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Putting Today's Record 30 Year Direct Take Down In Perspective

Tyler Durden's picture




 

The chart below demonstrates how something is very busted when it comes to bond auctions recently. We have previously discussed the ever increasing proportion of Direct take downs in the short-end. Today, we saw a record explosion in the Direct take down for the longest bond purchasable. Just who are the Direct bidders? Whose orders are they executing? Are these merely a proxy for China or the Fed? What happens when that "mysterious" demand disappears? Nobody knows. Which is why Rick Santelli called this a failed auction.

All this is accompanied by a collapse in the Indirect bid (think foreign buyers) to the lowest levels since November of 2008. China is finally coming through on its Bond boycott promises.

 

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Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:28 | 227061 Rainman
Rainman's picture

The Chinese smoke you smell may well be a fire.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:28 | 227062 Daedal
Daedal's picture

What happens when that "mysterious" demand disappears? Nobody knows.

Higher Interest rates would be my guess. Or a forced market correction to help build demand.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:31 | 227067 bugs_
bugs_'s picture

Chinese smoke!!

Fri, 02/12/2010 - 01:22 | 228064 BlackBeard
BlackBeard's picture

It's probably fake smoke!

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:32 | 227069 aswipe
aswipe's picture

A war with Iran might come in handy.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:32 | 227070 Mr Lennon Hendrix
Mr Lennon Hendrix's picture

This is amazing.  It is finally happening....

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:33 | 227073 SDRII
SDRII's picture

Good for hundo on dow

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:40 | 227088 JimboJammer
JimboJammer's picture

What  does  all  this  mean..?   I  don't  understand bonds..

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:11 | 227263 dark pools of soros
dark pools of soros's picture

a rep from JPMorgan will be calling you soon

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:56 | 227345 Assetman
Assetman's picture

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 17:29 | 227396 chunkylover42
chunkylover42's picture

solid.

+1

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:40 | 227318 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

It means S&P will jump 20 points.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 21:06 | 227751 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Ahh Ok thanks Leo!

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:40 | 227089 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Hey fellow ZH'rs here is information on the most annoying SPAMMER there ever was, tired of him SPAMMING us on ZH?
Let's all return the favor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thJr-jDPwNE

Cetin Hakimoglu
2930 garber street
Berkeley, CA. 94705

Phone: 510-843-1013

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1177779152&ref=fs#!/profile.php?v=wall&ref=fs&id=1177779152

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:52 | 227122 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Searching for Cetin Hakimoglu in the state of California, searching billions of current utility records, court records, county records, change of address records, property records, business records, and other public and publicly available information to find what you’re looking for.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:30 | 227197 Frank Owen
Frank Owen's picture

I think you missed an 'r' there.. should be Cretin...cretin [?kr?t?n]n
1. (Medicine / Pathology) a person afflicted with cretinism: a mentally retarded dwarf with wide-set eyes, a broad flat nose, and protruding tongue
2. a person considered to be extremely stupid

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:40 | 227090 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Whoops, who screwed up and forgot to bid this time. God Damn it flunkies, put down those bonus checks and Ferrari brochures and pay attention to your terminals.

God, you just can buy good crooks these days, even with million dollar kickbacks.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:40 | 227222 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

If the PDs were angry at a 17% Direct takedown of 10s, they must be pissing blood this afternoon.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:45 | 227103 Yophat
Yophat's picture

Shouldn't the legend for the black line on the 2nd chart be "in-direct bids"?

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:56 | 227127 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

That was my thought.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:57 | 227132 Thomas
Thomas's picture

That was my thought.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 17:02 | 227357 bad.bank (not verified)
bad.bank's picture

Good Articles: http://www.iamned.com

We think we can just print our way out of this mess

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:46 | 227105 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The direct bidder has to be a the Fed or a proxy working under a guarantee. I used to think it was the Chinese but after that stunt we pulled with the Dali Lama and Taiwan there is no way they increased participation on the long bond, ergo, it has to be the Fed or a proxy. IMHO

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 20:34 | 227698 Rainman
Rainman's picture

Mr. Lama visits the White House next week.

Chinese get funny about humiliation....real or perceived.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:46 | 227106 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

I have this weird feeling that Hillary's fingerprints are all over this... esp. since she's in charge of this relationship.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:50 | 227116 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

well don't worry our beloved government has a back up plan for our debt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRgRz3nSG7o

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:56 | 227128 jkruffin
jkruffin's picture

Well, we know it aint PIMCO's Bill Gross,  maybe its Lord Abbott?  LOL   No one in US wants these crappy yields anymore, that is plainly visible.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 14:59 | 227134 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Remember the good 'ol days when we worried about balance of trade deficits? This was years ago when we actually produced something and exported, (before out sourcing.) Now we just worry about who is and isn't acquiring worthless paper, and how.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:00 | 227136 Instant Karma
Instant Karma's picture

I don't know much about the fixed income markets but....lots of news about the Chinese dumping any US bonds without explicit US Government guarantees. So, wouldn't that lead them into the Treasury market while they were exiting the Muni and Corporate markets?

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:11 | 227156 Shameful
Shameful's picture

There are other assets they could be moving into. That and remember would you announce your exact action before you made a major trade on it? I'm not saying the Chinese aren't reducing their expose on US debt (I really don't know, I don't have an inside track) I'm just saying there might be some bluff and lies involved.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:22 | 227181 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

They could have went into PM
Au up $22 today to 1092.
Ag up $.45 to $15.61
Dollar up at the same time...

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 23:07 | 227927 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

They also could have gone...

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:03 | 227141 texpat
texpat's picture

Don't worry. The delinquent Fannie and Freddie notes being monetized will provide adequate long liquidity over the next few months.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:25 | 227299 lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Yep, probably close to $200b of liquidity. Interesting that this will be done by the 1st week of March.  Just in time liquidity (the type bernanke likes best).

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:07 | 227149 lsbumblebee
lsbumblebee's picture

Hey who cares? Stocks are up.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:04 | 227250 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

awesome comment

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:07 | 227150 CONners
CONners's picture

"The chart below demonstrates how something is very busted..."

I usually like her if she is "very busted."

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:11 | 227157 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I still can't see what the problem is with direct/indirect bidders. As US imports drop the amount of dollars foreigners get from us will decline so they'll have less to buy Treasuries with. Those dollars will stay in the US (i.e. will not be spent on Chinese stuff) and will be used to buy UST directly.

In other words, we go from this:

US consumer -> China -> UST,

to this:

US consumer -> UST.

US trade deficit shrank by $150 billion and internal savings rate shot up from 0% to 5%, and will likely climb higher.

So, it's mathematically inevitable that foreign purchases will decline.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:48 | 227234 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Do not forget that all efforts towards paying down personal debt count towards the mythical "savings rate".

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 23:17 | 227944 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Right, US Consumers buy Treasuries just as soon as they are no longer unemployed.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:14 | 227164 Actionpoint (not verified)
Actionpoint's picture

<a href="http://stockmarket-news.weebly.com/" target="blank">What if We Held an Auction and No One Came?</a></p>

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:15 | 227165 straightershooter
straightershooter's picture

A speculation:

The mystery direct bidder is Treasury itself. The idea may have come from the treasury stock: Buy back (take it off the market) whatever you can't sell and call that a success.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:31 | 227201 carbonmutant
carbonmutant's picture

Actually that's one of the reasons we want to audit the FED.

They may be responsible for some of the buying.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:49 | 227236 Shocker
Shocker's picture

The question is when and if we audit the fed, Will we see Books #1 or #2

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:03 | 227248 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

sometimes I get jealous. It would be so much easier if we didn't have to hide our dictatorship and state run economy

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:21 | 227176 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Shhh. I'm trying to watch this gripping nature documentary attempting to capture an epic struggle between the forces of deflation and dilution. However, there seems to be some biologist interfering and skewing Mother Nature's tendencies.

Classic heavy meddle.

Leadership. Morals. What's my cut?

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:29 | 227194 Commodity Trade...
Commodity Trade Alert's picture

Print, Print, Print...

Sovereign Debt Solutions Made Easy: Two Choices 

 

...PK

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:31 | 227200 AnonymousMonetarist
AnonymousMonetarist's picture

Sovereign risk 'whack-a-mole' puts a bid in the dollar creating a selling opportunity for dollar-denominated assets.

The Chinese eyeing an economic downturn see the unification card as a good option for 'diversion'.

Ma's setbacks, as well as military sales to Taiwann, threaten that option.

Franron robbing Peter (buying deliquent) to pay Paul (to obviate guarantees) doesn't pack the 'monetization' punch needed to offset the selling.

So after some combination of Spain, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, France, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, UK & Switzerland, undergo their bear raids and the long term dollar swoon continues who exactly will buy our Treasuries? 

Beuller? ... Beuller?

Flight of the arrow baby.

 

 

 

 

 

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:12 | 227269 indyamericanblog
indyamericanblog's picture

Interesting points, but can you make them a little clearer? 

 

Flight of the arrow???

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 20:22 | 227675 AnonymousMonetarist
AnonymousMonetarist's picture

Google Mandelbrot.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 20:22 | 227676 AnonymousMonetarist
AnonymousMonetarist's picture

Google Mandelbrot.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 15:42 | 227226 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

...so, via the Fed, we're eating our own shite...umm, tasty....

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:10 | 227260 Kurtieboy
Kurtieboy's picture

Who would be stupid enough to buy a 30 year treasury bond at that yield? Seriously

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:26 | 227303 Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

I'd need a 100% return on a 1 month T-Bill before I even CONSIDER buying US Govt. debt.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:32 | 227308 straightershooter
straightershooter's picture

1. Us taxpayers,

2. Us Treasury,

3. Us Federal Reserve,

4. All levels of government in US,

5. various pension funds/insurance companies and

6. Japanese government using its soon to be worthless Yen to buy soon to be worthless US bonds, match made in heaven.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:13 | 227274 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Pardon me while I vomit--I just saw Christine "Michelin Man" Rohmer on CNN shilling for Obama.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:13 | 227275 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Not to worry,the Fed will bribe other entities to purchase what is needed to keep the country from devolving into anarchy.
The Fed can then exclaim "look,we sold everything!,it's ok,go back to watching Idol and whatever you do don't exit the market to buy gold-it's risky!".
I truly feel sorry for those who have the majority of their money/pensions in the market.
Buy gold,you will sleep like a baby and not have a care in the world.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 16:24 | 227298 Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

China is finally coming through on its Bond boycott promises.

HALLE-F**KIN'-LUJAH!!! It's ABOUT DAMN TIME.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 17:03 | 227360 Frank Owen
Frank Owen's picture

The power of the Denninger Double Dog Dare :)

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 17:01 | 227354 bad.bank (not verified)
bad.bank's picture

Good Articles: http://www.iamned.com

We think we can just print our way out of this mess

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 17:02 | 227358 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Since the middle of last year indirect biders have gone from 33% of the bid to 17% while direct bidders have gone from 2% to 16% (these are pct of total bids submitted not bids awarded). Bid to cover ratios have remained steady. There is a buyer who used to go through a primary dealer who is now doing his buying directly through the treasury. Some bond desk on the street has the answer to who this mystery buyer is because they are all of a sudden missing their biggest bidder. More than likely the big buyer used many primary dealers at the same time.

The one consequence I can come up with is that primary dealers will have less color than usual, so they may not bid as agressively which could cause auctions to begin to tail a few bps.

As far as the conspiracy goes... In order for China to boycott, and bid to cover to stay the same (as you are implying), China would have to tell the FED (as you imply) exactly how much they are not bidding, and the FED would have to fill the gap. I don't really believe they would do that. Therefore, I think it is a large buyer who got sick of using brokers and has decided to do it himself.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 18:06 | 227430 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Don't you get it yet.

Direct take down can go to 100%

Nothing will change.

No inflation because the ever increasing amount of printed money is absorbed by the ever increasing amount of debt.

Brilliant.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 18:28 | 227458 Quantitative Wh...
Quantitative Wheezing's picture

"Just who are the Direct bidders?"

The direct bidders are the US banks!!!  This is very simple.  Direct bidders are only going to increase over the coming 5 years as the demand for safe US treasury bonds increases.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 19:00 | 227515 asdf
asdf's picture

I am no bond expert, but I understand the balance of payments. China has to recycle its surplus somehow, they must buy something with their dollars. I wouldn't be amazed if the direct bidder is China. 

 

But all that doesn't really make much sense. We now have a huge unknown buyer of treasuries, how unflashy is that? 

The FED would buy through the Primary dealers and China would buy through GB and HK, why would they make it so complicated and show up as the huge unknown component?

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 19:02 | 227520 johngaltfla
johngaltfla's picture

The other day I said this would happen and if the last two days do not demonstrate it, I do not know what does. What is amazing is that the impact of China's leaving our long term auctions has not sunk into the snowbound brains of those in the corridor and if/when it does the horror will be sudden and hilarious if you're on the other end of the trade. China is sending a message and Bernanke is having to clean up behind our idiots in Congress. My money is on the Fed laundering the bid via the US Treasury Hedge Funds (C/BAC/AIG) who have "Caribbean Banking Center" operations.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 20:02 | 227633 cantstopselling (not verified)
cantstopselling's picture

Crisis will get worse: http://www.iamned.com good read

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 21:53 | 227826 johngaltfla
johngaltfla's picture

I hope everyone that posts this stupid spam crap gets the banhammer. F'ing idiots.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 20:04 | 227638 Celsius
Celsius's picture

aswipe - I am with you on this one. I would not surprise me that the US gets into a war with Iran. In Southern California there have been large military supply convoys via railroad to Camp Pendleton. The base also appears to be building a larger dock facility. Supposedly, this is for the surge in Afghanistan.  But it may be politically expedient to redirect public anger at an external adversary. Say Iran, North Korean, or maybe even China. A war with China would wipe out a large portion of our debt, and provide the excuse for build factories in the US to pummel China and all its excess manufacturing capacity into the stone age. 

Fri, 02/12/2010 - 01:50 | 228083 Tethys
Tethys's picture

The paranoid side of me looks at a military build-up in Southern California and wonders if it is an external threat they are preparing for.  

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 22:05 | 227844 epsilonphase
epsilonphase's picture

china not showing up... hmmm... try running CDR CH on bloomberg... it may provide an answer

Fri, 02/12/2010 - 00:07 | 228001 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Yo, smugness. I would, but I can't afford the $1600 a month. Why don't you do it for me and post it.

Thu, 02/11/2010 - 23:14 | 227937 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Wouldn't the Patriot Act work with the Fed, in lieu of an audit. The cops can just bust in without a warrant, or sneak around in the night when no one is home and they don't have to give notice to anyone that they were there. Isn't this exactly what the framers of the Constitution had in mind. Instead of employing an audit, just employ the Patriot Act and get the goods on the Fed. It might even work with Goldman.

Fri, 02/12/2010 - 07:52 | 228208 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Said it before and I'll say it again....10-30 year
supply is at a 30 year low. Stupidest trade on the
street is shorting the long end of the curve.

Mon, 02/15/2010 - 12:06 | 231430 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

It's all part of the plan. Sell arms to Thailand, China retaliates, dollar plummets. Looks like things are working splendidly.

Side note: Can we get a captcha calculator?

Mon, 04/19/2010 - 10:08 | 307812 Tom123456
Tom123456's picture

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