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From Risk-Free Return To Return-Free Risk Overnight

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Central Banks' extreme interventionist policies (whether direct money-printing or indirect subordination of existing risk-takers) has left an investing public with a very different risk-reward environment (and very different forecast distributions for future outcomes) as we pointed out earlier. As Matt King of Citigroup notes, the 'risk-on risk-off' environment is here to stay meaning the traditional safety of bonds now offers even less upside and more downside (thanks to subordination) and equities or higher-beta more upside (thanks to central banker puts under asset markets). This helps explain the portfolio-rebalancing effect of QE et al. However, this leads to a focus on high-beta momentum with a growing chasm between price and value - and more likelihood of catastrophic loss when risk-goes-off (as liquidity spigots are closed however temporarily). Efficient frontiers are now not so efficient with marginal returns now perceived as accelerating for incremental risk-taking as the Fed has your back. This means market-cap weighted indices will naturally favor the highest-beta (much more volatile) names that will suffer the most when risk re-appears - so focus on equal-weighted or fundamental-weighted indices for risk-balanced-return. Trying to be long the tails is key as central bankers repress normal investors away from core safety leaving behind the precipice of over-invested, over-risk-stuffed momentum chasers holding the bag.

How Forecasts Have Changed - the distribution of growth probabilities has changed dramatically...

And to repress investors from worrying about these tails, central banks have printed money to nominally raise asset prices and have 'supported' debtors by subordinating existing creditors...this has increased upside for equity holders (as the central bank put seems prevalent) and increased downside for bond holders (as whatever support is provided seems to subordinate existing holders in order to avoid an actual restructuring)...

Which turns the efficient-frontier on its head - with upside from taking more and more risk an accelerating function as opposed to decaying option - i.e. investors are expecting exponentially higher marginal returns for taking on linearly more risk - since the Fed has their back. It seems being long the tails is a more balanced strategy than it used to be...

 

Source: Citi

 

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Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:39 | 2317380 greased up deaf guy
greased up deaf guy's picture

probability? definitely maybe. technical predictions are useless in a managed market.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:58 | 2317431 vast-dom
vast-dom's picture

so true, until managing the unmanageable becomes a reality at which point there'll be even less reason to use technicals and charts....

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 17:36 | 2317681 BrocilyBeef
BrocilyBeef's picture

It's impossible to know where the market is going in the short-term.

Have Ben "The Relic" Bernanke shave his beard and watch the market purge!

Thu, 04/05/2012 - 08:09 | 2318898 BorisTheBlade
BorisTheBlade's picture

managed market is hardly a market, probably maybe every move has Fed's ears attached to it covered with white noise from HFT algos.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:37 | 2317381 LouisDega
LouisDega's picture

Does this mean BTFD??

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:43 | 2317400 I Am Not a Copp...
I Am Not a Copper Top's picture

Of course it does.  Always BTFD!

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:48 | 2317413 The trend is yo...
The trend is your friend's picture

just look at the 3:00-3:30 ramp.  Business as usual.  Come back to the tables folks, everyone is winning.  BlackJacks all around.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 16:20 | 2317485 SRSrocco
SRSrocco's picture

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS IS DEAD.....

I don't know why investors & traders still put any worth in TECHNICAL ANALYSIS.  For short term moves, it is completely worthless.  I don't even try to make guesses on where silver, gold or oil is heading anymore.  Even the best get bottom calling wrong.  Jim Sincliar called a bottom in gold at $1630 range on April 2 interview on KWN (he stated this bottom took place 2 weeks ago).  Today he says this manipulation and move was so easy to see.  He says too different things within two days.  That being said, Jim is still one of the good guys in a sea of GARBAGE... especially WALL STREET.

I put a chart together as it pertains to the LONG TERM TREND in SILVER compared to the increase of the Money Supply.  When we take out all the volatility.... silver is performing just fine.  You can take a look at this at TF Metal Report at the link below:

http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/comment/150493#comment-150493

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 18:19 | 2317785 Vint Slugs
Vint Slugs's picture

First of all Jim Sinclair isn't a technical analyst.  Second are you a technical analyst; do you even know what priciples TA is built upon? 

Third, why don't you follow these links to some guys that seem to make good use of technical analysis in gold and bonds?     Check out their Bond charts comparison - awesome - and it's been sitting on the net for weeks now.

 

http://eideticresearch.com/uploads/2/8/3/4/2834543/t-bonds_now_and_then.pdf

 

http://eideticresearch.com/uploads/2/8/3/4/2834543/tbonds12v96_2.pdf

 

http://eideticresearch.com/uploads/2/8/3/4/2834543/gold_-_when_channels_fail_2-6-2012.pdf

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 20:41 | 2318082 WhiteNight123129
WhiteNight123129's picture

Buy Palm oil plantations

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 21:20 | 2318175 Stax Edwards
Stax Edwards's picture

+1

If you are up to speed on disease risk, yes, go long your very own palm oil plantation.  CR and DR come to mind as good places to start your research for plantation purchase.  Emission controls in the future should be another consideration.  The palm oil plants at La Romana DR and the one north of Quepos CR come to mind.  Foul sooty black smoke day and night.  Nasty extraction plants, but cheap to operate.  Staple ingredient in the ever more popular flavored coffee creamers.  That being said there are many old plantations filled with ALL dead palm trees from 'the plague'. 

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:38 | 2317383 Haddock
Haddock's picture

How about: "no risk, no return" - the new paradigm?

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:38 | 2317388 Burr's 2nd Shot
Burr's 2nd Shot's picture

I don't see AAPL on those graphs, is it somewhere between gold and cash?

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 17:33 | 2317678 BrocilyBeef
BrocilyBeef's picture

But I thought AAPL was GLD!

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:40 | 2317392 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

Thanks, Shiti.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:40 | 2317393 Henry Chinaski
Henry Chinaski's picture

There is a certain clarity gained by following ZH over time.

BTFD bitchez!

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:42 | 2317399 Henry Chinaski
Henry Chinaski's picture

"Overnight" being the operative word.  (All the intersting stuff happens after hours.)

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:43 | 2317401 Boilermaker
Boilermaker's picture

They ain't done yet.

You'll notice the magic mystical carpet ride back to SPX 1,4000, right?

There's more bullshit in the back of trick yet to be pulled out.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:45 | 2317404 The Axe
The Axe's picture

right   New york Fed    buying the close so Bob Pissdick  will tell me how bullish...

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:48 | 2317408 SimpleandConfused
SimpleandConfused's picture

Nice graphs.  Now pay attention and BTFD.  Can't you see the move already?  This dip was just to position the smart money for the "blowout" NFP report.  And trust me, it is going to be a doozie.  Real?  Well of course not.  Does it matter?  Well of course not.

S&P 1500 soon; DOW 14K before June.

Haters gonna hate!  And this place called america is gonna hate if and only if you interrupt their "prime time" TV watchin!

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:54 | 2317425 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

Theyre going to have to face the fact that retail is not coming back to buy their top, not at 13,000, or 14,000.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 16:05 | 2317449 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

Or, the NFP report may be the perfect diving board to set off the 'crisis' that they say they need. Well I sure as hell wouldnt be front running it myself anyway.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 21:13 | 2318159 obejoyful
obejoyful's picture

NFP will dissapoint, seasons were way out of whack this year.  Feb got a normal adjustment when it should not have since Feb weather was really May this year.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:50 | 2317418 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

I thought the risk-free return was the Bernanke put on equities and the Bernanke call on precious metals. It has worked well for quite a while.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:51 | 2317419 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

A lot of words to simply say, "timing is everything".  Well, at least if you make your living buying and selling. 

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:54 | 2317424 monopoly
monopoly's picture

Absolute madness. Been in these markets a long time and this is truly a broken market.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 16:00 | 2317443 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

Yep wheres the crisis wheres the need for printing QE? Oh I guess theyll just price it in yet again on a rumor...works just as well or better than the real thing after all.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 15:59 | 2317434 Vince Clortho
Vince Clortho's picture

Thank heavens this pumping the "markets" up does not involve reckless printing.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 16:03 | 2317446 skepticCarl
skepticCarl's picture

Those are three of the most opaque and confusing graphics ever presented on ZH.  String theory is elementary compared to them.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 16:07 | 2317453 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

Yeah I really have no idea what theyre supposed to mean.

Wed, 04/04/2012 - 16:12 | 2317466 ffart
ffart's picture

This market shit's getting too complicated for me. Back to my day job as a computer scientist.

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