Archive - Oct 19, 2012 - Story

Yet again Germany was forced to compromise and agree on what can only be viewed as a partial agreement on EU banking supervision. Under the agreed timetable, a legal framework for the new ECB-based supervisor would be finalised by the end of this year and then it would take six to 12 months to get the supervisor up and running. Still, German Chancellor Merkel insisted that direct recapitalisation of banks by the ESM will only be available once fully fledged supervision is in place and ruled out retroactive bank recapitalisation. This, together with the fact that Spain is yet to ask for monetary assistance prompted market participants to book profits. In particular, selling pressure was most evident across the financial sector, where Italian and Spanish banks underperforming for much of the session. As a result, EUR/USD traded lower, with large option expiries today and on Monday between 1.3000 and 1.3050 preventing the pair from posting large losses. Going forward, the second half of the session sees the release of the latest Existing Home Sales from the US and Canadian CPI.

Today's just announced revenue and EPS misses from both megacaps McDonalds and GE (in addition to MSFT, GOOG, INTC, IBM and everyone else) merely adds to what has so far been an abysmal earnings season, and one which is set to continue for far more weakness into Q4 (why? Hint: China, and its unwillingness to ease, and thus provide the much needed demand oomph US corporates need). Yet, the pundits will claim, economic conditions in the US have improved. How does one reconcile this disconnect? Simple: as Bloomberg Brief shows in two simple charts, what we are undergoing is not the first, but second case of annual deja vu, as the economy supposedly picks up in Q3 and Q4, courtesy of the latest and greatest artificial sugar high from the Fed, only to slide promptly back into decline once the initial euphoria fizzles. However, this time there is a major difference: corporate Y/Y revenue (and in many cases EPS) comps have turned negative, which means that unlike before when corporations would be the silver lining in a dreary macro environment once the economic downward trend resumed, this time around there won't be a convenient Deus Ex to provide a last gasp reason to hold on to the myth that things are getting better. This, in turn means, that with "dividend" assets no longer attractive, the investing/trading crowd will rush into hard assets like crude (recall the $125/barrell Brent barrier for economic decline)... and gold. But that is a story for another day.

• Debt Fuels a Dividend Boom - Firms Collect Payouts, and Investors Get Yield; 'Reminiscent of the Bubble Era' (WSJ)
• Black Monday Echoes With Computers Failing to Restore Confidence (BBG)
• Poll: Obama Leads in Wisconsin, Iowa (WSJ)
• Gold Imports by India Seen Climbing First Time in Six Quarters (BBG)
• Europe pushes ahead towards ECB bank supervision (Reuters)
• ... And fails: Summit fails to agree timetable for aid to failing lenders (FT)
• Toyota Prius Dominates California as State’s No. 1 Model (BBG)
• Italy raises €18bn in huge bond sale (FT)
• Diplomacy inbox fills up as U.N. awaits U.S. presidential vote (Reuters)
• Goldman braced for more revelations (FT)
• China power brokers agree preferred leadership team (Reuters)
• EU, Japan Warn Against New US Swaps Rules (WSJ)
• Why VaR is the most meaningless contraption ever: Morgan Stanley shows the ‘flaky’ side of model (FT)
• Made in France Trumps Consumer Choice in Hollande Jobs Quest (BBG)
• North Korea threatens South over propaganda balloons (Reuters)

... Europe would be worried to quite worried:

• Anti-bailout Syria: 30.5%
• New Democracy: 27% - Currently ruling
• Golden Dawn (nationalists): 14%
• Pasok and Democratic Left: 5%

In other words, the anti-bailout party and the neo-nazis would have a near majority in parliament.

Yesterday for the first time in years, the irrelevant headlines out of Europe, which continues to pretend to shuffle money out of one pocket (Germany's) into another (everyone else's), was well-deservedly backstage to the Google earnings fiasco one day ahead of the 25th anniversary of Black Monday (which is today). The EU summit was one of the more toothless ones in a long time, with no discussions at all of the one item that matters - Spain's bailout (as well as Greece's) - but with a lot of fluff considerations for a EU banking union and joint deposit guarantees - events which, like in the June summit, Germany has implicitly gone along with for the ride, but explicitly has said only over its dead body and in which it will not participate (note we said "pretends" above). The summit continues today for a second day, and will hardly make any more news than it did yesterday. In real news, GE missed revenue expectations and joins virtually every other company this earnings seasons in confirming deteriorating unfudgable topline conditions. Elsewhere, in Greece a pool by VPRC for Greece Tomorrow showed that the anti-bailout Syriza party would win outright with 30.5% of the vote, with New Democracy getting 27% and the Pasok coalition partners getting 5%. The Neo-Nazis would get 14%. Also notable is that on Sunday Spanish regions Basque country and Galicia hold local elections. As Rabobank warns, Galicia is Rajoy’s home region, and traditional stronghold of his Popular Party. A poor PP showing may highlight political hurdle to making bailout request, thus challenging the recent OMT-inspired support to Spanish bonds. This in turn would confirm what we have said all along, namely that a bailout request means an end to the current ruling regime and political chaos. Finally, the November 25 Catalonian elections may also trigger Spanish euphoria reversal.