Archive - May 2013 - Story

In yet another example of the massive gap between the American people's perception of what is going on around them (whether by propaganda channels or simply cognitive bias) and the actual reality, Reuters reports that while gun-related homicides are down 39% from the 1993 peak, only 12% of people believe that gun crimes have fallen. Non-fatal firearm crimes declined by 69% to 467,300 in the same period but 56% of Americans believe that gun crime is higher now than it was 20 years ago, the Pew Research Center said its poll showed. The dichotomy between record food stamp usage (and non-employment) and multi-year highs in consumer sentiment comes to mind - we wonder which is more 'real'.

Of course, it doesn't matter (for now) but today's JOLTS data internals and Consumer Credit's miss just piled on to the misery and pushed Bloomberg's US Macro Surprise Index to its lowest in seven months. What is worse is the rate of collapse - the last five weeks have dropped faster than at any time since May 2011. The current level of US macro data suggests the S&P should be over 200 points lower - but as the charts below show relative volatility levels are more complacent now than in the pre-crisis vinegar strokes in 2008.

The policy approach that no one dares to question - "In the long-term, we need to fix our public finances. We’re on an unsustainable path that needs to be corrected to protect younger and future generations. But in the short-term, we need to focus on growth. The economy stinks and people are suffering. Any attempt to lower debt in these conditions would be folly. On the contrary, the government needs to provide more stimulus to promote growth" has no support to its key premise in business cycle history, the idea that the economy will return to full employment and stick there, allowing ample time for debt reduction. Once stimulus is removed, expansions often struggle to continue for much longer. And if the stimulus is replaced with restraint, it seems logical that the expansion’s expected life shortens further. In other words, there is no Magic Pendulum. What’s the typical life of an unassisted expansion? Based on the data presented here, I’ll call it two years.

We recently discussed the 'dead-weight' problem of youth unemployment in developed economies. The Economist estimates that the world's population of NEETs (not in employment, education, or training) is a stunning 290 million - or around one-quarter of the world's youth. Sadly, many of the 'employed' young have only informal and intermittent jobs. In rich countries more than a third, on average, are on temporary contracts which make it hard to gain skills. Young people have long had a raw deal in the labour market. Why is this so important? A number of studies have found that people who begin their careers without work are likely to have lower wages and greater odds of future joblessness than those who don’t. A wage penalty of up to 20%, lasting for around 20 years, is common. The scarring seems to worsen fast with the length of joblessness and is handed down to the next generation, too - leading to a vicious cycle that weighs on growth dramatically. With a stunning 71% now expecting to work in their 'retirement' in the US, it would seem the opportunity for the jobs and wealth transfer to the younger generation is being blocked by a generation hamstrung by an increasingly repressive Federal Reserve.

The financial and other markets do not seem to reflect the reality of subdued growth is how Hoisington Investment's Lacy Hunt describes the current environment. Stock prices are high, or at least back to levels reached more than a decade ago, and bond yields contain a significant inflationary expectations premium. Stock and commodity prices have risen in concert with the announcement of QE1, QE2 and QE3. Theoretically, as well as from a long-term historical perspective, a mechanical link between an expansion of the Fed's balance sheet and these markets is lacking. It is possible to conclude, therefore, that psychology typical of irrational market behavior is at play. As Lance Roberts notes, Hunt suggests that when expectations shift from inflation to deflation, irrational behavior might adjust risk asset prices significantly. Such signs that a shift is beginning can be viewed in the commodity markets. "Debt is future consumption denied," and regardless of the current debate - Reinhart and Rogoff were right. Simply put, "the problems have not been solved, they have merely been contained."

It was exactly two months since Icahn last issued a 13D in Herbalife, at which time he reported that he owned 15.5% of the company, following yet another stock buying spree. Moments ago, the billionaire, set on a mission to crucify Bill Ackman, updated his latest holdings in HLF stock with another 13D filing, which shows that on March 8 and May 3, his various funds added another 934 thousand shares, bringing his total ownership of Herbalife to 16.48%, or 16,966,485 shares and rising. Obviously the recent earnings report, which hiked the company's year end outlook, has hardly dented Icahn's enthusiasm for inciting either a short covering spree, or for eventually going ahead and tendering (or going hostile, using zero cost debt of course courtesy of a Jefferies highly confident letter) for whatever shares he doesn't already own.

While there have been no new military attacks on Syria since Sunday morning, something more peculiar happened in the past few hours, when according to Akamai and various other Internet traffic trackers, Syria has literally gone "dark", or, as Umbrella Security Labs describes it, as if "Syria has largely disappeared from the Internet."

The company provided a liquidity update, which was as follows: "The Company estimates cash and cash equivalents to be approximately $821 million as of May 4, 2013. Total debt is expected to be approximately $3.818 billion as of May 4, 2013, including amounts outstanding on the revolving credit facility of $850 million, long-term debt of $2.868 billion, and capital leases and notes payable of $100 million." What does this means for the company's all important cash burn rate? Since the reported cash and equivalents as of December 31, 2012 was $930 million, when one adds the full revolver draw of $850 million, one gets $1,780 million. So in order to get a pro forma cash number of $821 million as of May 4, it means the company burned $959 million between January 1 and May 3, 2013. This is roughly in line with what we expected when we presented the pro forma JCP cap table.

We made new all-time highs in stocks (easy); corporate and sovereign credit risk has been crushed to pre-crisis levels (passe); but the big kahuna was signalled today as we 'closed' above Dow 15,000 giving the red light to millions of the investing public that the water's warm (and asset-gatherers hungry). It seems no news is the best news (better than bad news and way better than good news) as for the 18th Tuesday in a row, we close green. The Dow Industrials may grab the headlines but the Dow Transports is up a mind-numbing 5.1% from Friday's NFP print (with the rest of the majors up a mere 1.7% or so). But... volume was below average; the 'most-shorted' names actually underperformed; VIX closed notably green; on-balance-volume was not supportive; credit markets pulled back notably today; JPY carry was not at all supportive today; and Treasury yields stalled their rise in the last hour.

These three charts suggest that all is not well with the ramp... but all that matters is a Dow 15,000 close...

The March consumer credit headline was a disappointment, increasing by just $7.97 billion, on expectations of a $15.6 billion increase, with the February total revised lower to $18.14 billion. So far so bad. It gets worse when one peeks beneath the surface and finds that discretionary consumer credit in the form of credit card and other revolving loans posted its first decline of 2013, dropping by $1.7 billion, the biggest decline since December's 2.1 billion. So what rose: why debt for purchases of Government Motors and student loans of course, which increased by $9.676 billion in March. In other words: the student bubble keeps getting bigger, more and more GM cars are being bought on subprime credit, while the vast majority of Americans can't even afford to charge toilet paper purchases as the discretionary deleveraging continues.

By now everyone knows that POMO is the daily physical manifestation of the Fed's love for the "1%", and the trillions in underfunded pension and stock-linked entitlements, taking place (almost) every day in the hours between 10:15am and 11:00 am Eastern, when the NY Fed's trading desk injects between $1 and $6 billion in the stock market. What many may not know is that while POMO was the name of the game since 2009 (just think where the S&P would be if the "market" was only open on Thursday, during the 45 minute duration of POMO, and between 3:30 pm and 4:15 pm), it may have finally met its homophonous match, courtesy of Citigroup. So step aside POMO. Presenting.... FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out.

The venerable UBS floorman asks (and answers) an interesting question. With the re-institution of the payroll tax and higher level rates and with spending lowered by sequestration, will the Treasury need to offer fewer bonds? And if so, will the Fed remain steadfast in its purchasing 'size' (good for bond bulls since secondary demand will increase) or reduce its 'size' to meet the lower monetization needs of the Treasury (bad for equity bulls since flow is all that matters.) Thoughts below...

Since it is Tuesday, and since the bubble formerly known as the "stock market" is once again completely disconnected from reality, fundamentals, math, logic, gravity and everything else, and watching its relentless climb higher on nothing but central bank liquidity tsunami and attempts to hit any remaining upside ES stops is about as exciting as watching Bernanke print electronic money, here is a small diversion courtesy of @911Buff:

• NEW JERSEY: PHOTO - GARBAGE TRUCK DRIVER SNEEZED, LOST CONTROL AND SLAMMED INTO HOME.

And the result...

As we reported earlier, spending on home improvements has paradoxically tumbled, a fact which did not escape Santelli, who brings it up and gets the following logical response: "when the homeowner is confident about the future of price appreciation, they're willing to invest and remodel." And vice versa: so does that by impliation imply a slide in expectations about future home appreciation? Santelli's conclusion is, as usually happens, spot on: "who will remodel more: a homeowner or a renter?" The answer is self-explanatory, as is any doubt as to whether the US is becoming a nation of renters.