Archive - Aug 2013 - Story

The Hilsenrumor turned out to be a Hilsenstocktease, and with a closing that will leave many wondering "why hast he forsaken us" and ES going into the weekend at the lows, stocks end their worst week since November.

Just in case there is still some confusion about what passes for a "catalyst" in this market, moments ago just as the 10 Year was threatening to run away on its unmerry way to 3.00% and higher in the aftermath of the fatalistic tweet by Bill Gross, there promptly emerged, since it is 3pm on a Friday after all, a rumor that Hilsenrath was about to hit public on the latest NYFed plant handed to him in order to stabilize the market. Not in itself surprising: we have seen it a million times in the past, the only difference is that this time the target of the WSJ "intervention" would be the bond market, not stocks. Which is the saddest thing: while idiot stocks traditionally move on the dumbest of triggers, at least bonds had been immune from such stupidity. To see even the bond market succumb to the lowest of rumormonerging, is indeed a slap in the face.

John Adams famously described the American government as being “of laws and not men.” The managerial state has wiped clean that wisdom in favor of countless and arbitrary dictates enforced by worthless bodies. The narcolepsy-inducing USA Today recently reported the Federal Bureau of Investigation granted informants immunity to break government law in certain circumstances. Newly disclosed documents reveal that thousands of so-dubbed “crimes” were committed in 2011 by the FBI’s pet players. The misdeeds include drug trafficking, plotting robberies, and bribery. Last year, the New York Times published a damning report on how the good-natured agents of Washington’s infamous law investigator work tirelessly at foiling terrorist plots they go to great lengths at concocting. These faux plots of destruction are used to beef up the reputation of the agency so as to solidify its monopoly of police power.  The selective enforcement of law negates the very purpose of social order. How can there be a universally recognized limits to mankind’s behavior if a minority are permitted to disregard governing laws? The result is a contradiction – either the law applies everywhere or it does not.

With the latest hope-mongering rumor du jour that the beleaguered handheld device maker Blackberry will be LBO'd (or seek 'strategic partnerships'), we couldn't help but recall the proceedings of the previous decades' best known handheld device maker - Palm. As Needham's Charlie Wolf warns, "I saw what happened with Palm 3 years ago [HP's take-under] - the stories are very similar," as it appears the patents are what counts for BBRY.

Guess what comes next in the numbered sequence: 30.0%, 60.0%, 66.666%? If you said 71.4%, or 2/5, which just happens to be Larry Summers' latest Fed Chairmanship odds according to Paddy Power, you are correct. Janet Yellen, who was once a 1/3 favorite has now plunged to just 7/4 or about 30% odds. And while Bill Gross' tweet certainly moved the market, perhaps a far greater concern to longs everywhere (of both bonds and stocks) is the realization that with every passing day Larry Summers gets closer to becoming the next Fed chairman.

Bonds are being sold off as concerns about the Fed's taper (aka the Zero Hedge-penned in May "Taper Tantrum") propagate through the bond market, and as Bill Gross reminds everyone of what a non-centrally planned, and Fed-backstopped, market may one day look like (nothing good). But today's action is nothing compared to what a real tapir tantrum looks like as one unluckly child and its mother were forced to find out.

Gross: Pogo said, We have met the enemy & he is us. I say, All asset mkts peaking; W/o central bank ck writing we only have ourselves 2sell2

— PIMCO (@PIMCO) August 16, 2013

There is one problem with the Fed's plan that bond yields will progress ever higher in calm, cool and collected fashion from here to 3%, 4%, 5% and onward: it assumes that those who don't sell today, will patiently await turn to sell (with much bigger) losses tomorrow. Of course, what happens instead is that everyone will try to sell today, to avoid any losses tomorrow. What results, are spikes such as the one seen on the chart below, which just took the 10 Year yield to a fresh 2 year high of 2.8269% and rising. But perhaps most important, there are now just under 70 bps until the 3.50% "disorderly rotation" threshold beyond which bad things start happening.

The chart below explains, in the simplest possible terms, why there are many more "Detroits" on deck. It shows the underfunded status of public vs private retiree healthcare plans. It needs no commentary, although it may deserve one question: what happens when all those public servants who have been promised over a trillion in healthcare benefits upon retirement, realize it was all a lie? And then come... the pensions.

Somehow it is not very surprising that the person who should be most concerned should the Egyptian (non) coup spread, namely the head of the House of Saud, is the one to condemn the previous US-supported regime, and to voice his praises for the current US-supported regime.

While it is rumored the below fire on the Queensboro bridge was caused by an explosion, we will reserve judgement for now, although it is quite clear that something did in fact happen on the bridge connecting the Upper East Side and Queens. By all accounts it is likely a car on fire. Whether this was with malicious intent or simply a function of low CapEx, remains to be seen.

As everyone knows (since the data is public), in the most recent week the Fed's balance sheet rose to a record $3.646 trillion, an increase of $61 billion in the past week, and a record increase of $813 billion over the past year, a whopping 30% rise in the balance sheet in 12 short months. What may not be known is the exact distribution of Fed Treasury holdings by maturity. So without further ado, here it is. Of note, observe that what once was a predominantly 'short-end' balance sheet (consisting mostly of no-coupon, money equivalent Bills), has become almost entirely a "5 and over" current coupon carry affair. Which also is why the Fed now takes over the entire bond market at a rate of 0.25% per week.

As JPM's Michael Feroli notes, the September FOMC Taper announcement (which certainly isn't assured, although if the Fed does not taper, it will end up monetizing 0.4%-0.5% of the total private TSY stock per week before year end) may just be a sideshow to a previously undiscussed main event: the Fed's first forecast of 2016 interest rates.

For the first time in 2013, UMich consumer confidence missed expectations dropping from a cyclical high 85.2 to a 'mere' 80.0. However, the miss from an expectation of 85.0 is the big news - this is the biggest miss since records began in 1999. The US Consumer (so in the news this week on the back of the retail earnings) appears have finally woken up to soaring mortgage rates, rising gas prices, and only part-time job growth. We warned this might happen - just as it has happened in the previous two cycles... Both the current and future conditions indices collapsed to their lowest in 4 months.