Archive - Oct 18, 2013 - Story

• Republican Civil War Erupts: Business Groups v. Tea Party (BBG)
• Budget fight leaves Boehner 'damaged' but still standing (Reuters)
• Madoff Was Like a God, Wizard of Oz, Lawyers Tell Jury (BBG) - just like Bernanke
• Republicans press U.S. officials over Obamacare snags (Reuters)
• Brilliant: Fed Unlikely to Trim Bond Buying in October (Hilsenrath)
• More brilliant: Fed could taper as early as December (FT)
• Russia Roofing Billionaires Seen Among Country’s Youngest (BBG)
• Ford's Mulally won't dismiss Boeing, Microsoft speculation (Reuters)
• China reverses first-half slowdown (FT)
• NY Fed’s Fired Goldman Examiner Makes Weird Case (BBG)

While the US economic data reporting machinery slowly starts churning again following the "reactivation" of government, last night it was China 's turn to report a slew of goalseeked economic items. Q3 GDP (+7.8% yoy), Industrial Production (+10.2% yoy), Fixed Asset Investments (+20.2% YTD yoy) and Retail sales (+13.3% yoy) for September all came in broadly in line with market consensus. The economy grew at a faster pace on a sequential basis with Q3 growth being 0.3ppts higher than Q2. Nonetheless, many observers forecast yoy Q4 GDP growth to decline due to the end of inventory restocking and the fade out of a major credit stimulus in the prior quarter, even as total Chinese debt continues to push ever higher into bubble territory.Speaking of China, however, it is worth noting that overnight the Chinese Yuan rose to the highest level against the dollar in 20 years. This happens as the USD tumbles to nearly a year low, which incidentally is the theme of the overnight session: the ongoing dollar poundage is reverberating across the globe, and the resulting unleashing of global funding carry trades looks set to take the S&P (and everything else) to fresh record highs on the back of even more generous Fed Kool Aid expectations.