Archive - Aug 2015

NEW JERSEY DATA CENTER WHERE ITG OPERATES HAS HVAC ISSUE
ITG SHUTDOWN INCLUDES POSIT DARK POOL
ITG SAYS IT WON'T BE TRADING FOR REMAINDER OF DAY

“Ten years ago no one in the art market paid close attention to these corrections in the stock market. Now clients respond immediately."

That's what happens Larry when you have 64.08mm shares short against 59.5mm shares outstanding... and traders read this (and the VIX is stuck in backwardation).

It's healthy... good for you... like broccoli?

"Things have changed since I started teaching. The vibe is different. I wish there were a less blunt way to put this, but my students sometimes scare me - particularly the liberal ones....The idea that institutions must acknowledge wrongdoing is central to academic work."

BINGO. This is so essential to a functioning, ethical society, and is something that never happens in modern America. Ever.

"Price insensitive" flows are starting to materialize, and our goal is to estimate their likely size and timing. These technical flows are determined by algorithms and risk limits, and can hence push the market away from fundamentals.  The obvious risk is if these technical flows outsize fundamental buyers. In the current environment of low liquidity, they may cause a market crash such as the one we saw at the US market open on Mondaay"

Anyone betting China's GDP is really expanding at 7% and the U.S. economy will grow by 3.7% next quarter is angling to be a bagholder. Once global assets roll over for good, it's important to recall that somebody owns these assets all the way down. These owners are called bagholders, as in "left holding the bag." Those running the rigged casino have to select the bagholders in advance, lest some fat-cat cronies inadvertently get stuck with losses.

It appears the collapse of China's stock market has officially taken its first victim. While we have heard from desperate farmers who lost everything after realizing that making money in stocks is not easier than farmwork, RT reports that a 57-year-old man has allegedly committed suicide in Shenyang, the largest city in Liaoning Province, by jumping off the 17th floor of a building with a black briefcase "full of stock-related materials," local press reported.

Over the last few years, the United States has not had the best track record with Deep Geologic Repositories (DGR) for nuclear waste. In February of 2014, the U.S.’ DGR, known as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), had two separate incidents that compromised the integrity of the project by releasing airborne radioactive contamination. While most U.S. citizens were relatively unaffected by the events, our Canadian neighbors have proposed a plan to construct a DGR 0.6 miles from America’s largest source of fresh water, the Great Lakes — and the U.S. State Department is remaining relatively uninvolved.

If the last two auctions, the 2 and 5 Year, were both wildly disappointing and confirmed what we had said that foreign central banks are no longer a strong demand presence in the short-end, today's 7 Year was a welcome surprise to anyone who is holding on to Treasury longs. Moments ago the 7 Year When Issued was trading at 1.939%, so when the 1.930% high yield print hit the tape, longs everywhere collectively exhaled in approval observing the 0.9 bps stop through.  The internals were likewise strong, with the Bid to Cover of 2.526 highest since November's 2.635, as Indirects kept their take down flat, absorbing 50.84% of the auction as Directs took down 14.15%, the highest since January, leaving 35.00% to the Dealers.

While oil prices are surging (global economic meltdown averted), stocks are back in the green on the week (crisis averted), and bonds are collapsing (not because of China selling according to the mainstream because "everything is awesome" again), we point traders' attention to the continued inversion in the VIX term structure. While well off the peak crisis levels, we have a long way to go to "normalized" levels of risk...

If today's ridiculous move is the kind that no retail investors would chase, it is precisely what HFTs around the globe love: nothing but momentum, momentum, momentum. In fact, HFTs are trading so much, they are literally overheating!

Wondering why the world's risk assets are all exploding higher... wonder no more. JPY - funding currency of choice for many leveraged traders - has been monkey-hammered 500 pips lower against the USD in the last few days with the last 24 hours, since Kuroda unleashed his comedy gold last night, seeing another 150 pips surge...

Varoufakis’ fans get ready! The ex finance minister is preparing to launch a European movement that will develop into a political party. Yanis Varoufakis will push for a Pan-?uropean network to fight austerity. Instead of running for the upcoming elections, he will put his energy into political action on European level.

Over the years, Socgen's Albert Edwards has repeatedly expressed his skepticism of both the economy and the market (the longest US equity "bull market" since 1945) both propped up by generous central banks injecting liquidity by the tens of trillions (at this point nobody really knows the number now that the 'black box' that is China has entered the global "plunge protection" game) and yet never did he have as "conclusive" a call as he does today. As the following note reveals, when looking at one particular indicator, Edwards is now convinced: 'we are now in a bear market."