Archive - Oct 2012 - Story

Everyone's favorite internet narcissism site has exploded in the pre-market. After reporting some not as bad as expected numbers, analysts at Citi, BofAML, and Stifel have upgraded the wunder-stock to BUY and that has sent this 14% of float shorted stock up 25% - to its huge gap-down level from 7/26 (last earnings). Technical squeeze of all-clear? With 23 Buys, 15 Holds, and 4 Sells, what can go wrong? Especially with ~$16bn of market cap from lockup expirations due to hit within two months.

The Goldman pro-inflation emissary is now in Berlin. We can only hope he is not using a wheelbarrow as a pedestal. Here are his quotes...

No surprise Europe remains highly vulnerable to sudden sentiment shifts. How to stablise it? The usual smoke & mirrors are conveying what might or might not be good news on Greece [since denied]. The crisis in Europe may be contained, but it clearly isn't solved. "Europe is like an overweight dinosaur on a crash diet, that's got really really bad toothache with not a dentist in sight." But But But.. yesterday's ructions weren't just about the political shenanigans that pass for markets these days. There are deep undercurrents roiling these placid markets. All of which leads us to wondering what happens next? If this continues what hope for next year? Low low yields and global economic depression? Boy scout time...

Literally minutes ago we made it clear that the Greek FinMin is now officially lying on the tape, declaring his "hope" as a fact. It took Germany moments after our post to chime in and confirm that indeed, things are very, very serious, if the finance minister of a country is now blatantly lying. Via BBG

• GERMAN SPOKESMAN: NO BASIS FOR 2-YR GREEK EXTENSION REPORTS - DJ

And EURUSD spike on the rejection of the lie. In other news, the market is about as unmanipulated as the Mitt Romney flash smash yesterday.

After absorbing the latest PMI reports from Europe, as well as yet another disappointing German IFO survey which in turn was followed by a sharp rise in volatility, saw equity markets in Europe print lows of the day. However ever since, equities staged an impressive recovery and are now in positive territory, supported by investors looking to capitalise on oversold conditions and in part by short-positions being squeezed. The sharp and unpredictable mood swings resemble one suffering manic depression and it remains to be seen whether stocks will be able to hold onto gains. The move higher in stocks has been led by the tech sector, which has been one of the worst performing sectors over the recent weeks. Looking elsewhere, EUR underperformed its peers, largely driven by a lower EUR/GBP (by-product of deterioration in EU credit markets, as well as good sized buying by a UK bank in GBP/USD).

What better way to start the morning for EUR trading algobots (which at last check account for 50% of the volume and rising) than with a bout of total confusion over the Greek bailout (non) extension. On one hand we have the Greek FinMin Stournaras saying a two year grace period has been reached - something which the European core has said is not standalone, and which will need much more bailout cash, and on the other we once again have Germany flat out denying this report, saying the official Troika reports has not been completed, and that Greece is expected to show deviations from the fiscal plan. From Kathimerini: "Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras has informed journalists that there is an agreement between the Greek government and the troika on all aspects of the austerity and reform program and the coalition is likely to be in a position to submit the measures to Parliament by the end of the week.  “The package has been sealed,” Stournaras is reported to have told journalists, less than 24 hours after coalition partners Democratic Left and PASOK expressed objections to some aspects of the measures."  And yet, moments ago, headlines blast that GERMANY DEP FINMIN:TROIKA REPORT ON GREECE NOT YET FINISHED and GREEK REPORT TO SHOW DEVIANCE FROM AGREED GOALS, KAMPETER SAYS. Go figure it out.

Unlcear if as on recent occasions, there will be 7,000 policemen protecting him: Mario Draghi travels to Berlin today to meet with key German parliament members involved in the eurozone crisis policy.  This private meeting is the ECB president’s effort to defend his new bond buying plan as a legitimate instrument in its monetary policy arsenal. Germany’s legislative backing is critical for Draghi’s plan to buy up Spanish and other eurozone area government bonds. The Bundesbank president, Jens Weidmann, says the program is tantamount to financing governments by printing money, which is prohibited by the ECB’s founding treaty. ECB presidents normally give evidence to the European parliament but rarely if ever address national legislatures especially behind closed doors.  This journey is highly unusual but a critical sell for Draghi. Today’s session will be followed by a press briefing at 4pm local time by Mr. Draghi and Bundestag leader Norbert Lammert.

• China May Forgo Easing as Economy Rebounds, Survey Shows (Bloomberg)... or as food and house inflation has never gone away
• China Edges Out U.S. as Top Foreign-Investment Draw Amid World Decline (WSJ)
• Fed to keep buying bonds despite firmer U.S. growth (Reuters)
• Bernanke Seen Attacking Jobless Rate With QE Until His Term Ends (Bloomberg)
• Mortgage applications plunge 12%, down for third week in a row (Dow Jones)
• Exchanges Retreat on Trading Tools - Fund Managers, Regulators Say Certain Orders Are Risky, Aid High-Speed Firms (WSJ)
• Europe Bank Chief to Defend Bond-Buying Plan (WSJ)
• Japan, China Envoys Met Last Week for Talks on Island Feud (Bloomberg)
• Goldman’s Pill Says ‘Guerrilla’ ECB to Impose Losses on Skeptics (BBG)
• Chance rise of an Obama defeat (FT)
• King Says BOE Is Ready to Add to QE If U.K. Recovery Fades (Bloomberg)
• Rajoy Sees Case for Slowing Spain’s Austerity as Economy Shrinks (BusinessWeek)
• Hong Kong Intervenes to Defend Peg as Upper Limit Tested (Bloomberg)

There were two major datapoints overnight: the first one came out early in the session, when the Chinese Flash HSBC PMI (not the official one), printed in contraction territory for a 12th consecutive month but jumped sufficiently to 3 month highs to give the algobots hope that China may be turning (it isn't: China, like the US has a major political event early November and all its data is more manipulated than ever). Regardless, this sent future rising to session highs until virtually yesterday's entire gap down was eliminated. The euphoria continued until several hours later we got composite European (as well as the most important German PMI data, and to far less relevant extent France, which always has been the dynamo in European economic growth), manufacturing and services PMI, both of which missed expectations or declined substantially, reaffirming that the German economy is getting dragged down more and more into recession even as continues funding the rescue of the periphery. As the chart from Markit below shows, German PMI is hinting at a solidly negative German GDP print, further confirmed by the German IFO business print which came at 100, a drop from 101.4 and below expectations of 101.6. Other secondary macroeconomic data was just as bad, which explains why futures are now well on their way to dropping back to their lows. Finally, today we get the FOMC statement, which will be much ado about nothing, and will merely serve as an appetizer to the December FOMC meeting, when Goldman (and Zero Hedge) now expected the Fed to expand unsterilized monthly monetization to increase from $40 billion to $85 billion (more on the shortly). Yet perhaps the biggest shift in mood has been coming out of our old friend Greece, where Troika negotiations, largely under the radar, are progressing from bad to worse, where the bond buyback plan was scuttled last night (as ZH reported sending Greek bonds 70 bps wider on the day and rising), and where the probability of another flash election, which can crash the precarious European balance in an instant, is rising with each passing day.

The waistline bubble began to expand at just about the same time as the debt bubble...

What is wrong with this market? The S&P 500, instead of grinding higher in the aftermath of QE3 actually hit its peak for the year the day after the policy announcement. Go figure. Maybe economic reality finally caught up with Mr. Market (there is a very fine line between "'resiliency" and "denial" — and keep in mind that the S&P 500 is still up 14% in a year in which profits are now contracting, not just slowing down)... On average, six weeks hence, the S&P 500 was up more than 9% after the policy announcement. It was all so novel! Tech on average was up over 11%, industrials were up 12%... ditto for Consumer Discretionary and Materials. The cyclicals flew off the shelves. But this time around. either Mr. Market is jaded or the laws of diminishing returns are setting in. Six weeks after the unveiling of QE3, the market is down 2%. This hasn't happened before. Every economic-sensitive sector is in the red, and even Financials — the one sector that should benefit from all the "sucking at the Fed teat" — have made no money for anybody!

Those holding their breath that the PBOC will finally relent and join its "developed world" central planning colleagues in easing - something the tech companies of the world, not to mention everyone else, desperately needs - will have to do so for quite a bit longer (and today's earlier latest reverse repo was merely confirmation of this). The reason is that the just released HSBC Flash PMI for October, the first preliminary snapshot of Chinese data, posted a material rise from 47.9 to 49.1. Yes, this was the 12th consecutive print in sub-50 contraction territory in a row, but the direction is one which may give the economy and the people hope that things are getting better. They most certainly are not, but remember: in China every data point is massaged, manipulated, and then massaged some more before it is finally telegraphed to represent only what the Politburo wants it to say. And as a reminder, China, like the US, has elections (in quotes of course) in two weeks. As such neither the economy will tip the boat, nor the PBOC will drive more inflation at a time when everyone else is already easing. In other words: goldilocks goalseeked data... which for the monetarists was the worst possible outcome, as it means no new and free money.

Sometimes you just have to laugh; or else committing harakiri comes dangerously close to mind. Japan's increasingly terrifying fiscal situation combined with a central bank that is rapidly becoming the laughing stock of the world (though all the other central banks are merely mimicking its actions) is becoming so self-referential (with its almost total domestic ownership of government debt), so short-termist (with its dramatically high short-term funding requirements constantly rolling), and demographically challenged (with its elderly almost entirely reliant upon government transfer payments) that it is hard to comprehend how much longer this farce can carry on. We have previously discussed Japan's WTF charts, but the following collection from Deutsche Bank's Torsten Slok must be seen to be believed. For now - the problem in a nutshell is government-debt per working-age person in Japan will be $140,000 in 2016 - almost triple the rest of the G7.

US reliance on oil imports as a share of consumption is gradually declining; but China's, however, is rising and is now higher than the US. As JPMorgan's Michael Cembalest notes, China now has the world's largest new car market and most extensive network of superhighways - which given the lack of a viable, affordable electric car - means fossil fuel consumption is expected to continue to rise. The trends that lead to this inexorable rise have critically important implications for the West in the ongoing containment of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Unfortunately for the West, the prospects for cooperation on sanctions appear dim as the following nine points (on China's relationship with Iran) should make clear.