Archive - Aug 15, 2012 - Story

The European morning session has been fairly quiet, with European equities opening lower following over night reports from China that the People's Bank of China might buy back government debt in the secondary market making the much speculated reserve ratio requirement cut it less likely. With several market closures across the Euro-area thanks to the Assumption of Mary holiday, volumes have been particularly light, and with a distinct lack of European data, market focus was on the release of the Bank of England's minutes for the August rate decision. As expected, the MPC voted unanimously to keep the APF unchanged at GBP 375bln and the benchmark rate unchanged at 0.50%, though some MPC members noted there was a good case for further expansion of QE. The better than expected UK jobs report also helped strength GBP.

• Investors Shift Money Out of China (WSJ)
• Rajoy Risks Riling ECB in Bid to Avoid Union Ire (Bloomberg)
• Romney-Ryan See Fed QE as Inflation Risk Amid Subdued Prices (Bloomberg)
• Spanish savers offered haircut then money back (FT)
• Must wipe all traces of illegality and settle for $25,000: Standard Chartered Faces Fed Probes After N.Y. Deal (BBG)
• Greece debt report backs cuts plan (FT)
• Greece seeks two-year austerity extension (FT)
• Brevan Howard Looks To U.S. To Raise Money For Currency Fund (Bloomberg)
• Can he please stop buying gold? Paulson, Soros Add Gold as Price Declines Most Since 2008 (Bloomberg)
• BOE Drops Reference to Rate Cut as It Considers Policy Options (Bloomberg)
• EU Banking Plans Asks ECB to Share Power, Documents Show (Bloomberg)

It's quiet out there, quieter than usual. Perhaps this is because Merkel is in Canada today and so hasn't had a chance to crash any dreams of magic money trees yet. The EURUSD however did drop preemptively without any news and touched on 3 day lows moments ago under 1.2280, forcing DraghiFX and his long EURUSD call to pay another margin call. Eventwise, in Europe Spain continues to pretend it does not exist, with its bond yields quietly sliding lower even as the country's economy continues to deteriorate, on expectations that Rajoy will ask for a bailout, when in fact the lower yields go, the more unlikely this event is. Of course, all that needs to happen for the deer in headlight market to snap out of its trance is a reminder of just how broke Spain is before it does need a bailout. In the meantime, Spain is extending unemployment benefits. More importantly, it seems that the Chinese slowdown is about to hit Germany like a brick wall: Hamburg - Europe’s second-largest container harbor - reported its first quarterly decline in container volumes in nine quarter. And now the recession is really coming to Germany.

One of the most vocal advocates of a NEW QE announcement next month, at either the FOMC meeting or Jackson Hole - Goldman Sachs - has just pulled the plug. From Jan Hatzius: "The US economic data continue to look a bit stronger. Tuesday’s retail sales report for July beat expectations, while inventory accumulation showed a further slowdown in June. Our Q3 GDP tracking estimate edged up to 2.3%. The recent news also has implications for Fed policy. While QE3 at the September 12-13 FOMC meeting remains possible, our best estimate is that it will take until late 2012/early 2013 before Fed officials return to balance sheet expansion." Just as we have been saying. Which means the Fed is now out of the picture until the end of 2012. And with corn prices where they are, so is the PBOC. As for the ECB - talk to Rajoy, who will do nothing as long as 10 Year yields are under 8%. Which means that, as explained previously, Spain and Italy, and in fact the entire world, must all be destroyed first, before they are saved.