Yield Curve

How can traders position the oil trade in the current environment?

ZIRP in essence is deflationary in nature, it becomes a self-fulfilling, reinforcing slippery slope of “Monetary Extremism” and should be rejected at all costs!

At the end of the day, there is nothing behind the curtain at the Eccles Building except for the specious doctrine of wealth effects. Fractional changes in the money market rate are of relevance only to the day traders and robo machines which occupy the casino. Fed policy is designed to keep them dancing. It rests on the delusional hope that the drug of ZIRP or near-ZIRP can keep the stock market averages rising and a trickle down of extra spending by the wealthy flowing into the reported GDP and job numbers. History proves beyond a shadow of doubt that bubbles fueled by bad money ultimately splatter into a world of harm. The Fed is not only ignoring the coming storm, but is actually fueling its intensity with malice of forethought.

Shortly after yesterday’s open, the S&P 500 was down nearly 2% and off its recent all-time high by 3.5%. But soon the robo-machines and day traders were buying the “dip” having apparently once again gotten the “all-clear” signal. Don’t believe it for a second! The global financial system is literally booby-trapped with accidents waiting to happen owing to six consecutive years of massive money printing by nearly every central bank in the world.

It’s terrifying how fast the whole Swiss yield curve sank under the waterline of zero. Now even the 15-year bond has negative interest. The franc has reached the end.

The early bid for Swiss Francs following the Greek election results has turned into a bloodbath of outflows as EURCHF has swung a huge 230 pips overnight with Swissy now at its weakest to the Euro since before QECB leaks last Wednesday... One wonders if the SNB is back in the game?

1. Sovereign QE not working in Europe
2. Emerging market capital flight
3. Political risk/popularist governments
4. US wage inflation
5. Increased currency volatility
6. Insurance against natural catastrophes

As reported earlier, several hours ago Saudi Arabia announced that its 91-year-old King Abdullah had passed away, in the process setting off what may be a fascinating, and problematic, Saudi succession fight which impacts everything from oil, to markets to geopolitics, especially in the aftermath of the dramatic political coup in neighboring Yemen. As a reminder, it is Saudi Arabia whose insistence on not cutting oil production with the intent of hobbling the US shale industry has led to the splinter of OPEC, and to a Brent price south of $50. Which is why today's event and its implications will be analyzed under a microscope by everyone: from politicians to energy traders. Here, courtesy of Ecstrat's Emad Mostaque, is an initial take at succession, the likely impact on oil, then the Saudi market & currency and finally regional politics.

Swiss interest rates were already the lowest in the world before The Swiss National Bank de-pegged from the Euro last week but in the ensuing few days, investor demand for the 'safety' of Switzerland has collapsed the yield curve to levels thought impossible just weeks ago...

It would appear the housing data was not the growth-inspiring 'everything is awesome' facts that we were told about last night. US Treasury 30Y yields have just broken to a new record low 2.3500% handle...  The yield curve (2s30s) has cracked lower to its flattest since 2008. As we explained here, this is not unexpected as anticipation of ECB QE means duration scarcity rules.

The old joke is "In America, you correct newspaper, but in Soviet Union, newspaper corrects you.” Switzerland is now experiencing the bond market equivalent.

The Fed's own favorite mouthpiece Jon Hilsenrath (for more see "On The New York Fed's Editorial Influence Over The WSJ"), just released a piece in which he claims, or rather his sources tell him, that the Fed is "on track to start raising short-term interest rates later this year, even though long-term rates are going in the other direction amid new investor worries about weak global growth, falling oil prices and slowing consumer price inflation." In other words, just like the ECB in 2011, the Fed which has hinted previously that it will hike rates just so it has "dry powder" to ease once the US economy falls into recession, will accelerate a full-blown recession in the US when it does - if indeed Hilsenrath's source is correct and not merely trying to push the USDJPY higher (for reference, see Reuters "exclusive" report on the Samsung takeover of Blackberry, denied by both parties within hours - hike some time this summer.

First the good news... European Stocks (ex Greece and Switzerland) exploded higher this week with 'great' nations like Portugal (up over 7%) and Italy (up over 5.5%) and Germany's ADX over 10,000 to record highs. EU bond spreads compressed notably (Spain/Italy down 20bps or so on the week) and EURUSD crashed below 1.15... all on hopes that the SNB decision means Moar-Massive ECB QE comes next week (not priced in). But the bad news... Swiss stocks collapsed-er again today for the worst week since Lehman. Swiss bond yields are negative to 12 year maturity and EURCHF is back below par at 0.9820...

Swiss 10Y rates crashed over 10bps by the close (having plunged as low as 3.3bps at one point) but the entire Swiss curve is negative at any maturity less than that. EURUSD crashed over 200pips back below 1.16 - the lowest since November 2003. Swiss stocks crashed around 15% before bouncing back to a 8-9% loss - the biggest drop since 1989. Away from Switzerland (and Greece) European stocks and sovereign bonds saw initial dips bought on ECB QE implications but EU Sovereigns did bleed back wider. European VIX spiked from sub-29 to over 32 and all the way back down to close lower on the day.