Archive - Jul 21, 2015 - Story

Moments ago we got the latest BofA client flow update in which we were expecting to find that the "smart money", flush with cash, and taking advantage of the Greek "deal" would jump in on last week's biggest weekly market surge since October 2014 when Bullard hinted at QE4 and unleashed a buying surge. To our surprise we find that not only did "smart" money continue selling, but they were joined by the "smartest" money of all, hedge funds.  And who did they sell to? Why retail investors of course... and corporate buybacks but that should go without saying.

USDJPY rolls over after the Fed revised IP lower and BoJ comments on inflation outlook, Johnny 5 decided "time's up," and stocks tumble...

"We need to hang him on the courthouse square as soon as we get a hold of him."

– Former vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Saxby Chambliss, on Edward Snowden

Stocks, bond yields, and the Dollar suddenly started dropping right as The Fed unveiled its revisions for industrial production and capacity utlization. Already at weak levels, both were revised notably lower, slowing the market's rate-hike expectations and stalling any hope that the recovery is gathering pace. Judging by the chart below, the June payrolls report was right: snowfall in the summar was indeed much worse than most remember.

Earlier today one of Icahn's favorite energy names (you won't find him tweeting about this one much thought) Chesapeake Energy, the second-largest US natural gas producer, announced it too is now scrambling to conserve cash (in this case $240 million per year) by suspending its dividend payment.

With the mainstream media onslaught against precious metals climaxing this weekend as WSJ's Jason Zweig proclaimed gold "like a pet rock," describing owning gold as "an act of faith," we thought it worthwhile looking back at the last time 'everyone' was slamming gold and entirely enthused by the omnipotence of central bankers... May 4th, 1999 - "Who Needs Gold When We Have Greenspan?"

If pouring billions of dollars into outrageous "look at me" buildings isn't tempting the gods, what is it?

Unfortunately for millions of people living in east Ukraine nothing has been resolved and every new day continues to be one filled with dread and fear just where may death come from next. Nowhere is this seen better than in the following dramatic video clip released moments ago which captured a Ukraine artillery shell flying mid-air through a Donetsk residential region, just an instant before it strikes its target. The dramatic moment can be seen 1 minute 37 seconds into the clip below.

... of the 6,657 days since 1965 when the S&P 500 closed up, Friday had the 6,627th worst breadth... the last 12 times this situation occurred, the S&P 500 was lower 3 weeks later each time by an average of 4%. Also of note, for what it is worth, this is the closest to a 52-week high the S&P 500 has ever been on any of the occurrences.

While Abenomics has been an unmitigated disaster for Japan's ordinary population, where the soaring stock market has benefited the top decile of the population while everyone has been slammed by a record 25 consecutive months of declining real wages and soaring input costs, there had been one bright spot: corporate earnings. Then on Friday, a report out of Reuters caught our attention when news hit that 140 year old electronics conglomerate, and "pillar of Japan Inc", Toshiba had inflated profits by a stunning $1.2 billion for a whopping 7 years, with fabricated figures amounting to 30% of the company's "profits" since 2008!

My own most likely Grexit scenario is a different one yet again. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, hinted at this in his interview with the Financial Times last week when he said that he felt "something revolutionary" in the air. He is on to something. The most probable scenario for me is Grexit through insurrection.

• Gold claws back ground, European assets lose Greek tarnish (Reuters)
• Greece's Euro Exit Back on the Agenda Next Year, Economists Say (BBG)
• Greece submits bill needed to start rescue talks (Reuters)
• Wall Street Lenders Growing Impatient With U.S. Shale Revolution (BBG)
• Overtime Rules Send Bosses Scrambling (WSJ)
• As Markets Swing, Beijing Steadies Yuan (WSJ)
• Tennessee rampage suspect went to Qatar in 2014 (Reuters)
• Kathryn Dominguez to Be Nominated for Fed Governor (WSJ)

If yesterday's market action was boring, today has been a virtual carbon copy which started with the usual early Chinese selloff levitating into a mildly positive close, with the SHCOMP closing just above the psychological 4,000 level: the next big hurdle will be 4058, the 38.2% Fib correction of the recent fall. In the US equity futures are currently unchanged ahead of a day in which there is no macro economic data but lots of corporate earnings led by Microsoft, Verizon, UTX and of course Apple. Most importantly, some modest USD weakness overnight (DXY -0.1%) has helped the commodity complex, with gold rebounding from overnight lows, while crude has at least stopped the recent carnage which sent WTI below $50.