Archive - Oct 13, 2014 - Story

One of the reasons why the market sold off rapidly in the last hour or so, has been news out of Boston that an Emirates flights has been quarantined at Logan Airport, where as Fox Boston reports, according to the Massachusetts Port Authority, five passengers on an a flight from Dubai were experiencing flu-like symptoms. Crews are on the ground responding to the situation. Those passengers were not in West Africa, according to the agency.

Well that escalated quickly.... a huge volume move soaked up the entire S&P 500 e-mini liquidity stack... a "flash-crash" that saw VIX burst above 23.

"So bye bye to my piece of the pie... I poured my paycheck into the Russell, Now my cash account's dry...  It's just one month from a new all-time high, And now we're right back where we were in July..."

Running a multi-billion dollar energy company isn’t easy. Just ask the executives in the corner suites of some of the energy companies that have gone bust over the years. Some, like Enron, were brought down because of insider malfeasance. A few, like ATP, blamed damaging government policies, while others went off the rails due to market forces that left the company and its shareholders flat-footed, deep in debt, and eventually broke. Here are the bankruptcies that will be etched into the tombstones of failed energy fortunes for time immemorial.

Of the 298 Bloomberg Terminal users that are currently registered with the New York Federal Reserve Board (according to Bloomberg Search), the great majority are "red" today - celebrating Indigenous People's Day we assume. However, while everyone's favorite "market intervenor" (sic), Kevin Henry, currently spearheading the NY Fed's Chicago office, remains "grey"- preferring not to share his status with the world after this - there are a few traders and analysts hard at work maintaining the status quo with "Trader/Analyst" Yan Chow appearing the most capable of holding up US stock markets without the aid of a bond market safety net.

Despite Bank of England's Mark Carney confident overtones that policy-makers must focus on economic developments rather than worry about potential market volatility as they consider exiting stimulus, it appears the esteemed central bank is communicating 'forward guidance' on its money-printing expectations over the next decade... BANK OF ENGLAND SIGNS 10-YEAR BANKNOTE PRINTING CONTRACT WITH DE LA RUE... starting in April 2015 (when US rate hikes might start?)

According to Bloomberg, China’s vehicle sales grew at the slowest pace in 19 months in September as demand for trucks and buses slumped with the weaker economy. Total vehicle sales, which include passenger and commercial vehicles, rose 2.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.98 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said today. That was the slowest pace since February 2013.

With the auto loan subprime bubble large enough for both mainstream media, credit reporting agencies, and the Fed itself, having no choice but to notice, one question has emerged: what is the preferred car model of subprime lessors and lenders? The answer, courtesy of Experian's "State of the Automotive Finance Market Second Quarter 2014" report, is shown below.

A great many will rue the day when they bought into: “Pigs can fly,” “The markets are at these levels based on sound fundamentals,” “The Fed’s got their back,” and “Ebola is contained.” It is astounding just how far behind the curve many are finding themselves. Suddenly, almost everyone we meet is either doe-eyed, or worse, portraying signs of a deer stuck in the headlights. Today, everything is changing because the great masses whom many relate to as “the herd mentality” is now showing signs of great nervousness. And once this group gets spooked, it's over.

With three out of four nurses say their hospital hasn't provided sufficient education for them on Ebola, according to a survey by the largest professional association of registered nurses in the United States, it seems the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has decided its time to tamp down some more public fears over the contagiousness of this deadly disease... The CDC will provide an update on the response to the second U.S. Ebola diagnosis - the Dallas nurse who was infected while caring for a Liberian national in her hospital (supposedly due to her 'protocol breach')...

But, but, but... it's a social media platform... but maybe this is why camera-on-a-stick is getting hit hard...

Do not panic. Ebola is not very contagious at all. That remains the mantra from health and political officials in America.. and as far as the nurse who was treating now-dead Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, it was user error, according to CDC Director Frieden. As Reuters reports, some healthcare experts are bristling at the assertion by a top U.S. health official that a “protocol breach” caused the Dallas nurse to be infected with Ebola while caring for a dying patient, saying the case instead shows how far the nation’s hospitals are from adequately training staff to deal with the deadly virus, "you don't scapegoat and blame when you have a disease outbreak... We have a system failure. That is what we have to correct."

With the cash bond market closed today, we get our cues from an admittedly thin Treasury futures market. Prices are up across the board with 10Y yield down 3bps at 2.25%, 30Y back under 3%, and 5Y down 4bps at 1.49%. The rates market, once again is leading stocks lower - not getting as exuberant as stocks out of the gate... The Russell 2000 is at one-year lows (Oct 9th 2013 to be exact)