Archive - Sep 2014 - Story

Having cautioned investors this morning of the historical tendency for market reversals on September 22nd after hitting all-time highs, UBS' Art Cashin's warning has been echoed by BofAML's Macneil Curry who notes risk assets are set to correct as negative seasonals dominate the S&P500 this week. This is bullish for Treasuries, Curry adds. "Crazy?  Maybe, but forewarned is forearmed," as Cashin concludes.

Did someone finally inform the SEC that Bernie Madoff's business model has been adopted by every central bank in the "developed world?" Whatever the reason for today's record SEC award, which almost certainly has to do with HFT, a topic which this blog first brought to light back in 2009 when nobody had a clue what algo/high frequency trading is, congratulations to the lucky winner (unless of course it has to do with someone spilling the beans on US tax evaders in Swiss banks), and our condolences to the banks, because now that one can comfortably retire by informing the regulators of the pervasive crime that takes place within the US financial system on a daily basis, suddenly every disgruntled person laid off by the US banking sector is the next potential $30 million aware recipient.

"In my lifetime, the USA has not blundered into a more incoherent, feckless, and unfavorable foreign policy quandary than we see today. Does any tattoo-free American adult outside the Kardashian-NFL mass hypnosis matrix feel confident about the trajectory of US policy regarding the so-called Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL)?"

More than 70 per cent of the country’s coal miners were losing money and had cut salaries. Translated: widespread wage deflation, in a country where M2 is expected to grow at a double digit pace. And the really bad news: "About 30 per cent of the industry’s miners had not been able to pay their employees on time and a further 20 per cent had cut salaries by more than 10 per cent, the Economic Information Daily, a Xinhua-affiliated newspaper, reported on Monday."

It's worst and getting worst-er. Hundreds of domestic wells in California's drought-parched Central Valley farming region have run dry, according to AP, leaving many residents to rely on donated bottles of drinking water to get by. With government set to regulate deeper drilling, hope is plunging that a solution to California's drought will come anytime soon as groundwater levels plunge. The stories of struggle are simply stunning, especially given they are coming from America with Governor Brown signing an executive order that provides money to buy drinking water for residents statewide whose wells have dried up. "We need water like we need air," exclaimed one charity leader trying to raise money for water tanks, "Families every night dream about water," said another. And ripped from the famine-headlines of East Africa, "every day [Californians] thinking about how they're going to deal with water."

The narrative just a few short days ago was how 'dovish' the Fed was (despite their apparent hawkishness) and that clearly they would not act unless they were highly confident of future US economic growth (which they have shown almost perfect ineptitude in forecasting). The savior of any weakness in this meme was 'well the rest of the world will take up the money-printing mantle'... but that narrative broke this weekend. Only The Dow (for now) is still holding gains post-FOMC with the Russell 2000 down over 2% since then having completed its 'death cross' today.

Which incidentally has nothing to do with stocks or bonds, and everything to do with all-important FX. To wit: "If a clear break in the yen downwards against both the dollar and euro is occurring, not only will this spell trouble for the beleaguered Chinese economy and exacerbate deflation in the west, but it will also break the spell of German economic dominance"

Curious what happens when Goldman writes the script for its central banker alums? This.

• DRAGHI SAYS EXCHANGE RATE IS IMPORTANT, NOT A POLICY OBJECTIVE
• DUDLEY SAYS VALUE OF DOLLAR CAN IMPACT APPROPRIATENESS OF MONETARY POLICY, NOT A POLICY GOAL

At this point one should just laugh.

Onehawk down, and just as rates are supposedly set to begin rising. Smart.

After 4 straight months of bounce-back exuberance that 'confirms' the hope that NAHB sentiment appears to present, existing home sales dropped 1.1% in August (against expectations of a 1.0% rise) and previous growth was revised lower. This is the biggest miss since November 2013. The South and West saw the biggest drops as inventory fell. First-time homebuyers remain sidelined with only 29% of total sales. The National Association of Realtors blames the drop on "investors stepping away from the market," and notes distressed sales are the lowest since October 2008.

Moments ago, the Goldmanite in charge of the European Central Bank delivered yet another speech, this time seeking to offset some of the hawkish comments over the weekend from his comrades, all of which suggested that no more easing, or public QE, was coming any time soon. It was, as usual, full of the same lies that have pushed European stocks to highs not seen since Lehman even as Europe's economy is now slumping into a triple-dip recession. Here is a choice selection of his comments, properly annotated.

UK supermarket operator Tesco has suspended four executives after discovering a $408 million "serious accounting issue" in its latest financial statements. In a reflection of Walgreen's earlier 'forecassting errors', it appears everyone's optimism is now costing them their jobs as Tesco admits the executives were "early booking commercial income and delayed booking costs." And that - in one simple sentence - is the optimistic, we-are-sure-the-income-will-be-there, way to "solidly beat" expectations quarter-after-quarter.

There is a "hard way" of doing, as in fixing, things and then there is... the European way. Below we show how Italy's debt/GDP for 2013 just was "reduced" by 5% making the country appear far more "sustainable" and attractive to debt investors (the ECB?). As Bloomberg reports, Italy’s 2013 public debt was revised to 127.9% of GDP from a previous estimate of 132.6% of GDP, the country’s statistics agency Istat says in report.

With the snoozer of an FOMC meeting in the rearview mirror, as well as Scotland's predetermined independence referndum, last week's key events: the BABA IPO and the iPhone 6 release, are now history, which means the near-term catalysts are gone and the coming week will be far more relaxed, if hardly boring. Here is what to expect.