China

The S&P 500 first crossed yesterday's levels in August 2014 - that is 501 days ago, confirming our belief that the stock market casino has just begun its descent has only been further reinforced. In terms of the fundamental economic and financial rot now coming to the visible surface, the analysis we presented last week is even more timely now.

"It is time to accept that what we have done has worked brilliantly for twenty years but does not work anymore and move on. We are confident our process will eventually work again – for the laws of economics will never be repealed – but for now they are suspended and may be for some time; an indefinite period involving indeterminate levels of risk during which we think it would be wrong for us to be the stewards of your money."

A few weeks ago Margot Wallström, the Swedish foreign minister, dared to denounce the subjugation of women in Saudi Arabia. Wallström went on to condemn the Saudi courts for their "medieval methods" and their "cruel attempt to silence modern forms of expression." The backlash was fast and furious: Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassador and stopped issuing visas to Swedish businessmen, and The GCC condemned her "unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," proclaiming they wouldn’t bet against anti-Swedish riots following soon. Yet there is no "Wallström affair." Outside Sweden, the western media has barely covered the story.

It's not China, stupid... It's The Fed. "What The Fed did, and I was part of it, was front-loaded an enormous rally market rally in order to create a wealth effect... and an uncomfortable digestive period is likely now." Simply put Fisher concludes, there can't be much more accomodation, "The Fed is a giant weapon that has no ammunition left."

The one thing executives should have learned in 2015 is that Wall Street can for long periods of time remain disconnected from fundamentals and can swing to extremes. Another lesson from 2015 is that OPEC can no longer be relied upon to set prices. Thus, the debt fueled financing boom in the shale space will most likely never return.  This is especially true now that there are clear signs that the U.S. economy is weakening while the Fed chose to raise the federal interest rates in December. As we move through 2016, expect a rash of bankruptcies tied to this transition to lower leverage, and towards the latter half of 2016 there will likely be a steep fall off of production.

Following disappointing China PMI data and a collapse in US ISM Manufacturing imports data, the fact that The Baltic Dry Index has collapsed to fresh record lows will hardly be a surprise to many. However,as Deutsche Bank warns, a "perfect storm" is brewing in the dry bulk industry, as year-end improvements in rates failed to materialize, which indicates a looming surge in bankruptcies.

As the Federal Reserve continues to prop up the highly leveraged debt based financial industry, the flow of U.S. gold heading East picked up significantly. According to the USGS most recently released survey, Hong Kong received 56% of total U.S. gold bullion exports in September.

• Global share market settles after stormy start to year (Reuters)
• Stocks Extend Losses as Yen, Gold Rise on Lingering China Unease (BBG)
• China battles to shore up stocks, yuan after globe-shaking slide (Reuters)
• Volkswagen faces billions in penalties as U.S. sues for environment violations (Reuters)
• Obama tightens gun rules, requires more background checks (Reuters)

After yesterday's historic -6.9% rout in the Shanghai Composite, which saw the first new marketwide circuit breaker trading halt applied to Chinese stocks (on its first day of operation), many were wondering if the Chinese government would intervene in both the once again imploding stock market, as well as China's plunging and rapidly devaluing currency. And, after the SHCOMP opened down -3%, the government did not disappoint and promptly intervened in both the Yuan as well as the stock market, however with very mixed results which global stocks took a sign that the "national team" is no longer focused solely on stocks, and have resumed selling for a second consecutive day. 

Unfortunately, this is not a sustainable financial or economic business model for the West.

"Given our views on credit contraction in Asia, and in China in particular, let's say they are going to go through a banking loss cycle like we went through during the Great Financial Crisis, there's one thing that is going to happen: China is going to have to dramatically devalue its currency."

"It seems to us that the government’s policy options are rapidly narrowing – one only needs to look at how difficult it has been for the government to hold up GDP growth since mid-2014. A slow-down in economic growth is typically a prelude to financial sector instability. Putting it all together, it seems to us that many of these conflicts may come to a head in 2016."

Update: It's a miracle..."Someone" stepped in and bid the entire Chinese market higher off its huge opening gap down...

Despite the biggest liquidity injection (CNY130bn) in 4 months, it appears Kyle Bass' top trade remains well on target as Offshore Yuan plunges, underperforming Onshore Yuan despite the largest Fix devaluation in two months. In a word - it's chaos in Chinese markets. The Shanghai Composite looks to be opening down 3% - extending yesterday's losses (beyond the US session's ADR's move). What a mess.

The main lessons from today is that market shocks can be quite quick, when they suddenly unravel. There is no need for markets to follow an observable pattern (therefore casting an omen just for you). Recall as well that this is just "day 1"! There are ~20 additional dramatic trading days ahead this month, where anything can precipitously take place.