Investment Grade

Europe's story today was multi-month record deterioration in equity and credit markets. The turning point appears to have been the market's recognition of what LTRO really is and LTRO2 pretty much marked the top. While recent weakness has been exaggerated by the JPMorgan debacle (contagion to 'cheaper' hedge indices in credit), the Greek reality and clear contagion of a Euro / No-Euro decision any minute has Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese equity and credit markets crashing lower (from already Tilson-clutching lows). Spanish bond spreads are 160bps wider since LTRO2 and Italy 87bps wider with today's +28bps in Spain taking it to all-time record wides (pay less attention to yields now as they will be flattered by the ripfest run to safety in bunds), Portugal is back above 1100bps in 5Y CDS, but most critically - given LTRO's unintended consequence of encumbering the weakest banks exponentially to the domestic sovereign - the LTRO Stigma is up more than 200% from its lows when we first pointed out the reality. Banks who took LTRO exposure are on average almost at record wides (with many of them already at record wides). European equities are weak broadly but remain above their credit-implied levels as investment grade and high-yield credit in Europe falls back to four-month lows (almost entirely eradicating the year's gains) while the narrower Euro Stoxx 50 equity index is down significantly YTD. short- and medium-term EUR-USD basis swaps are deteriorating rapidly once again as clearly funding is becoming a major issue in the Euro-zone.

BTFD/STFR Deja-Vu - check. Credit underperforming - check. USD higher - check. Treasury Yields lower - check. Ask an equity guy how today was and you'll likely get a shrug of the shoulders (unless he owns JPM or CHK); ask a credit guy (if you can pull him away from the bar) and you'll get a very different response. Investment grade credit markets were crushed today on the back of pressure on JPM's hedge and unwind expectations - this was across pretty much all the indices that are out there (with over 90 names in the IG9 index also in the on-the-run IG18 index - the numbers simply reflect the series or portfolio that is being referred to). This was the worst week in IG credit of the year and lifted spreads to 4-month wides and at the same time (until late in the day) high-yield and high-beta credit did not follow suit (very unusual and very indicative of the dramatic positioning in the IG indices that JPM has basically blown up). Treasury yields have now fallen for the 8th week in a row - the longest streak since 1998! Away from pure equity and credit, risk assets remained wildly unimpressed by the incredible 8 sigma rip-fest this morning in stocks as commodities all close lower from yesterday day-session closes - though bounced to end around their European open levels on the day (except for underperforming Copper). The USD leaked higher all day with a small interruption thanks to CAD strength on their jobs data this morning (AUD, EUR, and GBP all close at the week's lows). A horrible end to an ugly week as S&P 500 e-mini futures ended very close to their 50DMA on above average volume though low average trade size (which we suspect was dominated by algos in the rip this morning). The losses JPM faces from today's index shifts are already large and with risk managers everywhere asking their traders if they hold any of that 'trash', we suspect more selling and unwinds are to come; and while JPM got all the press, Morgan Stanley is now down year-to-date.

Just in case you were wondering if there was any fall-out from the JPM/Iksil debacle. The investment grade credit indices are getting Corzined here from IG9 10Y to the latest and greatest IG18 5Y. Equity markets will not stand idly by as the investment grade credit market violently jerks wider.

When it comes to question of "who is right" in the market, the debate usually ends with credit (investment grade) or equity (and its high beta equivalents in the fixed income arena: high yield bonds). And since the question is rhetorical we will kill the suspense and cut straight to the answer: always, and without fail, credit. The chart below shows that once the manipulated ramp up in high beta risk equivalents such as the ES and HY is over (especially since IG is now losing its artificial JPM-induced bid, or technically offer, which is unwinding positions across all vintages and buying protection to close short positions), the way down to a credit-implied fair value of 1335 on the S&P will be fast and furious.

You know I saw this one coming 3 years ago, didn't you??? This ain't the end of the story either. You heard it hear first, again!

Out of nowehere, JPM announced 40 minutes ago that it would hold an unscheduled 5pm call to coincide with the release of its 10-Q. Rumors were swirling as to why. The reason is as follows:

• JPMORGAN SAYS CIO UNIT HAS SIGNIFICANT MARK-TO-MARKET LOSSES - "Fortress balance sheet" at least until Bruno Iskil gets done with it.
  
• JPMORGAN SAYS LOSSES ARE IN SYNTHETIC CREDIT PORTFOLIO - but, but, net is NEVER, EVER Gross.
• JPM WOULD NEED $971M ADDED COLLATERAL IF RATINGS CUT ONE-NOTCH
• JPM WOULD NEED $1.7B ADDED COLLATERAL IF RATINGS CUT 2 NOTCHES - how about three notches?
• JPMORGAN: MAY HOLD SOME SYNTHETIC CREDIT POSITIONS LONG TERM - "Level 3 CDS FTW"
• "As of March 31, 2012, the value of CIO's total AFS securities portfolio exceeded its cost by approximately $8 billion"

As a reminder, the CIO unit is where Bruno Iksil was making $200 billion-sized bets. Basically JPM has suffered massive losses at its CIO group most likely due to its IG/HY positions held by Iksil.

Just as we warned last night, the lack of an active European credit market to look over the shoulders of their more exuberant equity colleagues quickly came to bear today as London traders turned up for work in no mood for bullish hope. Investment grade credit spreads in Europe jumped their most in a month and pushed close to four-month wides as the entire credit complex sold off aggressively. It seemed Main (the European IG credit index) was instrument of choice for hedgers (cheaper and more liquid with a smattering of financials) as opposed to XOVER (the European HY credit index) but we suspect the latter will rapidly catch up. Stocks fell further with Greece hitting multi-decade lows but Italy and France underperforming (as reality bit following yesterday's pump). Euro Stoxx 50 was down around 2% (now -3.5% YTD) but Spain remains the YTD biggest loser -18.2% (as opposed to Germany's DAX +9.25%). Sovereign credit was also not happy (just like yesterday) but as US opened, Italy and Spain saw notable derisking pushing their 5Y spreads +7bps and +15bps respectively on the week now. Portugal is +24bps on the week so far as the basis trade unwind begins. Europe's VIX surged above 31% for the first time since the beginning of the year and while Treasuries were bid (with 30Y touching 3%), 10Y Bunds outperformed on the safety rotation now 28.5bps inside of the 10Y TSY. EURUSD slid back under 1.30 shortly after the US opened but some miraculous gappiness (and comments from Greece) dragged its lumbering body back over the 1.30 Maginot line for now.

Europe's VIX broke back above 28% today, sending it to its highest level relative to US VIX since 2003 and almost three standard-deviations above its long-run norm. So what, we hear you cry - didn't you see European PMI and unemployment and the glorious ISM data in the US yesterday? To which we counter, US equities and European equities are not diverging dramatically, US investment grade credit and European investment grade credit are not diverging dramatically, and macro-economically the two regions have been trending down together in terms of negative surprises. We assume that VIX is holding relatively low to V2X (Europe's VIX) due to market expectations that The Fed will be first to flinch in the game of global thermonuclear money-printing war; however, until we see a significant drop in US equities (and therefore the implicit risk flare and rise in VIX), we suspect Bernanke is cornered. With VIX relatively 'cheap' to its realized vol (as we noted here), perhaps Europe-US Vol-compression trade (ahead of NFP at least) is worth a look - or more simply if you are bullish Europe, sell vol (as its the richest asset) or bearish US, buy vol (as its the most out of line).

After a peaceful relaxing public disturbance or two during yesterday's May-Day holidays in Europe, the overnight data was disastrous and European risk markets responded in kind. Spain's IBEX traded below the March 2009 closing lows (though shy of the intraday lows) as it is almost back to levels not seen since Q3 2003 (with an intraday low today of 6776.5 versus 3/9/09's low of 6702.6) with its biggest drop in 2 weeks. Spanish and Italian bond yields (and spreads) pushed notably higher - back near last week's worst levels as the whole of the sovereign complex leaked wider today and financials, in their entirely consumed and joined-at-the-hip manner fell the most in 2 weeks - also near recent lows which would take EU bank stock values back beyond March 2009 levels to mid 1998 lows incredibly. It would appear some profit-taking in the LTRO-Stigma trade is occurring, rightfully so after a more than double, but non-LTRO banks outperformed today as LTRO-encumbered banks leaked back wider. European credit markets were open yesterday (since UK was not on vacation where the bulk of CDS market-making occurs) and we note that today saw investment grade credit (along with stocks) underperform (below Monday's close) - as we suspect 'cheap' hedges were grabbed while crossover credit and financials remain modestly tighter than Monday's close (even as their stocks are worse). Whether this is an up-in-capital-structure rotation on the back of hopes for new capital or merely a reflection of liquidity this week is unclear but it is worth watching as subordinated financial spreads are the outperformer off the 4/23 lows now.

• Merkel Pushes Back Against Hollande Call to End Austerity Drive (Bloomberg)
• ECB's Draghi throws crisis ball back to governments (Reuters)
• Greek Bank Chief Warns of a Possible Euro Exit (WSJ)
• China’s Wen Says Economy Will Maintain Robust Expansion (Bloomberg)
• North Korea's nuclear test ready "soon" (Reuters)
• Hong Kong Peg Architect Says Convertible Yuan `Long Way Off’ (Bloomberg)
• Hollande seeks wider EU fiscal pact (FT)
• Gavyn Davies: Why UK GDP continues to lag the G7 (FT)
• U.S. Lost AAA on Danger of Liquidity Crisis, S&P’s Kraemer Says (Bloomberg)

A sea of red is flowing from European equity markets and it seems they are unable to stem the flow as IBEX (the Italian Spanish equity index) nears March 2009 lows (down 18% YTD) but dispersion across European indices is very high from the DAX +14% YTD to Italy, Greece, and Spain very much in the red YTD. However, for the second week in a row, European equity markets (as tracked by the narrow Dow-equivalent Euro Stoxx 50) close with a negative return year-to-date -0.3%. The broader BE500 index is still up around 5% (compared to over 10% YTD gains in the S&P 500). European high yield credit is back at 3-month lows and investment grade credit at 2-month lows. This week, however, followed the exact same path as last week with equity and credit trading in a wide range but notably this week credit markets dramatically underperformed the ever-hopeful equity market with financials underperforming the heaviest. European sovereigns are generally wider close-to-close on the week but just like corporate credit and equity, they generally followed a similar path to last week with a broad range trade - though a clear trend generally wider overall. Italy underperformed Spain on the week and Portugal, as we noted earlier was the big winner on what looked like basis trade-driven flows as opposed to whole new world of relief. Ahead of the G-20 meetings, it did not seem like there was much hope in sovereign credit - even as financials and corporates did lift a little off their multi-month lows and having seen the headlines of the G-20 draft, it appears there is no magic bullet there anyway - no matter how big they think their bazooka is.

It was only last week that we highlighted the facts and fiction behind JPMorgan's prop-trading CIO office activities and Bruno' London Whale' Iksil's magnificent market cornering 'hedging' activity. Well, Bloomberg's chart-of-the-day provides the clearest and most destructive indication of just how ridiculous this supposed 'hedge' position had become. Thanks to Mary Childs and Shannon Harrington's data scrubbing, its turns out that, according to the DTCC, the net notional of contracts on Series 9 on the Investment Grade credit index (this is the credit derivative index that is most closely tied to the massive haul of outstanding tranche deals that remain in the market) surged an incredible 65% (to $148.2bn) in the last 14 weeks. As is clear from the chart, relative to every other credit derivative index this level of activity cornering, which managed to drive the index 18% below its 'fair-value', stands out rather dramatically and perhaps should jog a few regulator's from their porn-surfing lunch-breaks. The footprints of this particular whale seem a little too large to ignore but that then again, Spain did manage to sell some short-term debt so who cares?

Volatility is back. The S&P moved more than 1% on 4 of the 5 days, had the biggest down day of the year, and even the least volatile day was a 0.7% move.

More jaw-boning helped squeeze shorts as equity indices, credit, and precious metals all closed their highest since the NFP dive as QE3 hope is back on the table. The best day in four months for Materials (now the only sector green from before the NFP print) and Industrials, and the best two-day gain in financials and energy in four months but the S&P 500 remains around 1% off pre-NFP levels (but managed to fill the gap to the lows of last Thursday in S&P futures). Credit (both investment grade and high-yield spreads) managed - just as in Europe - to rip up to pre-NFP levels also (outperforming stocks). Notable divergence between AAPL and SPY started at 1045ET today - as GOOG volume picked up and accelerated which was also when ES (S&P e-mini futures) broke Tuesday's opening level and ran stops. Volume was average with higher average trade size coming in as we reached post-NFP highs (suggesting again professionals selling into strength as weak shorts are squeezed out in a hurry). The dovish comments sent Gold and Silver surging (and China rumors pushed Copper up - and WTI to around $104). VIX crumbled into the close - with its largest drop in over 5 months in percentage terms - though still higher than last Thursday's close. FX markets were noisy once again through Europe but USD ebbed higher in the afternoon - still very modestly lower on the week and day (with JPY leaking weaker today helping carry support risk a little). Treasuries also leaked higher in yield but remain at the immediate spike low yields post-NFP (pretty much in line with stocks generally) but between FX and TSYs, broad risk assets were not as excited as credit and equity markets specifically as we suspect this was weak recent shorts being shaken out suddenly. In context, the S&P 500 is down over 3% in gold terms from before the payrolls print.

Further confirmation of gold’s continuing but gradual renaissance as a safe haven asset was given by the IMF yesterday who warned that a “growing shortage of safe assets” poses a threat to “global financial stability.”  The IMF identified $74.4 trillion of potentially safe assets today, including gold, investment grade government and corporate debt, and covered bonds. Sovereign debt crises are reducing the number of governments that investors trust to issue "risk-free" bonds just as new financial regulations are increasing demand for safe securities from banks. Importantly, the IMF’s latest Global Financial Stability Report’s introduction finds that  "In the future there will be rising demand for safe assets, but fewer of them will be available, increasing the price for safety in global markets.” “Both the lack of political will to reshape fiscal policies at times of rising concern over debt sustainability and an overly rapid reduction of fiscal deficits limit governments’ capacity to produce assets with low credit risk.” The IMF has warned regarding illiquidity in “safe haven” markets. Gold remains one of the most liquid markets in the world and the illiquidity in bond markets would see increased safe haven demand for gold.  The IMF is warning regarding deteriorating public finances. As many governments see themselves being downgraded - safe haven bonds may become less safe.