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JPM: Tapering Still Coming In September
From JPM's Michael Feroli
Tapering vs tightening is only the beginning
Chairman Bernanke's remarks in Boston were dovish on the outlook for interest rates, but did little to counter the notion that tapering will occur relatively soon. In some ways his comments echoed those from earlier in summer and spring: distinguishing the asset purchase policy from the zero rate policy, and emphasizing that decisions on one policy won't necessarily impact decisions for the other policy. However, yesterday his remarks went further, by laying out the reasons for why rates won't rise dramatically in the medium-term. The reason for this subtle change in emphasis is the revised forecasts released after the most recent FOMC meeting, which showed a quicker move down in the unemployment rate. Irrespective of tapering concerns, this change in forecasts makes it harder for the Chairman to argue that rates will be low for a very long time. The approach he took yesterday mirrored some recent Fed research in arguing that the unemployment rate understates the degree of labor market slack. Ultimately, however, the emerging communications challenge was apparent to the FOMC even last year as they debated the threshold guidance: only laying out conditions for the first rate hike is an incomplete means to ensuring accommodative financial conditions, as the market may thereafter price an aggressive path of tightening. In any event, unlike tapering, tightening will likely be a choice for Bernanke's successor, so what he says about the conditions for tightening are only indicative of the thinking that may prevail at that time.
Nothing in yesterday's remarks led us to question our view that tapering in September is coming, conditional on the data cooperating. To the contrary, when asked if he regretted mentioning slowing the pace of purchases recently, he stated that "notwithstanding some volatility that we've seen in the past six weeks, that speaking now and explaining what we're doing may have avoided, you know, a much more difficult situation in another time." Rather than push back against the way his comments were interpreted, the Chairman seemed to welcome the better alignment of the market's view with the Fed's view.
Where things get more interesting is with respect to interest rate policy. Here, as usual, the Chairman distinguished the goals of asset purchase policy -- to get "some near-term momentum" -- from those of interest rate policy, to see the recovery through at least to the point at which the economic thresholds are achieved. Given the tame outlook for inflation, the more relevant threshold is the 6.5% unemployment rate. The most recent FOMC forecasts indicate they expect that to be reached around the end of next year or early 2015. In principle, a change in FOMC forecasts shouldn't alter the market's pricing of the Fed, as Fed growth forecasts haven't been shown to significantly outperform private sector forecasts. The repricing of Fed rate hike expectations suggests that in practice the market believes the Fed is a better forecaster, or else really thinks the Fed reaction function has changed.
Perhaps in part to address this second concern, the Chairman yesterday tried to modulate post-lift-off rate hike expectations. On two occasions he made reference to the inadequacy of the unemployment rate, as it either "overstates the health of our labor market" or "understates the weakness of the labor market." This should be considered in the context of traditional macro models which, in normal times, suggest that the unemployment rate would be near the natural rate, or NAIRU, and the funds rate would be near its neutral rate. The most recent FOMC projections point to a NAIRU of 5.6% and a neutral funds rate of 4.0%. That means, again in the context of traditional macro models, that after the 6.5% threshold is hit, the Fed will need to hike 400bps (or 375bps depending on how you count), for the next 100bp decline in the unemployment rate. One interpretation of Bernanke's comments yesterday is a slight move away from these traditional macro models. In particular, a recent research paper by two senior economists affiliated with the Fed, Chris Erceg and Andy Levin, recommends that in the presence of a depressed labor force participation rate, the funds rate should be kept below neutral even as the unemployment rate gets back toward its natural rate.
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Black september!
Tapering ain't coming because tapering can't come. Unless JPM is letting us know that they are pulling the plug then and there. Anyone think they would really pull the plug?
What plug is that...Bernank's butt plug, or Liesmans ball gag?
Sounds to me like panic at JPM. How is your negative Gold in your safe doing btw?
Oh fuck me. The New Normal Paradigm
Since fundamentals don't matter any more, just befuddle them with bullshit and confusion to make sure the trade tickets get written.
You can't believe anything these guys say. They would throw their own grandmother under the bus to make money.
Citi sticking to its $1,800 call and GS $1,545 call.
Not only is tapering not coming in September but with the economy sinking
so fast, the Fed will bump it up to 100 billion/month.
That's the official number, most likely the Fed is buying up crap to a much larger degree
than is being reported, they lie to us about everything else, don't they.
The Fed is probably bailing out Europe as I post this.
Thats when the Misesian crack-up boom starts.
what message would that send? we talked taper, but now we're going the opposite direction and now talking "bolster" the $85B. the diminishing utility of QE would accelerate right along with the number of zeros in ben's monthly burn.
then again, i've heard their pal, krugman say, in essense, "it's not working, so let's do more of it"
It would send the exact message that has been percolating through the "market" ever since Benji opened his wang-puffer yesterday.
That he is completely and utterly full of shit, and that the FED is a purely political entity that is 100% boxed into perpetual QE.
fuck/
Agree with every word except I think it'll be more like $150bn/mo.
Japan has shown the way....go big or go home.
I suppose all that gold is leaving JPM's vault because the wealthy are expecting deflation and a stronger dollar long term? JPM is just talking thier book.
Yes the fed is still going to attempt to taper, because they must have to for whatever reason. All Bernanke did yesterday was this
From CNBS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100879603
"Because Wall Street has been aggressively short bonds. As a result, their positions got blown out by Bernanke — after-hours, no less, a time when it's much more difficult to cover positions.
One furious trader told me he lost $6,000 covering his bond shorts. That loss, he added, would have been far greater had he not been sitting at his trading desk listening to Bernanke and not reacted instantly. "If it was a few seconds later, I would have lost $25,000 instead of $6,000," he said. He has a friend who has lost so much money overnight he won't even pick up the phone."
So the feds exit strategy is to hold everyone else at gunpoint while they creep out of the market. Last night they sprayed a bunch of hostages to prove a point.
Sucks to be them. I bought a bunch of bonds when they got hammered and now I will be taking chips off the table.
Honestly....I don't know what to make of it. We are at 2.58%...so he crushed a bunch of shorts and got himself 10bps back from before he spoke. 10bps?
I dare say the next 10bps are the most important of his career. If they are higher, he's got a real problem on his hands. If they are lower then this goes on forever.
Exactly "who" is his problem? Bond "vigilantes"?
LOL...seriously, I don't get it fonz.
He is stuck BOP. That is the bottom line. If he actually tries to exit, even just by tapering a little, yields blow out. If he does not taper, he ends up owning all the collateral.
So he tried to tip toe out, a few people ran in front of him, so he sprayed them with a machine gun.
Now everyone is staring at him. If he starts to tip toe out again, more people are going to run, and he will have to spray them again. This is where we are at.
In the meantime, the people who are too stupid to realize what happens if he does not try to exit, will just order another drink and not give a shit what may happen down the road.
He will not exit. Anyone thinking so at this point is an idiot, or loves being mowed down by a machine gun.
No way the FED exits QE in Sept. or at any other time. It is QE4eva until she blows. Tapering is bullshit, much like green shoots and irrational exuberance.
I don't think he will exit. I do think he knows that the other option is total catastrophe. I also think he is stupid enough to think he can convince people that him pulling 85 bil a month off the table is not tighteneing, and he will try to prove it.
They aren't going to own all the collateral... If interest rates keeping going up government interest payments will go through the roof, adding yet another source of deficit spending.
I also think he is stupid enough to think he can convince people that him pulling 85 bil a month off the table is not tighteneing, and he will try to prove it.
Well if he DID, Atlantis will have to RAISE from the oceans floor,for there to be any buyers,or maybe the Mayans?.
Fonz the collateral argument is pure BS. You heard him yourself " There is plenty of collateral out there and we only own a small portion of it". I never bought that argument from the beginning. He can monetize car loans if he has to.
agree completely, although when we get there everybody better have their phyz.
BTW...A quick glance at the fed's balance sheet will show that they are not tapering.
the idea that they are tapering is ridiculous. If anything they are blowing the balance sheet out in the shadow market buying the bonds that China or Japan have been dumping/
He can monetize pocket lint if he wants to.
We are at the stage where he has to try to talk the talk, even though he will never walk the walk. This stage may last a while.
The 3rd Bank of the US is going to be the bad bank of last resort.
I have plenty of that...some belly lint and toe jam as well.
I am not entirely sure that the Fed is stuck. The "taper" is not an "exit" because they are still increasing their holdings. Eventually it will amount to a reduction in holdings as bonds reach maturity. But the average duration of their holdings is years off. So depending on how they manage their tapered purchases, knowing the actual "exit" date could take a while.
Even if the Fed is "stuck" having trouble managing a smooth transition, ambiguity and uncertainty are like their left and right fists in this fight. My guess is they increase the uncertainty through early 2014...and things will get way weirder than they appear to be now.
purposely planned right after the close; but earlier in the day when the minutes came out there was a short spike up and then it faded - almost like someone in the know jumped the gun
Spraying the hostages is the new muppet slaying! Excellent.
Oh these poor fellows lost money shorting bonds, say it isn't so.
Moar 'good cop/bad cop' all day please!
Fuck these fucking fucks...
Fucking hear, hear...
conditional on the data cooperating
Well that is as likely as ice water in Hell.So, Forward QE!!!!.
Yes, going from $85B to $84.99999999 is 'tapering'.
Now 'tapering' is just a buzzword....no one has any actual idea what a 'tapering' actually is....just that if it is 'taper' then thats bad, 'no taper' then that's good.
What a clownshow.
I look at this day to day utter bullshit and knows behind the curtain it must be a real clusterfuck!
I repeat - the FED won't not not taper for an exteded period of time - not to be extended by a non-extented extentions - if econmic condiions don't not improve within that period of time weather permitting.
I repeat - the FED won't not not taper for an exteded period of time - not to be extended by a non-extented extentions - if econmic condiions don't not improve within that period of time weather permitting.
The weather....WE know it's ALL about the weather!
So that's why they're called
Seasonal Adjustments!
depends on whether they're fudged a lot or little...
Does this mean no moar free coffee and left over pastries at my local Chase?
Taper...Crap. They won't taper because the CAN'T! Just good cop, bad cop to keep them guessing.
Debt is running at 68% of last years debt. Less debt, less monetization. Why keep the 85bn a month which was in part paranoia about fiscal cliff, sequester, etc. Unless you want to blow up the bond market at some point. The taper cometh.
The bond market? Think big. He will blow up the USD itself.
INSERT William Banzai with Cop and Spray Can O' Mace ...
I can't believe that I actually read that.
I only made it 3/4's way through before the 'dry heaves' started.
In a way it almost makes sense which is frightening. After banks have made all the gains they can from flipping t-bonds back to the fed the only thing left is to buy and hold and for that they want a decent long short spread. But if jpm is telling the truth and the whole truth i am like you starting to feel a gut wrenching vomit coming on. The only way this makes sense is if they taper, jpm loads up, then they untaper before uncle sam goes belly up paying those higher rates to everyone. Still, if jpm is telling the truth as they know it, and seeing as how jpm actually sets fed policy, does that mean that the fed is being transparent? If so does that mean that a world ending meteorite is imminent? :spooky:
I'll bet Bill Gross knows. Too bad he's unavailable for comment as he's suffering from severe paper cuts from all the bond purchasing he's been doing over the last 24 hours.
Gross has been wrong many times but he ...never lost money
Nobody knows whether he hedged those position by use of swaps
His problem is not bond price I'd say, his problem is bad media news making people withdraw their funds.
the media has been screaming that you need to be selling bonds and buying stocks (great rotation) for a long time now.
Yet...when people finally started to actually do it, Bernanke blasted the shit out of them for doing it.
folks who redeemded the funds kept them in cash
No rotation occured as far as I know
I doubt that there's many traders shorting bonds above 2.5% EKM. If they move below that level, then I suspect we see some active shorting. I'm sure Fonz has a better handle on that though.
I think that s exactly right yen. I will get into it later if you are around. Gotta run out now.
I know. I was about to comment on the great ad at the bottom that shows you what not to do to relieve your back pain. Both very informative.
Short Bonds now - Oh wait, that is what JPM probably is doing
correct
When JPM says tapering is coming, it means that it's been onging for months already
Does anybody think that JPM didn't know tapering started so they'd take measures to dump bonds to suckers in advance?
What JPM means, IMO, is that we're getting rate hike in September.
The fed is not tapering:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm
http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm
by now it should be clear anybody that gov data is propaganda and nothing else
I would have thought that by now it would be well known the federal reserve is anything but federal.
one more reason to put zero absolute trust on that data
The "rate hike" will be Ben's going away present to the Markets.
I'll stick by my earlier call that this house of stock, bond, credit instrument & other cards Ben has constructed through 4+ years of nearly pure debt issuance, representing little in real, permanent wealth, yet representing much in terms of actual obligations that many counterparties (including highly leveraged debtors AND creditors of those debtors) have been led to believe it actually does represent, is extremely close (i.e. weeks) to collapsing.
This is only my 2nd call of this nature since August of 2007, and although it took a little while for that call to pay off, pay off it did.
Oh look, a flashing headline regarding China warning Bernanke about exiting QE as published through state controlled media (I wonder what that's all about....hmmm):
China Urges U.S. to Weigh Global Impact When Exiting QEPlease "Trading Gods" let TruthInSunshine be right?
Benny engineered a 5% decline so that his buddies at JPM and GS could get better positioned. Forget tapering and rate hikes for now. Nothing major is gonna happen until 2021 when the DOW is in the $60,000 range. We are on the cusp of a sell the barn and buy stocks moment as all the Johnny-come lately's pile into the markets. All that bond money has to go somewhere. The propbability of a market crash is about equal to that of the Cleveland Browns winning a Super Bowl. Dismiss the dickering and flip-flopping and buy everything.
Tapering comes when QE has no effect on anything on this planet, which might take a while, but surely it will come (in next 1000 years).
Arrest the author for working for a financial terrorist organization.
Bubble Bernanke and the Fed are saying they'll keep smacking the US dollar until it falls off the cliff.
No tapering until their forced to stop QE. Until then, enjoy higher prices on everything, Food, energy, etc.
FED Taper .... BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS BS and that's the truth
I smell a beached whale.
Couldn't be bothered to read the article. Only two words came to mind when I saw the headline: lying and fucks.
Much more interesting were the comments. Bass was mentioned for buying bonds with both hands, which on the surface seems like a hedge in anticipation of tapering and downturn of stocks, but may be a punt against the economy itself. Both infinite QE and tapering (Which doesn't mean turning off the liquidity tap, but QE Lite) mean big inflationary pressures can only get worse. Deflation caused by decreases in demand and consumer spending while industrial production, much of it subsidised, still pretends in the unicorn of GDP growth beyond the rainbow may hit that immovable mathematical barrier as retail cashflow ceases to exist - a retail service economy cannot maintain itself when only half the population are employed and the other half live hand to mouth on benefits. The only things keeping this fantasy of a "cheap" life going are the subsidies and the slave labour production capabilities of China. The latter now more concerned about its domestic markets and inflation than selling cheaply to foreign markets.
If I were Bass, I'd be interested in physical commodities that are liquid (money in other words), but he might consider them part of the tainted baskets of industrial demand and highly manipulated by paper versions of them in futures. I don't blame him for buying bonds, although he might get laughed at for a few months as the markets climb after the summer doldrums.