Archive - Jul 2, 2014 - Story

Alongside that other canard of global monetary machinations, Christine Lagarde (who oddly declared earlier that "the global economy will not return to 'pre-crisis' world" and asked if central banks need a 'financial stability goal' -mandating a market "put" of sorts); Fed head Janet Yellen will be addressing her peers at The IMF this morning. We expect a lot of "noise" comments, "lower for longer", "weather" excuses, and escape velocity is coming any minute as she desperately tries to keep the "don't worry, you will be ok without all our money printing" meme alive.

To the Fed's Janet Yellen, runaway inflation - at least that which can not be "hedonised" away by the BLS like iPad and LCD TV prices - may be simply "noise", which probably explains why she doesn't rent. But for the record number of Americans who are forced to rent as house prices are too high for the vast majority of the population while mortgage origination has tumbled to record lows (as banks can generate far higher returns on reserve by buying stocks than lending out said money), inflation is going from bad to worse. Case in point: as the WSJ shows, since 1990 asking rents - in real terms i.e., adjusted for inflation - have increased a whopping 15%. The change in median income over the same period? 0%.

Is the New Normal of ever-higher stock valuations sustainable, or will low volatility lead to higher volatility, and intervention to instability? Though we're constantly reassured by financial pundits and the Federal Reserve that the stock market is not a bubble and that valuations are fair, there is substantial evidence that suggests the contrary.

The post-weather rebound is over. Factory Orders, which were expected to fall modestly, dropped 0.5% - the biggest drop and biggest miss since January. Notably defense-spending dropped 30% as it seems we didn't need 10 new submarines in May (and this is with Ex-Im bank still funding growth). On the flip side, if you were wondering where the recent data (survey) exuberance has come from, wonder no more - inventories in May rose 0.8% - the biggest rise since Oct 2011. More malinvestment-driven exuberance - if only wages were up? Surely subprime credit is soaring so that will take care of it.

Moments after the outlier ADP private payrolls jobs number, the highest since November 2012, was released Gallup offered its own poll-based take on the US jobs market with the release of its monthly US Jobs Creation Index. To some this useful datapoint may explain the ADP-reported surge in hiring, although a more nuanced read simply add to the confusion.

It stands to reason that when the Fed eventually lifts interest rates, we’ll see the usual effects. After a sustained rise in rates, you can safely bet on: Fixed investment and business earnings dropping sharply; GDP growth following investment and earnings lower; Many people losing their jobs; and Risky assets performing poorly. These consequences follow not only from the arithmetic of debt service and present value calculations, but also from the mood swinging psychology of entrepreneurs, lenders and investors. Yet, policy economists claim that interest rates can be “normalized” at no cost. Our conclusion is to reject forecasts calling for the economy to power right through interest rate hikes without stumbling. A more likely scenario is that policy “normalization” leads us directly into the next bust.

A single entity successfully scooped up the entire ~30,000 haul of Bitcoins that the US government seized from Silk Road. The successful bidder at the government's auction was V.C. Tim Draper (in partnership with Vaurum) who is infamous as the ideator of viral marketing, a marketing method for spreading a software application from customer to customer (making one wonder if the $19 million bid was more publicity stunt that investment). However, Vaurum has launched trading platforms in emerging markets, and we will be partnering with Tim to leverage the pool of ~30,000+ bitcoins as a liquidity source. The price of Bitcoin continues to rise, now at $650 - up from around $570 when the auction began.

An odd thing has been happening in the last few months. Since the Chinese government began to crackdown on 'junkets' and 'corruption', Macau - the hub for Chinese billionaires to smuggle their money out of China - has seen revenues disappointing. So much in fact that, as Reuters reports, gambling revenue in Macau fell 3.7% in June on an annual basis, the first decline in more than four years. It could be coincidence, however, that as Macau has seen growth collapse, Las Vegas has seen Baccarat (the preferred game of China's rich) surge. In May, as Macau growth slumped, Las Vegas Baccarat surged over 85%. While slots (the staple indicator of the 99% in America) continues to decline (-4.4% in May), it seems rich foreigners are finding creative new ways to wash their money out of China.

Today's epic catch-up in ADP jobs data (nicely extrapolated off the back of last month's NFP) is the biggest beat since Dec 2012 and biggest gain in jobs since Nov 2012, printing at 281K, up from 179K, and smashing expectations of 205K - in fact the number came above the highest estimate of 250K. While ISMs and PMIs are missing expectations - and notably small businesses in those surveys saying they are not seeing benefits - ADP claims that small businesses gained the most jobs. Of course, we assume the seasonal adjustments had nothing to do with that: from biggest miss in 4 months to biggest beat in 21 months, which is supposedly, normal.

• France's Sarkozy faces corruption probe in blow to comeback hopes (Reuters)
• Ukraine Says Military Offensive Against Rebels Yielding Results (WSJ)
• JPMorgan Investors Show Support for Dimon in Cancer Fight (BBG)
• World’s ATM Moves to Frankfurt as Yellen’s Fed Slows Cash (BBG)
• Argentina Seen Backtracking on Fernandez Vows as Legacy at Risk (BBG)
• Palestinian teen killed in possible revenge attack (Reuters)
• The Bill and Hillary Clinton Money Machine Taps Corporate Cash (WSJ)
• London House Prices Surge the Most Since 1987, Nationwide Says (BBG)
• Last Jew in Afghanistan faces ruin as kebabs fail to sell (Reuters)

We could focus on whatever events took place in the overnight session or the seasonally-adjusted economic data avalanche that will dominate US newsflow over the next two days (ADP, ISM New York, Factory Orders, Services ISM, Yellen Speaking, and of course Nonfarm payrolls tomorrow), or we could ignore all of that as it is absolutely meaningless and all very much bullish, and use a phrase from Standard Chartered which said that "the dollars Yellen is removing could be compensated for by cheap euros from the ECB; result may be enough cash sloshing around to underpin this year’s run-up in risk assets even if  the Fed begins mulling higher interest rates too." In other words, the bubble will go on, as the Fed passes the baton to the ECB, if not so much the BOJ which is drowning in its own imported inflation. Case in point: two of the three HY deals priced yesterday were PIK, and the $1 billion in proceeds was quickly used to pay back equity sponsors. The credit bubble has never been bigger.