Archive - Mar 23, 2015 - Story

TINA - There Is No Alternative... except when it comes to energy stocks. Having been exuberantly chased brioefly after announcing it was looking for a buyer - fueling further excitement about a low-oil-price-driven Shale firm M&A boom - Whiting Petroleum appears to have found no buyer as it prepares for a massive 35 million share secondary dilution (and almost $2bn of new debt). We wonder - have they tried Kickstarter?

"Leverage is risky. Purchasing assets with borrowed money can amplify small movements in prices into extraordinary gains or crippling losses, even default."

- San Fran Fed

Paul Tudor Jones ruffled more than a few feathers last week when he warned first that "we're in the middle of a disastrous market mania," and second he explained that "this gap between the 1 percent and the rest of America, and between the US and the rest of the world, cannot and will not persist," concluding that "historically, these kinds of gaps get closed in one of three ways: by revolution, higher taxes or wars. None are on my bucket list." His thesis is simple and profound as the following full speech shows...

One man's fantasy is another man's facts...

Spending cuts for oil-directed drilling have dominated first quarter 2015 energy news but rig counts for shale gas drilling are too high. Investors should pay attention to this growing problem. Bank of America fears sub-$2 gas prices now that winter heating worries are over. Low natural gas prices affect the economics for gas-rich oil production in the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian basin plays as well as for the shale gas plays. Meanwhile, an orgy of over-production is taking place in the Marcellus Shale... Investors should carefully examine why shale gas players have not reduced rig counts more. Continued drilling in the Marcellus will crush natural gas prices further.

Cypriots celebrate the bail in anniversary...

Presented with no comment aside from WTF!

We begin to understand why the death of Ferguson, Mo, teen Michael Brown sent such shock waves through America last year. He truly symbolized our country: an overgrown, oafish, wannabe thug making one bad choice after another until his final, suicidal lurch against authority — followed by all the exculpatory lying on his behalf: the “gentle giant,” hands up, don’t shoot! This is exactly how America acts on the world stage these days. We are the Michael Brown among nations, high on exceptionalism, stoned on entitlement, swaggering moronically from one place to another grabbing what we feel like, smashing things up as we go.

With "The objective of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund is to contribute to the maintenance of the stability of the Greek banking system, for the sake of public interest," it appears the Fund's Chairman has decided to add some instability and leave the sinking ship:

• *GREEK BANK RECAPITALIZATION FUND CHAIRMAN RESIGNS: STATEMENT

Ironic (or coincidental) timing as Draghi proclaims he is not blackmailing Greece and Merkel says "Nein" to more liquidity.

The future of Europe being decided?

*'WE WANT GREECE TO BE ECONOMICALLY STRONG,' MERKEL SAYS SHE IS SEEKING TRUSTFUL COOPERATION WITH TSIPRAS
*TSIPRAS: GREEK BAILOUT INCREASED SOCIAL INEQUALITY
*TSIPRAS: GREEK ECONOMY NEEDS BAILOUT DISBURSEMENT (please?)
*MERKEL SAYS SHE CAN'T 'OFFER ANY LIQUIDITY' ON HER OWN (nein!)

Spot the odd one out...

As the chart below shows, there very dramatic, and very glaring discrepancy between what BofA started experiencing one year ago (when we first noted it) when it comes to loan creation, and what the Fed represents every Friday in its weekly H.8 statement, has never been greater!

Careful to follow the status quo's meme, Fed vice-Chair Stanley Fischer just uttered the following...

FISCHER SAYS DOLLAR'S RISE ALSO REFLECTS RELATIVE U.S. STRENGTH

Which is odd because a) Jim Bullard said this morning that it was ECB QE that was responsible for the strong dollar; and b) US growth expectations have collapsed as the USD soared. Don't show him this chart...