford's $60 billion.

The Telegraph’s John Ficenec has written an excellent piece warning of a possible market crash in the coming weeks. He identifies eight key “signs things could get a whole lot worse.”  

It was a relatively quiet weekend out of China, where FX warfare has taken a back seat to evaluating the full damage from the Tianjin explosion which as we reported on Saturday has prompted the evacuation of a 3 km radius around the blast zone, and instead it was Japan that featured prominently in Sunday's headlines after its Q2 GDP tumbled by 1.6% (a number which would have been far worse had Japan used a correct deflator), and is now halfway to its fifth recession in the past 6 year, underscoring Abenomics complete success in desrtoying Japan's economy just to get a few rich people richer. Of course, economic disintegration is great news for stocks, and courtesy of the latest Yen collapse driven by the bad GDP data which has raised the likelihood of even more Japanese QE, the Nikkei closed 100 points, or 0.5% higher. 

Both the October and December gold contracts are backwardated, and Feb '16 contract is not far. The gold market is tight. Why?