Archive - Feb 5, 2015 - Story

Deflation goes hand in hand with releasing the individual from the debt enslavement that was created with the monetary policies of the past 100 years. Nigh unlimited printing of money has become the orthodox strategy to avoid deflation. Deflation was made the scapegoat for all sorts of economic ills in a century of pro-inflation propaganda. For deflation to happen government interference in money and the economy needs to stop. The endorsement of deflation goes hand in hand with safeguarding liberty. “Paper money has become the technical foundation for the totalitarian menace of our days.”

That didn't take long: just hours after Greece entered the ECB countdown mode, with now just 23 days until midnight on February 28, when the ECB is set to yank the final pillar of liquidity support, the ELA - as it has warned before - it is time to start contemplating Plan B, or rather plan Z. A plan, which as described by Nordea's analyst Jan von Gerich, would be quite unpleasant for that nearly extinct class of Greeks, bank depositors, because the "plan", or rather blueprint, is a well-known one: capital controls.

The biggest short squeeze in 15 months appears to have solved the 'status quo' concerns that "everything is awesome" just like The Fed says. Following Nasdaq's brief leap into the green yesterday, this morning's melt-up has dragged The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq into positive territory for the year... just a good job macro- and micro-fundamentals are so supportive...

UPDATE: And Russia reiterates its willingness to aid Greece financially... RUSSIA WOULD CONSIDER AID TO GREECE, NO REQUEST MADE: SILUANOV

While Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis' comments that "we will never ask for financial assistance in Moscow," which notably does not deny acceptance of aid if offered, and Greek Minister of Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis adding that Athens opposes the embargo imposed on Moscow, "we have no disagreement with Russia and the Russian people," it is perhaps not surprising that, as Vedemosti reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with the new Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras, congratulated him on taking office, and invited him to Russia.

"Most Shorted" stocks are now comfortably green on the year after the last 4 days have seen the biggest short squeeze in 15 months. Today alone, "most shorted" stocks are up 1.8%. Welcome to the new normal dash for trash on hopes that Greece is "fixed", Q€ "works", and despite dismal US macro data, it will be the economic engine of the world...

And in 3...2...1... "oil is stabilizing"... this is it...

It has become a weekly thing now. In its desperation to preserve the EURDKK peg, the Danish central banks has cut rates into negative, then cut them again, then again last week, and moments ago, just cut its deposit rate to negative one more time, pushing NIRP from -0.5% to -0.75%, its fourth "surprise" rate cut in the past 3 weeks!

"Go long Russell 2000 vs. short S&P 500 via futures or total return swap – Russell 2000 futures have traded persistently cheap to fair value due to the high borrow rate on small-cap stocks, while S&P 500 futures have traded rich over the last 2 years as equity financing rates were driven higher by regulatory and industry changes. A long/short trade via futures allows the investor to collect this financing spread, and thus would be expected to yield a positive carry in addition to any outperformance (this carry was ~90bps annualized over the last year based on average futures roll costs). A swap-based implementation of this trade would similarly provide a positive carry, while eliminating dividend and futures roll risk."

They are at it again... The 'smartest people in the room' have once again taken the big board-eraser to GDP growth expectations... but have no fear, for what Keynesian aggregate demand can't pull forward into Q1 will surely unleash pent-up demandedness in H2 to save the year...

With an increasingly vitriolic tone, the new Greek government has come out swinging today with leader Alexis Tsipras making it clear that he will implement the election pledges the people of Greece voted for:

A NEW GREEK GOVT WILL BARGAIN TOUGH, AND PUT A FINAL END TO THE TROIKA AND ITS POLICIES, WE MANAGED TO DECONSTRUCT THE EUROPEAN STATUS QUO THAT WANTS MORE AUSTERITY AND LESS DEMOCRACY

"We will make the impossible, possible to turn things around in Greece" It took one week, Tsipras chides, to get European leaders to talk about the real problems and Greece will negotiate hard to "put an end to Troika," and "rebuild the country from the beginning."

And so after that epic 5.0% Q3 GDP print, driven largely by Obamacare, the payback begins, and the annualized Q4 GDP print, which came in at nearly half the previous quarter run rate, or 2.6%, is about to tumble by another ~0.5% following the just released trade data for December which saw a 17.1% surge in the US trade deficit from $39 billion (revised to $39.8 billion) to a whopping $46.6 billion in December, the widest deficit since 2012, as US exports declined 0.8% to 4194.9Bn from $196.4 Bn, while imports rose notably from $236.2Bn to $241.4Bn in the month before. All of this brought to you courtesy of the soaring USD. This was also the biggest miss to expectations of $38.0 billion since July of 2008. If this does not force policymakers to reassess the impact of the soaring dollar on US trade, nothing will.

It all makes perfect sense. Challenger announced this morning that layoffs in January soard 17.6% year-over-year with planned job cuts at the highest level in almost 2 years... Jobless claims in Shale states continues to trend higher as oil prices collapse... but initial jobless claims beat expectations - hovering near cycle lows - though did rise modestly WoW.

With one of the world’s leading dry bulk shipping companies, Copenhagen-based D/S Norden, having made huge losses for the last 2 years and expected to report dramatic losses in 2014 also, it is hardly surprising that the smaller bulk shipping firms are struggling as The Baltic Dry Index collapses ever closer to record all-time lows. As Reuters reports, privately-owned shipping company Copenship has filed for bankruptcy in Copenhagen after losses in the dry bulk market, with the CEO exclaiming, "we have reached a point where there is not more to do." We suspect, given the crash in shipping fees, that this is the first of many...

SCHAEUBLE: "MY PRESS SPOKESMAN ADVISED ME TO SAY "WE AGREED TO DISAGREE"

VAROUFAKIS: "WE DIDN'T EVEN AGREE TO DISAGREE"

And so another central bank admits defeat to the forces of market supply and demand.