Archive - Oct 6, 2011 - Story

• Steve Jobs "may never be equaled" (Reuters)
• Secret panel can put Americans on "kill list" (Reuters)
• Michael Lewis: California and Bust (Vanity Fair)
• Europe’s Rescue Fund is Only Last Resort (Bloomberg)
• EC To Propose Coordinated Action On Bank Recapitalization (MNI)
• SNB Foreign Currency Reserves Climb to Record (Bloomberg)
• Geithner Says Europe Debt Crisis Poses Risk to Global Growth (Bloomberg)
• Repatriation Tax Holiday to Be Proposed by Hagan, McCain (Bloomberg)
• China Tests US With Currency Move (FT)

Reuters summarizes the immediate responses from Wall Street on the BOE's surprising and substantial QE expansion.

As many expected, the Bank of England has followed in Bernanke's footsteps and proceeded with extra QE, 75 billion extra, or about 25 billion more than consensus - this is the first expansion in the British QE since November 5, 2009 when it did the latest  £25 billion expansion. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning: much more global QE is coming down the line as the "monetary authority" realizes it only has itself and its printers to rely on in a world rapidly reentering recession.

•    Outside chance of a rate cut
•    ECB may announce 1-year LTRO operation to support the banking system
•    ECB is expected to commit to further bond buying via the SMP

As predicted, the Dexia "bad bank" rumor lasted all of, oh, 24 hours. After exhausting all talking points, French and Belgian politicians took out the abacus and were horrified to learn, as we suggested, that any implicit backstop would cost them dearly, and in France's case, at least one A of those critical AAAs that continue to keep Europe afloat. So implicit moves to explicit and as Belgian De Tijd reports, "the Belgian government will nationalize Dexia Bank Belgium." From the article: "the federal government came together this morning to rule on the future of Dexia Bank Belgium. There were several scenarios on the table. One was the nationalization of Dexia Bank Belgium (DBB) . This means that the Belgian state will buy DBB to quickly resell in the future. The disadvantage of this scenario is that the shareholders suffer most because they are left with the unhealthy parts of the group (the bad bank)." It also means that Belgium can kiss its sterling credit rating goodbye, and its CDS will continue going up until it meets that of Dexia, which will now have the same implied risk as that of the government about to consume it. Two questions arise next: will the website of Dexia be down indefinitely as locals decide that keeping their money in an insolvent bank may not be the best option, and, secondly, who will nationalize a governmentless Belgium next?

Looking purely at the Vix one could say it is moving down as fear comes out of the market. Equities are moving higher, Vix moving lower, all is coming back to normal. But if you look behind the Vix it is signaling a completely different picture. What I see is something pulling back before a final assault and highly probable defeat of the 48.00 line in the sand. I see the Vix moving up to the 60 range in a matter of days. Perhaps that will lead to the final push lower in equities before some form of a tradable bottom is put in. Perhaps it is already in but judging by the divergence between volatility and the SPX I highly doubt it. There are three charts I want to share with you below, all of which have commentary on them so please click and read what is written. As a refresher below are the various terms used on the charts.