MF Global

We all know the news by now: "MF reported its biggest quarterly loss ever yesterday, after having its credit ratings cut a day earlier by Moody’s Investors Service on concern that the broker won’t meet earnings targets and may not be able to manage investments in European sovereign debt. The company’s shares fell 48 percent. “It’s aggregated risk,” said Richard Repetto, an analyst at Sandler O’Neill & Partners LP. The positions in Europe, the further downgrade potential and the quarterly loss, combined to discourage investors, he said." Here is where it gets worse: "Analysts at KBW Inc., led by Niamh Alexander, wrote in a note yesterday that the Moody’s downgrade and lower earnings could cause a ripple effect on the company, raising borrowing costs and triggering collateral calls. “It also exposes MF to collateral calls of up to $5 million,” the note said. “We believe it could also prompt lenders to reduce financing, clients to withdraw assets and trigger the need to recognize losses on certain bilateral over- the-counter and off-balance sheet transactions." Well, judging by the bond yield chart below, MF is done (further confirmed by WSJ reporting that the company has hired restructuring expert Evercore Partners). The only question is whether that ever so handy uber collateral puller, Goldman Sachs, so critical in the extinction of Dexia and of course AIG, will be the party responsible for the death of MF Global? Considering who the current head of MF is, and his "key man status" in the prospectus of the company's recently bonds (which are plummeting today), we somehow doubt it.

Goodbye 11th hour. Hello 12th hour and 1 minute. According to MF Global's Chris Krueger, the probability that congress fails to raise the debt ceiling by August 2 is now 55%. Which means at least a 1 if not more notch downgrade by the rating agencies, which means massive and completely unpredictable spillover effects in money markets, structured finance, muni and all other financial products, which means the military will soon have to conduct many more urban exercises to prepare for "Tehran" (because the Iranian capital's downtown has at least 3 John Hancock center replicas). In the meantime, the market still thinks that Bernanke can fix this.

Now it's just getting plain silly. Following two margin hikes by the CME, one for 9% and one for 10% this week, now MF Global, run by former Goldman CEO Jon Corzine has joined the fray, and has hiked its silver margin to $25,397. As a reminder, the latest CME margin is $14,513, or about 6% of the contract value of $241,750 assuming a silver price of $48.35. So MF Global's is 175% of the CME! It is obvious that everyone is now hell bent on destroying the parabolic move higher in gold and silver, which is happening for a very good reason: deranged money printing. Although, as yesterday, we very much doubt MF Global, or anyone else for that matter will hike ES margins any time soon. After all, doing anything to stop the Weimar rally^TM in its tracks is treason of the highest degree under Bernanke's dictatorship and is punishable appropriately. In the meantime, can the exchange just make margin trading in commodities illegal and move to all cash? At least that way all the weak momo hands can be relegated to chasing Netflix and other bubbles, making their eventual pop all the more memorable.

Are the bond vigilantes stirring?

The latest in the 2010 forecast series comes courtesy of MF Global. Unlike the trite cheerfest from the sellside bankers (who can blame them, their jobs depend on optimism) which we have been largely ignoring, this piece is certainly worth five minutes of your reading time.

What? Huh? Market Conditions? Have they seen the market today? Credit and equity markets have now completely decoupled.

Trader commentary:

Hearing the [MF Global Ltd "MR"] USD250m SEC registered 10y issue has been pulled due to market conditions. JPM sole books. Co-mgrs: Citi, MF, Wm Blair. Rated Baa2/BBB.

That's not good for the equity bubble chasers. Credit is always right in the end. And if even JPM can't sell an IG bond, the window is now closed, except for the momos chasing every offer higher.