Copper

Reasonable volume but decidedly low average trade size suggests today creep higher (and late-day acceleration) to Friday's closing level for stocks and bonds was more dead-cat-bounce (DCB) than BTFD. Treasuries sold off notably but in context merely retraced 50% of the high yield to low yield range from yesterday. S&P 500 e-mini futures (ES) also retraced perfectly 50% of the high to low swing of yesterday and closed almost to the tick at Friday's closing price. The USD drifted very gently lower today (-0.08% from Friday) on Cable strength (GBP) and the ubiquitous post European-close rally in EURUSD. The late-day AUD strength was probably the most notable (just what ES needed to get the correlation-driven asset up to unch for the week). Oil bounced ebulliently off its disaster lows of yesterday with WTI now only -0.8% from Friday as Gold, Silver, and Copper are up around 1.5% on the week (though gold lagged a little today). High beta equity outperformed - Materials, Industrials, and Financials up 1.5-1.8% as the major financials managed decent bounces - though all remain weaker than yesterday's open. Notably JPM's stock popped 3% while its CDS drifted wider still ahead of Dimon's denouement tomorrow. Equities outperformed credit today once again but IG and HY did rally/squeeze into the close - though remain cheap/wide to stock's exuberance. VIX stumbled about 1.5 vols but remains above 22% as cross-asset-class correlations fell notably into the European close but picked up in the afternoon as risk-assets in general led stocks higher - rather surprisingly syncing to fair-value at the close.

Turkey remained the world's number one minter of gold coins in 2011. There is an increasing tendency for gold bars to be retail investors' vehicle of choice – although gold coins still retain a majority market share. Turkish people can pay in gold in certain foreign exchange houses and most jewellers will accept gold as payment. Turkish banks are is now offering digital gold saving accounts. Turkey expanded its gold reserves by 29.7 metric tons in April. Turkey’s bullion reserves climbed to 239.3 tons last month meaning that Turkey increased their gold reserves by 14% in April. The central bank on March 27 doubled the share of lira reserves banks can hold in gold to 20%, saying it would provide 6.1 billion liras ($3.3 billion) of extra liquidity. "This addition," the WGC says, "was the result of a policy change under which the central bank will now accept gold in reserve requirements from commercial banks to help the banks utilize their gold in managing their liquidity." Some analysts have suggested that the increase in Turkish gold reserves, as reported by the IMF, may actually be a form of “double accounting”. Whereby the gold held in Turkish banks client’s gold account is transferred from the local bank as a reserve to the central bank, from where it then figures as gold reserves.

Update: Gold and Silver are extending losses now.

Asian markets have been open for an hour or two now and markets have done nothing but extend the late-day derisking from the last hour of the US day-session. S&P 500 e-mini futures (ES) are down around 8pts from the close, Treasury yields are 5-7bps off their intraday highs now (3-4bps lower than where they closed), JPY is strengthening (carry-off - even though Noda is scheduled to speak), AUD is weakening (carry-off - almost back to post Aussie jobs print levels), and Copper & Oil are tumbling (WTI back under $83). Gold and Silver are falling off quicker now (having suffered during the day session and stabilized a little) as it seems markets are playing catch up to their signals (still around unch from 5/28 closing levels while WTI is down almost 9% and Copper -3.5% from those swing equity highs). Broadly speaking risk assets are increasing in correlation and ES is getting dragged lower.

Whether it was the deterioration in Consumer Credit, downgrade rumors for US financials, Greek bank restructuring/run chatter, or a final realization that near-term QE is off at these levels of equity prices (as signaled by Bernanke and Gold this morning), the equity short-squeeze stumbled hard in the last hour of the day to end unch. Utilities managed to outperform handily as all the high beta sectors dumped into the close as Tech and Financials closed red for the day. Treasury yields and the USD were signalling considerably more equity weakness than we got though the dive caught stocks up but Gold remained the biggest loser of the day (-2% on the week against the 0.7% loss in the USD). Silver remains positive for the week - though matched gold's weakness on the day as Copper and Oil whipsawed up and down on rumor and then lack of follow-through. Equities pulled back closer to the underperforming investment grade (and less so high yield) credit market at the close. Treasury yields ended marginally lower (with the long-bond underperforming) and 7s and 10s -2bps)leaving 5Y flat still up 9bps on the week (and outperforming). Risk markets in general slid as Bernanke's speech was delivered and the Q&A proceeded but stocks went almost totally dead with financials and the S&P 500 e-mini clinging to VWAP as volumes died - until that last hour plunge. MS and BofA took the brunt of the selling pressure (ending down 3-4%) - though they are still well of the lows from a few days ago. VIX cracked back above 22% as we dropped in the end but closed down 0.5vols at 21.7% (and the term structure of vol has steepened up to 5mth highs) but implied correlation rose back over the somewhat critical 70 threshold and equities remain notably rich to broad risk assets in general still and today's huge jump in average trade size is somewhat concerning.

Central bank gold demand remains robust as central banks continue to diversify out of the euro and the dollar. Further central bank demand is confirmed in the news this morning that Kazakhstan plans to raise the share of gold in its international reserves from 12% to 15%. So announced central bank Deputy Chairman Bisengaly Tadzhiyakov to reporters today in the capital, Astana. “We’ve already signed contracts for 22 tons,” Tadzhiyakov said. Bloomberg report that immediate-delivery gold was little changed at $1.620.41 an ounce at 10:50 a.m. in Moscow, valuing 22 metric tons of gold at about $1.2 billion. “The bank is ready to buy when suppliers are ready to sell,” Tadzhiyakov said. Kazakhstan said yesterday it will cut its holdings in the euro by a sixth. It was reported in the Reuters Global Gold Forum that the central bank buys all the gold produced in Kazakhstan and owned 98.19T at the end of April, according to the IMF's most recent international finance statistics report. Meanwhile, supply issues remain and South African gold production continues to plummet. South African gold production fell 12.8% in April from a year earlier, Juan -Pierre Terblanche, a spokesman for Statistics South Africa, told Bloomberg.

Three days after posting its biggest single-day loss in seven months, it makes perfect sense in this nonsensical market for the S&P 500 e-mini futures to post their best gain in six months (a 4-sigma drop to a 3-sigma gain). Volume was heavy (and we note came in size at the end). Financials went berserk with MS and BofA ripping around 8% higher along with Energy and Industrials all up near 3% today. The biggest jumps was pre-European close, but the very late day surge which just seemed ridonculous (and did disconnect stocks from other asset classes) dragged everything to close at the highs (with ES +2.25% and Dow +280pts). Just remind us why again? No meat from Draghi, but more pavlovian-bell-based hope for tomorrow's Bernanke speech? If that's the case, then why did the Beige Book's much-more positive tone than expected drive gold (QE-hope-fading) significantly lower and leave stocks and treasury yields, at their highs and the USD at its lows. Bonds are 18-22bps higher in yield this week now (with 5Y outperforming only 10bps wider as maybe the 5Y is now the new cash). Gold underperformed its commodity peers as Silver outperformed and Oil and Copper leaked higher with the weaker USD (now down 0.74% on the week). IG and HY credit underperformed as stocks (and HYG) took off into the close and CONTEXT (a proxy for broad risk assets) disconnected lower from equity's ebullience at the end of the day after being dragged higher for much of the day.

Cash and Futures S&P 500 managed to close back above the 200DMA after a dismally low-volume melt-up supported by a reversion to fair-value in HYG but diverging from most other asset classes. Having pulled away from Treasuries, Gold, and the USD, stocks (led by financials) roamed higher on lower and lower comparable volumes to manage their best gain in a week with a generally low average trade size overall. Credit markets were quiet and reluctant to follow stocks but were reracked up (though IG underperformed HY's exuberance). However, the pop in JNK and HYG dragged them from the quite notably cheap levels they were at up to their intrinsic value and they anchored there (so not really a confirming strong rally). HY and HYG are in line also. Oil and Copper dropped early and then leaked back higher for the rest of the day as Silver and Gold end close to unch for the week - with the USD also close to unch as EURUSD round-tripped its gains from yesterday. Treasuries lagged the move in stocks but leaked higher in yield also in the afternoon - except notably 5Y which outperformed (reminding us of the 7Y outperformance aberration yesterday) as we suspect end-of-Twist is being priced in. After the day-session close, ES limped back towards VWAP on heavier volume and average trade size but didn't make it as we note VIX fell back below 25% (down 1.25 vols today) ending the day a little rich still to equity/credit fair-value. Lots of rumor-driven knee-jerks today but once the momentum had set in for stocks, we limped along to crack that 200DMA giving hope before Draghi's reality check tomorrow - though we note that ES stopped almost perfectly at Friday's closing VWAP (as did the major financials).

There was a little for everyone in the latest "baffle them with bullshit" economic data report: while the Services ISM popped modestly from the prior 53.5 to 53.7, on expectations of a slight decline to 53.4, something which in itself is bad because it is good, and makes prospects of more outright QE less of a slamdunk, the all important employment index tumbled from 54.2 to 50.8, the lowest print of the Year, and the largest two month slide in the Employment index since March of 2009. Finaly, with half of the Manufacturing ISM indices in contraction territory already, we finally got the first sub-50 print in the Services ISM as well, with the Prices component declining from 53.6 to 49.8: a/k/a contraction, and the biggest 3 month drop in prices paid since December 2008, and the lowest since July 2009.

With Europe's credit traders on vacation, volumes overall were muted today in Europe but average in the US. The lack of discipline that normally occurs when the credit boys leave the room helped lift sovereign credit in Europe and implicitly US equity futures (ES) into the open today, which marked the top for the day (back in the green after an ugly Sunday night) as dismal macro data dragged debt and and equity markets back down to overnight lows. Credit and equity moved in sync in general but across broad risk-assets, correlations were loose at best as Gold was very stable holding gains from Friday while Silver exhibited its high beta ebullience and Copper and Oil followed stock's path down and back up. Treasuries leaked higher in yield with a steepening in the curve (though 10Y and 30Y outperformed 7Y as the Twist pivot maturity seemed most active). EUR strength was sustained from early morning in Europe with JPY weakness providing some support for stocks but it seemed both VWAP and the 200DMA were the key levels today and despite two stop-runs in the afternoon, we flushed down at the last minute (off near day's highs - thanks to Egan-Jones' UK downgrade news) to close red for ES (2nd day in a row below 200DMA). Financials (which are close to red for the year and about to cross below Healthcare and Staples) did not participate in the swings as much with JPM and MS worst today -3% (with the latter now 25% lower than the March 2009 market trough levels) and the other TBTFs around -1.9%. VIX oscillated rather like ES today - as usual but popped back above 26% to close marginally lower on the day. While correlations did drift today, stocks remain a little too full of hope still against overall risk markets but with UK closed again tomorrow, we may have to wait for Wednesday to see how Europe (and implicitly the rest of the world) feels.

Just in case someone did not get the earlier BLS-doctored message, the final two economic indicators of the day just printed and were... drumroll... misses. Because remember: not only the 1%ers but the 99ers have to be begging Bernanke to print. And so he will: ISM Manufacturing prints at 53.5, down from 54.8, and expectations of 53.8. Prices Paid plunge by 13.5, but the kicker: 5 out of the ISM's 10 sub indices are now in contraction territory.. And the cherry on top: Construction Spending unchanged from an upward revised 0.3 to 0.3, obviously, missing expectations of a jump to 0.4. Looking forward to the Tim Geithner Op-Ed: "Welcome to the recession."

• Germany shifts, gives Spain more time on deficit (Reuters)
• Europe must prepare an emergency plan (FT)
• EU Spain reveals €100bn capital flight (FT)
• Spain’s Guindos says future of Euro at stake in Spain (Bloomberg)
• ECB, EU officials warn euro’s survival at risk (Reuters)
• China can ‘cope’ if Greece exits Euro, NDRC Researcher says (Bloomberg)
• Japan Warns Against Rising Yen (WSJ)
• Global stocks investors head for exits (FT)
• Hot Copper Shorts Burning Commodity Firms (Caixin)

Short of the complete destruction of a fiat currency, there is nothing that can demonstrate beyond doubt the shallowness of the promise to protect purchasing power that is being made on any day. There is no bright line separating performance from talk. With a gold standard, deception is much more difficult. Creating too much money will lead to redemptions that drain away the official gold stockpile. Everyone can see the inventory shrinking. If it shrinks to zero, then the managers of the system have failed, period. There is no ambiguity about it, and the politicians in charge at the time have little room for denial. The formal adoption of a gold standard holds no magic. It's just another promise. But it is a promise that carries an assured potential for egg-on-face political embarrassment if it is broken, and the only way for the people in charge to avoid that embarrassment is to refrain from recklessly expanding the supply of cash. That's why a gold standard protects the value of a currency, and that is why the politicians don't want it.

Well, they sold in May but did they go away? If today is any guide, they did as the swings across asset classes intraday were very reminiscent of 'death rattles' with trading scenarios becoming more and more binary and more and more extreme. Into the US macro data this morning risk assets in general were behaving in a synchronized manner. As the dismal data hit, it got wild with gold and stocks gapping down and Treasury yields crashing lower (10Y 1.53 handle!) only to be saved around the European close by chatter of IMF aid for Spain (funded by the selling of unicorn tears) at which stocks erupted (and while bonds, the USD, and Gold also reacted - they were far more muted). The afternoon was quiet until stocks had a mind of their own and went on a stop-hunt up to yesterday's late day highs (and that magical 1315 level) - pulling well away from any other asset-class reality - only to fail dismally, ending with an abrupt tumble back to sanity (just slightly in the red for the day) grabbing VWAP into the close. The signals were everywhere that risk was not 'on' no matter how hard stocks tried with high-yield credit (most notably the ETFs) surging and purging ending with a terrible dive (after popping up to VWAP after our earlier note) on heavy volume.

If we had a penny for every equity rally away from credit reality that converged back to credit's less-hopiness, we would now have made 5 pennies in the last 6 trading days. We pointed out last night that equities surged into the close on small average trade size as credit remained far less sanguine and the now-ubiquitous open in Europe started the reversion as stocks fell rapidly, below Friday's close - tracking back with high-yield credit's deterioration. HYG gave up yesterday's gains and pops back under fair-value but rather notably, investment grade credit (IG) underperformed significantly today - which is unusual in a sell-off day and signals either more fallout from JPM reaching for hedges (IG9 10Y 166bps offered +5bps) or investors grabbing the cheapest macro overlay from a carry perspective. Gold and Silver outperformed admirably on the day, however the upward move appears to be more of a reaction back to equity, treasury, and USD reality as the afternoon saw the 4 markets recouple and trade together (after disconnecting notable yesterday). Treasury yields dropped the most in 7 months to new record lows in 10Y and close for 30Y. Both implied correlation (systemic risk) and VIX (normal vol) jumped higher today as the latter moved almost 3 vols to close above 24% (its biggest pop in almost 3 months). A heavier volume open at highs, close at lows day for stocks with little to signal capitulation in terms of trade size - and across broader risk-assets, stocks appear to have room to fall - even after ES suffered its worst loss of the year today.

The 4th day in a row when US equities disconnected (rallied) from credit markets - will this reversion be different. NYSE volumes were dismal (near the year's lowest) which seemed the perfect recipe for some stock-ramping tom-foolery - apart, that is, for FaceBerg of course. Yesterday's futures action in sync with global risk-assets continued into the morning with Europe open but TSYs led markets lower in the US pre-open until the plethora of miserable macro data was enough to spur the bad-is-better brigade who bid stocks up into the US open and just beyond only to see Spain's downgrade drag the spirits of every Treasury, FX, credit, and commodity trader down. The flush into the European close was the lows of the day for stocks (and TSY yields) with the former accelerating back up to its highs of the day by the close and the latter leaking higher in yields and filling the divergence gap. However, IG and HY credit spreads were far less sanguine than US equities in the afternoon even though HYG swung from significantly cheap to its fair-value (and stocks) to considerably rich by the close. EURUSD managed to get back over 1.25 at the close which seemed to provide some comfort that everything wasn't crash landing and while the USD implicitly weakened into the close (to end unch from Friday), it did little to redeem commodities back from their European-close plungefest. Treasuries ended higher in yield marginally from Friday's close while ES managed +1.4% potentially on the back of window-dressing - even though heavy volume came as equities crossed the trendline support. VIX fell less than 1 vol and held above 21% while Facebook vols were skewed 65%/55% (Put/Call) and volumes 5 to 4 in favor of Puts as it closed -10% at its lows.