Archive - Sep 2011 - Story

A day after we learned that the Greece tragicomedy just gets better and better after it had run out of ink to print tax forms, and hence is unable to collect taxes, and were forced to got over a minute long bout of hysterical laughter having learned that Greece plans on refinancing its rolling debt (which trades at over 100%) with Century Bonds, no seriously and this under the sage advice of BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Lazard, we now get the latest update in this progression of relentless Banana Republic upgrades after learning that the Troika is unable to conduct its much needed inspections of Greek deficit cut progress due to sit ins by protesting government workers at 8 ministries. From Kathimerini: "The troika has been in Athens since Wednesday but its monitoring of Greek finances is running into a variety of problems, as besides the disagreement with the government on a number of issues, the representatives of the country’s international creditors had to deal with sit-ins at the building they were about to visit on Thursday. Public sector employees blocked the entrance to the Finance Ministry and the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) in protest at the planned measure of putting thousands of them on labor standby status." Seriously what else? News that government workers start shredding debt indentures for fun? In the meantime the Troika is having official meetings with what's left of the government at the local Starbucks...

Update: CDS now over 200 bps, or over 7 bps since this artice was posted.

This is an emergency announcement for bubble watchers: China CDS has soared to 194.5 bps, +14.5 in the past few hours (a trend first noted here about a week earlier), the biggest relative mover in the sovereign realm, which has just hit the widest it has been since March 2009. Ironically the incremental newsflow was mildly positive after the Final September HSBC PMI came at 49.9, still contractionary, but modestly better than the Preliminary 49.4, and unchanged from the August print. That however brought little solace to China bulls, who have seen their local stock holdings drop significantly in the last few days now that the China "Hard Landing" scenario is becoming widely accepted. Not helping is a just released UBS report which now expects Q1 2012 GDP to drop to below stall speed at 7.7%. Whether or not the country can land softly, or hardly, or at all, with that kind of growth drop, is certainly unknown. Look for more widening in CDS spreads as the China crash thesis permeates the vigilante community which has now picked its next target.

We’ve updated our chart of the sources of financing of the U.S. budget deficit from the Fed’s Flow of Funds data released on September 16th.   The chart illustrates how the Fed and foreign central banks have been indirectly fully funding the  massive U.S. budget deficit for the last three quarters.   It will be interesting to see the data for the quarter ending today as no doubt there will be less yellow with the end of Q2 on June 30 and more “flight to quality” blue (domestic) and red (rest of world).

As the rapacious rally of this afternoon glides into a sulky sell-off, Goldman's global economics team provide a little more kindling on top of further Kiwi downgrades to help us on our way. The Goldman Sachs Analyst Index (GSAI) fell below the 50 mark (signifying more analysts see contraction in their sectors than expansion) for the first time since AUG09. Combine that with the new orders index registering the largest decline in the index's history (plummeting 22.5pts to 28.6) and the subdued growth outlook remains firmly in place.

We round off the early evening with this must watch interview by Tommy Humphrey of Cambridge House International with Casey Report's Doug Casey, familiar to all regulars of Zero Hedge, in which all the usual suspects are discussed: systemic downfall, alternative investments and flight to real, not mainstream media inspired, safety. 

REEs are found in everyday products, from laptops to iPods to flat screen televisions and hybrid cars, which use more than 20 pounds of REEs per car.  Other RRE uses include phosphors in television displays, PDAs, lasers, green engine technology, fiber optics, magnets, catalytic converters, fluorescent lamps, rechargeable batteries, magnetic refrigeration, wind turbines, and, of most interest to the Pentagon, strategic military weaponry, including cruise missiles. Technology transfer is the essential overlooked component in China’s economic rise, and Beijing played Western greed on the subject like a Stradivarius, promising future access to China’s massive market in return, an opium dream that rarely occurred for most companies. You want unimpeded access to Chinese RREs? Fine – relocate a portion on your production lines here, or…Which brings us back to today’s topic.Rare earths and investment – where to go?

The big news this morning, aside from the relatively strong economic data out of the US (of course, we’ll have to wait for the downward revision on jobs to see the real number, which is an ongoing statistical aberration for the record books but anyway) is the news that the German parliament overwhelmingly passed the measure to support the EFSF.  In reality, this wasn’t really that newsworthy as passing this particular legislation had been expected since Germany originally agreed to the deal in principal earlier this summer.  This was not the leveraged, CDO^2 like structure that failed NY Federal Reserve President cum Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner had been pitching recently in Europe.  No, that idea has been dismissed out of hand and Mr. Geithner properly ridiculed for recommending that the already over-taxed European people be further Major Kong-style strapped to the ticking atom bomb that is the European banks’ leveraged balance sheets.

In case you haven’t noticed lately, the market doesn’t move on good or bad earnings or economic data, it moves on political rumors and innuendo about government’s willingness to continue the TARP/cheap money/QE lifeline to the terribly over-leveraged banking sector.  It’s especially troubling when you consider the faith most members of Congress place in Ben Bernanke and the other Oracles of Delphi at the Fed.  One area that’s going to come home to roost very soon is the zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) that has been in place since late ‘08/early ’09.

We have seen several days in recent weeks that beggar belief in terms of intraday range and velocity but today was very impressive indeed. After rallying over 2.6% from overnight lows, ES then dropped almost 3.2% before managing a 2.2% rally off intraday lows in the last hour to regain VWAP. A massive volume at the close (especially compared to the rest of the day) was also notable but once again we note the significant pickup in relative volume as we sold off versus the rally. We fear that the longer it takes to bite the bullet in Europe, the more volatile we get as Greece's deadlines loom and scenarios become fewer and more disparate.

Denial. Denial is safe. Comforting. Religiously and relentlessly abused by politicians who don't want nor can face reality. A word synonymous with "muddle through." Ah yes, that "muddle through" which so many C-grade economists and pundits believe is the long-term status quo for the US and the world just because it worked for Japan for the past three decades, or, said otherwise, "just because." Well, too bad. As the following absolutely must read report, which comes not from some trader of dubious credibility interviewed by BBC, nor even from an impassioned executive from a doomed Italian bank, but from consultancy powerhouse Boston Consulting Group confirms, the "muddle through" is dead. And now it is time to face the facts. What facts? The facts which state that between household, corporate and government debt, the developed world has $20 trillion in debt over and above the  sustainable threshold by the definition of "stable" debt to GDP of 180%. The facts according to which all attempts to eliminate the excess debt have failed, and for now even the Fed's relentless pursuit of inflating our way out this insurmountable debt load have been for nothing. The facts which state that the only way to resolve the massive debt load is through a global coordinated debt restructuring (which would, among other things, push all global banks into bankruptcy) which, when all is said and done, will have to be funded by the world's financial asset holders: the middle- and upper-class, which, if BCS is right, have a ~30% one-time tax on all their assets to look forward to as the great mean reversion finally arrives and the world is set back on a viable path. But not before the biggest episode of "transitory" pain, misery and suffering in the history of mankind. Good luck, politicians and holders of financial assets, you will need it because after Denial comes Anger, and only long after does Acceptance finally arrive.

The VIX is an ephemeral beast beloved by talking-heads and options-market-makers alike (and now FX strategists). In a rather alarming note from CitiFX today, they are concerned over the chance of an explosive breakout as one of their favorite technical setups comes to pass - a double bottom within a triangle. If these levels break then the team expects a test of S&P 1000-1015.

Monday afternoon the markets shot straight up after taking a dose of CNBCialis. CNBC was the first to break the story about letting EFSF use leverage or turning the EIB into a vehicle to increase the potency of the EFSF funds.  That was followed up by more leaks to other news sources. Stocks went higher quite happily but failed to drag the credit markets with it to a large degree.  Any analysis of the various plans all lead to the same conclusion - no matter how complex or convoluted the plan, the only way it works is for Germany and France to risk their credit ratings to support everyone else, or to print money.  No miracle solution was at work.  Plans may yet be put in place, but it is clear all they do if shuffle the deck chairs and obfuscate who is picking up the tab, but solve nothing.  It is clear that if it gets implemented, any further problems would become far worse as there would be no Eurozone country strong enough to support the rest.  What wasn't clear, is whether the downgrades would occur even before the plans were launched. As I wrote earlier, I will change my view of the market when something real comes out to make me change it.  I also really believe that in the near term, after a Greek default, SPX is likely to move in a range of 1000-1150, and the next big move will be if the global economies can resurrect growth.

Most of you reading this right now are thinking that this is interesting but he is exaggerating and this will blow over. I am here to assure you that it is not and this whole thing is about to grow exponentially as the economy continues to stagnate and people climb the learning curve. Are you aware that the founder of Salon.com, David Talbot, is publicly calling for an “American Spring?” This of course is a reference to the Arab Spring, in which revolution swept across North Africa earlier this year and led to the collapse of the Tunisian and Egyptian governments and then major government bribes to the people living in the oil rich kingdoms. Mr. Talbot writes “In these increasingly hard times, Salon is dedicating itself to an American revival. Our editorial mission will become more explicitly and aggressively populist. We will be publishing more investigative pieces, exposing the shadow dance of power. And both Democratic and Republican targets will be fair game, since both parties are increasingly under the control of the same corporate forces"... We the people now understand it is not “rich vs. poor,” businessperson vs. teacher.” It is serf vs. oligarch. They are 0.1% and we know what they are up to. GAME ON.

Well it was fun while it lasted. Utilities now the best performers on the day as Financials cross down towards the red. Consumer Discretionary -2.6% as we lose Dow 11000 and HY and IG credit is dropping rapidly. Of course the pschological impact of a quarter-/month-end close below 11,000 may be too much to bear for the PPT, so tread carefully - though we note broad risk assets are all selling off and catching up to stocks here.