Archive - Jul 2014 - Story

A week ago, when we commented on the latest publicly available data for Barclays' fraud-embroiled LX dark pool, whose volume as we reported had tumbled 37% in the week of the lawsuit announcement, we said that the downward volume trend "is about to get a whole lot worse for Barclays as the trickle becomes an avalanche." Sure enough, following today's reported by Finra's ATS database for the week of June 30, we find just that, and one can largely say lights out to Barclays LX operation, whose total shares traded plummeted from 197 million (and 312 million the week before) to a paltry 66.4 million, a two-week drop of 79% from its recent highs, putting it, in 12th total dark pool volume place, below ITG and above BIDS trading. So much for any ambitions of becoming America's top dark pool. Last on the other hand...

• Fighting erupts in Ukraine as crash investigators arrive (Reuters)
• Russian Billionaires in ‘Horror’ as Putin Risks Isolation (BBG)
• Israel kills militants entering from Gaza, death toll tops 500 (Reuters)
• The other Gaza: In violent weekend, at least 40 people shot in Chicago (Reuters)
• Barclays Dark Pool Drew Early Alarms (WSJ)
• Finance Industry Bonus Hit in Poll as Revenue Disappoints (BBG)
• Severstal to Sell North American Units (WSJ)
• Yum, McDonald's apologize as new China food scandal brews (Reuters)
• Yellen Wage Gauges Blurred by Boomer-Millennial Workforce Shift (BBG)
• Ukraine Offers to Hand Over Malaysia Airlines Probe to Dutch (WSJ)

In the absence of any major economic events, it will be another day tracking geopolitical headlines out of Ukraine (lots of accusations, propaganda and fingerpointing on both sides, zero actual evidence and facts - expect more European sanctions to be announced today to match last week's latest US-led round ) and Israel (where the death toll has now risen over 500, almost entirely on the Gaza side), and then promptly spinning any bad news as great news. For now, however, futures are modestly lower from the Friday close pushed down by the AUDJPY which has rebased around 95.00. We expect the momentum ignition correlation algos will promptly take of that as soon as the US market opens, a market which has now been described as bubbly by the BIS, the Fed and the IMF.

“I was absolutely shocked by what I read... What was so surprising was that those whom we thought we could trust really disappointed me. I cannot go into it any more than that. I had to sign an oath that what I read had to remain confidential. But the information I read disappointed me greatly.”

As WSJ reports, last week's geopolitical chaos and distraction was ideal for a news dump, and the White House didn't disappoint: On no legal basis, all 4.5 million residents of the five U.S. territories were quietly released from ObamaCare. It seems the costs of healthcare soared in these five territories due to uneconomic mandates - which woul dhave been a disaster PR-wise for the administration and so, under cover of catastrophe, WSJ reports all of a sudden last week HHS discovered new powers after "a careful review of this situation and the relevant statutory language," that enabled them to 'selectively exempt' American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, and Virgin Islands from Obamacare. And all while vacationing...

Furious money printing by the world’s major central banks is not generating real growth and prosperity - but professional economists never seem to get the word.

Since The Fed's extension of Operation Twist (and subsequent unveiling of QE3) in 2012, the stocks of "weak balance sheet" companies are up over 100%. In that same period, the stock prices of "strong balance sheet" companies are up a mere 43%. The "dash-for-trash" that the Fed's financial repression forced upon an investing public has enabled the worst companies to not only survive (creating yet another mal-investment boom) but squeezed their share prices to thrive. The reason we bring this up  is simple... this last week of exuberant equity market performance in the face of unimaginable geopolitical possibilities saw "weak balance sheet" stocks outperform "strong balance sheet" stocks by their most in 17 months. In other words, amidst all the chaos and uncertainty 'investors' drove the biggest dash for trash since March 2013.

For an administration in its sixth year, juggling presidential optics is nothing new. And with some rare exceptions, the public relations team around the president has remained consistently stubborn about refusing to let the never-ending stream of political, economic or international crises affect Mr. Obama’s daily schedule. The current myriad incidents are no exceptions: Moments after making a grim statement about Ukraine on Friday, the president popped into the East Room, where the first lady, Michelle Obama, was holding a mock state dinner for children to promote her Let’s Move nutrition initiative. “My big thing,” he confessed to the kids, “chips and guacamole!” There was plenty of laughter all around.

It has been over six months since we first highlighted the growing deterioration in the quality of auto loans and mentioned the 's' word (subprime) as indicative that we learned nothing from the financial crisis. Since then, auto loans (and especially subprime in the last few months) have surged to record highs; and most concerning, recently has seen delinquencies and late payments spike. The reason we provide this background is that, thanks to The NY Times, this story is now hitting the mainstream media as subprime-quality car buyers (new and used) realize the burden they have placed on themselves thanks to exorbitantly high interest rates (and a rapidly depreciating 'asset'). As one car 'owner' exclaimed, "buying the car was the worst decision I have ever made."

Ssshh... The trade only works if everyone is lulled into staying on the long side until it's too late.

Presented with no comment...

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke on the phone today; The White House just released the clarifying statement of next steps...

While the S&P500 rebounded sharply on Friday, BofAML's Macneil Curry warns evidence continues to say that this is a very late stage advance from which a greater correction is forthcoming. The recent deterioration in breadth (52wk highs failing to keep track with price), the negative seasonal period and divergences between the broader indexes say that risk/reward is skewing to the downside. Bottom Line: "The S&P 500 is vulnerable."