Archive - Oct 22, 2013 - Story

while the September Establishment Survey was a disappointing +148K, far below expectations, it was the Household Survey where the fun was.On the top line, the gain in jobs was comparable to the Establishment number: a timid 133K. However, looking at the breakdown between Full-Time and Part-Time jobs reveals something simply hilarious. The chart below summarizes it. According to the BLS' magic calculations, in one month, the month during which the so-called uncertainly surrounding the government shutdown hit its peak (if one listens to CEO apologists), the US work force saw the rotation of some 594K part-time workers into a whopping 691K full-time jobs, in addition to adding over 100K net new jobs in the month.

The 3rd miss in a row for private payrolls was enough to spark an engorgement of all things Federal-Reserve-liquidity related. Gold is jumping, Bond yields are tumbling, the USD is crumbling, and the S&P 500 is soaring to new all-time highs... sure, why not...

September jobs are a disappointment at 148K vs expectations of 180K and private jobs only 126K well below the 180K expected, but August was revised higher this time, from 169K to 193K even as July dipped once again from 104K to 89K. Net for the three months, largely a wash.

• Deutsche Bank 170k
• Bank of America 170k
• HSBC 171k
• Citigroup 180k
• UBS 195k
• JP Morgan 195k
• Barclays 200k
• Goldman Sachs 200k

Can someone please explain this whole "Grecovery" concept to use because neither we, nor apparently the people of Greece which are not only unemployed and broke, but have negative savings, and collapsing wages, social benefits and disposable income, seem able to understand it.

That Saudi Arabia has been furious at the US for refusing to be the monarchy's puppet Globocop, and in the last minute declining to bomb Syria following Putin's gambit in which World War III seemed a distinctly possible consequence of John Kerry's hamheaded "YouTube-substantiated" false flag campaign, is no secret. However, while the US has largely forgotten this latest foreign policy debacle and the humiliation it brought upon the Department of State, Saudi Arabia is nowhere close to forgetting. Or forgiving. And this time the anger comes from the one man who truly matters, and whom we dubbed several months ago as the puppetmaster behind the Syrian campaign: the man in charge of Saudi intelligence, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan.

• Despite budget win, Obama has weak hand with Congress (Reuters)
• Carney Brings In McKinsey for Bank of England Strategy Rethink (BBG)
• Bill Gates Buys Stake in Spanish Construction Company FCC (WSJ)
• Jerusalem Mayor Barkat Seeks New Term in Race Arabs Sitting Out (BBG)
• J.P. Morgan Aimed to Limit Damage (WSJ)
• EU Lawmakers Reject Draghi Call for Bank Bondholder Clemency (BBG)
• Wall Street Profits May Halve in Second Half (WSJ)
• Petrobras-led group wins Brazil oil auction with minimum bid (Reuters)
• Apple to Refresh IPads Amid Challenges for Tablet Share (BBG)
• Italy plans to offer guarantees on govt bond derivatives (Reuters)
• Berkshire Beats Apple as Favorite Stock of Tiger 21 Group (BBG)

Overnight global markets have gone decidedly nowhere, in expectation of the long-overdue September payroll report, and seemingly oblivious of the Goldman pre-announcement all clear that "Any positive number will be discounted because it came before the DC theatrics and if it’s weak it confirms that tapering should be put off longer." In other words, both the September, and accompanying July and August revisions (recall it was the revisions where the August NFP number ended the FOMC's taper talk) are meaningless because everything will be spun bullish. For those who do care - mostly headline reacting HFT algos - here is the summary: consensus is for 180k (unemployment rate unchanged at 7.3%). Note that the survey period for today’s payrolls report was prior to the shutdown which started on October 1st. As for how the amusingly named "market" will react to the news: see Goldman quote above, or better yet: just call the NYFed trading desk.

China's attempts to curb runaway inflation in its housing market - which in a country in which the relatively young capital markets lack the breadth and depth of their western equivalents remains the only venue in which to park any of the excess cash generated from the global central bank liquidity avalanche - continue to be met with failure after failure. Overnight, the China Statistics Bureau reported that in September new home price across the country's 70 tracked cities, rose in virtually all of them, or 69 compared to a year ago. On a monthly basis, or compared to August, new home prices rose in only 65 of China's cities, compared to 66 in the month prior. And while the CSB data differs from the Shanghai Uwin data reported yesterday, the government's data while less stunning still shows the extent of the Chinese housing bubble and the persistent inflation plaguing the country: Beijing new home prices rose 1% M/m; and 16% Y/y; Shanghai new home prices rose 1.4% M/m; and 17% Y/y in September.