Archive - Jun 2011 - Story

Following last week's outlier of only 60x more insider selling than buying, the latest Bloomberg S&P500 insider selling (and occasional) buying update shows that corporate insiders are once again reverting to the mean of dumping as much of everything as they can with both hands. The last week saw nearly 150x more insider selling to buying, with just $2.3 million in purchases (nearly half of which was accounted for by the $1MM purchase in Medtronic), offset by $333 million in selling. The biggest sales were Hershey, Autozone, Abercrombie and Fitch, Agilent and Chipotle, better known as some of the biggest bubbles in the current market.

Another day, another disappointment in the economic front, where over the past week there has not been one consensus beat. Either tomorrow's NFP number will be the biggest headfake, and the Birth Death adjustment will blow the hinges off the market, or the number will be a total disaster, as needed for QE3. For the week ended May 28, initial claims were 422,000, higher than expectations of 417,000, down from an upwardly (naturally) revised 428,000 (previously 424,000). The 4-week moving average was 425,500, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised average of 439,500, now that the outlier whopper from a month ago drops out of the moving average. The states with the biggest increase in claims was California, with +7,053 layoffs in the service industry. Continuing claims were also higher than expectations of 3,675K, printing at 3,711K, but, you guessed it, it is a drop from the prevoius number which was revised from 3,690 to, wait for it, 3,712K. Those rolling off benefits and hitting the 99 week cliff naturally gets bigger and bigger as the depression progresses, with 5k less under EUCs and Extended Benefits programs. Elsewhere, US Nonfarm Productivity Q/Q was 1.8% vs. expectations of 1.7% (Prev. 1.6%), while Unit Labor Costs missed expectations of 0.8%, coming at 0.7%, and down from 1.0% previously. Altogether another set of weak data as everyone now focuses on tomorrow's critical NFP number: as a reminder it was the horrible August 2, 2010 NFP data which set off QE2.

Third point, which was down 0.4% in May, yet up 9.7% YTD, has ignored the noise of what other asset managers did as of March 31, and as per its most recently released monthly holdings report, has kept gold its top position (no three month delay here: this is as of May 31). We wonder how many other hedge funds took advantage of the herd of 13F chasers who offloaded precious metals in imitation of what Soros did some time in February and March, only to load up at lower prices.

• Fed mouthpiece Hilsenrath speaks: No QE3 for now - Fed Holds Steady as Economy Slows (WSJ)
• Fed May Signal Balance Sheet Will Stay at Record (Bloomberg)
• Fed Owes U.S. Stakeholders Accounting on Loans as People’s Bank (Bloomberg)
• China will have to tackle local govt debt (Reuters)
• Biggest HFT firm in the world to sell HFT counter-measures: Getco Expands Client Business, Offers Algorithm to Funds (Bloomberg)
• Greece Is in Line For a New Loan (WSJ)
• E.coli outbreak in Europe caused by new toxic strain (Reuters)
• The Chanos thesis is delayed: Banking regulator plans to shift 2-3 trillion yuan ($300-$470 billion) in debt off the books of local governments (Shanghai Daily)
• Kan: Ready to Step Down After Finishing Quake Work (WSJ)

Today the market moving economic data will be initial claims, productivity and labor costs, and Q2 impacting factory orders.

Spot gold and silver prices rose slightly again this morning after hitting a one-month high yesterday as equity markets internationally came under selling pressure. The Moody's downgrade of Greece and worryingly poor US economic data again pushed investors to seek the safe haven of bullion. Gold reached new record nominal highs in sterling yesterday (£945.62/oz) as the pound fell on concerns about the UK economy. The supply situation in the silver market gets more interesting by the day. Registered COMEX silver inventories have fallen to multiyear lows at 29,631,268 ounces. In the last 5 days they fell from 32,132,903 ounces to Tuesday’s holdings of 29,631,268 ounces. As can be seen in the table below registered silver inventories fell every single day last week leading to a sharp fall of 8.4% in 5 days. Registered silver inventories are down a sharp 38.5% in just two weeks – from 41,044,280 to 29,631,268. The possibility of an attempted cornering of the silver market through buying and taking delivery of physical bullion remains real. However it would be very difficult to corner the silver market due to the very small nature of the silver bullion market. A COMEX default remains a risk as does a massive short squeeze which could see silver surge as it did in the 1970s and again recently leading to silver targeting the inflation adjusted record high of $140/oz.

Following years of inactivity it has now become cool to be the first rating agency to pull the trigger on another insolvent sovereign. After yesterday's downgrade of Greece by Moody's to Caa1, today Dagong decided to one up its American counterparts and downgrade the country with the 250% debt/GDP: Japan. From Xinhua: "Chinese ratings provider Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., on Thursday cut its rating for Japan's local and foreign currency sovereign credit by one level to A+ and AA- respectively. The rating agency said the downgrade took into consideration Japan's political situation, economy, fiscal revenue and expenditure, as well as debt revenue. Expecting a mild recovery of the Japanese economy and no significant deterioration of Japan's sovereign debt financing within the next 12 months, Dagong put the country's credit outlook as "stable."" As Richard Koo noted yesterday, the probability that the Japnese economic situation will deteriorate absent stimulus is very high. Unfortunately, the problem is that since there is little to no spare money available "out there" the ability to kick the can down the road with another Keynesian band aid is severly limited. Expect to see many more downgrades of Japan, and not just Dagong, before the year is over. 

Risk is solidly bid this morning as the EURUSD has jumped to overnight highs of just under 1.45, and the DXY has just dropped to a one month low, following two Spanish bond auctions which saw yields surge yet came at far higher bids to cover than previously. From Reuters: "Spain saw strong demand for 3.95 billion euros ($5.67 billion) of medium-term bonds on Thursday, though a broad drop in risk appetite and lingering uncertainty over how talks on fresh aid for Greece will pan out kept yields high. In a litmus test of investor appetite for peripheral euro zone debt as policymakers thrash out a plan to avert a Greek default, the 2014 bond, with a 3.4 percent coupon, sold 2.75 billion euros at an average yield of 4.037 percent. That compared with 3.568 percent at the previous auction in April, while the bid to cover rate rose to 2.5 compared with 1.8. The 2015 bond, last issued in September of last year and with a coupon of 3 percent, sold 1.2 billion euros at an average yield of 4.230 percent, slightly lower than yields on the secondary market. The bond was 2.9 times subscribed after being 1.6 times subscribed at its last auction. "Since the (2014) launch early April, we've had an escalation on the peripheral side, so a firm selling since then, which is why (the yield) jumped so much," economist at 4Cast Jo Tomkins said. "You'll see plenty of buyers coming in at that level, especially since the Greek deal seems to be moving in a positive direction." Also adding to the risk appetite are statements from Trichet that in the longer term, he could suggest forming a finance ministry of the European Union, adding there is no crisis in the EUR. Lastly, he added that if aid programs fail, as a second stage he could consider deeper integration of economic policy, more central command of domestic policies. Of course they will: once all is plundered, the ECB will become the defacto "protector" of its colonies. And falling solidly into the trap is Greece where according to a government source the privatization plans may run faster than expected.

A snapshot of the European Morning Briefing covering Stocks, Bonds, FX, etc.
Market Recaps to help improve your Trading and Global knowledge

Remember when the president uttered the magic words back in March 2009, when he said that "profit and earning ratios [whatever the hell those are] are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you’ve got a long-term perspective on it" giving the green light for the 2 year bear market rally? Well, if that was global market Risk On, Janet Yellen just gave the Risk Off command. To wit: "forward price-to-earnings ratios in the stock market fall within the ranges prevailing in recent decades, and are well below the early-2000 peak, although corresponding measures for small-cap equities (not shown) appear somewhat elevated....special questions included in the March 2011 SCOOS suggest an increase
in the use of leverage by some traditionally unlevered investors (such
as pension funds and insurance companies) as well as hedge funds during
the previous six months.
" Yup: small caps, aka the Russell 2000, aka the Economy according to the Fed's third mandate. Ironically, the Fed realizes the Catch 22 it is caught in, which we noted earlier, namely that stocks are pricing in QE 3, but for QE 3 to happen stocks have to drop 20% from here. Well, this may be the last warning from the Fed.

One chart stands out in today's Breakfast with Rosie: the comparison of yesterday's surprisingly weak Consumer Confidence number with comparable prints taken at financial crises and tragedies of the past such as the October 1987 markets crash, Desert Storm, LTCM, the dot com collapse, September 11, Katrina, and Lehman. No surprise: yesterday's was the lowest. And as a reminder, the president's reelection campaign kicks into higher gear in a few months...against the backdrop of the most unhappy popular sentiment in recent years. Just how do QE 3 skeptics believe he will succeed, when still faced with consumer confidence that two years into the "recovery" is lower than during any other previous economic "expansion", even as congress is about to unleash the most brutal wave of fiscal consolidation (aka austerity) in recent American history.

Just because it is GDP accretive. Actually, on second though, if the Princeton Economics Department is right, all those tornados crisscrossing the US over the past month should add at least 0.5% to Q2 GDP. Which, gasp, means that JPM's just lowered GDP forecast is really 1.5%. And it is supposed to double by the end of the year to 3.0%. On... what again?

It is one thing to watch squiggly lines, or pretty, but largely meaningless bubble charts explaining a snapshot phenomenon or one transpiring over time. It is something else to actually be in a rollercoaster which recreates the experience of the Vancouver real estate market. Which is why the following animation from Vancouver Condo Info is rather cool. "This is a roller coaster simulation of the last 35 years of the
Vancouver Real Estate market. The actual graph you're riding is the
inflation adjusted value of a house in Vancouver BC based on data
collected by Royal LePage and calculated by the UBC Centre for Urban
Economics and Real Estate. Some of the peaks and troughs have been
rounded to keep the train from flying off the tracks, but other than
that slight modification it is a precise scale model of the red line on
this graph: cuer.sauder.ubc.ca/?cma/?data/?ResidentialRealEstate/?HousingPrices/?housing-pri-vancouver.pdf. When the housing bubble of the early eighties popped in this city some house prices dropped by 50% over the next couple of years and didn't reach their inflation adjusted real price again for 25 years. What would a real estate market bust look like these days?"

About a month ago we indicated that Comex depository Scotia Mocatta "lost" 25% of its Registered (aka Physical) silver after the vault encountered a "reporting reclassification" which saw 5,287,142 ounces of silver moved from Registered to Eligible status, dropping the vault's true holdings from 11.8 million ounces to 6.5 million. Naturally, the response from the peanut gallery was that this was a tempest in a teacup and it was "temporary" and a-ha, any minute it would reverse, and all shall be well, everyone would live happily ever after, and the Comex would actually have silver available for delivery purposes. We decided to not hold our breath. Which after pulling today's most recent Comex warehouse data appears to have been a prudent decision, because for the first time ever total registered silver has dropped below 30 million ounces, after experiencing a 5% overnight drop across the board, primarily driven by yet another 1,456,488 ounce "adjustment" of warehoused silver from Registered To Eligible at Scotia Mocatta. As of last night, total Scotia physical silver was now 4,740,447 ounces, a 24% drop overnight, and a massive 60% drop from the total which we captured on April 20. Still think it's temporary?

It was big news last year when someone pointed out that 134 out of 143 S&P 500 points came on the first day of the month.  10 of 12 first days of the month in 2010 were positive.  Everyone was chattering about how great it was to go long ahead of the first day of the month.  This culminated in a nice 14 point gain on January 1 after a couple weeks of little movement.  By January 28th, an otherwise down day, the talking heads were kept bouyant by the prospects of big gains to be had the following Tuesday.  The market didn't disappoint and jumped 21 points on the first of February.  In spite of the hype going into March 1st the S&P saw a 21 point sell off.  That move seemed to take the wind out of the sails of that 'easy trade' and although we moved up 7 points on April 1st, On May 2nd we slipped 2 points and today we got slammed 31 points.  Now for the year we are down 12 points in total on the first trading day of the month.  Sadly, by the time my mother heard about on all the financial channels and started trading, she down 48 points.  So much for easy money.