Archive - Oct 2014 - Story

• IRELAND SELLS 10-YEAR BONDS AT RECORD-LOW YIELD OF 1.63%
• GERMAN 10-YEAR BUNDS RISE; YIELD FALLS 2 BASIS POINTS TO 0.88%
• DUTCH 10-YEAR GOVERNMENT BOND YIELD DROPS TO RECORD-LOW 1.021%
• PORTUGUESE 10-YEAR BOND YIELD DROPS TO RECORD-LOW 2.942%
• FRENCH 10-YEAR GOVERNMENT BOND YIELDS DROP TO RECORD-LOW 1.214%
• U.S. 10-YEAR NOTE YIELD DROPS TO 2.296%, LOWEST SINCE JUNE 2013
• SPANISH 10-YEAR BOND YIELD DROPS TO RECORD-LOW 2.038%
• FINNISH 10-YEAR YIELD DROPS TO 1% FOR FIRST TIME ON RECORD

The following chart-heavy presentation from Grant Williams is among his best as he wends his way methodically from the 19th century to the present day (and into the future) examining "The Consequences of the Economic Peace." From Keynes to Kondratieff and from Napoleon to Nixon, Williams looks at the ramifications of several decades of easy credit and attempts to draw parallels with a time in history when the world looked remarkably similar to how it does now (as he notes "that last time didn’t end so well, I’m afraid.") The real day of reckoning (Williams notes rather ominously), when the unconscionable level of debt that has been built up during the fiat money era finally topples over under its own weight like the giant wave in The Perfect Storm, lies ahead of us.

In a field in the middle of Madison, Georgia (in close proximity to Atlanta and the home of the CDC), hundreds of thousands of air-tight "coffin-liners" have laid since 2008. The site is reportedly rented by the CDC. Today, the CDC says that in the event of an Ebola outbreak in the U.S., bodies of the deceased would be required to be buried within "hermetically sealed caskets", which would prevent the escape of microbes during funerals. Funeral industry experts note that hermetically sealed coffins are not common in the slightest for burial. This would suggest that the CDC has stockpiled such coffins in places like Madison, Georgia specifically in preparation for a viral outbreak. Has the CDC been expecting the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans due to infection for at least the past six years.

Despite the post-FOMC exuberance, there has been yet another major technical breakdown, this time in the infamous Vanguard Total World Stock ETF... remember, the trend is your friend... until it ends.

"Even though bitcoin is volatile, it's still safer than the national currency," said one young 'tech-savvy' Venezuelan, who as Reuters reports, is looking to bypass President Maduro's dysfunctional economic controls. "I'm teaching people to use bitcoin to bypass the exchange controls," said Gerardo Mogollon, a business professor who styles himself as 'Dr. Bitcoin Venezuela,' speaks at conferences and appears in online videos to urge Venezuelans to adopt the crypto-currency..."Bitcoin is a way of rebelling against the system."

The student loan debt bubble in America is spiraling out of control, and it is financially crippling an entire generation of young Americans.  At this point, the grand total of student loan debt in the United States has reached a staggering 1.2 trillion dollars, and an all-time record high 40 million Americans are currently paying off student loan debts.  Just when our young people should be planning on buying homes and starting families, they find themselves financially paralyzed by oppressive levels of debt.  What makes all of this even worse is that only some of our college graduates are able to get the “good jobs” that we promised them.

What can popular television programs tell us about the zeitgeist (spirit of the age) of our culture and economy? It’s an interesting question, as all mass media both responds to and shapes our interpretations and explanations of changing times. It’s also an important question, as mass media trends crystallize and express new ways of understanding our era. Those who shape our interpretation of events also shape our responses. This of course is the goal of propaganda: Shape the interpretation, and the response predictably follows.

While money (reportedly) can't buy love, it appears, according to The WSJ, that it can buy brains.On average, based on calculations from FairTest, students in 2014 in every income bracket outscored students in a lower bracket on every section of the test. Rather stunningly, students from the wealthiest families outscored those from the poorest by just shy of 400 points. As WSJ's Josh Zumbrun so poetically notes, perhaps SAT should more appropriately stand for Student Affluence Test.

"I think we're looking at kind of a 30-year war... one that will have to extend beyond Islamic State to include emerging threats in Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and elsewhere.

From an alarming increase in government seizure of private property under the guise of eminent domain, to blatant disregard for the property rights of bondholders during bailouts, the US has plunged to #36 in the world in respecting property rights (from 9th in 2005). The decline of economic freedom in the US has destroyed opportunities, growth, and wealth creation along with it. Is this as bad as Argentina, Equatorial Guinea, or Venezuela? No. But it’s not about where you’re at. It’s about where you’re going. And the trajectory is clearly negative.

Investors - at least the carbon-based variety not the vacuum tube-driven algos, assuming there are any left - are in a state of complete shock!

The S&P swung 44 points from low-to-high today as panic-buying lifted stocks vertically on the back of an utter VIXtermination (from over 18 to under 15). Nasdaq surged over 2.5% from its lows before FOMC Minutes - the biggest swing since May 2012 (and biggest daily gains in a year). 10Y Yields closed at 2.33% (2.3249% lows) - the lowest since June 2013. The TSY curve steepened dramatically post-FOMC with 5Y now -18bps on the week and 30Y -7bps. The Dollar fell for the 3rd day in a row (-1.6%) - its biggest such drop in 15 months. Initial weakness in commodities was wiped away post-FOMC leaving Silver +3.3% on the week (Gold +2.3%). Oil saw no bounce closing at April 2013 lows (WTI below $87.50). The S&P and Dow managed to get to green on the week in the last few minutes (only the S&P held it into close). So in summary: FOMC Minutes sent Stocks Up, Bonds Up, and Gold & Silver Up; VIX down, USD down, and Oil down.