France

These days the biggest single catalyst to a big gap down is the arrival of 3 am Eastern at which point Europe opens and specifically that one all important instrument, Italian BTPs, start trading. Sure enough, European risk aversion is back, hot on the heels of not only the completely expected Stuporcommittee agreement to disagree and put the US rating at risk, but following a Figaro report that it is now Moody's (as a reminder it was S&P which almost blew up the OAT market one week ago with that "technical glitch") that is contemplating a French downgrade. From Reuters: "Ratings agency Moody's believes the recent rise in interest rates on French government debt and weaker economic growth prospects could be negative for France's credit rating, newspaper Le Figaro on Monday reported the agency as saying. "Presistently high financing costs combined with a deteriorating economic outlook could increase the difficulties that the government faces, with negative implications for credit," the newspaper quoted Moody's as saying. Reuters sought but was unable to obtain confirmation of the reported remarks from the the ratings agency. On Oct. 17, Moody's said it could place France on negative outlook in the next three months if the costs for helping to bail out banks and other euro zone members overstretched its budget." The result: a resumption of the bloodbath. France CDS rise to 11 bps to match record 233. Italy CDS rise 15 bps to 543. Belgium CDS rise 12 bps to 337. The three-month cross-currency basis swap  was 131 basis point below the euro interbank offered rate at 8:45 a.m. in London, the most expensive since December 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The rate was 130 on Nov. 18. As for cash spreads: they are not at all time records... But they will be shortly, especially since the ECB is largely missing from the market today: telegraphing that it won't monetize? Or is there a hit job on yet another European leader? Which Goldman leader will replace Sarko?

Time to start stocking up on those long term, OTM armageddon puts yet?

Time for some geopolitical uncertainty to add to Europe's bond yield inferno.According to AP, "France's ambassador to Syria says the government in Paris has ordered him home in the wake of recent attacks against diplomatic missions and a crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. Ambassador Eric Chevallier said by phone Wednesday he "was aware" that he had been ordered back but declined to provide details. He deferred all questions about the reasons to the Foreign Ministry. The ministry declined immediate comment. France, Syria's former colonial ruler, has been increasingly critical of Assad's regime in recent weeks, urging him to step down, pressing for tough international sanctions, and meeting with opposition figures." If this is indeed an indication that a Syrian "liberation" is imminent look for other ambassadors to be quietly pulled. Also, look for Iran to mobilize as any invasion or air campaign against Syria will be perceive as an assault on Iran itself. Or look for "offensive" action by Syria to invoke "retaliation." That would be precisely the false flag that the anti-Iran lobby needs to send WTI into the stratosphere. Then again it is not as if WTI needs any more reasons to surge higher today.

With Italian bonds giddy at the prospect of changing one worthless political muppet with another, if only for a few hours, and especially with the stern and long overdue assistance of the ECB (we will find out how many bonds Mario Draghi bought this week to preserve the price stabeeleetee next Monday - we expect the SMP cumulative total to pass €200 billion, a number which will delight Germany), it is becoming increasingly clear that France needs to be urgently added to the list of countries eligible for ECB secondary market "sponsorship", because while Italy yields are gapping in, Franch Bund spreads have since blown out back to record levels, following some modest tightening earlier in the morning. And unlike yesterday, this time there are no downgrade rumors to be blamed. At least not yet.

If anyone needed the proper epitaph for the insane stupidity out of Europe, Reuters may have just provided it. In an exclusive article, Reuters stuns us with the following: "German and French officials have discussed plans for a radical overhaul of the European Union that would involve establishing a more integrated and potentially smaller euro zone, EU sources say. French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave some flavour of his thinking during an address to students in the eastern French city of Strasbourg on Tuesday, when he said a two-speed Europe -- the euro zone moving ahead more rapidly than all 27 countries in the EU -- was the only model for the future." It gets much worse: "The discussions among senior policymakers in Paris, Berlin and Brussels go further, raising the possibility of one or more countries leaving the euro zone, while the remaining core pushes on towards deeper economic integration, including on tax and fiscal policy." Not sure how to further clarify this: Europe is preparing for its own end, and the dissolution of the existing structure of the Eurozone, which likely means an end to the EU in its current format, a reshaping of the customs union, and the overhaul of the zEURq.PK in its current form. Ironically, this may end up being favorable for the Euro... and detrimental for Germany. So the question is: will Germany go for it? At this point, it probably has no choice, unless it wants a mutiny on its hands.

French Bund spreads have just crossed 147 bps as the "cash bond long yet unable to hedge with CDS" crowd realizes that the Italian contagion is about to hit Paris. And unable to hedge using creative modern financial instruments, said crowd has reverted to the good old fashioned version thereof. We call it selling. Expect the spread to hit 150 bps momentarily.

Uhm, what was that? The Bund-OAT spread just soared by 7 bps to an all time record 129 and widening, which we expect is due to the EFSF bond pull. Expect a 130 handle any second...So Europe now has France to add to the Greek and Italian communicating vessels? Good work.

Complete, and total, idiocy

• DJ REPORT EFSF FIREPOWER TO REACH EUR2T "TOTALLY WRONG"-SOURCE
• DJ EU Source: No EFSF Deal Til Friday, EUR2T Number 'Simplistic'

Beyond words.

The Eurozone debt crisis gets worse. Bankers interfere. And the truth comes out: "The dreams to see the crisis ended by Monday couldn't be realized," says the German government.

This is not what Europe needed, 6 days ahead of the G20 ultimatum's expiration for Europe to somehow fix itself, and hours after Deutsche Bank said the rating agencies may go ahead and put France on downgrade review. Just out "Moody's notes that the government's financial strength has weakened, as it has for other euro area sovereigns, because the global financial and economic crisis has led to a deterioration in French government debt metrics -- which are now among the weakest of France's Aaa peers." As for the timing... "Over the next three months, Moody's will monitor and assess the stable outlook in terms of the government's progress in implementing these measures, while taking into account any potential adverse economic or financial market developments."

First we have Credit Suisse saying 66 European banks will fail the 3rd stress test, and will need hundreds of billions in fresh capital, something the market ignored entirely last week but may want to reevaluate now that the idiocy appears to have subsided. And now, inexplicably, we have Deutsche Bank warning that France may well be put on downgrade review by year end. "We highlight in this note that the French corporate sector is already financially stretched, with poor profitability and large borrowing requirements. We consider that the deterioration in economic conditions is now creating a distinct risk that France could be put under “negative watch” by the rating agencies before the end of this year. We think that France has the wherewithal to react to such an outcome and could avoid an outright downgrade by taking corrective measures quickly, but this naturally would be a very sensitive political decision a few months before a major election." Why either Credit Suisse or Deutsche Bank would jeopardize their own existence by telling the truth, we have no idea. If either of these two banks believe they can survive a vigilante attack on French spreads, and the subsequent shift of contagion to none other than Germany, we wish them all the best. Yet that is precisely what will likely happen, especially now that the market can no longer pull the trick it did for the past two weeks, and stick its head deep in the sand of complete factual avoidance.

In our previous post we warned, indirectly through the IMF, that the biggest risk for Europe is the inability to reach consensus over anything from the most complicated, to the simplest matter. As noted previously, one of the main initial drivers of the market surge which has since translated into yet another short covering rally of epic proportions was the belief that Europe can actually come together in agreement over the simplest thing - like its own survival. Alas, it appears even that is not the case. As Bloomberg reports, "Germany and France are at odds over whether the European Financial Stability Facility should have limits on government bond purchases, Handelsblatt reported, citing an unidentified high-ranking European Union diplomat. France doesn’t want to restrict the EFSF on how much of its funds it can use for such purchases, the newspaper said in a preview of an article to appear in tomorrow’s edition. Germany wants to limit the amount EFSF can spend for bonds per country and is also considering whether there should be a time limit for bond purchases, Handelsblatt said." Said otherwise, here comes the latest cause of discord within Europe. Unfortunately, it also means that any rumor, innuendo and speculation that Europe has finally reached a coherent union over its own bailout can be promptly discarded. As if there was ever any doubt in the first place.

There are three phrases the market never wants to hear. Ever. They are "contingency", "just in case", and "only." Alas, it just got all three of them in an article just released by French Le Figaro which, per Bloomberg, has disclosed that "France has been working for a number of days on a plan that would allow the state to take a stake in the country’s financial institutions if needed, Le Figaro reports, citing a source. The plan, the article continues, is being prepared “just in case” it’s needed and only 2 or 3 banks may be affected under plan." So, let's get this straight: France has scrambled to put together a nationalization plan to bail out just "2 or 3" banks, "if needed"... Uhhh, all we can say to this is, LEEEEEEEROOYYYYYYY JENKINS. Although the person we would most love to hear say it, is the person who until two months ago was the French minister of finance and currently head of the world's most irrelevant and disorganized organization.

We won't comment on the supreme imbecility of being able to predict something as amorphous as a recession in decile increments, but for what it's worth, here it is. Just out from the crack Goldman tag team of Hatzius and Dominic Wilson, who usually don't work together unless they have to make some big statement: "We now see the risk of a renewed US recession as around 40%." (this was 30% before - expect every other Wall Street idiot to follow suit with an identical prediction). Also, those wondering if Goldman is content with getting shut out on its IOER cut demand, we have the answer: no. To wit: "We expect additional easing of monetary policy beyond the ‘operation twist’ announced recently, although this may not come until sometime in the first half of 2012. In addition, the market’s focus on changes in the Fed’s guidance on future policies - including a greater emphasis on the employment part of the ‘dual mandate’ and/or a temporarily higher inflation target - is likely to intensify." Lastly, as relates to the saving grace in Europe, little surprise there - Goldman, whose plant Mario Draghi is about to take over the ECB, expects the very same ECB to open the spigots: "The increase in financial risk is likely to lead the European Central Bank to ease its liquidity policies further this month, and the economic weakness will probably result in a cut in the repo rate by 50bp to 1% by December." As for European economic prospects, well, sacrifices will be made: "we now expect a mild recession in Germany and France, and a deeper downturn in the Euro periphery." And with a former Goldmanite about to take over the European money issuance authority, we have a bad feeling about what will transpire in Europe after October 31, when Trichet finally exits stage left.

"We're not doing this for the Greeks, but for us," said Angela Merkel amidst a cacophony of doomsday scenarios. It's all about propping up German banks and exporters. For the French, however, the European debt crisis doesn't seem to exist.