Archive - Nov 19, 2012 - Story

In what is becoming a monthly parabolic charting tradition, it is again time to update the Spanish bad loan total: in September, Spanish loans that fell into arrears increased by €3.5 billion from August, reaching €182.2 billion in September. This is 10.71% of the total Spanish bank loans of €1.7 trillion, and an increase from 10.5% in the prior month. At the same time, new bank loans expanded 0.2% in September and dropped 4.9% from a year ago, the Bank of Spain said. Deposits rose 1.4% from the previous month and declined 7.3% from a year earlier.  Putting the bad loan number in context, it is nearly double the €100 billion that the Spanish banks will receive as part of the bank bailout plan disclosed in July, and well above the "only" €40 billion that Spain promises it will need to actually fund bank capital shortfalls. Putting it into further context, as a percentage of GDP, it would be the equivalent of $2.8 trillion in US loans going bad. Naturally, just like with any "forecast" involving Greece, the final bailout (of both Spain's banks, and the sovereign) will be orders of magnitude higher, but for now everyone is forgiven to stick their head in the sand for at least a few more days/weeks.

The phrase "Constructive Discussions" will have us all pulling our hair out within a few weeks. Markets will be rock and rolled by anything anyone says about the Fiscal Cliff. The received European news-flow, (ie the stuff the Euro Elites want to you read and believe), says. progress on Greek Compromise and close to a solution on Tuesday with Schaeuble confident of "closing the funding gap". All of which means Greece is essentially solved - well for a while longer. As long as no one asks any difficult questions about debt sustainability and unlikely targets, haircuts for the ECB, or how the economy is doing, the Greece will be just fine and dandy. Unfortunately some folk haven't been reading the script - Lagarde has woken up to the fact she heads an "international" organisation and says a solution must be based on reality, solid and sustainable. Asmussen says a new programme will be needed, and the EU Energy Commissioner (?) says debt restructuring for the "official sector" will happen and therefore real losses are unavoidable. er.. who let him opine?

The yellow metal soared 4.9% in euros in one week from the 11 week low set November 2nd and has since fallen 1.3%.  The rebound from the November dip means prices should recover to reach the all-time euro high set last month, before rising to the point-and-figure target at 1,395 euros, said the bank’s research.  Point and figure charts estimate trends in prices without showing time. Gold may then reach a Fibonacci level of about 1,421, the 61.8% extension of the May-to-October rally, projected from the November low, Commerzbank wrote in its report on November 13th which was picked up by Bloomberg. Fibonacci analysis is based on the theory that prices climb or drop by certain percentages after reaching a high or low. “What we are seeing is a correction lower, nothing more,” Axel Rudolph, a technical analyst at Commerzbank in London, said by e-mail Nov. 16, referring to the drop since November 9th.  Rudolph remains bullish as long as prices hold above the November low at about 1,303 euros.  Technical analysts study charts of trading patterns and prices to predict changes in a security, commodity, currency or index.

With Thanksgiving this Thursday, trading desks will be empty on Wednesday afternoon and remain so until next Monday. So even though it is a holiday shortened week, here are the main things to expect in the next 5 days: Bank of Japan meeting, the European Council meeting and the Eurogroup meeting. Key data releases include European and Chinese Flash PMIs.

• Israel Ready to Invade Gaza If Cease-Fire Efforts Fail (Bloomberg)
• Petraeus: A Phony Hero for a Phony War (NYT)
• IMF'S Lagarde says Greek deal should be "rooted in reality" (Reuters) "rooted" or "roofied"? And where was it until now?
• ECB's Asmussen says Greece to need aid beyond 2014 (AP)
• EU makes budget plans without (FT)
• Japanese Poll Shows LDP Advantage Ahead of Election (WSJ)
• Shanghai Composite Dips Below, Regains 2,000 Level (Bloomberg)
• Bond investor takes big punt on Ireland (FT)
• Noda defends BoJ’s independence (FT) Indewhatnow?
• Inaba Says BOJ Could Ease More If Government Reins in Debt (Bloomberg) Actually it's the other way around
• Miles Says Bank of England Can Do More If U.K. Slump Persists (Bloomberg) So much for the end of QE
• US tax breaks worth $150bn face axe (FT)

Those looking for fundamental newsflow and/or facts to justify the latest bout of overnight risk exuberance will not find it. To be sure, among the few economic indicators reported overnight in the Thanksgiving shortened week, European construction output for September tumbled -1.4% from August, after rising 0.6% previously. How long until Europe copycats the latest US foreclosure sequestration, "demand pull" gimmick and gives hedge funds risk free loans to buy up housing (aka REO-to-Rent)? More importantly, and confirming that Spain is far, far from a positive inflection point, Spanish bad loans rose to a new record high of 10.7%. This was the the highest level since the records began in 1962. The total value of these loans was €182.2 billion ($233 billion) in September, according to the Bank of Spain (more on this shortly). The relentless rise indicates that the Spanish bad bank rescue fund will be woefully insufficient and will need to be raised again and again. So while there was nothing in the facts to make investors happy, traders looked to hope and prayer, instead pushing risk higher on the much overplayed Friday "news" that politicians are willing to compromise in the cliff (which as we reported was merely a market ramping publicity stunt by Nancy Pelosi et al), and that Greece may be saved at tomorrow's Eurogroup meeting, for the third time. That this will be difficult is an understatement, with the Dutch finance minister saying no final decisions on Greece should be expected, and his German counterpart adding that a Greek debt writeoff is "inconceivable." In other words, even hoping for hope is a stretch, but the market is doing it nonetheless.