Archive - Aug 2015 - Story

In early 2007, market internals began to weaken dramatically. Talking heads and asset gatherers said fears were overblown, risk was contained, Fed has it under control, stay the course. Six months later, the equity markets began to collapse and then accelerated lower. Today, in an eery case of deja vu all over again, it has been six months now since US equity market internals began to decouple from the manipulated index levels that manufacture wealth and happiness across America... what would you do?

The Atlanta Fed's Q1 and Q2 GDP forecasts were virtually spot on with what the BEA ultimately reported. Which is why if its accuracy persists, not only the Fed, but Wall Street strategists suddenly have a very big headache on their hands. Moments ago, the Atlanta Fed just released its much anticipated first estimate for Q3 GDP. It was a doozy, at just 1.0%, or more than 2% below the consensus sellside estimate.

So where did all this growth of the economy end up? How can the economy grow by roughly one-third in real dollars while real median household income drops like a rock and real wages/salaries are essentially unchanged for 15 years?

With just hours to go until the first GOP Presidential candidate debate circus is unleashed, it appears the GOP is in full panic mode. With 10 hopefuls heading to their lecterns, only one stands out (in polls) and that, as The Hill reports, despite being snubbed by The Koch botthers, has Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus saying that Donald Trump is offering his party’s voters a breath of fresh air.

"...it is time to be shot of the long end of the US bond market and we wish this morning to sell the September T-note future at or near to 126 3/4.  We can imagine the front month future trading to 118-119 over the course of the next several months..."

Russia is resubmitting its claim of more than 460,000 square miles of the Arctic, including the North Pole, as its sovereign territory, saying it has enough evidence to convince the United Nations that its claim is valid. The Arctic, which is believed to contain as much as one-quarter of Earth’s undiscovered oil and gas, is part of a territorial dispute involving not only Russia but also Canada, Denmark, Norway and the United States. This is the second time Moscow has submitted a claim in the Arctic.

We were less than surprised to see that just 2 days after our report, the Comex once again succeeded in sweeping default fears under the rug by boosting its eligible gold by a whopping 78% overnight, from 362K ounces to 643K, thereby pushing deliverable gold from its all time lows. However, this was not achieved with an infusion of actual new gold into the Comex, but thanks to JPM reclassifying 276K ounces of gold from the Eligible into the Registered category, even as actual eligible gold continues being withdrawn from the Comex.

Yellen Capital is backing up the truck... as Biotechs drop 11% from the highs, officially in correction.

"We have armed investigators on the property, we're setting up covert cameras, we're documenting all license plates," the head of Global Investigative Group told NBC, referring to the "investigation" taking place in South Florida, where vandals, furious at Walter Palmer who killed a protected lion, placed marinated pigs' feet on the dentist's vacation home driveway.

The Dow is now down for the 6th day in a row (and 11 of last 13 days) as it tests 17,400 - its lowest level since January. With The S&P and Small Caps tumbling towards red year-to-date, Nasdaq remains 2015's big winner but is falling precipitously today...

A public school district in Eastern Texas is under fire amid allegations it made up quotes by famous figures in order to promote Christianity to its students, posting them to the walls of the four schools in the district. The Mount Vernon Independent School District is accused of misattributing quotes to George Washington and Ronald Reagan among others and faces demands to remove the false statements from its walls.

Despite the ubiquitous pre-open ramp in stocks, it appears 'investors' want out in a hurry. With The Dow having fallen 150 points from its overnight highs - testing towards multi-month lows, Nanex points out that suddenly a bid arrived... the biggest buy imbalance of 2015 so far exploded into e-mini S&P futures and managed to save stocks from falling (for now). Plunge Protection Team? or dry powder dip-buyers manically trying to catch a falling knife on no news

A suicide bomb attack inside a mosque in a local security forces headquarters in Abha city in south-west Saudi Arabia killed 13 people and wounded nine on Thursday, the Saudi state news agency reported, citing an interior ministry spokesman.

Is the fitness fad fubar? It appears so. FitBit is getting hammered - down 10% overnight - and new IPO Planet Fitness is trading notably below its "no brainer" IPO price level...

Is faith in Musk fading? All the promises... all the hype hope? It appears so as TSLA tumbles over 10% - its biggest drop in 20 months - breaking below its 100-day moving average.