Copper

Gold managed a 1.8% surge today (back above $1690 and its 200- and 100-DMAs and its largest jump in 2 months) from Friday's close thanks to the combination of the ECB on Friday and Merkel and Bernanke today assuring the world that anything more than a 2% dip in stocks will not be tolerated. While Silver outperformed Gold from Friday's close, based on its 2-3x beta of the last year this was a notable 'underperformance' as Gold outpaced everything (beta adjusted). Perhaps importantly, the S&P 500 when priced in gold met and rejected resistance at a key level today - even with its nominal 30pt rally off of Friday's S&P lows. Volumes were abysmal with stocks well below YTD average and the S&P futures 20% below average and among the lowest few days' volumes of the year. Credit markets did not participate as exuberantly (though HY outperformed IG as you would expect) but the day seemed split into 4 segments: pre-Bernanke (quiet/sideways), Bernanke to US Open (rampfest, Gold outperforms, TSY rally), US Open to EU Close (TSY selloff notably, equities sideways, Gold rips), and then from EU Close to US Close (Equity/Gold/TSY rally as USD leaked lower). In FX, JPY was relatively stable at its lows after Bernanke's speech as the rest of the majors strengthened versus the USD (as EUR broke above 1.3350 once again). Oil managed a small rally on the day but underperformed the USD's 0.5% weakness from Friday as Treasuries were very flip-floppy today - ending the day with a small twist around 7Y (30Y +3bps). VIX made new lows and closed there as the term structure flattened further to its flattest in almost 4 months (with the largest six-day flatttening in 8 months).

• BOJ Crosses Rubicon With Desperate Monetary Policy, Hirano Says (Bloomberg)
• Europe’s bailout bazooka is proving to be a toy gun (FT)
• Monti Signals Spanish Euro Risk as EU to Bolster Firewall (FT)
• Merkel set to allow firewall to rise (FT)
• Banks set to cut $1tn from balance sheets (FT)
• Supreme Court weighs historic healthcare law (Reuters)
• Spain PM denied symbolic austerity boost in local vote (Reuters)
• Anti-war movement stirs in Israel (FT)
• Obama to Ask China to Toughen Korea Line (WSJ)
• Pimco’s Gross Says Fed May ‘Hint’ at QE3 at April Meeting (Bloomberg)

In an interview with Louis James, the inimitable Doug Casey throws cold water on those celebrating the economic recovery. "Get out your mower; it's time to cut down some green shoots again, and debunk a bit of the so-called recovery."

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The global economy remains on shaky ground.  China’s manufacturing activity contracted for its 5th straight month, the US recovery is still very early to call, and the euro zone debt crisis may not be finished. Eurozone PMI data is due later today which will show how the economy is doing after Greece averted default earlier this month. Thomson Reuters GFMS have said that gold at $2,000/oz is possible - possibly in late 2012 or early 2013. Thomson Reuters GFMS Global Head of metals analytics, Philip Klapwijk, featured on Insider this morning and advised investors to "buy this gold dip”.  Gold should be bought on this correction especially if we go lower still as we may need a shake-out of "less-committed investors." Klapwijk suggested that a brief dip below $1,600 is on the cards but the global macro environment still favours investment, notably zero-to-negative real interest rates and he would not rule out further easing by either the ECB or the Fed before year end.

Futures continue exhibiting a very surprising and ever brighter shade of ungreen as the morning session progresses, starting with the 5th consecutive contractionary Chinese PMI data, going through disappointing European Manufacturing and Services PMIs which came below expectations (47.7 vs Est. 49.5 for Mfg; 48.7 vs Est. 49.2 for Services), with an emphasis on French and German PMIs, both of which were bad (German Mfg PMI 48.1, Est 51, prior 50.2; Services PMI 51.8, Est. 53.1, Prior 52.8), and concluding with UK sales which printed at -0.8% on expectations of -0.5%. And just like that Europe is "unfixed", prompting economists such as IHS' Howard Archer to speculate that following "worrying and disappointing" Euro PMI data, the ECB may cut rates to 0.75%, as Europe is finding it hard to return to growth after the Q4 contraction. And with that the beneficial impact of the €1 trillion LTROs is now gone, as Spain spread over Bunds has just risen to the widest in over 5 weeks, and the beneficial market inflection point passes - prepare for LTRO 3 demands any minute now.

Turning on the screens this morning to red pixels was an odd feeling for anyone who has traded stocks this year and while the low was put in soon after the US open the slow and steady weak volume limp higher in equities (led by financials and too-hot-to-handle Apple) got ES (the e-mini S&P futures contract) back up to close at 1400 on the nose (-4pts on the day). Investment grade credit was generally an outperformer relative to stocks today (though AAA corporates were net sold perhaps on rotation back into Treasuries) though the roll in credit derivative markets hinders comparisons a little, however, high yield credit dwindled a little (on light flows) into the close. Commodities were the hardest hit of the day - dramatically underperforming the implied weakness of a modestly stronger USD. Silver, which recovered well off its lows of the day, was equal worst performer with Copper as China's slowdown story dominated. Interestingly Oil also fell as increased supply news hit pushing WTI under $106. Gold outperformed (though was lower on the day) and stands down only 0.6% on the week now (less than half the losses of the other metals/oil). Treasuries (as we already noted) broke their record losing streak with a modest 1-2bps compression in yields close to close (after being closed for the Japan session last night). A relatively large jump up in EURUSD near the US day session open was the biggest news in FX markets but that leaked away all day as the USD limped high off that low (helped by AUD and JPY weakness). VIX managed to rise once again.

"Whocouldanode?" that Apple would do something like pay a de minimus dividend and begin a modest buyback program? Indeed, initial reactions for the stock seemed to be 'sell the news' but of course, it wouldn't be a day ending in 'y' if Apple didn't close green and sure enough, with seconds to spare, Apple managed to close over $600 for the first time. BofA, not so much. After pinging $10 (a healthy double of recent lows), chatter of a secondary began the process of 'normalizing' its recent behavior (the stock is still up 17% post JPM-divi/Stress test news, a whopping 10% better than any of its peers in that 4 day period). The leak in financials dragged on the S&P which limped back lower to close almost perfectly at its VWAP as NYSE trading volumes (after almost record-breaking high levels on Friday OPEX hedge removal day) dropped back to near their lows . Credit outperformed equities today but its a very 'technical' day for credit in general with the CDS/index rolls tomorrow (meaning the major credit indices will move to new maturities and new components) though HYG staggered notably early in the day. USD and Treasury weakness were the headlines of the day (aside from AAPL of course - which apparently has a great new screen) which of course helped commodities rally with high-beta Silver the best on the day +1.2% from Friday and WTI breaking $108 as Gold limped higher (tortoise-like) over $1660 at the end. VIX rose once again and the term structure flattened a little but once again post-OPEX and futures roll, there are some more difficult apples-to-camels comparisons there. Finally we note average trade size in ES today was its largest since 7/1/11.

Between our overnight discussion of the size of the Fed's QE and Goldman's call for QE as soon as April, risk assets all synced and surged today as the USD gave back most of the week's gains. The S&P 500 managed to close above 1400 for the first time since June of 2008 on decent volume - even as AAPL closed down 0.7% (and -2.5% from the $600 threshold it peered over) as financials once again took the lead. BofA is now up 13.6% from pre-JPM-dividend news (more than double its peers) while GS and C languish up only around 2% from that point. High-yield credit markets were nothing like as QE-ebulient as stocks today as investment grade outperformed (more up-in-quality rotation) and the last 45mins actually saw active selling in HY and HYG while IG and the S&P leaked higher. Treasuries steepened very modestly with the long-end maybe 1bp higher in yield close-to-close but the 7-8bps compression off overnight high yields is noteworthy and brought the broad risk asset complex back in CONTEXT with stocks (after yesterday's dislocation). The USD lost around 0.4% from late last night on the day (though still stronger on the week) as EUR and JPY tracked it broadly but higher yield AUD outperformed handsomely (more QE-funding currency needed). Commodities bounced nicely with Copper the day's winner followed closely by Gold and Silver (up around 0.9%) and Oil practically unchanged after dipping over 1% on the SPR chatter and recovering on the denial. VIX ended the day (spiking) higher and the term structure very slightly flatter. After spiking Friday and Tuesday (as we broke the uptrendline) average trade size has drifted notably lower and was its lowest in over a week today suggesting less institutional buying here.

UPDATE: The UK outlook change has had little reaction so far: TSY yield down 1-2bps, gold/silver bounced up a little, and a small drop in GBP.

While most of the talk will be about the drop in precious metals today, the sell-off in Treasuries is of a much larger relative magnitude and yet equities broadly ignored this re-risking 'signal'. At almost 2.5 standard deviations, today's 10Y rate jump (closing it above the 200DMA for the first time in eight months) trumps the 1.3 standard deviation drop in Gold prices - taking prices back to mid-January levels. According to our data (h/t JL) for only the 14th time in the last five years (and not seen for 16 months) Treasury yields rose significantly and stocks fell as the broad gains in yesterday's financials (on the JPM rip) were held on to at the ETF level but not for Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, or Citigroup (who gave all the knee-jerk reaction back). Tech led the way as AAPL surged once again (though faltered a few times intraday) having now completed back-to-back unfilled gap-up-openings. Credit and equity were generally in sync until mid afternoon when the up-in-quality rotation took over and stocks and high-yield sold off (notably HYG - the high-yield bond ETF underperformed all day long) while investment grade credit rallied to multi-month tights. VIX bounced higher (notably more than the S&P would have implied) recovering to Monday's closing levels and back above 15%. The Treasury sell-off was 'balanced' in terms of risk-on/-off by the strength in the USD (and modest weakness in FX carry pairs as JPY's weakness was largely in sync with the rest of the majors - hinting its was a USD story). Oil and Copper both lost ground (as did Silver - the most on the day) though they tracked more in line with USD strength than the PMs.

Credit markets closed at their best levels of yesterday and traded in a very narrow (much less risk hungry mode) range as stocks zoomed 1% higher than yesterday's best levels on volumes considerably less than the year's average so far. With tonight's PSI 'news' unlikely to be a surprise (and certainly not unexpectedly bullish as CACs are enacted and likely to trigger CDS), overnight China inflation, and tomorrow's NFP print seemingly priced into the market for perfection, it is apparent the marginal equity trader is far more comfortable with uncertainty (remember participation does not mean agreement still) than the marginal credit trader. The usual suspects did well with Materials, Industrials, and Financials all outperforming (and the majors bouncing back) but we do note that the average contract size in ES (the e-mini S&P 500 futures contract) was its highest in five weeks (even if it was roll week). Treasuries melted slowly higher in yield all day continuing yesterday's trend to complete the largest two-day rise in 30Y yields in six weeks. This de-risking along with JPY weakness and AUD/EUR strength supported risk but we do note that CONTEXT (our broad risk asset proxy) lagged Equity's excitement all day even as it leaked higher. Commodities benefited from USD weakness with WTI managing to get back over $107 briefly and back to positive for the week, Gold getting above $1700 and a wild ride in Silver leaving it in line with Copper -2.5% on the week so far.

China had a massive surge in its demand for commodities over the past decade, fueled by its housing boom and infrastructure investment boom. From 2000 to 2010, China’s imports (in value terms) of iron ore surged by 42.5 times, thermal coal 248 times and copper 16.2 times. During the same period, its production (in quantity terms) for aluminum jumped by 441.8%, cement 219.5% and steel 396.0%. It is the biggest consumer in virtually all commodity categories in the world. In Credit Suisse's view, China was the key factor behind the global commodity supercycle. After a period of economic slowdown, all eyes are on China, hoping that the middle kingdom can return to its might in commodity demand. CS cuts through all the cyclical factors and asks whether China's mighty demand for commodities will return in the medium term - their answer is 'No'. As the economy shifts its growth engines away from infrastructure, construction and exports toward consumption, especially service consumption, the propensity of demand for commodities is bound to decline. Getting a massage simply does not use as much steel as building an airport.

Asian equities too a hit, posting their biggest two-day loss this year. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.2%. The losses were situated in the Hang Seng, which fell 2.2% and China’s Shanghai Composite, which declined 1.4%. Meanwhile, Europe is off 1.6% in the aggregate after the second take on Q4 GDP confirmed the 0.3% drop from the initial estimate. And, after yesterday’s sell-off, equity futures are pointing to a weaker open at home across the major indices driven in part by concerns that the Greek PSI will not get the required 75% participation as reported here yesterday. In the US, government bonds are in rally mode with the 10-year Treasury note yield down 4bps, to 1.97%; the long bond is rallying 5bps, to 3.10%. Across the pond, government bonds are performing as one would expect. Benchmark German bunds are rallying 4bps, to 1.78% while France, Italy, and Spain are selling off anywhere from 5 to 9bps. In the FX market, the US dollar is enjoying a flight to safety bid against major currencies. The DXY index is up 0.5%. Not surprisingly, with risk being taken off the table, commodities are taking a hit. WTI crude oil is down 60 cents, to $106.10 per barrel. Industrial metals are taking a hit too; copper is off 1.6% to its lowest level since mid February. In Europe, the LTRO continues to not work at all as the ECB deposit facility rose to a new all time record of €827 billion as cash parked with the ECB is not being used for any other purpose, and the net money from LTRO 1 and 2 is now less than the cash added to the ECB from Europe's banks.

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The UK's Daily Mirror newspaper has uncovered the FX trader who dropped over $300k in a Scouse club. It is a 23-year old 'self-taught' barrow-boy named (somewhat ironically in our view) Alex Hope. Self-described as "talented (three years in and a six-figure salary, hhmm), charismatic (its amazing how much 'charisma' a GBP125k bottle of bubbly will buy), and thoroughly likeable (ditto) man. Alex Hope exudes knowledge..." and is willing to share it with you according to his website. How did he become this B.S.D. of the FX markets? "I took two months off my job at Wembley, got really obsessed with reading charts and got the guts to start trading properly." This self-made rosy-cheeked young chap with a penchant for mind-numbingly-arrogant-looking photos on his website may have just become the poster boy for all that is 'great' about the free market - or perhaps a skim through his blog and media exposure will reassure us all that anything is possible as we note he does have some good taste (not just in Champagne) in RTing our posts on Twitter. We can only HOPE that the next time he decides to go down the rub-a-dub-dub for a Leo Sayer, maybe he'll take some of us Septic Tanks with him on the frog-and-toad...as the days of the ship-it-in-large-on-the-left John, done-a-yard by-breakfast spot FX trader are clearly back with us.