Archive - Nov 2014 - Story

Fun-durr-mentals...

"Olive branch" or "death stare"? We noted the agenda that is on The Repuiblicans' minds last night, now Speaker Boehner puts Obama straight...

Being 2 for 2 in losses this week (The US Election and Time's "world's most powerful person), it appears President Obama has fallen back on his regulatory army to take the fight to Vladimir Putin. As WSJ reports, U.S. prosecutors have launched a money-laundering investigation of billionaire Gennady Timchenko - a member of Putin's inner circle. The allegations are that Timchenko (who was among the first Russian businessmen to be sanctioned by the U.S. following Russia’s intervention in Ukraine’s Crimea region) transferred funds linked to allegedly corrupt deals in Russia through the U.S. financial system. The probe is also examining whether any of Mr. Putin’s personal wealth is connected to allegedly illicit funds. Timchenko warned in August, "there are reasons to be seriously afraid of provocations from the U.S."

Confused how your cost of living increase is always orders of magnitude above the "inflation" reported by the BLS' Consumer Price Index? Then prepare for your daily dose of Keynesian epiphany, with this step by step guide from the BLS of how to use the Hedonic Quality Adjustment to turn a 400% price increase into a 7.1% decline.

In the old days, maybe 6 or 7 years ago, there was a reason high-yield bonds had a high-yield... because they were 'risky'. Now, thanks to the transformative efforts of the world's central banks, there is no risk anymore and Rwanda has figured that out. As AllAfrica reports, Rwandan sovereign wealth fund money is being invested in high-yield instruments so that it can grow and be used to fund the country's development projects. "This way, the Fund will grow faster and will be used to support development projects sooner," says the fund's CEO. What could possibly go wrong?

"Central bank policies are no longer about the general state of an economy, or about jobs numbers, they’re about the threat of specific price levels. Now, I think that unlike the western press, Yellen and Draghi and other central bankers are acutely aware of what Kuroda stated yesterday. But perhaps I give them too much credit."

For the longest time there has been speculation whether Jihadist forces, be they ISIS, Nusra or other regional groups, had managed to spread beyond the Iraq conflict zone and infiltrate the world's oil mecca: Saudi Arabia. We now know the answer: according to Bloomberg, a Saudi citizen suspected of organizing the attack on Shiite worshipers in the oil-rich Eastern Province returned from fighting in Iraq and Syria, according to Saudi-owned newspapers. In short, ISIS has arrived in the world's largest oil exporter, which begs the question: was yesterday's news of an oil pipeline explosion, quickly downplayed by Saudi sources as "maintenance-related", in fact what most assumed at first, namely an act of sabotage? And how long until the next "planned maintenance" pipeline explosion?

Every day for the past several years, sometime after 3pm, bullish market participants exhale a sigh of relief when as if out of nowhere, an "unexpected" surge of buying lifts stocks into the 4 pm close. There are several explanations for what some have dubbed if not Divine, then certainly centrally-planned intervention. This is the time when ETF creation and (far less frequently) redemption takes place. As a result, in a world in which the bulk of liquidity has shifted away from single name stocks and even futures toward ETFs, trends in the creation and redemption of ETFs are key to watch to determine how the market may move purely for to technical reasons (since fundamentals died some time in 2009). Which is why we note, with little surprise, that according to SocGen, Equity ETFs posted a record level of monthly creations in October, driven by US, regional eurozone and UK indexations, perhaps explaining the relentless levitation of the market on ever lower volume especially in the latter part of the day.

Ebola is solved. Oil price drops are "unequivocally good news". The US election is positive. Draghi promised to do whatever it takes again. And Ukraine is in ceasefire.So why is it that Donetsk's Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Purgin claims Ukrainian security officials have started full-scale fighting, clashing 26 times today according to Ukraine military.y. With tanks advancing, Purgin exclaims, "now there is a full-scale war... attacking us, we are defending." The Ruble has been crushed to new record lows over 46 to the USDollar and Russian stocks are tumbling.

90 minutes... that is the life of a European Central Banker jawbone now...

"The main message is ECB assets are set to expand as others contract," promises ECB's Mario Draghi, adding that "ABS buying is to begin shortly." Shrugging off any rumors of mutiny or lack of sovereign QE, the markets bought every stock market and risky bond with both hands and feet. EURUSD plunged under 1.24 - its lowest since August 2012 as peripheral bond spreads tumbled 10-15bps.  US Treasury yields pushed higher and stocks knee-jerked higher. The USD index is now up 1% on the week.

While it has been obvious to many that the drop in oil prices is a weak demand issue (amid a desperate over-supply pump for revenues in a decling growth world), talking-heads have remain unashamedly bullish of growthiness and shrugged at commodities dumping at the fastest pace since Lehman. However, it appears OPEC just burst that little bubble of hope by slashing demand forecasts. Crude prices tumbled on the admission.

Having served up a large bowl of nothing with the official statement, the job of jawboning 'hope' for future monetary policy idiocy falls once again on Mario Draghi's shoulders as he takes the stage in what may well be a highly contentious press conference. Will he admit the mutiny? Will he 'fess up that OMT is a mirage? Will he admit to being a secretive dictator? Will he remove his spectacles and angrily point at a reporter?

Despite a surge in job cuts, initial jobless claims beat expectations dropping to just 278k (the 2nd lowest of the cycle). The smoother 4-week average dropped to its lowest since April 2000 - nearing levels not seen since 1974... time for moar QE? Continuing claims also dropped to cycle lows... so why did the electorate "throw the bums out" yesterday?

When it comes to the second coming of the cold war, things are not looking up for the leader of the "Free World", because for the second year in a row, at least according to Forbes editors, the person whom they have chosen as the world's most powerful in the world is the guy with sunglasses on the left.