CBOE

The S&P cash got within a point or two of its closing high but between FSOC concerns about US financial stability, German court concerns over Draghi's OMT and ESM, and a large (likely CBOE-shutdown-inspired) imbalance into the close, stocks tumbled off those highs with the Dow almost back to unchanged before a small ramp into the close. While equities were on most media headlines, today was 'epic' for commodities. The biggest jumps in gold, silver, and oil prices in between five and nine months despite significant USD strength in the US day session. JPY carry was in charge early (and late as we sold off) with EUR ran the show in the middle of the day. With CBOE down for much of the morning, once it reopened it traded down with stocks up but gradually leaked higher all afternoon to end the day very slightly green. Treasuries rallied into the close to end unchanged. Another low volume day that saw the Dow unable to close above pre-Boston levels. So stocks mixed (Russell +0.6%, TRAN unch), VIX unch, Treasuries unch, EURUSD and JPYUSD unch, Oil/Copper/Gold/Silver up 2.5 to 5%!

• China’s Recovery Falters as Manufacturing Growth Cools (BBG)
• Gloomy eurozone output points to rate cut (FT)
• Limit Austerity, EU appartchik Barroso Says (WSJ)
• Regulators Get Banks to Rein In Bonus Pay (WSJ)
• SEC looks to ease rules for launching ETFs (Reuters)
• Easy come, easy go: U.S. Seizes $21 Million From Electric Car Maker Fisker (WSJ)
• Japan nationalists near disputed isles (Reuters)
• OECD in fresh warning on Japan debt (FT)
• S&P says more than one-third chance of Japan downgrade, cites risks to Abenomics (Reuters)

In what may be a first in at least 3-4 months, instead of the usual levitating grind higher on no news and merely ongoing USD carry, tonight for the first time in a long time, futures have drifted downward, pushed partially by declining funding carry pairs EURUSD and USDJPY without a clear catalyst. There was no explicit macro news to prompt the overnight weakness, although a German 10 year auction pricing at a record low yield of 1.28% about an hour ago did not help. Perhaps the catalyst was a statement by the Chinese sovereign wealth fund's Jin who said that the "CIC is worried about US, EU and Japan quantitative easing" - although despite this and despite the reported default of yet another corporate bond by LDK Solar, the second such default after Suntech Power which means the Chinese corporate bond bubble is set to burst, the SHCOMP was down only 1 point. The Nikkei rebounded after strong losses on Monday but that was only in sympathy with the US price action even as the USDJPY declined throughout the session.

Asset price correlations across a wide spectrum of industries and asset classes are meaningfully lower than the last few months. ConvergEx's Nick Colas note that this is something completely unexpected: we’ve approached a “Normal” capital market over the last 30 days. S&P 500 sector correlations are below 80% relative to the index, foreign stocks are 77-87% correlated to U.S. stocks, and even domestic high yield corporate bonds are 56% dancing to their own tune. However, before we run off celebrating the return to a stock-picker’s market, it is worth noting one statistical point worth your time: when industry sector correlations have dropped below 80% from 2010 to the present, the subsequent one month, one quarter and one year returns have been below average, especially the shorter time frames.

Markets are remarkably schizophrenic about where risk is flowing... and where it isn’t.  For example, ConvergEx's Nick Colas notes, the CBOE VIX Index is up from 12.3 a month ago to a close of 14.0 yesterday. And other risk assets such as Emerging Markets, U.S. Small Caps, Energy names, and developed economy international stocks all show higher 'VIXs' over the same 30 day period.  But... and it’s a big 'But'... just as many sectors/asset classes in our tracking universe show declines in their 'VIXs'.  The most pronounced are domestic Consumer Discretionary, Utilities, and Tech names as well as precious metals and High Yield Corporate bonds, where Implied Vols are 6-17% lower this month and in most cases are at/near 52 week lows.  If you are looking for spots where volatility might make a comeback, these are good places to start. This market reminds us of an old joke: Question: What do you call a person who is both ignorant and apathetic? Answer: I don’t know and I don’t care.

Every year over 1.5 million Americans go through some form of drug and alcohol abuse treatment, according to the last large survey done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency of the Federal government. Only about half – 47%, to be precise – complete their treatment. One quarter drop out, and the remaining 25% either transfer facilities or end treatment for some other reason. In general, the more intensive the treatment – inpatient hospital care, for example – the more successful the outcome. The length of treatment varies, as one might imagine, based on what addiction is being treated. Heroin and other opioids take over 150 days, but the median is anywhere from 90 – 121 days. Needless to say, these are long days for anyone who goes through them as well as the family and friends who support them. Somewhere over the past few years, the serious term ‘Addiction’ has entered the lexicon of capital markets watchers as it relates to how central bank policies enable and distort the price of debt and equity securities. Essentially, the analogy is that markets have become dependent on both artificially low interest rates and the cash provided by liquidity programs such as “Quantitative Easing” in much the same way that a person can become addicted to a dangerous drug or alcohol. If you’ve ever seen addiction first hand, you know this is a spurious anthropomorphizing of financial markets. If you haven’t, well, just trust me.

Big round numbers always encourage reflection.  Turning 40 or 50, for example, or making (or losing) a million dollars.  Or a billion.  And so it is with “Dow 14,000.”  ConvergEx's Nick Colas has three critical observations as we traverse this particular “Big round number.”  First, it is clear that equity prices (and volatility, for that matter) are much more a direct tool of central bank policy than in prior economic cycles.  Second, the rally off the bottom in March 2009 has left the investing world with very few money managers who can legitimately claim the title of “Smart money.” Lastly, you have to consider the way forward.  The roadmap from Dow 6600 (March 2009) to Dow 14,000 was – in retrospect – clearly marked by signs labeled “Follow the central bank yellow brick road.”  Good enough signage to get us here, clearly.  But, as Nick notes, fundamentals – corporate earnings, interest rates, and economic growth – those are the metrics which will have to guide us as central banks inevitably reduce their liquidity programs. As he considers the way forward for U.S. stocks, he reflects on Spring 1994 - U.S. stock investors thought they had it all figured out as they exited 1993, just as they do now...

• Obama Picking Lew for Treasury Fuels Fight on Budget (BBG)
• Deutsche Bank Bank Made Huge Bet, and Profit, on Libor (WSJ)
• Spain Beats Maximum Target in First 2013 Debt Sale (BBG) - In other news, the social security fund is now running on negative?
• "Icahn is also believed to have taken a long position in Herbalife" (NYPost) - HLF +5% premarket
• Lew-for-Geithner Switch Closes Era of Tight Fed-Treasury Ties (BBG)
• Turkey Beating Norway as Biggest Regional Oil Driller (BBG)
• Greek State Firms are Facing Closure (WSJ)
• Draghi Spared as Confidence Swing Quells Rate-Cut Talk (BBG)
• China’s Yuan Loans Trail Estimates (BBG)
• SEC enforcement chief steps down (WSJ)
• CFPB releases new mortgage rules in bid to reduce risky lending (WaPo)
• Japan Bond Investors Expect Extra Sales From February (BBG)

When trying to get a handle on investor sentiment, the benchmark of choice for many market-watchers is the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index, or VIX. However, this popular “fear gauge” only offers a snapshot of implied volatility, or relative pricing levels, for equity index options, which might not necessarily tell us all we need to know about the mood on The Street.

UPDATE: *CBOE TO CLOSE EXCHANGES OCT. 29 BECAUSE OF HURRICANE SANDY

Late Updates - after a day of consultation and realization that if the algos were left alone to play then things could go a little pear-shaped - NYSE and NASDAQ will now be totally closed tomorrow:

*U.S. EQUITY MARKETS TO CLOSE ON OCT. 29 FOR STORM, SEC SAYS

In April of 2009 we warned very explicitly that reliance on the fake "liquidity" (which was never liquidity per se but merely volume and churn) by the HFT algos that stuff quotes, frontrun each other, spoof, layer, and generally make a mockery out of the thing fomerly known as the market (which is now more than anything a policy vehicle for central planners but that's a different story) would result in tears. A year later the first flash crash happened, and ever since then more and more people have finally realized how our 3+ year long crusade against HFT (which sadly is now a minor distraction against the far greater evil which is central bank dominance of capital markets) was spot on, confirmed by the recent segments (here, here and here) on CNBC which effectively confirmed the markets are not only a joke, but without any real depth, i.e. fake. What is amusing is that people still don't understand why the exchanges, and the regulators (coopted by the exchanges) allow HFT to continue. Here is the answer: in 2011 the CME made 31.5% of all its revenues from HFT, the ICE: 25.1%, the NYSE: 21.4%, the Nasdaq: 17.1%, the CBOE: 22.4%, and so on.

• Madrid Protesters March Again as Spain Braces for Cuts (Bloomberg)
• Euro Can Bear Fewer Members as Czech Leader Calls Greeks Victims (Bloomberg)
• Chinese Industrial Profits Fall 6.2% in Fifth Straight Drop (Bloomberg)
• China pours $58bn into money markets (FT)
• Beijing vows more measures on Diaoyu Islands (China Daily)
• Noda vows no compromise as Japan, China dig in on islands row (Reuters)
• Politico’s Paul Ryan Satire: The Joke’s on Them (Bloomberg)
• Electoral Drama Shifts to Ohio (WSJ)
• German opposition party targets banks (FT)
• Fed action triggers fear of new currency wars (FT)
• Ex-Credit Suisse CDO Boss Serageldin Is Arrested in U.K. (Bloomberg)
• Romney ‘I Dig It’ Trust Gives Heirs Triple Benefit (Bloomberg)

We have discussed the use of correlation (cross-asset-class and intra-asset-class) a number of times in the last few years, most recently here, as a better way to track 'fear' or greed than the traditional (and much misunderstood) VIX. As Nic Colas writes this evening, a review of asset price correlations shows that the convergence typical of 'risk-off' periods in the market is solidly underway. While we prefer to monitor the 'finer' average pairwise realized correlations for the S&P 100 - which have been rising significantly recently, Nic points out that the more coarse S&P 500 industry correlations relative to the index as a whole are up to 88% from a low of 75% back in February. In terms of assessing market health, a decline in correlation is a positive for markets since it shows investors are focused on individual sector and stock fundamentals instead of a macro “Do or die” concerns.  By that measure, we’re moving in the wrong direction, and not just because of recent decline in risk assets.  Moreover, other asset classes such as U.S. High Yield corporate bonds, foreign stocks (both emerging market and develop economies), and even some currencies are increasingly moving in lock step.  Lastly, we would highlight that average sector correlations have done a better job in 2012 of warning investors about upcoming turbulence than the closely-watched CBOE VIX Index.  Those investors looking for reliable “Buy at a bottom” indicators should add these metrics to their investment toolbox as a better 'mousetrap' than the now ubiquitous VIX.

While much has already been written on the topic of peak valuation, social bubbles popping, and the ethical social utility of yesterday's historically overhyped IPO, nobody has done an analysis of the actual stock trading dynamics as in-depth as the following complete forensic post-mortem by Nanex. Because more than anything, those tense 30 minutes between the scheduled open and the actual one (which just happened to coincide with the European close), showed just how reliant any form of public capital raising is on technology and electronic trading. And to think there was a time when an IPO simply allowed a company to raise cash: sadly it has devolved to the point where a public offering is a policy statement in support of a broken capital market, which however is fully in the hands of SkyNet, as yesterday's chain of events, so very humiliating for the Nasdaq, showed. From a delayed opening, to 2 hour trade confirmation delays, virtually everyone was in the dark about what was really happening behind the scenes! As the analysis below shows, what happened was at times sheer chaos, where everything was hanging by a thread, because if FB had gotten the BATS treatment, it was lights out for the stock market. Well, the D-Day was avoided for now, but at what cost? And how much over the greenshoe FaceBook stock overallotment did MS have to buy to prevent it from tumbling below $30 because as Reuters reminds us, "had Morgan Stanley bought all of the shares traded around $38 in the final 20 minutes of the day, it would have spent nearly $2 billion." What about the first defense of $38?  In other words: in order to make some $67 million for its Investment Banking unit, was MS forced to eat a several hundred million loss in its sales and trading division just to avoid looking like the world's worst underwriter ever? We won't know for a while, but in the meantime, here is a visual summary of the key events during yesterday's far less than historic IPO.