Mish And Faber Discuss Why The Fed Will Never Allow Another Fair Value Market Correction

We start off today's audiovisual segment with an insightful analysis of market dynamics by the duo of Mike Shedlock (Mish) and Marc Faber. Mish who runs the deflation-friendly blog Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis, observes that the rally is not based on fundamentals, and believes that not only is it time to take profits, the probability of a retest of 666 is "50-50." Faber, always the pragmatist, points out that since the entire US economy is now based on the ponzi principle of money bringing in new money as every offer is chased higher, thinks we will never "see 666 on the S&P 500 ever again. If we go down by
say 10-20% on the S&P 500, our money printer in the US, Mr. Ben Bernanke will flood
the market with liquidity, weakening the dollar, supporting equities and other assets." In other words, as the race to the currency bottom and the attempt to force inflation inevitably picks up, the one true non-dilutable alternative to fiat one-ply, is and remains gold. As Faber cautiously says "I think an individual should take responsibility and be his own central bank, and buy gold every single month." As to where money can be invested in this time, both seem to agree that Japan, which is already 20 years down the money printing experiment, and there is little marginal fiat dilution remaining, is a good target to invest. This is further reinforced by Dylan Grice's recent observations about numerous Japanese stocks trading at or below liquidation value.

Lehman's Repo 105 Counterparties Barclays, Mizuho, UBS, Deutsche Bank, And KBC May Have Attempted To "Squeeze" The Bank

Yesterday we asked just who the counterparties on Lehman's Repo 105 transactions were. Today we get our answer: the parties that Lehman used exclusively to mask its true leverage ratio were Barclays, Mizuho, UBS, Mitsubishi, Deutsche Bank, KBC and ABN Amro. This is accompanied by disclosure from the Examiner that these Repos, which should logically have been cheaper to Lehman due to the overcollateralization compared to regular matched repo (remember: 105 instead of 100 plus a minor haircut), in fact were pricier, prompting Lehman staffers such as Mike McGarvey to speculate that counterparties may "try to squeeze Lehman." This is quite a critical development ahead of the lawsuit between the Lehman estate and Barclays (a Repo 105 counterparty), which not only refused to bail out Lehman in the 11th hour, but to subsequently go ahead and in the definition of a fire sale acquire Lehman Brothers' North American brokerage operations for pennies on the dollar, coupled with some serious additional trickery on the side. Another oddity: none of the counterparties were US-based. Did US banks know too well about the imminent collapse of Lehman and thus refuse to participate in the Repo 105 window dressing game? Or, much more relevantly, was Lehman terrified by retaliation of its US-based peers, (be it CDS or stock-based) and as a result refused to open up its deplorable balance sheet to them?

Daily Highlights: 3.12.10

• Americans' net worth rised 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter to $54.2 trillion.
• Asian shares mixed, Japan stocks gain on speculation central bank to add funds.
• Eurozone industrial output jumps by massive 1.7 percent in January.
• Money fund assets fell by $36.22 billion to $3.090 trillion in latest week.
• Obama to nominate Yellen to post of vice chairman of Federal Reserve.
• Oil drifts above $82 in Asia as month-long rally loses momentum amid weak US crude demand.

And The Lehman Disclosure Hits Just Keep On Coming; If Fuld Has Not Yet Left The Country, Doing So ASAP May Be A Very Good Idea

Reading through the thousands and thousands of pages of Valukas' report has proven, as we suspected early today, quite entertaining. After having first uncovered the Repo 105 accounting gimmick, and E&Y (and, in a normal society, Tim Geithner) coffin nail, we are convinced that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and sure enough, as we read along, more stunners come to light. We will update this post with new discoveries, but for now, we present the episode of the Fenway Tri-Party Repo Market Clusterfuck ("FTPRMC"), The Part Where Lehman Lied To Its Shareholders, And The SEC Gets The Middle Finger (Again), and the parable of Ben Bernanke's And His Scale Of 0 To 100 Of Systemic Fuckedupedness.

The "Repo 105" Scam: How Lehman Fooled Everyone (Including Allegedly Dick Fuld) And How Other Banks Are Likely Doing This Right Now

Presenting a detailed look at "Repo 105" - the next soundbite sure to fill the airwaves over the next weeks and months, as more and more banks are uncovered to be using this borderline criminal accounting gimmick to make their leverage ratios look better. This is the first time we have heard this loophole abuse by a bank, be it defunct (Lehman) or existing (everyone else). There should be an immediate investigation into how many other banks are currently taking advantage of this artificial scheme to manipulate and misrepresent their cap ratio, and just why the New York Fed can claim it had no idea of this very critical component of the Shadow Economy.

Joe Saluzzi Discusses Why This Is Now A "Jason Bourne" Market In Which Everyone Just Keeps An Eye Out For The Exits

Themis Trading's Joe Saluzzi once again points out the flaws in the all clear psychology, and that if only we can break 1,150 on the S&P (which we just did), we are headed straight to 36,000 on the Dow (although as we are now in a fully blown melt up as we pointed out last week, we very well might). As Saluzzi says, we find ourselves in a "A momentum driven, fragmented equity market. What we see is a very lite volume morning normally, jacked up really fast by a couple of programs that come in, and then you get this churn most of the day. There is not a lot of conviction out there." And the reason why the market closed above 1,150 (1,150.24 on the last print to be specific - what a computer programmed joke) today as a last minute buy program ramps up: "This market is built on lies and rumors." (a topic previously discussed on Zero Hedge). Technicals and algos rule, and the Fed will take care of all the rest. And the faster one's reactions (on the exit button)the better, which is why if one is an Xbox gaming champion and 18 years old or younger, Getco and Goldman will hire you on the spot. According to Saluzzi, this observation has lead to a new nickname: this is now "the Jason Bourne market, because when he goes into a room, the first thing he checks for is where the three exits are. How do I get out. That's what investors are doing."

New Flow Of Funds Report Demonstrates Massive Selling In Agency & MBS Holdings Away From The Fed

Today the Fed released its Q4 Flow of Funds, aka Z.1, report. Using the data in this report, some have focused on such temperamental measures as household net worth, which in Q4 came out at $54.2 trillion, a $700 billion increase from Q3. What they will not disclose is that all of this increase came courtesy of the stock market, as the "Equity Shares at Market Value" line increased from $15.546 trillion to $16.234 trillion: this represented the entire increase in household net worth. Should the market dive, as many are concerned it is will once the Fed stops manipulating the mortgage (and potentially equity) market, watch all this intangible net worth disappear, as unbooked profits are just that - unbooked. Others will tell you that consumer deleveraging continues unabated, which is true: the decline in total non-financial debt in Q4 for Households and Businesses was -1.2% and -3.2%, respectively. Who made up the difference: the US government of course, whose domestic nonfinancial debt holdings increased by 12.6%. We, instead focus on Tables F.209 and F.210, the detailed listing of holders of US Treasuries and Agencies/MBS securities, as this is precisely where the Fed is the dominant market maker, and the means by which Ben Bernanke continues to manipulate the market by being the perpetual bid for 5% and lower yielding securities, thereby forcing all other yield chasers to go lower in the cap structure and buy, buy, buy all equities. And while there are no major surprises in the data set, it is notable that even as the Fed has purchased over $1.5 trillion in Agency/MBS debt, the total amount of all such securities over the past year has remained constant. The Fed has been buying everything that other have been selling. Adjust the data to exclude the Fed's purchases and one sees just how scary the MBS situation truly is.