Monetary Policy

I’ve received a number of emails regarding the fact that stocks continue to rally despite Europe being on the verge of Collapse. Once again, investors are forgetting that stocks are the most clueless asset class on the planet.

Indeed, here are three reasons why this latest stock market rally isn’t to be trusted.

Heading into the North American open, European equity futures are trading lower, with comments from Fitch’s Riley, who suggested that the ECB must do more to prevent cataclysmic EURO collapse, causing the most recent bout of risk averse sentiment. As a result, major FX pairs are trading lower, with EUR/USD testing 1.2700, while GBP/USD fell through 1.5400 level. Looking elsewhere, apart from being buoyed by Fitch comments, German Bunds benefited from a well received German Bobl auction. Of note, European bond yield spreads are predominantly tighter for the time being, with analysts noting buying of Spanish and Italian paper by domestic and real money account names.  Finally, there is little in terms of macro-economic data and instead the attention will be on the publication of various EU related economic outlooks and the US Treasury is set to sell USD 21bln in 10-y notes.

Anyone anticipating more easing out of the ECB's Mario Draghi first thing tomorrow may be in for disappointment, according to Goldman (which certainly should know how its alumni think), which says that "We expect the ECB to leave policy rates unchanged at its monthly policy meeting on Thursday, and also expect no further announcement of non-standard measures at this point. Before taking further measures, the ECB will likely want to have more clarity on how the macro picture is evolving and how successful the measures taken in December have been in stabilising the situation. That said, the press conference may provide further indication of where the threshold for additional ECB action lies." It is unclear how the EURUsd will react to any such interim halt in currency devaluation, but it is likely that the record number of shorts in the currency will hardly be overjoyed.

The economic superstar, with unemployment at a 20-year low and exports at an all-time high, produces 34% of the Eurozone’s GDP—and it smacked into a wall.

Markets are moving positively across the board today following comments from Fitch, dampening speculation that France may be downgraded from its Triple A status. Fitch’s Parker commented that he does not expect to see France downgraded at all throughout 2012. However he added that there are continuing pressures for France from national banks and EFSF liabilities, Parker also reinforced German confidence stating that Germany’s Triple A rating is safe. Markets were also experiencing upwards pressure from strong French manufacturing data performing above expectations and successful Austrian auctions today, tightening the spread between France and Austria on 10-year bunds.

While Ireland's bond performance is often held up as evidence that living-standard-crushing austerity can indeed lead to positive developments, Citgroup's chief economist William Buiter suggests, in a speech in Dublin today, that they should begin negotiating a new rescue package as soon as possible. Buiter, via The Irish Times, points to the fact that Ireland currently pays around 6% for its 'rescue-money' which could be refinanced (theoretically) at around 3% via the EFSF. He said Ireland was not like Greece but it was in very bad fiscal shape because of its bank guarantee (isn't that what Italy and Portugal are doing with the new Ponzi-bonds?). He said that clearly something had to be done about the "continuing massive sovereign funding gap" that Ireland had and which still existed after three and a half years of "fierce" fiscal austerity. While Merkel's comments today on central bank support as illusory and spending EU money appropriately, it would seem that Ireland remains in a strong negotiating position. We await the term 'referendum' to confirm the discussions have begun - and given the timing (the day before IMF-EU official's fifth review) we would expect to hear it soon.

Poor, poor Federal Reserve.

A confirmation on this could come shortly. My thoughts if it should come to pass.

As many have been suspecting all along, the political game involving the ouster of now former SNB president Philipp Hildebrand has been nothing more than a game of "pin the tail on the scapegoat" for bad monetary policy by the SNB, read the EURCHF 1.20 peg. In other words, it is quite likely that alongside the burgeoning SNB balance sheet, the bank had also accumulated quite a few losses, which the Swiss public will not be too happy with, and a change at the top was required. So what happens next: will the SNB relent and allow the peg to expire as the scramble for a (now much more diluted) CHF resumes ahead of the European D-Day in March, or will the peg be forced to be pushed even higher, at the expense of even greater balance sheet losses? Here is what SocGen thinks will be the next steps.

• SEC calls for detail on debt exposure (FT)
• Calls for US taxpayers to bear housing (FT)
• Beijing Sets Meek Tone on Reform to Banking Sector Amid Uncertainty (WSJ)
• Merkel, Sarkozy to seek growth, jobs for euro zone (Reuters)
• UK leaves door open for cash to IMF (FT)
• Hungary Runs Out of Options in Row With IMF (Bloomberg)
• Monti Says No More Budget Cutting Needed to Balance Italian Budget by 2013 (Bloomberg)
• China to maintain 'prudent' monetary policy (China Daily)
• Regional free trade talks in the pipeline (China Daily)

Markets are quiet halfway through the European session as most are awaiting the outcome of the meeting between German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy in Berlin at 1230GMT. The meeting is likely to centre around Greece, as well as the PSI update that, according to the FT may see the holders of Greek bonds accept higher losses as the contentious negotiation over writing down Greece’s debt burden are due to be concluded soon. German Industrial Production figures for November came in roughly in line with expectations, with the German Economic Minister commenting that this measure is likely to remain subdued over the winter months. Data released from Switzerland today shows Retail sales performing much stronger than expected, showing strong consumer demand in Switzerland across November.

All you need to know.

Overall, there are both internal structural factors and external global factors, which contribute to the making of an epic hard landing in China. China will be really vulnerable when the US and Europe both unleash the quantitative easing. These are things China has no control of. Nevertheless, the best China can do to avoid the worst is to continue the painful structural adjustment: marketize the “big four”-dominated banking industry to allow for more efficient monetary allocation; Transform the labor intensive low value-added economy to the high value-added knowledge economy; reform the wealth redistribution system to empower the broad consumer base and honor its promise of a consumption-led economy.

While the US enjoys the luxury provided by the dollar’s world currency status and diplomatic alliance with many major trade partners to export its liquidity and inflation, China enjoys none of that. They should look at the dollars in their hands with fear and doubt. So called Beijing consensus makes little sense, because the world is fast changing, pegging a country’s growth to a certain set of policy tools or a certain reserve currency (the US dollar) is equally dangerous. The battle between Keynes and Friedman has long proven the only consensus is to adapt and change. Right now China needs to adapt and change fast. Or this will be the best time in history to short China.

Can Austerity Work?

What can go wrong, almost always goes wrong. Some thoughts on how this will play out.

(my effort at levity)