Archive - May 15, 2014 - Story

It may have been sunny in New York, where the previously reported regional Fed print soared and smashed expectations, but it looks like Philly had a few drizzles despite the name of the infamous TV show, as the just reported Philly Fed indicated a modest decline in the local index, which dipped from 16.6 to 15.4, but just above the 14.0 consensus estimate.What is worse, all the key components, New Orders, Shipments and Unfilled Orders all declined from April.

For the 5th month in a row, homebuilder hope has missed expectations. At 45 (vs 49 expectations), this is the lowest the NAHB survey has been at since May 2013, catching down to the reality of home sales and mortgage applications. On the bright side, realtors can't help but feel thr turn is coming sometime soon - the "future" hope index rose to its highest since January as the "current" reality index drops to 12 month lows. The West region continues to tumble.

"They" said it couldn't happen.. but the Max Pain trade continues...10Y 2.4982%

30Y US Treasury yields have retraced more than 50% of the Taper Tantrum and weak data this morning once again pressures yields to new lows. 10Y now trades 2.5009%, 30Y breaks to fresh 11-month lows at 3.31% as the yield curve is flattening notably once again. European peripheral bonds are having their worst day in a year (as we noted earlier) and US and European equity markets are stumbling.

Uh-oh. While soft-survey-driven data shows sentiment rebounding after Americans hibernation, it appears the hard data on what they are actually producing - now that weather is behind us - is dismal. Industrial Production slumped by 0.6% - its biggest miss since April 2011 - after its March rebound. This drop is the lowest since June 2009... and this is after the post-weather rebound... Still wondering why bond yields are collapsing? Don't trust the signals of the bond market - stick with believing in the analysts - 80 out of 81 economists thought industrial production would have done something better in April.

Four years and three prime ministers after Greece’s then premier, George Papandreou, requested an international bailout that slammed his nation with painful austerity (but saved the EU banks), Bloomberg notes that political instability still haunts Greece. Despite issuing bonds and GDP coming in slightly better than expected (still in recession/depression), former Prime Minister Costas Simitis of Pasok admits "The euro crisis seems to be over but its causes have not withered away," and if election polls are anything to go by, the fragile fraud that is a Greek recovery is set for problems Samaras' governing coalition as Syriza (the opposition that rejected the bailout terms) support soars and Pasok plunged to sixth place with just 5.5% support. In addition, retroactive taxes on gains are weighing on European bond markets (and Greek stocks).

We went down the 'golden' rabbit hole and we were stunned by some of the things we found...

The CPI headline print of 0.3% for April came just as expected, rising from 0.2% in March and the highest sequential increase since June of 2013. It was also in line with expectations. The CPI ex-food and energy rose 0.2% and up 1.8% from a year ago, both just modestly higher than expected. Other details: "The food index rose 0.4 percent in April. The index for food at home, which rose 0.5 percent in both February and March, increased 0.4 percent in April. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 1.5 percent in April and has increased 3.9 percent over the last three months. The index for meats rose 2.9 percent, its largest increase since November 2003.  The rent index increased 0.3 percent, the index for owners’ equivalent rent advanced 0.2 percent, and the index for lodging away from home rose 0.4 percent. The medical care index rose 0.3 percent in April, with the indexes for medical care services and medical care commodities both increasing 0.3 percent."

"Mission Accomplished"... At 297k this is the lowest initial claims print since May 2007 (beating expectations of 318k by the most in 8 months). This rebound jump lower in claims reflects on many of the most recent indicators bouncing back from weather-effects but the question is its sustainability - and extrapolatibility (which we are sure is a word being used by the sell-side strategists expecting 4% GDP growth in Q2). Total benefits dropped 9k to 2.67 million - the lowest since Dec 2007. All things considered - America is fixed... so why are bond yields collapsing and GDP so piss-poor? Just like Japanese GDP however, good news appears to be bad news as the US equity market did not flinch on this record-setting jobs print.

After the biggest miss in over a year, Empire manufacturing rebounded phoenix-like to its biggest beat in 5 years and highest level in 4 years (at 19.0). The massive surge in the headline was matched by a huge jump in the number of employees - great news, except that the average work week was stable and proces received tumbled. What is more worrisome - and suggests this spike is entirely unsustainable is the outlook for capex and tech spending dropped, average workweek expectations shrank, and the number of employees is expected to fall.

Thank god for Germany, whose Q1 GDP printed at 0.8%, above the expected 0.7%, and higher than Q4's 0.4%, or else the Eurozone's very disappointing Q1 GDP, which printed at 0.2% or half the expected 0.4%, could have been flat or negative.

• More than 20 dead, doctor says, as anti-China riots spread in Vietnam (Reuters)
• Russia's Gazprom plans Singapore stock exchange listing (Reuters)
• Inside Europe’s Plan Z (FT)
• Ukraine slides deeper toward war as Russia warns to vote (BBG)
• Fast-Food Protests Spread Overseas (NYT)
• BOJ Beat, Officials Could Upgrade Outlook for Capex (WSJ)
• Euro-Zone Economy Shows Weaker-Than -Expected Expansion (WSJ)
• Yahoo to YouTube Ads Spreading Viruses Rile Lawmakers (BBG)
• New York Times Ousts Jill Abramson as Executive Editor, Names Dean Baquet (BBG)
• NYT Publisher Said to Always Have Clashed With Abramson (BBG)
• Google gets take-down requests after European court ruling - source (Reuters)

In yet another quarter confirming that Walmart is merely a company that can beat analyst expectations when it cashes Uncle Sam's welfare checks and foodstamps, when the impact of Obamacare is ignored, and when the second it snows all bets are off, WalMart reported Q1 EPS of $1.10, below the $1.15 expected, even if the company was able to explicitly quantify what the impact of snow in the winter was: "Severe weather in the U.S. businesses negatively impacted EPS by approximately $0.03." Apparently the weather's impact on the top line was over $1 billion because revenues came in at $114.96 billion, below the $116.3 billion expected.

In this brave new centrally-planned world, where bad is good, very bad is very good, and everything is weather adjusted, Japan's blistering GDP report last night, printing at 5.9% on expectations of 4.3% was "bad" because it means less possibility for a boost in QE pushing futures lower, while the liquidity addicts were giddy with the GDP miss in Europe where everyone except Germany missed (as for the German beat, Goldman's crack theam of economic climatologists, said it was due to the weather), and the Eurozone as a whole came at 0.2%, half the forecast 0.4%, which in turn allowed futures to regain some of the lost ground.

That greatest contrarian indicator in the history of finance, Tom Stolper (arguably even better than Dennis Gartman), may no longer be at Goldman but his muppet-crushing spirit lives on. With Bund (and Treasury) yields tumbling to lows not seen since mid 2013, adding insult to injury, and accelerating the short squeeze, here is Goldman's Francesco Garzarelli with "Trade Update: Close Trade recommendation selling short Euro Bund June 14 futures (RXM4), for a potential loss of 2%."