Archive - Aug 20, 2015

The second great depression, which for industrial bellwether CAT started in December 2012 and has since resulted in 32 consecutive months of declining global retail sales and over a year longer than the decline observed during the great financial crisis, refuses to go away.

Turkey is rapidly descending into chaos on all fronts. With the lira in free fall and the politically-motivated violence escalating, one prominent lawmaker is calling for martial law ahead of new elections which could plunge the country further into civil war.

Small Caps hitting 6 month lows, S&P swinging red year-to-date, and Dow near 7-month lows... but remember China doesn't matter and Fed is priced in...

It has now been 64 days since the last 52-week high in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) on May 19. 50-day "droughts" before and after a 52-week high in the Dow Jones Industrial Average have marked several major tops.

"After roughly matching the S&P 500 through most of 1H 2015, funds lowered net exposures as the market declined in late June and failed to benefit as the index rebounded in July. The typical fund has returned +0.5% YTD, with equity long/short funds rising 1.3% and event-driven funds falling by 2.0%."

While still hovering at multi-decade lows, initial jobless claims (up 4,000 to 277k) have now risen for 4 straight weeks (for the first time since August 2010).

Gold has filled the gap from the mid-July China crash and broken above its 50-day moving average for the first time since June. Silver is surging once again this morning reoundtripping to last week's pre-flush highs...as The US Dollar limps lower.

Just one day after allowing the tenge to fall sharply in the interbank market and no longer able to take the pain from plunging crude prices, Kazakhstan moved to a free float for its currency overnight, causing the tenge to plunge by a quarter.

• Crude prices fall towards $40 on global glut (Reuters)
• China Central Bank Injects Most Funds Since February as Money Rates Increase (BBG)
• Divided Fed Puts Yellen on Hot Seat (Hilsenrath)
• So Long September: Bond Traders Defer Their Date With the Fed (BBG)
• More Foods Boast Non-GMO Labels—Even Those Without GMO Varieties (WSJ)
• UN to let Iran inspect alleged nuke work site (AP)
• IAEA says access to Iran's Parchin military site meets demands (Reuters)
• Time to End Quarterly Reports, Law Firm Says (WSJ)

Gold’s reaction to China’s devaluation was impressive. Sure, it came at a time when gold was oversold and due a bounce, but, even so, a rise from $1,080 an ounce to $1,125 is not to be sniffed at – particularly as it went in the face of what other metals were doing.

It is unclear what precipitated it (some blamed China concerns, fears of rate hikes, commodity weakness, technical picture deterioration although  it's all just goalseeking guesswork) but overnight S&P futures followed yesterday's unexpected slide following what were explicitly dovish Fed minutes, and took another sharp leg lower down by almost 20 points, set to open below the 200 DMA again, as the dazed and confused investing world reacts to what both the Treasury and Oil market signal is a deflationary deluge. Indeed, oil is about to trade under $40 while the 10Y Treasury was last seen trading at 2.07%. Incidentally, the last time oil was here in March of 2009, the Fed was about to unleash QE 1. This time, so called experts are debating if the Fed will hike rates in one month or three.

Imagine a real estate market with the rate of interest on mortgages as high as it could possibly go.