Archive - May 2012 - Story

Well, we were half right earlier when we predicted a miss in claims coupled with a material upward revision in the prior number. We did get the revision from 388K to 392K for the week ended April 21, but the current week, which was expected to print at 379K, came at a far better 365K, a drop of 27,000 from the revised number, which happens to be the biggest percentage drop since July 2011, and the biggest expectations beat since July 2009. In other words, baffle them with bullshit as economic doctrine continues: will NFP beat tomorrow, won't it? All depends on when Bernanke feels like launching the NEW QE. In other words, the number came in good (for the first time in 6 weeks), which of course is horrible news for a market which continues to levitate higher on hopes of more monetary heroin.

ECB's preliminary announcement was a big snoozer as expected. Much more hope rests in the Mario Draghi press conference that begins in minutes, and where the former Goldmanite is expected to at least hint at some more conditional easing. Follow it live below.

*DRAGHI SAYS INFLATION RATES LIKELY TO STAY ABOVE 2% IN 2012
*DRAGHI SAYS INFLATION STAYING ABOVE 2% BECAUSE OF ENERGY, TAXES
*DRAGHI SAYS ECB SEES INFLATION IN LINE WITH PRICE STABILITY
*DRAGHI SAYS ECB SEES `DOWNSIDE RISKS' TO ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
*DRAGHI SAYS ECB HAS ALL TOOLS AVAILABLE TO ACT FIRMLY, TIMELY
*DRAGHI SAYS NON-STANDARD MEASURES HAVEN'T YET SHOWN FULL IMPACT

After his ignominious departure from Bank of America in September of 2011, many were wondering if everyone's favorite permabull was lost to the world forever (speaking of, where is Jim Caron these days?). Rejoice, for we come bearing great news: last night Deutsche Bank's latest addition, who in conjunction with Joe LaVorgna and Binki Chadha, has formed the terrifying "Trinity of of Perma Bull" issued his first report. And dare we say it, Bianco appears to be almost.... bearish? "We expect a 5-10% dip this summer..." Unpossible: what have you done to the Bianco and his tender 18,000 Hz overtones we all love so dearly. Oh wait, there is a second half to the sentence: "...but a dip that most likely should be bought." Ah, that's more like it.

Yawn

Today the ECB is expected to do absolutely nothing, although many have their hopes up that at the post announcement press conference Mario Draghi may possibly hint at some more easing (with what collateral we wonder, and with what Germany) to bring some spring into the step of a continent that has milked $1.3 trillion in 3 year repo/discount window borrowings for all their worth and then some. And instead if the ECB cuts its rate below the psychological barrier of 1% today, or at any time over the next several months, it will make Hugh Hendry once again that much richer. Recall as of November: "He’s made bets that he says will deliver a 40-to-1 return if the ECB cuts rates below 1% next year." Below is a full rundown of what to expect, and not to expected, from the former Goldmanite, now head of the central bank for the world's biggest economic region.

European equities are trading higher at the midway point, with modest risk appetite observed ahead of the ECB rate decision and subsequent press conference. A large volume of corporate earnings has helped European stocks from the open, with the large cap names such as SocGen and BMW posting a strong set of results. A smooth set of auctions from both Spain and France have helped tighten the European government 10-yr bond yield spreads against Germany. The French results saw a reduction in borrowing costs and solid demand across all lines, with the Spanish auction selling to the top of the indicative range, albeit with an increase in yields. Elsewhere, Services PMI data from the UK has disappointed to the downside, however the figure still indicates growth in the services sector with the figure coming in at 53.3. A breakdown in the data has shown that clients do remain cautious, but optimism is on an upward trend. Looking ahead in the session, market focus will be on Barcelona as ECB’s Draghi prepares for his press conference at 1330BST/0730CDT.

• Chinese dissident seeks exile, strains U.S.-China ties (Reuters)
• Sarkozy and Hollande lock horns on TV (FT)
• UK in furious rejection of EU bank plan (FT)
• EU Fails to Reach Deal on Capital (WSJ)
• China energy use may be capped for 2015 (China Daily)
• Buffett Trails S&P 500 for Third Straight Year (Bloomberg)
• King admits failing to ‘shout’ about risk (FT)
• Obama promises 110,000 new summer jobs for youth (Reuters)
• China sturdy enough for reforms: Geithner (Reuters)
• Geithner repeats call for stronger yuan (Reuters)

Welcome to another morning which saw weak news out of Asia (Chinese Services PMI declining to lowest level since January), weak news out of the UK (Services PMI down to 53.3 from 55.3 previously), and weak news out of Europe where a Spanish auction once again paid well into the unsustainable levels to give the market the illusion that it is well funded. Completing the picture is the ECB which announced that yesterday banks deposited for the first time since early March a total over €800 billion (primarily as Northern European banks see their holdings of Southern paper mature and not get rolled over), or €803 billion to be precise, a €14 billion increase overnight, as one can make the argument that liquidity is once again starting to freeze up. However, despite all the ugly news, US futures are of course up, with the only question the headline scanning algos care about is whether initial claims will once again miss the consensus of 380K solidly (thus making sure tomorrow's NFP print is QE enabling). Our guess it that last week's print of 388K is revised as usual upward, into the low 390K region, with the number missing Wall Street forecast but posting a "decline" from last week's revised number. After all this scheme has worked for so long, why end now?

Traders were watching Spain cautiously this morning which at around 4 am Eastern sold €2.52 billion of three- and five-year government bonds, in its first bond auction since Standard & Poor's cut its sovereign rating by two notches last week. The results were mixed because while more than the maximum range of €2.5 billion was sold (on solid total demand of €8.07 billion) or €2.52 billion, Spain paid up for the privilege, with yields rising across the board, reaching just why of 5% for the 2017 bonds and more importantly pricing with tails to secondary market prices, confirming that the trend in rising yields at primary issuance is very much unsustainable. This in turn caused the EURUSD to get spooked and slide to overnight lows, a move not mimicked by broader equity futures which this morning are again in a world of their own, and now simply await to see if the Initial Claims number later will be far worse than expected in order to soar.

Depending on how one views the current state of the union, this infographic from TakePart.com offers insight into who is to be thanked or which cohort of our illustrious population didn't do enough to exercise their right for democratic central-planning by-fiat. Our favorite - top reasons for not voting: Too Busy or Not Interested; we can only assume American Idol or X-Factor was on that day. The rich voted at higher rates than the poor and the corollary perhaps that higher levels of education led to higher levels of voting leaves the big question - will even fewer of our unemployed turn out to vote this time that the 54.7% that turned out last time?

Anybody watching the EUR/CHF exchange rate this year was wondering why the volatility the pair saw last year had completely left. The pair slowly fell from 1.2156 over 1.2040 at the end of Q1 to 1.2014 today. FX traders hoped on a hike of the floor from 1.20 to 1.25, as many Swiss politicians and companies requested. Banks sold masses of Long EUR/CHF certificates and options. The retail market measured in SSI (Speculative Sentiment Index) was 96% long EUR/CHF.  We saw the typical Forex web sites telling regularly their masses of followers that the protagonists of these web sites were going long EUR/CHF in the hope that the SNB is going to act. This happened at multiple critical levels, at 1.2070, 1.2050, at 1.2030 and finally at 1.2010. The small FX trader was begging for months that the SNB would finally intervene. When all these people were long EUR/CHF, who was actually short, when the exchange rate continued to fall ? We speculated that some big accounts wanted their clients to be knocked out with their EUR/CHF longs, we thought that Swiss pension funds and big investors continued to repatriate their foreign funds.  What did the SNB ? Did they support the hopes of the masses, of all these SNB rooters ? But on the back-door of all this rhetoric they did the complete opposite: The central bank was happy to get rid of their Euros at a higher price than the floor they had set in September 2011 !

If Munch's Scream was a public company, its stock would be limit up now, because contrary to expectations of it selling at a just concluded auction in Sotheby's for $80 million, the painting just slammed all expectations (except LaVorgna's we are told), selling at a record $119,922,500 (that's $119.9 million... for a made in 1895, 36" x 28.9" painting). This makes it the highest amount of money ever spent for an artwork, with only Picasso's "Boy With a Pipe" and Giacometti's "Walking Man I" selling for more than $100 million in the past. That said, in real terms and assuming 2% annual inflation, the Picasso painting which sold for $104 million in 2004, would now be worth over $120 Million in nominal terms so once again we get into the whole nominal, real debate. It is unknown if some high freak algo went berserk and kept lifting the offer, confused that this is the travesty formerly known as the stock market (although certainly keep an eye out for strange screaming artwork in the GETCO offices) nor is the buyer, but one thing that is certain: it would take the average American 4,548.9 years, earning the 2010 Median Salary of $26,363.55 to be able to purchase the painting. And some wonder why there is a bit of a social divide in the world... As to whether a painting will be considered money by the Charmin' Chairman, well, we will have to wait and see.