Archive - Jun 17, 2014 - Story

In a day and age in which corporations rule the world, the brutal Al-Qaeda spin off known as ISIS is learning from the best, and as part of its credentialising and image-building has done something only major corporations do at the end of every year: it has issued annual reports for the past 2 years (unaudited). That's right: as the FT reported earlier, "Since 2012 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, (known as Isis) has issued annual reports, outlining in numerical and geographical detail its operations – the number of bombings, assassinations, checkpoints, suicide missions, cities taken over and even “apostates” converted to the Isis cause."

Copper, Iron Ore, Rebar, Rubber, and now Cotton are all at multi-year lows as the Qingdao CCFD ponzi probe continues to broaden to all the commodities we warned about previously. As CottonCN reports, the probe's increased uncertainty and scrutiny of shipments may hurt imports of of cotton in the form of consignment sales, as international traders delay shipments or deliveries to wait for clear policies as authorities continues their investigation. Even soybeans and palm oil have been on a notably downswing since the probe intothe collateral evaporation started. Then comes the news that Chinese commodities trading firm CITIC admission that over half  of its 220,000 tonnes of alumina are missing. This is far from over...

What would you say if we told you that Americans are nearly 60 trillion dollars in debt?  Well, it is true.  When you total up all forms of debt including government debt, business debt, mortgage debt and consumer debt, we are 59.4 trillion dollars in debt. 2008 should have been a major wake up call that resulted in massive changes. But instead, our leaders just patched up the old system and reinflated the old bubbles so that they are now even larger than they were before. They assure us that they know exactly what they are doing and that everything will be just fine. Unfortunately, they are dead wrong.

Shortly after the US revealed that, in addition to aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships it was also sending a few hundred "special forces" on the ground in Iraq, contrary to what Obama had stated previously, Washington made quite clear it wants Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to embrace Sunni politicians as a condition of U.S. support to fight a lightning advance by forces from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Then something unexpected happened: Iraq's Shi'ite rulers defied Western calls on Tuesday to reach out to Sunnis to defuse the uprising in the north of the country, declaring a boycott of Iraq's main Sunni political bloc and accusing Sunni power Saudi Arabia of promoting "genocide."

Now, for the first time, we have empirical proof that hedge funds are indeed on the verge of extinction. In its hedge fund quarterly note (which it clearly ripped off from Goldman), Bank of America has concluded what we said in the beginning of the decade: "Hedge Funds are less attractive post the financial crisis with lower alpha and less diversification benefits." Or, in other words, hedge funds (for the most part: this excludes those extortionists also known as activists who successfully bully management teams into levering up in order to buyback record amounts of stock, in the process burying their companies and employers when the next downturn arrives) no longer provide a service commensurate to their astronomical fees.

The world is a very complicated place, and the Middle East is a particularly difficult region to try to get your head around. Between decades of colonialism, gigantic oil reserves, governments that are essentially feudal kingdoms, and the never-ending and always shifting Western government propaganda that often changes the targets of demonization on a whim, it’s no wonder people are so confused. The following provides a perspective based on what we have seen so far, and more importantly, ask readers to ask their own set of questions. What is happening is very bad, and it is the direct result of the idiotic children calling the foreign policy shots in Washington D.C. Ever since 9/11, everything about the status quo’s decision making has been irrational and dangerous.

Tomorrow will bring the word from on high with regard the great-and-powerful Fed's forecasts, dot-plots, and money-printing-replacing-forward-guidance. While one must 'never' question the PhDs, or fight the Fed (unless they say "sell" or "complacent"), we thought the following chart of their success at "forward guidance" should help investors with their allocation of 'faith' tomorrow...

The Bush and Obama presidencies have effectively dismantled the rule of law and the Constitution by invoking essentially unlimited executive powers in the name of "national security." After 13.5 years, there is more than enough evidence for reasonable people to conclude that the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama are easily the most destructive in U.S. history. The Big Lie is that this destruction of the foundations of the rule of law and civil liberties is for our own good: if the President and the National Security State don't grab all these powers and deprive you of your constitutional rights, bad guys will destroy the nation. This is of course the same old tired justification used by dictators and despots everywhere, and it is always a lie.

Presented with no comment...

Advocates of minimum wage often base their support for the measure on ethical grounds, claiming that all workers deserve a degree of compensation regardless of their productivity. But a little know exemption (called 14(c)) allowing employers to pay certain staff below minimum wage, begs a question. If people with disabilities are exempt from minimum wage because their earning capacity is impaired and finding employment might otherwise be impossible, why don’t people without disabilities whose earning capacity is equally low also qualify for an exemption?

When the masses just won't play along and BTFATH (with only central banks buying), the real 'wealth' transfer is much more insidious (and more voting)...

The market is highly confident that it has a good handle on tomorrow’s FOMC meeting, despite the fact that several factors will require modification.  There is high conviction that the Fed will not surprise the market, but rather take a “steady as she goes” approach that delivers a market consensus outcome.  The reasons for this view are obvious and logical; however, such complacency breeds risk as well as opportunity, because the arguments for accelerating tapering to $15 billion (per month) are quite compelling.

With 2 Russian TV journalists killed in recent days and on the heels of Russia's cutting off Ukraine's gas supply for non-payment, Interfax is reporting that:

*EXPLOSION ON UKRAINE GAS TRANSIT PIPELINE REPORTED: IFX
*INTERFAX CITES UKRAINE INTERIOR MINISTRY ON GAS PIPELINE BLAST

Witnesses say flames are reaching 200 metres high. Gazprom shares are tumbling on the news (as should European stocks) and Russia's Foreign Affairs Committee Chief Aleksei Pushkov warned relations between Ukraine and Russia have entered a new stage and are "moving closer towards a serious conflict."

Here’s the good news: 2013 was a record year for Chinese grain production. Here’s the not so good news: “Although the number is huge,” said Nie, “it still could not satisfy domestic consumer demand. In recent years, China’s food imports have been increasing. Agricultural product imports are roughly equivalent to the productive capacity of 47 million hectares of planted area.” To put this number in context, if you could cram together all the farmland and pasture that it takes to grow the food just being imported by China, the total area of this land mass would be larger than the entire state of California.  As nations become wealthier, it takes much more land per-capita to feed them. The absolute best case scenario is substantially higher food prices.

Another Tuesday, another sell-off in bonds and rally in stocks. The hawkish inflation data this morning sparked stock weakness and bond weakness but while the latter saw yields keep pushing higher, the former rallied back extravagantly ignoring the dismal housing data - well why not, its Tuesday today and FOMC tomorrow. The Russell 2000 was the winner once again as traders embrace high beta as alpha (and financials outperformed (2s30s steepened for once). 10Y Treasuries saw yields jump the 2nd most in 2 months (with 7Y the worst performer +6.5bps). Gold, silver, and copper all rose notably after the inflation data but oil prices decided to waterfall lower having briefly reached unch for the week (as soon as POMO ended). "Most shorted" stocks were smashed higher today (+2%) enabling the early ramp and while a late-day selling scramble nearly rescued failure from success, VIX pressure was enough to save stocks' green track record.