The Vampire Squid vs. the Sperm Whale
Now that Goldman controls the bulk of NYSE trading, its basically down to the major wire house Robots doing mortal combat with each other, trying to push the tape one way or another. Meanwhile, individual funds with outsized concentrations are getting killed with maniacal squeezes and huge shank jobs exacerbated by Option Expiration Racketeering.
Of particular note is vulnerable position of GS and JPM, both locked in a pitched battle of survival:
Note the photo of Goldman Sachs (aka Vampire Squid) vs. the 90,000 lb. JPM Deriviatives Colossus, otherwise known as the giant Sperm Whale.
Poor Goldman's fortunes are tied directly to its fixed income desk. Poor JPM is saddled with a colossal mountain of interest rate derivatives, bound to blow up if the fixed income desk catches fire.
Who is going to win the battle? Who knows?
For now, the Plutocrats were successfully able to engineer another yield slapdown, just in time for next week's huge debt offering. I mean really, look at these interest rates:
| COUPON | MATURITY DATE | CURRENT PRICE/YIELD | PRICE/YIELD CHANGE | TIME | |
| 3-Month | 0.000 | 02/18/2010 | 0 / .01 | 0 / .000 | 15:00 |
| 6-Month | 0.000 | 05/20/2010 | 0.12 / .12 | 0.003 / .003 | 15:00 |
| 12-Month | 0.000 | 11/18/2010 | 0.26 / .26 | 0.002 / .002 | 15:22 |
| 2-Year | 1.000 | 10/31/2011 | 100-17½ / .72 | -0-01 / .015 | 15:00 |
| 3-Year | 1.375 | 11/15/2012 | 100-12½ / 1.24 | -0-01½ / .016 | 15:02 |
| 5-Year | 2.375 | 10/31/2014 | 100-30+ / 2.17 | -0-03½ / .023 | 15:23 |
| 7-Year | 3.125 | 10/31/2016 | 101-14+ / 2.89 | -0-06 / .029 | 15:23 |
| 10-Year | 3.375 | 11/15/2019 | 100-04½ / 3.36 | -0-06 / .022 | 15:23 |
| 30-Year | 4.375 | 11/15/2039 | 101-10+ / 4.30 | -0-10 / .018 | 15:23 |
Who would have thought we could borrow to infinity at such cheap rates? And foreigners willing and able to scarf down every single scrap of new debt we shovel out into the marketplace? Quite amazing...
Just look at them pile 'em up:
Here comes Peter Navarro on CNBC telling everyone to short equities using the 3x leveraged TZA. And with a half hour to go, the market is now exploding higher.
I swear that these options market makers use every trick in the book, including watching who is recommending what on Bloomberg and CNBC.
And how many times do we have to listen to 35 guys on the tube every day touting the upcoming U.S. Dollar short squeeze and claiming monstrous short positions?
Heh, I remember during the Internet Bubble and the Oil Bubble, everyone was saying nothing but up, up, up, etc.......
"Hey would you stop trying to short stocks?"
Rather than strain my brain with how the markets are reacting to Options Expiration, I'd rather peruse the recent Victoria's Secret show....
Anyone catch the party last night?
(5 votes)
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on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 16:04
#137798
Sorry. I did not get my invite. Must have been lost in the mail...That damn Post Office.
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 16:09
#137805
I was reading along enjoying the article and up pops "spankervision" material.
My couch cushions are getting a serious work-out. :)
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 16:12
#137806
Silver and Gold Futures expire next week. What sort of Robot games can we expect at this point?
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 17:13
#137886
Can't find the exact dates for expiry of silver and gold futures next week. GS & JPM are massively shorted gold and it looks like the Lilliputians (yes, you Gordon Gecko) are whipping their asses right now taking gold higher. Somebody is going to have a very tough Turkey day trying to deliver gold contracts (physical) they do not actually (really) own.
Anyone have a handle on those Silver/Gold expiry dates especially in context of the massive Treasury bill (2,5,7 year) auctions set for Mon-Wednesday. Can you say: Two trains heading toward each other on the same track? With the dollar in between. Could get real interesting...
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 11:09
#138186
Man! I didn't know I was this popular - lol! Gold longs have the shorts over a barrel right now. Oh! the power of pyramiding. If they do too may shenanigans at the Crimex and/or fail to deliver physical, I'm looking for the gold price on foreign commodity exchanges [at least those that require physical delivery) to decouple from it as arbitrage between them and Crimex will be toast. Let the games begin!
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 16:22
#137817
Your posts are great, but i mainly read them for your breasts.
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 18:12
#137822
Robo - your posts are the best but it seems the alleged manipulation is not only on Wall Street
Hackers target leading climate research unit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8370282.stm
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/
it is amazing how fast this is spreading with thousands of emails supposedly from the who's who of The Global Warming academic community.
http://www.examiner.com/x-25061-Climate-Change-Examiner~y2009m11d20-Clim...
( they should have learned from Hank - NO emails)
Of course this could be a gigantic and elaborate hoax in advance of Copenhagen intended to discredit climate change deniers. Here is a rebuttal of sorts from one of the larger Climate Change sites: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/11/the-cru-hack/
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 16:38
#137834
missed that fun partay but i was able to catch the grand opening of hollister in soho (that's on houston street in manhattan for you out of towners) and it was hot and sexy.
http://twitpic.com/d3o52
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 16:44
#137842
Any chance those supermodels would join me for some wine, grilled calamari and Greek salad tonight? All that talk of derivatives, bonds, equities and option expiration got me hungry. Enjoy the weekend RT and thanks for posting another beauty.
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 16:56
#137860
Leo,
if a 'super'model joins you she won't eat anything. Look for someone without eating disorder.
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 17:11
#137885
Leo, leo, leo... never been to the Wood? If you want a date, ya gotta offer coke and champagne... (and lot's of it...these girlz ain't cheap)
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 17:28
#137903
Damn.....just when I wuz thinkin' hot, cheap and sleazy might be making a comeback.
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 15:28
#138291
Yeah, you have your pick, 2 out of 3 that's all you get..
Hot & Sleazy, but not cheap
Hot & Cheap, but not sleazy
Cheap & Sleazy, but not hot.
I was devastated when I found this correlation to be factual...
=]
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 19:46
#138006
Leo,
For that dinner I'll wear anything out of the Victoria's Secret catalog. Just name the page and I'll come a'flauntin. But I refuse to spoon!
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 16:59
#137872
They look like they were all cloned in the same test tube to perform teeth commercials.
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 17:34
#137907
WTF use are anti-trust laws if not applied to the apparent concentration of trading activity?
on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 12:06
#139479
lol...anti-trust. That's funny.
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 17:43
#137915
or just imagine the risk someone takes by placing the below into their cash reserves for retirement account:
(WTF happened to sophisticated investor clause? )
Principal Protected Certificates of Deposit linked to Basket of
Foreign Currencies
**Offering Period Ends ...**
- has got to match columns
Issuer:
Maturity:
Underlying Basket:
Reference Currency:
Protection:
FDIC Insurance:
Participation Rate:
Payoff at Maturity:
data:
"guess who".
3 Years
Basket of BRIC Currencies:
25% Brazilian Real
25% Russian Ruble
25% Indian Rupee
25% Chinese Renminbi
U.S. Dollar
100% Principal Protected at maturity, subject to the credit
of the Issuer
Insured by the FDIC subject to applicable insurance limits
[115% - 135%] TBD on Trade Date
This trade expresses a bearish US Dollar viewpoint. Clients
will receive [115% - 135%] of the appreciation of the
BRIC
currency basket relative to the U.S. Dollar at maturity,
uncapped. If the BRIC basket has weakened relative to the
U.S. Dollar at maturity, clients will get their full
principal back.
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 18:31
#137953
The party was last night in nyc.. to view the party pictures..go to patrick mcmullan dot com...enjoy!
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 07:51
#138152
with that avatar, i dont think i wanna see your party pics
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 18:36
#137958
yes the models are pretty, but that foreign reserve graph looks very lucrative. the problem here boys and girls is that we are being placed into the gladiator pit expected to die. why because we operate fragmented. see if small hedge funds work together they become a systemic risk against the squid and sperm whale and must be stopped. this is why the better funds are trying to bring the good traders inhouse before the polity kills em. there are trillions in loot out there for the taking.
while the squid and whale are fighting one another the foreign reserve gold account lies unprotected.
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 19:26
#137995
the big boys know a total of their option positions without knowing that everything is a guess
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 19:43
#138000
My GS story is that they are keeping the stock down and thus under the radar. I mean who better to screw but your own stock holders? The 'smart money' that bet on a sure thing, and got maybe 50% out of the deal this year when any number of crap made a quick 400%.The GS boys don't play that stock options game now. No, its half the cash straight off the top. One of the few companies in the entire world that doesn't care what it's stock price is. Hell, if it was trading like GOOG it would be at 2000 by now.
If I were Blankfin I would be dreaming of a 2 or 3 trillion bond offering about the time Treasury rates head north for good. They should trade comfortably under T paper and the new money for the 21st century will be born.
on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 21:07
#138055
In this domain of idiots you are king.
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 01:59
#138119
Somebody reassure me that there is no testicle on the left-hand model.
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 09:49
#138168
Naw, she just came from the tea bag party next door. Budda bing.
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 03:38
#138131
RT - You've truly outdone yourself here for entertainment value! That slap-o-rama is dead on. Right up there with your GS crocs feasting on the wildebeest (trader) herd a while back. The insightful information is a bonus.
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 04:57
#138141
Are stock markets rediculously overpriced. Yes. Should you short them. No.
It's a trap!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNLuq0lW50k
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 16:49
#138143
...
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 09:38
#138166
Captain Ahab
"Aye, Mr. Starbuck. Aye, my hearties all. It was Moby-Dick that dismantled me, that reaped off my leg like a mower a blade of grass and left me with this dead stump I stand on. For forever and a day I shall chase that white whale."
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 10:51
#138177
All you have to know is who really owns the Fed and Treasury to know who wins in the near term. My guess is the vampire, not the vamps or the sperm. The empire crashes in the end.
on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 10:58
#138181
Hahahaha...love it! BTW, is that Prechter's kid being slapped?
on Sun, 11/22/2009 - 20:16
#138892
I have not been short since early this year....did I want to. Absolutemente! Did I give in negativo. And, I stay alert and wait until....
The secret pics at mcmullan are great. thanks.
Bunch of nitwits, if you ask me- but still the cat's meow.