Archive - Feb 10, 2011 - Story

Markets down for a second day this morning. Look forward to the release of initial jobless claims this morning which may provide some additional insight into last week’s unemployment numbers. NYSE shares rallied yesterday off of Deutsche Boerse AG’s announcement of its negotiations to buy the exchange, which would make it the country’s largest market for derivatives. While speaking in front of the House Budget Committee yesterday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke reminded Congress that the Fed is not solely responsible for the U.S.’s overwhelming deficit. He defended QE2 but hinted that there is a limit to its effectiveness. The chairman acknowledged that fiscal adjustments "occur at some point." On a related note, today will see the release of the U.S.’s monthly budget deficit.

• Mervyn King (the UK's Chairsatan) Faces Ticking Clock on Interest-Rate Increase as U.K. Inflation Soars (Bloomberg)
• Bernanke (our own Chairsatan) Warns Against Steep Budget Cuts (Reuters)
• Bernanke Makes Sure Fed Reminds Congress Deficit Bigger Than QE2 (Bloomberg)
• China Developers Move Beyond Shanghai, Beijing, Defy Curbs (Bloomberg)
• Was Weber Sacrificed for the Euro? (WSJ)
• Wall Street Justice Means Nobody Gets Pinched: Jonathan Weil (Bloomberg)
• Weber's Withdrawal Opens Up ECB Race as Debt Crisis Persists (Bloomberg)
• Credit Suisse Cuts Profitability Goal as Net Misses Estimates (Bloomberg)
• Now that Ron Paul actually has some power over the Fed, what is he going to do with it? (Slate)
• Asia Moves Up a Gear in Fighting Inflation (Reuters)
• Egyptian Party Pulls Out of Talks After Threat of Army Role (Bloomberg)

Risk is off with a vengeance. After Asian markets (ex-Japan) experienced a total rout, which also included Hong Kong, the emerging market money is now in full withdrawal. And if it is going in the US (ex. a rotation out of munis into equities, something which Meredith Whitney should be congratulated for), you could have fooled us: futures are decidedly negative on the back of last night's horrible Cisco numbers. The cherry on top is a rumor reported by Islam Times that Saudi King Abdullah has passed away: "King Abdullah talked with Obama about the situation in Egypt over the
phone yesterday. Obama and the King got into a  heated debate about
their opinions of what Hosni Mubarak should do. After the phone call
sources stated that King Abdullah was furious and then suffered a sudden
heart attack. Doctors ran to his rescue  but were unable to
save him.  He was pronounced  dead, but his death was  not reported
due to the  sensitive conditions that  exist in  the region. The Saudi
Arabian government will reject this claim; but the ball is in their
court to prove that he is alive." Obviously this is not helping the brent bid, which hit nearly $103 overnight (although the rumor has yet to be confirmed). Lastly, all this of course means that glass house, i.e., European peripheral bonds are plunging, and the result is that the ECB has to come in and after two weeks of inactivity is forced to manipulate the bond market by buying directly. So much for that European sense of calm, which we said last night was going to be blown away very shortly (here and here).

Claims, inventories, the federal budget balance, and the Fed’s balance sheet…No POMO today, but we do get a new POMO schedule at 2 PM.

A snapshot of the European Morning Briefing covering Stocks, Bonds, FX, etc.