Archive - Dec 14, 2015 - Story

Several days after the biggest credit event in years took place, the SEC has released a statement by its spokeswoman Gina Talamona, who said that the "commission staff is on site, and we continue to closely evaluate the fund’s efforts to ensure it provides an orderly process that best protects investors."

Many people are cheering now that yesterday Marine Le Pen and her Front National (FN) party didn’t get to take over government in any regions in the France regional elections. They should think again. FN did get a lot more votes than the last time around, and, though she will be a little disappointed after last weekend’s results, it’s exactly as Le Pen herself said: “Nothing can stop us”.

Having disposed of Saudi's "dopey, daddy's boy" Prince bin Talal, Donald Trump has turned his attention back to domestic affairs, taking Hillary Clinton head on. With some of his most heated comments yet, The Hill reports, the Republican presidential front-runner is pinning blame for the Syrian civil war and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Hillary Clinton.

"While there might be a few areas where I have concerns, such as deteriorating underwriting standards in leveraged lending, farmland prices, a few things, I don't see those excesses having  developed at this point.... Taking into account a broad range of metrics that bear on financial stability, our overall assessment at this point is that threats are moderate."

Having crushed the "greatest global threat" over the weekend with a "bullshit" deal, President Obama turns his attention back to that other thing... the war on terror. In a statement which will, in The White House's words, "update the nation on the US campaign to Degrade and Destroy ISIL," Obama will, we are sure, explain why they didn't bomb ISIS' oil facilities, why they are still allies with Saudi Arabia, why Russia's "success" is just propaganda, and how awesome the US-based coalition is (as opposed to the bad guys, which includes Putin). Grab your popcorn.

Over the last two decades the Fed’s interventionism has created artificial booms and real busts. Their dreadful mistakes are “fixed” by currency debasement, lower interest rates, and money printing – creating even worse mistakes. They have successfully gutted the American economy and left a hollowed out shell. The coming collapse will be three pronged as stocks, bonds, and real estate are all simultaneously overvalued. Junk bonds are the canary in a coalmine. High end real estate in NYC has topped out. New and existing homes sales growth has stalled out. Retailers desperately slash prices to maintain sales, while destroying their profits. Corporate profits are falling. The stock market is teetering on the edge.

Camera-on-a-stick is down 83% from its October 2014 (the end of QE3) highs (and down 75% since Jim Cramer said it was "bargain" in July). GoPro is down 33% from its IPO price... and down 16% today as more analysts realize now is the time to downgrade before it goes full Kodak.

In light of surging concerns about mutual and hedge fund fixed income (and soon other asset classes) "gating", "runs" or outright liquidation, Deutsche Bank has prepared the following infographic which summarizes the main choke points which predispose both open and closed-end funds to runs or outright shutdown.

For the first time October 15th, S&P 500 cash has broken below the key "everything is awesome" 2,000 level...

Dubai Light Crude prices have plunged overnight, crashing the spot price below the 2008 lows for the first time, to its lowest since 2004. This is continuing to weigh on Dubai's once-exuberant equity market which just hit fresh 2-year lows as financials and property companies plunge.

Define irony: a world in which the past 7 years have been characterized by an unprecedented "search for yield." Well, now that junk debt is finally dumping, and yields are suging (over 8% blended average at last check) virtually nobody wants any of this so highly yielding junk.

High yield bond ETFs are down for the 8th day in the last 9, retracing the modest bounce from Friday afternoon, plunging to new multi-year lows. In fact, at current levels HYG is trading below the lows it hit in the immediate aftermath of the Lehman collapse (Sept 2008).

We won't be shocked if the Fed actually follows through and hikes rates this week. If they put off hiking every time the market has a little hissy fit, they’ll never get off zero. On the other hand, the stress in markets right now is real and growing. Raising interest rates doesn’t seem likely to improve those conditions. With a riot in the junk bond market, a complete lack of inflation and an already weakening economy, we won't be shocked if they pass either. For the first time in years, it appears people are actually worried about people being worried.

"The spirit of the people of Wisconsin is evident in the ... USS Milwaukee. It is this spirit that will live on through this ship as it carries the name Milwaukee across the globe."