From Demographic Boom To Dependency Bust

The economic and asset bubble in Japan burst in 1990, at roughly the same time as its demographic structure reached a tipping point. As UBS' George Magnus notes, the working age population began to fall, marking the start of a relentless rise in both the total and old age dependency ratios; and, he adds, a comparable phenomenon occurred in the US and Europe between 2005-2010. On current trends, Magnus warns, China will replicate at least the demographic part of this phenomenon between now and 2016, against a backdrop of rising concern about the structural nature of the slowdown in economic growth, along with rising credit intensity, indebtedness, and misallocation of resources.

The Deer Returns On Fears Bernanke's Training Wheels Are Coming Off

One word can describe performance across all asset classes today: clobbered. Stocks tumble, Commodities slide and Bonds crash, with the 5 year suffering the biggest intraday percentage jump in yields... ever! And why? Because Bernanke confirmed what everyone thought they knew, namely that the Fed will start tapering (how else can the Fed match the reduction in gross Treasury issuance at auction without taking over the private market entirely) eventually. Or at least that's what the market read between the Chairman's lines. In reality, Bernanke himself is more dazed and confused than anyone out there and just like Europe, is making it up one day at a time.

Bernanke Speaks, The Stock Market Squeaks, The 5 Year Shrieks

Things are escalating quickly... with US Treasuries beginning to look a lot like JGBs: the 5Y soared +18bps to the highest since August 2011, the 10Y +13.5bps touches 2.32% widest since March 2012, 30Y +8bps, and credit markets are getting monkey-hammered. There is no joy in Newport Beachville.

Digging Through The Fed's Improving Forecast

Perhaps the biggest red flag in today's FOMC release is the quarterly economic projections which improved from March with the Fed expecting better GDP and employment, offset by lower core and PCE inflation from 2013 all the way to 2015: whether this is sufficient for Bernanke to determine a need to taper the monthly $85 billion flow will be explained during the 2:30 pm press conference.

FOMC Hints No Taper Despite More Optimistic Forecast, Bullard Is Second Dissenter - Redline Comparison

The much-anticipated statement of the most powerful body in the world is upon us -

• *FED MAINTAINS $85 BILLION MONTHLY PACE OF BOND BUYING
• *FED SAYS LABOR MARKET SHOWS `FURTHER IMPROVEMENT'
• *FED SAYS DOWNSIDE RISKS DIMINISHED SINCE AUTUMN
• *BULLARD, GEORGE DISSENT FROM FOMC STATEMENT

Ding Ding: we now have a new dissenter in addition to Esther George: James Bullard. And - as usual - there's a little in there for everyone aside from the fact that the rose-colored glasses view on the economy suggests that they will be, in factm, tapering at some point soon, which the market is not very happy with right now...

Goldman's FOMC Expectations

With 45 minutes left to go, only one thing matters: what does Goldman think (the other issue of whether Jan Hatzius shared a meal with Bill Dudley at the Pound and Pence will remain unknown until the next batch of Dudley daily "minutes" are released in a few months). So for all those scrambling for an edge in a centrally-planned world, here it is, via Goldman's Francesco Garzarelli : "Turning to today’s FOMC announcement and press conference, our US Economics team expect Chairman Bernanke to stick to the same message on ‘tapering’ of bond purchases used in previous pronouncements on the matter, but also emphasize that reducing the expansion of the balance sheet does not imply that the Fed is anywhere close to hiking rates. We think this is broadly what bondholders are also expecting to hear."

"I'd Suggest Not" - On The Editorial "Back-And-Forth" Between Jon Hilsenrath And The New York Fed

Three years ago we wrote "On The New York Fed's Editorial Influence Over The WSJ" in which we observed, courtesy of declassified documents by the Sigtarp exposing the involvement of then-Goldman and New York Fed director Stephen Friedman in relation to his infamous purchase of Goldman Stock so well memorialized by none other than Jon Hilsenrath (a story which made him a Loeb award finalist when he actually did investigative work instead of merely convey messages from the Fed), just how extensive the relationship between Jon Hilsenrath, the WSJ and the New York Fed was. But instead of regurgitating all the minutae covered in the original post (read it here), we will cut to the chase and present the declassified emails between the WSJ team in April/May 2009, and the NY Fed's Calvin Mitchell, then-EVP of the Communications Group, as well as the Fed's internal involvement of the FRBNY's General Counsel Thomas Baxter. We have highlighted the NY Fed "suggestions" - they are self-explanatory.