Meltdown

Can one spell headline risk:

• CHU SAYS U.S. THINKS `PARTIAL MELTDOWN' HAS OCCURRED
• SPENT FUEL POOLS CHIEF THREAT TO ENVIRONMENT, UCS SAYS
• SPENT FUEL POOLS HAVE SHORTEST `PATHWAY' TO AIR, UCS SAYS

Following explosions in at least two reactor cores at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant - and as the developing crisis is rated at level 6 of seven levels on the International Nuclear Events Scale (previously being 3, or below 3 Mile Island status, to keep the panic level low)- attention is turning to just what is happening inside the 40-year-old power plant in north-east Japan. Al Jazeera's Dan Nolan explains how a meltdown would happen.

But it's a LONG, LONG way away.

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said March 12 that the explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core, Japanese daily Nikkei reported. This statement seemed somewhat at odds with Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano’s comments earlier March 12, in which he said “the walls of the building containing the reactor were destroyed, meaning that the metal container encasing the reactor did not explode.”

Following a report earlier that the Uranium at the Fukushima Power Plant may have melted, we sadly bring you this video of the explosion at the Fukushima power plant.

In an interview with Mark Hibbs, a Berlin-based senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a nonprofit think tank, Newsmax magazine asks - what happens next at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The answer according to the nuclear expert, is that as Fukushima is now well on its way to a full core-melt nuclear accident, a worst case scenario could possibly lead to the same results last seen in 1986 Chernobyl.

Two top ECB officials indicated yesterday that interest rate increases might come sooner than ECB Trichet alluded to last week. Given Europe’s slow economic recovery, opinions are mixed on the matter. Recession-predicting economist Nouriel Roubini told reporters yesterday that if oil reaches $140/barrel, a level seen in the summer of 2008, the rate action will cause many advanced economies to slip into double-dip recession. Recent turmoil in the Middle East has sent oil prices nearing $120/barrel. Greek, Spanish, and Portuguese yields rose again yesterday as Friday’s EU summit on a new debt crisis solution draws closer. Portugal sold €1.0B in 2Y bonds at 5.993% v 4.086% prior with b/c 1.6x v 1.9x prior. The SOVXWE widened out again to 183bp from 177bp a week ago with Spain underperforming as it is most vulnerable to rate hikes. We feel that the longer the periphery/core support process drags out, the more rating agencies will be forced to look at interest rate burdens for periphery countries as being normal moving forward. German industrial production rose 1.8% MoM v 1.7%E. Greek unemployment for December moved up to 14.8% v 14.5%E and 13.9% prior. U.K.’s visible trade balance for January strengthened to -£7.1B v -£8.5B E, its smallest deficit since April of last year. The figures show an improvement over December’s -£9.7B even after considering weather’s impact on exports that month.

Paul Farrell is out with another rather dismal outlook on the financial system (better known in the vernacular as the feloneous Ponzi scheme), and how while the immediate causes of the crash, and its disastrous aftermath, which benefits only the upper class at the expense of everyone else, are certainly a function of the current and previous administration, one has to look further back to see the flawed foundations on which everything is built. As far back as Reagan, in fact, and his eponymous Reaganomic doctrine according to Farrell. "Was their Reaganomics ideology so rigid, so blinding, they couldn’t (and still cannot) admit they were wrong? Forcing them to lie to America? Cover up the lies? The evidence is clear. Today, a harsh lesson from history, facts and a warning. Listen closely America. It’s already happening again. The collective Reaganomics Brain has gone from crash to cover-up to comeback kid to capitalism-for-the-super-rich in three short years. Now with absolute power over America." Sure enough, Farrell sees the events of 2008/9 as only the first step in the unwind of Reaganomics. Step two is coming, and it will be the final end of not only the Great Moderation experiment started in the early 80s, but, luckily, of that organization at the heart of it all: the Federal Reserve.

Who is to blame for the pension meltdown?

Wall Street responds to my missive on the potential of concentrated derivatives risk blowing up the banking system. Traders, salesman and financial engineers chimed in, and made some cogent points. Of course, I must rebut. It is the actual rebuttals that are probably more stinging than the original article - particularly the one concerning hedge funds. Please read on and feel free to chime in. Don't forget to bring the "Fiery Sword of Truth!"

Timmy took a big doo doo on the rest of the World as he pressed fellow Finance Ministers into (in theory) setting mechanisms to address trade balances (which means export countries need to strengthen their currencies against the dollar) while importing countries (like US) should not try to manipulate their own currency. Well, that sounds reasonable EXCEPT, before the ink is even dry on the G20 release, Timmy flies off to China to get them to commit to revalue the Yuan...

The populist chorus for a foreclosure freeze is now approaching 100 dB. The latest to join the fray is Delaware AG Beau Biden's, whose office, according to the AP, sent letters Tuesday asking three mortgage lenders to suspend all pending foreclosures until the banks can review their policies. While not all that surprising, this latest move is slightly peculiar as Delaware is not part of the 23 "judicial" states in which GMAC, JPM and BofA have instituted a voluntary foreclosure halt (for an analysis by Barclays of why the judicial states are mostly impacted, for now, click here). Per the AP, "the letter also asks Bank of America Corp., JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Ally Financial Inc. officials to describe their foreclosure review and verification process, and provide copies of Delaware homeowner complaints about the foreclosure process, including concerns about court documents that contained inaccurate information, improper notarization or signatures to Biden's fraud and consumer protection division." Which means that as other AGs follow suit, the foreclosure halt will immediately expand from merely the 23 judicial states to all, especially since as Bloomberg just reported, "JPMorgan, Bank of America face "hydra" of foreclosure probes." We couldn't have coined a better visual if we tried.

With all the excitement over yet another market melt up, some may have forgotten about the biggest story in process of decimating the US economy, and its entire mortgage-credit backbone. Here is a brief summary of all the comings and goings in the Mortgage Meltdown Mess, which may explain why the Fed is getting aggressive about inflating the living feces out of $10+ trillion in mortgage debt.

The Massive Mortgage Mess as we affectionately call it seems to be getting new names with each passing day - the latest one is, quite appropriately, RoboSigning Scandal (funny how after the stock market, "robotic" technology will soon becoming equated with the biggest mortgage scam in history). During today's Kudlow segment, CNBC's Diana Ollick who is by and far the company's best (and only) investigative reporter, confirms various so far unfounded rumors, that the government is planning to institute a 90 day foreclosure moratorium as it deals with the realization of just how big and pervasive the mortgage problem is, and even worse, will soon be. It is so bad that even a typically ebullient Larry Kudlow is forced to note that this is the "housing equivalent of the credit financial meltdown" and that "this is going to go on for ever." The biggest issue that is now developing, as we noted last week, is the fact that title insurers (firms such as Fidelity National, First American, Stewart Info and Old Republic) are refusing to insure mortgages in foreclosure or otherwise, uncertain as to who actually owns the title. And for all those who believe this will merely keep prices artificially high, we have very bad news - the problem with the title insurers walking away on fears of lawsuits is that no lender will be willing to write a mortgage without title insurance, meaning that suddenly the up-front component of home purchases will either necessarily have to surge, or home prices will have to plunge by a like amount, as there is simply not enough equity (read money) to cover the resulting debt deficiency. Alas, this mess is just starting, and as people realize how bad it is, it very well may lead to a total collapse in the housing market.

If a panic in the broader markets put liquidity-crunch-induced pressure on the gold price, the meltdown should be less severe than in 2008 and the eventual rebound could be dramatic, possibly triggering the mania we’ve been calling for. Remember: the market crash drove gold almost down to $700 in October ’08, but the same fear drove it almost back to $1,000 by February ’09. Silver topped that with a 60% rebound over the same period. As the debt-glue holding everything together continues to lose its grip, the ride will only get rougher. As bad as 2008 was, if the Crisis Creature appears to be coming back when everyone on Main Street thought it was dead, the fear should be much worse – and that should drive gold way, way north. It’s possible the fear, coupled with the lack of any safer alternatives, could prevent gold from melting down at all, sending it instead straight through the roof into the clear blue Mania Phase sky.