Archive - Jan 21, 2015 - Story

In what is likely an effort to comprehend whether the market is satiated with a mere EUR 50 billion per month in printed money, this morning's leaked ECB QE announcement (due tomorrow) sparked total chaos in FX markets and, as Nanex notes, sending market liquidity to near record lows. This is a problem. With the 'real' volatility event not arriving until tomorrow, everyone has pulled out of the market already... setting the scene for a gappy Swissnado replay tomorrow morning.

Because nothing says 'stability' like a Central Bank in charge of things, the smartest richest men in the world have proclaimed in Davos this week that "we need a central bank of oil, like the central bank in financial world." As long as they are not Swiss, of course. Oil has been volatile today amid these calls for stability after Saudi Aramco comments on cutting projects (supply) sent prices higher, and was then talked back by the CEO bringing prices lower. Oman - the largest non-OPEC Middle East oil producer - blasted that "we have created volatility," noting it was having a "really difficult time," and that's "bad for business," demanding OPEC slow production. But it was The IMF that sparked the greatest concerns as it warned oil producers to treat this oil price drop as permanent noting that they expect these economies to lose $300 billion. only to be contradicted by OPEC's al-Badri who noted "oil prices will rebound back to normal soon."

USDCAD breaks 1.23 - weakest since April 2009

Unexpected to most, The Bank of Canada cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.75% citing financial stability risks and worried about downside inflation risks. The press release is extremely negative... *MAGNITUDE OF OIL SHOCK CREATES EXCEPTIONAL UNCERTAINTY: BOC

Following the initial kneejerk reaction lower in the EURUSD, much as expected, the market appears to have actually given a second thought to the ECB's trial balloon leak, which had zero details on risk-mutualization or burden-sharing, and most importantly about the size of the announcement, which at €50 billion per month is well below the €1 trillion annual run rate which was the high-side whisper number, and then the kneejerk reaction promptly reverse. What happened next is a deja vu from last week, when as the epic surge in EURUSD volume, both in spot and futures, showed that at least one, and likely more, macro hedge funds were just stopped out of EURUSD shorts, as the reveral pounded anyone short the European currency with less than an infinite balance sheet.

It would appear the housing data was not the growth-inspiring 'everything is awesome' facts that we were told about last night. US Treasury 30Y yields have just broken to a new record low 2.3500% handle...  The yield curve (2s30s) has cracked lower to its flattest since 2008. As we explained here, this is not unexpected as anticipation of ECB QE means duration scarcity rules.

With the western world facing high terror alerts, the biggest meeting of top CEOs and world leaders comes at a delicate time. As Bloomberg's Tom Gibson exclaims in this brief clip, "it feels like half the Swiss army is here," but officials play down the security presence as 'business as usual'. With a special no-fly-zone and snipers overhead, Davos is protected by 3,000 military personnel for these few days... no wonder the billionaires aren't worried about leaving their private jets unlocked on the Davis runways.

Having proclaimed it is not Zimbabwe, Nigeria's currency is starting to look a lot like a hyper-inflating mess. After devaluing to a 168 peg in November, the Naira has crashed to 200 / USD today - smashing above the upper peg band of 176 as it appears Nigeria is losing control. The collapse of Oil Producer currencies had abated for a week or two but the last 2 days have seen the Ruble and Naira tumble (even as The USDollar weakens modestly ahead of the ECB QE tomorrow).

As reported yesterday, Yemen became the latest foreign policy "success" story of the US after the local minority of Iran-friendly Shi'ite Houthi militiamen stormed, and captured, the presidential palane. At the same the whereabouts of Yemen's US-backed president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi were unknown. Moments ago we learned about his current location: according to AP, "two Yemeni presidential advisers say the Shiite rebels who are on a power grab campaign in the capital, Sanaa, are holding the president "captive" at his home, a day after seizing the presidential palace." 

For the 2nd month in a row, Building Permits dropped and missed expectations. The 1.9% MoM drop in December was a notable miss against expectations of a 0.6% rise and left YoY Permits at a mere +1.0% - hovering at the weakest growth since mid 2011. The long-heralded savior of permits - multi-family - tumbled to their lowest since June; with overall permits lower in all regions aside from the "weather-affected" Midwest. Housing Starts rose back near cycle highs (just don't tell KB Homes) beating expectations for the 4th month in a row.

Gold's 12-day swing of around 12% is the best since just before the Swiss capped the Franc in 2011 and the precious metal has topped 1,300 for the first time in 5 months this morning as, despite exuberance in Chinese stocks, it appears anxiety is setting in that tomorrow may not be all it's cracked up to be from Draghi. Bond yields are re-tumbling with 30Y pressing to 2.36% record lows (and 2s30s at new 6 year lows). US equities have given back about half yesterday afternoon's rampfest...

"...with the large downward revision to its core CPI outlook, the bank is more or less acknowledging a much lower possibility of achieving the 2% price stability target by around FY2015. Yet, at the press conference following the MPM, Governor Kuroda said he still held the view that 2% could be achieved by around FY2015. Domestic investors have been skeptical of the BOJ’s target from the outset, and now foreign investors are also beginning to question the BOJ’s logic and communication with the market. We believe the mixed signals the BOJ is sending may well serve to further undermine confidence in the bank." - Goldman

• Obama Targets Income Gap in Address That Shapes 2016 Election (BBG)
• Republicans Reject Obama’s Main Economic Proposals (WSJ)
• Senate’s Shelby Says White House Bank Tax Is Dead on Arrival (BBG)
• Is Dollar Next? Investors Reassess After Swiss Shock: Currencies (BBG)
• Bank of Japan Cuts Price Forecast, Maintains Record Stimulus (BBG)
• Pound Weakens After BOE Policy Makers Drop Call to Raise Rates (BBG)
• Putin not flinching on Ukraine despite economic crisis (Reuters)
• Indonesia will not make public full preliminary AirAsia crash report (Reuters)
• Party Hasn't Stopped for Russians at Davos Even With Ukraine Sanctions (BBG)

Three days after Chinese stocks suffered their biggest plunge in 7 years, the bubble euphoria is back and laying ruin to the banks' best laid plans that this selloff will finally be the start of an RRR-cut, after China's habitual gamblers promptly forget the market crash that happened just 48 hours ago and once again went all-in, sending the Shanghai Composite soaring most since October 9, 2009.  It wasn't just China that appears confused: so is the BOJ whose minutes disappointed markets which had been expecting at least a little additional monetary goosing from the Japanese central bank involving at least a cut of the rate on overnight excess reserves, sending both the USDJPY and US equity futures lower. Finally, in the easter egg department, with the much-anticipated ECB announcement just 24 hours away, none other than the ECB's Ewald Nowotny threw a glass of cold water in the faces of algos everywhere when he said that tomorrow's meeting will be interesting but one "shouldn’t get overexcited about it."