Yuan

After Thursday night's global liquidation fireworks, the overnight trading session was positively tame by comparison. After opening lower, the Nikkei ended up 1.7% driven by a modest jump in the USDJPY. China too noted a drop in its ultra-short term repo and SHIBOR rate, however not due to a broad liquidity injection but because as we reported previously the PBOC did a targeted bail out of one or more banks with a CNY 50 billion injection. Overnight, the PBOC added some more color telling banks to not expect the liquidity will always be plentiful as the well-known transition to a slower growth frame continues. The PBOC also reaffirmed that monetary policy will remain prudential, ordered commercial banks to enhance liquidity management, told big banks that they should play a role in keeping markets stable, and most importantly that banks can't rely on an expansionary policy to solve economic problems. Had the Fed uttered the last statement, the ES would be halted limit down right about now. For now, however, communist China continues to act as the most capitalist country, even if it means the Shanghai Composite is now down 11% for the month of June.

A month ago, when stock markets around the globe were hitting all time highs, we wrote "The Bronze Swan Arrives: Is The End Of Copper Financing China's "Lehman Event"?" which as so often happens, many read, but few appreciated for what it truly was - the end of a major shadow leverage conduit (one involving unlimited rehypothecation at that),and the collapse of a core source of shadow liquidity. One month later, China's "Lehman event" is on the verge of appearing, and with Overnight repo rates hitting 25% last night, coupled with rumors of bank bailouts rampant, it very well already may have but don't expect the secretive Chinese politburo and PBOC to disclose it any time soon. So now that the market has finally once again caught up with reality, for the benefit of all those who missed it the first time, here is, once again, a look at the arrival of China's Bronze Swan.

• Bonds Tumble With Stocks as Gold Drops in Rout on Fed (BBG)
• Bernanke Sees Beginning of End for Fed’s Record Easing (BBG)
• Gold Tumbles to 2 1/2 Year-Low After Fed as Silver Plummets (BBG)
• PBoC dashes hopes of China liquidity boost (FT)
• U.S. Icons Now Made of Chinese Steel (WSJ)
• Emerging Markets Crack as $3.9 Trillion Funds Unwind (BBG)
• Everyone joins the fun: India sets up elaborate system to tap phone calls, e-mail (Reuters)
• China Manufacturing Shrinks Faster in Threat to Europe (BBG)
• More on how Syria's Al-qaeda, and now US, supported "rebels", aka Qatar mercenaries, operate (Reuters)
• Echoes of Mao in China cash crunch (FT) - how dare a central bank not pander to every bank demand?
• French watchdog tells Google to change privacy policy (Reuters)

It was only a matter of time before at least one Chinese bank (and then many more) needing to rollover overnight/short-term funding and unable to do so in an interbank market that is now completely frozen, had to be bailed out. Sure enough, according to Hao Hong, the chief China strategist at Bank of Communications Co., who cited unidentified industry sources, the People’s Bank of China used "targeted liquidity operations" to supply 50b yuan to a bank in China. Bloomberg reports that the overnight cash supplied was at 5.1%, while the 1-week at 5.4%. Hong added that more banks are in talks with PBOC to obtain funds amid a cash squeeze, as expected. The problem is that the PBOC can't continue targeted bail outs, and will sooner or later be forced into a broad liquidity providing move, which will unleash a repeat of the 2011 in China scenario, which did not have a very happy ending.

It seems yet another conspiracy theory has become conspiracy fact thanks to a Chinese whistleblower. While the shrodinger-like nature of Chinese data has been keeping the market guessing for the last few years, the disconnects between hard-data (e.g. electricity production) and government-supplied surveys have been, at times, ridiculous (leaving aside the un-manipulated craziness of arbitrage-driven trade data). As the WSJ's China Real-time reports, in an unusual move, the National Bureau of Statistics – clearly frustrated with the lies, damn lies – has recently outed a local government it says was involved in a particularly egregious case of number fudging, providing rare insight into just how we’re being deceived.

China is snugging, trying to rein in its financial system and shadow banking system.

There was non-Fed news in the overnight market. Such as Nikkei reporting that Germany's Angela Merkel was the first G-8 member to be openly critical of Japan's credit-easing policy "that has led to the yen's weakening against major currencies" in what was the first shot across the bow between the two export-heavy countries. Not helping risk in Asia was also news that China May new home prices rose in 69 cities over the past year, compared to 68 the prior month, thus keeping the PBOC's hands tied even as the liquidity shortage in traditional liquidity conduits continues to cripple the banking system and forcing the Agricultural Development Bank of China to scale back the size of two bond offerings today by 31% "as the worst cash crunch in at least seven years curbs demand for the securities." Rounding up Asia were the latest RBA meeting minutes which noted the possibility of further weakness in AUD over time, adding downside pressure on the currency and pressuring all AUD linked equity pairs lower. Still, the USDJPY caught a late bid pushing it above 95 on some comments by the economy minister Amari who said that the government would not be swayed by day-to-day market moves and the BOJ "should continue making efforts to convey its thinking to markets" adding the government was not making policy to pander to markets, confirming that Japan is making policy solely to pander to markets.

• Obama prepares for chilly talks with Putin over Syria (Reuters)
• G8 opens amid dispute on Syria arms (FT)
• Economists Blame Fed for Higher Bond Yields (WSJ) - wait... what? Isn't the "stronger economy" to blame?
• What a novel concept - In the Czech Republic, a spying scandal has forced the PM to resign (BBG)
• Rigged-Benchmark Probes Proliferate From Singapore to UK (BBG)
• Economists Wary as Fed's Next Forecast Looms  (Hilsenleak)
• Banks Balk at New Rules for Small Loans (WSJ)
• Sporadic clashes in Turkey as Erdogan asserts authority (Reuters)

It was less than 24 hours after we warned that the Chinese "liquidity shortage" had hit an all time high, as a result of the PBOC's intransigence to inject liquidity into a financial system roiled by Bernanke's and Kuroda's offshore hot-money flows, that things got worse when early in the Chinese trading session we learned that the PBOC experienced its first liquidity drainage failure in 23 months, when the Chinese Finance Ministry failed to sell over 30% of the debt offered at auction - the direct result of a cash squeeze currently ravaging the country's banks. The ministry sold 9.53 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) of 273-day bills, less than the 15 billion yuan target, according to Chinabond, the nation’s biggest bond-clearing house. Agricultural Development Bank of China Co. raised 11.51 billion yuan in a sale of six-month bills last week, less than its 20 billion yuan goal.

• As Goldman's money-printing tentacle Carney arrives, everyone else leaves: Tucker to Leave BOE (WSJ)
• So much for pent up demand: Refinancings Plunge as Bond Yields Rise (WSJ)
• Singapore Censures 20 Banks for Attempts to Rig Benchmark Rates (BBG)
• Behind the Big Profits: A Research Tax Break (WSJ)
• While working for spies, Snowden was secretly prolific online (Reuters)
• Turkey to Await Ruling on Park as Erdogan Meets Protesters (BBG)
• Iran votes for new president, Khamenei slams U.S. doubts (Reuters)
• NSA revelations, modified wheat cast a pall on U.S. trade talks with Europe (WaPo)
• Euro zone inflation subdued as employment keeps falling (Reuters)

Thursdays may be the new Tuesdays (if only this week), but so far Fridays are still just Fridays, and no mysterious overnight levitation is here to open the market 0.5% higher. The Nikkei 225 retraced a fraction of Thursday’s losses overnight as the positive close on Wall Street and a dovish interpretation of Hilsenrath’s WSJ piece yesterday allowed the Japanese indices to recover from the worst levels of the week. USD/JPY has pared Thursday’s bounce and trades lower as the Bank of Japan’s minutes showed one member of the board proposing the advantages of limiting the bank’s QQE program to just two years in order to avoid financial imbalances. Overnight in China, as we warned yesterday, the liquidity situation got even worse, when the PBOC's attempt to drain liquidity failed to sell some 30% of the planned 15 billion yuan in 273-day bills (more on this shortly), leaving the banks screaming Uncle and on the verge of a full-blown liquidity crisis: we expect rumors, and news, of more banks failing to roll over overnight liquidity to hit the tape shortly.

Those who have been following our coverage of the bipolar Chinese liquidity situation (most recently here and here) are well aware of the unique position the world's fastest (if only on paper) growing economy finds itself in: on one hand, it is the target of massive external hot money flows from both the Fed and the BOJ, which are pushing select inflation in the country higher, manifesting itself best in the real-estate market now higher for 12 consecutive months. On the other hand, the local banking system is in such dire need of liquidity, that not only have various short-term SHIBORs soared to multi-year highs but as Market News reported last week, China Everbright Bank failed to repay 6b yuan ($977m) borrowed from Industrial Bank on time yesterday because of tight liquidity, leading to “chain effect” borrowing in the market overnight and almost ushering in the first bank failure in China. The unprecedented liquidity shortage in China is seen best on the overnight SHIBOR chart below which just hit an all time high. In a nutshell there is zero free liquidity in the system. So what would have happened if the PBOC had continued on its merry way of withdrawing liquidity from the interbank market? Very bad things. “If the PBOC sold repos or bills today, the market would have collapsed.”

• Global shares pummeled, dollar slumps as rout gathers pace (Reuters)
• Hong Kong to Handle NSA Leaker Extradition Based on Law (BBG)
• Lululemon chairman sold $50 million in stock before CEO's surprise departure (Reuters)
• Companies scramble for consumer data (FT)
• Traders Pay for an Early Peek at Key Data (WSJ)
• When innovation dies: Apple looking at bigger iPhone screens, multiple colors (Reuters)
• Washington pushed EU to dilute data protection (FT)
• Japan-U.S. drill to retake remote island kicks off (Japan Times)
• EM economies in danger of overheating, World Bank says (FT)
• Don't forget the Indian crisis: Chidambaram seeks to quell concerns over rupee (FT)

Milton Friedman once said that “if you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand”. I think if he were around still, he would need to revise that.

Goldman Sachs has suggested that there may be up to 349 Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) taking place in China this year. But, it’s not the Chinese capital markets that those companies will be wanting. Chinese firms are still hell-bent on getting floated on the world’s biggest and best stock exchange, and rightly so.