Bear Market

After initially jerking higher after Saudi Arabia released its new 'lower-prices-for-the-US' strategy, it appears the market began to realize that in fact - as we warned - Saudi Arabia may be willing to accept prices "lower for longer." WTI futures are trading below $78.50 - the lowest since June 2012 (and its dragging Trannies lower today)...

Last week we noted a near-record number of VLCC oil tankers sailing towards Chinese ports as we speculated that the world's largest economy looked to rebuild its strategic petroleum reserve at low-low prices. Now we know... as Bloomberg reports, China National United Oil Co., a unit of the country’s biggest energy company, bought the most ever cargoes of Middle East crude through a pricing platform in Singapore. "The big question is what China will do with all of these cargoes," notes one analyst, "It's very difficult for the market to know Chinaoil's strategy."

“Keep in mind that even terribly hostile market environments do not resolve into uninterrupted declines. Even the 1929 and 1987 crashes began with initial losses of 10-12% that were then punctuated by hard advances that recovered about half of those losses before failing again... The 2007 top began with a plunge as market internals deteriorated materially, increasing day-to-day volatility, and a tendency for large moves to occur in sequence." Investors should interpret recent market strength in its full context: we’ve observed a fast, furious advance to clear an oversold “air-pocket” decline.

• Doctor with Ebola in New York hospital after return from Guinea (Reuters)
• Ebola Puts Spotlight on Bellevue, Key NYC Trauma Center (WSJ)
• Uber Driver Transported Ebola-Positive Doctor in New York (BBG)
• GOP Gains in Key Senate Races as Gender Gap Narrows (WSJ)
• ECB Tries for Third Time Lucky in European Stress Tests (BBG)
• Security tight in Canada as police probe Parliament gunman's ties (Reuters)
• Why Madrid's poor fear Goldman Sachs and Blackstone (Reuters)
• Fed’s $4 Trillion Holdings Keep Boosting Growth Beyond End of QE (BBG)

Gold has been in a bear market for three years. Technical analysts are asking themselves whether they should call an end to this slump on the basis of the "triple-bottom" recently made at $1180/oz, or if they should be wary of a coming downside break beneath that level. The purpose of this article is to look at the drivers of the gold price and explain why today's market value is badly reflective of gold's true worth.

• Canada PM vows crackdown after capital shocked by fatal attacks (Reuters)
• Canada Gunman Was Convert to Islam With Criminal Record (BBG)
• Some U.S. hospitals weigh withholding care to Ebola patients (Reuters)
• But... Great rotation... Bond funds stock up on Treasuries in prep for market shock (Reuters)
• Saudis at War With Islamic State Confront Echo of Kingdom’s Past (BBG)
• EU’s Top Banker Warns of Rule Fixation ‘Going Beyond Reason (BBG)
• U.S.-led air strikes killed 521 fighters, 32 civilians in Syria (Reuters)
• Growing Kurdish Unity Helps West, Worries Turkey (WSJ)
• Don’t Be Distracted by the Pass Rate in ECB’s Bank Exams (BBG)
• Hedge Funds Add to Venture-Capital Bounty (WSJ)
• Speed-of-Light Trading Grows in Europe With McKay Network (BBG)

Seven years after the start of the financial crisis, economic and financial conditions remain far from normal. In the ‘Wonderland’ of near-zero interest rates, many of the traditional relationships that have governed the way in which markets and cycles evolve have broken; the value of historical analysis has weakened. In Goldman's view, there are three very different near-term paths that economies and markets can now follow, and that imply very different outcomes for financial markets... (What GS realizes, in short, is The Fed is entirely boxed-in)

"We play the “Great Game” as we have been taught and as we have learned, being reticent about following inordinate strength and/or inordinate weakness; holding as best we can to major trends and always remembering that in a bull market… and this does still remain a global bull market… there are but three positions one may have:  Aggressively long of equities; “pleasantly” long of equities, and neutral of them." - Dennis Gartman

"... it does not appear that we shall see the S&P futures trade into “The Box,” and that makes us all the more suspicious of share prices generally, for a market than cannot even retrace 50-62% of its previous weakness is a market that is weaker, internally, than it might at first appear. Worse, failure here suggest that a fully-fledged bear market has begun, for this would be a clear failure well below the highs of the last interim rally, with the lows of the last interim break having already been taken out to the downside." - Dennis Gartman

And the overnight futures ramp started off so promising.

From Bitcoin to the Swiss gold referendum, and from Chinese trade and North Korean leadership, Jim Rogers covers a lot of ground in this excellent interview with Boom-Bust's Erin Ade. Rogers reflects on the end of the US bull market. citing a number of factors from breadth to the end of QE, adding that he agrees with Albert Edwards' perspective that now is the time to "sell everything and run for your lives," as the "consequences of [The Fed] are now being felt." Most notably though, Rogers believes the de-dollarization is here to stay as Western sanctions force many nations to find alternatives. Simply put, Rogers concludes, "we are all going to pay a terrible price for all this money-printing and debt."

There is this whole idea of state dependence that we have to consider when we’re talking about the market. Uou might have a plan to buy stocks when the index gets below a certain level, but when the market gets to that point, you: a) may not have the capital; and b) might be panicking into your shorts. It’s nice to have a plan, but, paraphrasing Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. It’s been so long since we’ve had a correction, I’m guessing that most people have forgotten what a correction feels like.

Is It Fair to compare this sell off to the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009?

A correction of significant magnitude is currently “inconceivable” as the U.S. is now “clearly” on a trajectory towards stronger economic growth. This is the “frame of belief” that pervades in the financial markets currently. However, there are many risks investors should not ignore. Making up losses is much harder than reinvesting stored capital once a clearer picture emerges. While the current belief that a correction of significant magnitude in the markets is "inconceivable," We are not sure that word means what they think it means.