Archive - Aug 2012 - Story

Asia opens loud and proud and announces itself with a subtle 'buy-every-single-contract-in-the-stack-coz-I-am-desperate' algo grabbing 7000 contracts in S&P 500 e-mini futures (ES). Nothing else moved, just ES. Now a few things are reacting but the total lack of news and sheer ignorance of unloading that much into an illiquid thin market at this time of day suggests this market is more broken than we suspected. Also, since the move is identical to what a certain Bruno Iksil would have done back in March with IG9, when he would sell through all the bids, only this time in reverse with equities, we wonder if the "water walking" Frenchman may not have already found his next port of call.

It only took 20 years, a trail of counterfeit documents, superficial and failed audits, dubious tax returns and one unsuccessful suicide attempt, but in the end they got him: the CEO of failed commodity brokerage Peregrine aka PFG, Russell Wasendorf has been indicted on 31 charges of lying to government regulators regarding the failed brokerage's operations. He faces a maximum sentence of 155 years' imprisonment on the charges and fines of about $7.75 million, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa. There is also that whole $215 million in commingled and subsequently stolen client money but that's another matter. In other words, just like Bernie Madoff, Wasendorf is going away for a long, long time for doing precisely what everyone else does: the first one for engaging in a ponzi even as now everyone acknowledges the entire system is one big ponzi - does that make it better and legitimate: apparently so; the second one for commingling client cash for personal benefit. As a reminder, this is what JPM did with $350 billion in excess deposit cash as part of its London whale trading fiasco, and broadly what every bank in the post Glass-Steagall world does with the roughly $8 trillion in total US bank deposits.

Can anyone seriously claim the European Union, the European Central Bank and its alphabet-soup programs still retain a shred of credibility? Every EU/ECB "save" is fictitious, every "fix" expedient, every promise empty, every face-saving summit a living lie. Ultimately, all the posturing, promises and saves come down to an impossibility: "rescuing" phantom assets purchased with astounding levels of debt by issuing even more astounding levels of debt. Does anyone truly believe this absurdity is anything more than a transparent fraud designed to extend the life of a failed, corrupt system constructed on fantasies and lies? Those with assets are fleeing for less fantastic and dangerous climes. The handful of French millionaires who are supposed to magically bail out a failed-state that absorbs 55% of GDP are busy transferring their assets out of France, a mass exodus of capital that is also playing out in China, where those who embraced the slogan "to get rich is glorious" are transferring their wealth, ill-gotten or well-earned, overseas. So vast is this outflow of wealth that for the first time the outflow of capital from China exceeds the inflow of investment capital. The smart money is exiting, and the last batch of credulous "China story" rubes are dumping their capital down a rathole.

Conjuring images of Jack Nicholson in 'A Few Good Men', Alan Simpson laid out the sad and terrible truth that none of us or our politicians can handle in a very direct and sincere interview with Bloomberg TV's Deirdre Bolton. "Medicare costs stand to squeeze out the rest of domestic government spending," Simpson said, "it is on automatic pilot. It will use up every resource in the government." Simpson also said that the current path of debt, deficit and interest is “totally unsustainable” confirming once again the facade that his 18 years in Washington proved to him that he "never saw any projection of any economist ever come true." From Paul Ryan's plan to the 'simple math' of CBO budget projections, and whether older Americans should be afraid, Simpson pulls no punches as he sums up American society thus: "we don't care about our money, all we want is more money for our money."

With less than three months to go, the outcome of the November election remains highly uncertain. SocGen notes that, as always, economic performance over the coming months will be a key determinant of who wins and who loses. If the elections were held today, the most likely outcome would be a Republican win in both Congressional races and a Democratic win in the race for the White House. This means that any new significant legislation will almost certainly have to be a product of compromise. In this sense, we may very well be looking at a status quo in terms of bipartisanship and gridlock which have dominated Washington politics over the past few years. This would be bad news at a time when the country faces a number of serious challenges with significant long-term implications. From the economy to long-term fiscal health, and from the debt-ceiling to Housing, Healthcare, and Energy policy differences, the following provides a succinct review.

Last week we wrote an article that to many was anathema: namely an explanation why everyone is deluding themselves in their expectation that the PBOC would ease, soft, hard, or just right landing notwithstanding. The reason? The threat that food inflation is about to read its ugly head which is "Why The Fate Of The Global Equity Rally May Rest In The Hands Of Soybeans." This was merely a continuation of our observations from a month ago that as a result of the Black Swan being "deep fried" in 2012, that the threat of food inflation will keep key BRIC central banks in check for a long time. As of today the threat has become fact, because as China Daily reports "China will release corn and rice from state reserves to help tame inflation and reduce imports as the worst US drought in half a century pushes corn prices to global records, creating fears of a world food crisis...The release may prompt Chinese importers to cancel shipments in the near term and take some pressure off international corn prices, which set a new all-time high on Friday as the US government slashed its estimate of the size of the crop in the world's top grain exporter." Sure, as every other short-termist measure the world over, it may help with prices in the short-term, but will merely expose China, and thus everyone, to the threat of a much greater price spike in the future. Because just as the strategic petroleum reserve release did nothing to help gas prices, nor the short selling ban in the US and Europe did anything to help the underlying broken financial system, so this will merely force the local population to scramble and ration whatever food they can get asap, now that the government has admitted there is, indeed, a food inflationary problem.

The cash S&P 500 closed very modestly in the red - but tried its best into the end of the day-session to get green to make it seven-in-a-row. After-hours, amid heavier block size, S&P 500 e-mini futures (ES) pushed up to the overnight highs and tried to hold green but failed. NYSE volume plunged - almost unbelievably to be frank - to its lowest non-holiday-trading day volume in over a decade. Intraday ranges remain tiny and average trade size unremarkable as ES is still suffering from the post-Knight slashing in volume (down 45%!!). Are we witnessing Gross' death of equities?

At last check, one of the final remnants of the second coming of the dot com bubble was trading down 15% after hours following its Q2 earnings report which while beating on the bottom line at $0.08/share (including a one time $0.04 gain) on expectations of $0.03, missed the top line forecast of $575 MM, instead reporting $568.3 MM in revenues. Also spooking the market is the company's Q3 revenue forecast of $580MM - $620MM vs estimates of $607.4 MM. Company also adds that "income from operations for the third quarter 2012 is expected to be between $15 million and $35 million, compared with a loss from operations of $0.2 million in the third quarter 2011." Considering the market cap is just shy of $5 billion one may be excused to ask just how the company will grow its net income to anything remotely resembling a rational valuation, even when taking that company's $1.2 billion cash, all of its as a result of fundraising. Finally, what would a GRPN release be without the now traditional recasting, adjusting, and otherwise proformaing of some historical core line times. Sure enough: "The second quarter 2012 marked the first time that direct revenue was material to the Company’s consolidated performance. As a result, beginning in the second quarter 2012, third party and other and direct revenue are presented separately. Third party revenue is related to the sales for which the company acts as an agent for the merchant. This revenue is recorded on a net basis. Direct revenue is related to the sale of products for which the Company is the merchant of record. These revenues are accounted for on a gross basis, with the cost of inventory recorded in cost of revenue." Uh... Ok. Have fun with that..

We had great hopes that following the return of Merkel from vacation, the VIX would finally post an uptick. Alas, it appears that the Fed's new market desk head will not relent until the VIX is at or below 0 (alternatively, stock volume will hit 0 first, in either case confirming the death of equities as anything resembling a discounting mechanism, and validating it as a plaything of central banks). Which means that until reality does come back first slowly and then very fast, we have to focus on more "off the beaten path" news. Such as this one courtesy of BBC: Thai MP Boonsong Kowawisarat 'accidentally kills secretary.' With a submachine gun. In a restaurant. Has yet to be arrested. And faces a $636 fine if convicted.

There is a segment of the Baby Boomers that will never return to investing in equities because the last 12 years has produced a lack of returns with relentless volatility and scary headline news. BofAML's Mary Ann Bartels notes that equity holdings as a percentage of financial assets peaked in 2000 and have been declining ever since. This same behavior occurred last time the market traded sideways from 1966-1984 (16 years) and we clearly face the risk of more years of sideways trading to come as cumulative bond and equity flows show no sign of letting up at all.

Does Wall Street really want a Romney Presidency? Or could Wall Street not care less, because they know that both sides will gladly do their bidding? After all it’s not like Obama has tried to jail corrupt bankers — Corzine, who after raiding segregated accounts is surely up there with the most corrupt guys on Wall Street — has been bundling for Obama as recently as April. Ignore the chickenshit donations. If markets fall significantly between now and November — 1300, 1200, 1100, 1000 — the powers that be on Wall Street want a Romney presidency. After all, it’s not only possible but extremely easy to deliberately crash the market. No S&P crash? They’re happy to stick with Obama.

While every investor you ask is vehemently concerned about any and every risk and sentiment surveys suggest there is a 'wall of worry' to climb, once again the truth is in the positioning. Based on DTCC data, via Morgan Stanley, investors' net bullish CDS positioning in European investment grade credit has never been higher - having surged recently. Critically, note that that investment grade credit index has a major exposure to European financials. Adding to the reality of positioning and self-deceiving biases of all those so afraid to miss the CB rally or look like fools in the face of momentum, bond markets are even more ebullient (as European bond spreads trade back under CDS spreads) and European credit implied volatility trades below realized vol - an even more unusual occurrence than in VIX currently. It seems the real pain trade is a risk flare in European financials once again - as opposed to all those who 'hear' everyone's bearish.

GROSS: Do bond markets take heart from Ryan selection? Not me. He talks lower deficits but really believes in lower taxes – exact opposite.

— PIMCO (@PIMCO) August 13, 2012

As the 'new' normal limps on, PIMCO's Mohamed El-Erian focuses his attention on the political dysfunction that roils the 'new new' normal in an excellent op-ed in Foreign Policy today. The economic and financial system risks breakages that the political system will be increasingly incapable of mending rapidly enough," he opines as he fears sluggishness in economic growth, unacceptably high youth unemployment and long-term joblessness, redoubled debt and deficit concerns, and worsening inequalities between rich and poor leading the US down a path towards Europe's disruption. Sadly, neither Obama nor Romney has yet offered a meaningful, forward-looking economic reform program to address problems such as a malfunctioning labor market, unsustainable public finances, a broken credit system, inadequate infrastructure, and a lagging education system. The warning bells are ringing, and they are ringing loudly. We've already allowed bad economics to lead to bad politics. Now, it's high time to put a stop to the cycle where bad politics undermines an already fragile economy.