Archive - Mar 31, 2014 - Story

It was almost excatly five years ago to the day, on April 10, 2009, that Zero Hedge - widely mocked at the time by "experts" - began its crusade against HFT and the perils of algorithmic trading (which of course were validated a year later with the Flash Crash). In the interim period we wrote hundreds if not thousands of articles discussing and explaining the pernicious, parasitic and destabilizing role HFT plays in modern market topology, and how with every passing day, markets are becoming increasingly more brittle, illiquid and, in one word, broken. Or, as Michael Lewis put it most succinctly, "rigged." With Lewis' appearance last night on 60 Minutes to promote his book Flash Boys, and to finally expose the HFT scourge for all to see, we consider our crusade against HFT finished. At this point it is up to the general population to decide if this season's participants on Dancing with the Stars or the fate of Honet Boo Boo is more important than having fair and unrigged markets (obviously, we know the answer).

Value stocks handily outperformed Growth stocks by the end of Q1 but the window-dressing pump of the last 2 days rescued all but the blue-chip Dow from ending the quarter in the red. This is the worst quarterly performance for stocks since 2012.  Despite disconnects all over the place today, stocks managed to hold onto gains today. Thanks to some dovosh comments by Yellen (that apparently "some time" is interpreted as more than 6 months), bonds and stocks ripped today leaving long-bonds best quarter since Q2 2012. Gold is the best performing asset of the quarter and HY bonds worst as the USD ended unchanged.

There’s nothing like a nice cup of reality 'tea' first thing on Monday morning. Periodically, we like to scan headlines for phrases like “record high” or “all time high”... in today's case, the results can often given an interesting big picture perspective of what’s happening in the world.

As expected, the Federal Reserve has released its Permanent Open Market Operations (POMO) non-monetizing-of-the-debt schedule for April with $30 billion of Treasury purchases (and $25 billion MBS). This is a 33% reduction from the 'normal' $45 billion Treasury purchase of last year. The POMO schedule very generously allows traders 3 days of non-money-printing potential shorting opportunities (Friday 4th, Thursday 17th, and Wednesday 30th)... however, this Friday is non-farm payrolls day and we will not be allowed a red day after that...

Just over an hour ago the Fed disclosed that as part of its most recent reverse repo operation, it had handed out to 93 dealer banks and other financial intermediaries, both foreign and domestic, some $242 billion in Treasurys in what is now the biggest reverse repo operation in history, a privilege for which the collateral-starved banks paid the Fed the king's ransom of 0.05% in annual interest, i.e., nothing.

"The US reached a peak in prosperity and influence in the world in the 1950s or 1960s," Marc Faber explains to an Australian audience at the recent World War D conference; but since the 70s the superpower has been locked into a cycle of bubbles, busts and growing debt. "There are some people who claim to be economists who will tell you debts do not matter," but the real story is different, he warns. "When you drop dollar bills into the economy... it won't lift all prices and assets equally at the same time," Faber explains, "in the 60s and 70s, extra money flowing through the economy inflated wages; in the early 2000s, money printing inflated commodities;" but, the Gloom, Boom, & Doom Report editor points out, this price and asset growth is never equal, warning that "we live in a new word... where the old world order is largely bypassed."

Given the pump-and-dump revelations of last night (that we have been vocierfously explaining to an unwilling to hear public for five years), the question today is - who you gonna trust? The bond market or the stock market...

When one reads stories such as the following report from the FT, in which we learn that former Chinese president Jiang Zemin "has urged the current leadership to rein in an anti-corruption campaign that is proving the harshest in decades and is seen as threatening the interests and networks of some Communist party elders", or said otherwise - his cronies, aside from being utterly speechless at the rapid unravelling of the bizarro world, all one can say is - expect such developments in the US in a few years time, when then former president Obama asks Clinton, Christie or whoever the then-reigning dictator of the totalitarian states of America is, to take it easy on the Corzines of the world.

Despite months to plan and an early morning failure today already, the Obamacare wesbite Healthcare.gov is down once again...

*AP SAYS HEALTHCARE.GOV WEBSITE NOT ACCEPTING NEW APPLICANTS, TECHNICAL PROBLEMS PREVENTING HEALTHCARE.GOV APPLICATIONS: AP

Of course the frequency of visitors is having some effect and the adminstration has once again extended the deadline for enrolment as long as participants are in line today. Perhaps, Obama should ask the HFTs how they cope with the volume?

Looks like someone didn't pay their annual "cost of conducting criminal business" bribe:

You can expect that before long a significant financial institution will be charged with a felony or be made to plead guilty to a felony

— SDNYnews (@SDNYnews) March 31, 2014

So who is it? In other news: free Jon Corzine already!

While French finance minister Moscovici embarrassingly losing his council seat in this weekend's muni elections is bad enough, we we warned earlier, the dismal loss for Hollande has claimed its first victim. As WSJ reports, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault tendered his resignation and that of his government to President Hollande.

The surprising surge in popularity of Narendra Modi's party ahead of India's elections (another apparent 'miss' by US intelligence) has left the Obama administration needing to "clean the slate." Only a year after taking office, US ambassador to India Nancy Powell has suddenly resigned her post (following press speculation) as the administration explained "was planned for some time, she will retire to her home in Delaware before the end of May." This appears a clear recognition that a Modi government is likely and a problem for the US who cancelled Modi's visa in 2005 over "severe violations of religious freedom." Another red line coming up?

"The USA is exhibiting pretty severe signs of that sclerosis in the demented behavior of its leaders in episodes such as the current unnecessary manufactured fiasco over Ukraine to the physical deterioration of our towns, roads, bridges, and all the plastic crap we managed to smear over the mutilated landscape to the comportment of our demoralized, mentally inert, drugged-up, tattoo-bedizened populace of twerking slobs."

As we reported last night, Japan's economy may once again be relapsing into a slowing phase, perversely well in advance of the dreaded sales-tax hike which many expect will catalyze Japan's collapse into another recession as happened the last time Japan had a tax hike, but that doesn't mean its population should be prevented from enjoying the heavily energized local atmosphere buzzing with the hope and promise of imminent paper-based "wealth effects" for those long the daily penNikkeistock rollercoaster.... and just as buzzing with copious gamma rays of course. Which is why for the first time in over three years, since Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster, residents of a small district 20 km from the wrecked plant are about to be allowed to return home. Because if the honest Japanese government says it is safe, then so it must be.

One of the evils of massive over-financialization is that it enables Wall Street to scalp vast “rents” from the Main Street economy. These zero sum extractions not only bloat the paper wealth of the 1% but also fund a parasitic bubble finance infrastructure that would largely not exist in a world of free market finance and honest money. The infrastructure of bubble finance can be likened to the illegal drug cartels. In that dystopic world, the immense revenue “surplus” from the 1000-fold elevation of drug prices owing to government enforced scarcity finances a giant but uneconomic apparatus of sourcing, transportation, wholesaling, distribution, corruption, coercion, murder and mayhem that would not even exist in a free market. The latter would only need LTL trucking lines and $900 vending machines. In this context, the sprawling empire known as Bloomberg LP is the Juarez Cartel of bubble finance.