Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley's Jim Caron in major damage control mode. Try keeping a straight face as you read this. "Why are UST 10s below 3%? Fear and greed, but mostly fear. Many in the market have surrendered themselves to the deflationistas. It seems to be all over the media these days. Concerns about a deflationary double-dip, rumors of the Fed re-opening QE and purchases of USTs as a liquid positive-carry hedge against risky assets are but only some of the culprits pushing UST 10y yields below 3.00%. We recognize and respect these forces and concede that UST10s can fall further in yield. We will not fight this current move. Instead, we will look for the opportunity to counter it."

Two days ago, we posted a story titled "Why VaR Is A Joke: Morgan Stanley Admits Losses in April And May Were "Much Higher" Than Anticipated" in which we extracted a segment from a report by Jim Caron to claim that VaR models are broken beyond fixing. Today, Morgan Stanley has asked us to provide a clarification on our post. We gladly comply.

Tyler,
The comments from Jim Caron that you reference in this article concern a model portfolio maintained by Morgan Stanley Research.  This fact isn't clearly reflected in the headline or in the article.  The headline in particular suggests that the Firm is disclosing losses.  This is not the case.  Again, Caron's comments concern a model portfolio within Morgan Stanley Research.  Please let me know if you can clarify this in an update, and let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
xxx
Morgan Stanley | Corporate Communications

We hope this clarifies everything.

Zero Hedge has long contended that risk models based on VaR "predictions" are flawed and only add to systemic instability due to the ever increasing correlations across all asset classes. We now read a first hand mea culpa from Morgan Stanley's Jim Caron, in which the head of the firm's rates strategy highlights precisely this problem: the complete collapse of predictive models when multiple sigma events like the May Flash Crash and the accelerating sovereign collapse of the past several months occurs: "April and May were difficult months for us and others, judging by fund data on market performance. We did not properly discount the risks associated with peripheral Europe. As a result, we had a larger risk exposure than we should have. We measure the return potential for our positions on a per-unit-of-risk basis, similar to a Sharpe Ratio. That unit of risk turned out to be much higher than we anticipated. This will force us, and many others, to right-size our risks." We wish we could agree with the last statement. Alas, each and every risk management group at comparable prop trading desks (to that of Morgan Stanley), will undoubtedly chalk off recent events to chance, and as these "will never recur", business we will promptly return back to normal, until we see another record crash in the Dow, only this time not 1,000 but multiples thereof.

There are some who will take up hundreds of pages to explain something as simple as the complete bankruptcy of the US entitlement program. Others, like Morgan Stanley in this case, present it succinctly- why write and write and write when a one page income (well, loss technically) statement will suffice? In a presentation, oddly focusing on Internet Trends, the MS team puts up an appendix page that probably should make the inbox of every politician in America. In a nutshell, when analyzing the math of entitlement spending, even as revenues flatline (at best), and decline (realistically), the expenses are quite literally growing geometrically. At this rate of deterioration, the Loss on the entitlement P&L will be at ($3 trillion) a year by 2013. For those who don't buy this estimate, here is a refresh: it was +$128 billion in 2001, (318) billion in 2005, and ($1,413) billion in 2009. Then there are some like former Western Asset Management personnel, who are so confused by numbers so massively negative, that they #Ref out their excel spreadsheets, and tend to ignore them altogether. Which brings us to the topic of the night - those who find the most efficient way to short Western Asset Management (and its retention policy of never hiring those proficient with positive and negative integers... forget about floating point) will win a free Zero Hedge hat.

We get a glimpse into the latest leading unemployment indicators courtesy of Fox Biz' which notifies that Morgan Stanley in addition to previously reported job cuts, will also be shutting another 300 branch offices and cutting as many as 1,200 jobs over the next year in an attempt to reduce overhead. The primary reason for this: "there has been a significant slowdown in small investors turning to brokers to execute orders; many investors are sitting on cash because they are fearful of the recent volatility in the markets. Because of the declining retail order flow, every major brokerage firm will have to cut staff, Morgan even more so because of the overlap from the Smith Barney acquisition." Apparently promises by the SEC and the quant/HFT community that the May 6 crash will never, ever repeat again are insufficient to placate the investing population which is now justifiably turning its back on equity investments, as seen by last week's massive ongoing outflow from domestic equity mutual funds. Absent Obama making another March 2009-like appearance discussing attractive "profit and earnings ratios", we don't see a material catalyst to change risk perceptions.

The most recent "it's time for risk on" note from Morgan Stanley is pure comedy defined. Jim Caron is now openly fishing to try to get any last remaining greater fools into the HFT shark infested swimming pool. The punchline: "front-end risk metrics remain stable, as 3m Libor sets slightly higher at 0.537, which is actually lower than was expected on Friday. Tactically, as a result, I think the time is ripe to put on risk right now." The salvage attempts by the TBTFs are becoming a surreal Lewis Black skit. Oh well, one always needs to goal seek "better then worst case data" to fit with the imminent risk on reversal. Looks like gold longs got the memo and saw right through it.

We had more respect for Jim Caron: the man who has traditionally been very objective in his estimation of market risk comes out with this particular measure of "notable risk improvement" - "3M LIBOR set a mere 0.2bp higher than it did yesterday – this morning at 0.53781%." Seriously? He also proceeds to give some other dead cat bounce indicators which are supposed to demonstrate that all is well in the world again. Obviously when confidence in the global Ponzi is dangerously low, the voices of any naysayers must immediately be silenced. We are just confused why hedge funds continue to exist in this "alpha is now extinct" environment: we have gotten to a point where one buys if other buys, Risk On, and vice versa, Risk Off. Why pay someone 2 and 20 to do this is beyond us.

Liquidity. A word you will hear often-repeated today, in fact the more you hear it, the less of there is. Here is Morgan Stanley's Jim Caron discussing why worsening USD funding conditions will force the Fed's FX swap lines to start being used again, now that FX implied USD Libor has passed 1.22%. The problem (for Ben Bernanke) is that the market knows these exist, and yet that has not stopped Libor from rising. If even the blanket promise of endless money printing to satisfy dollar demand is insufficient to prevent the liquidity run, what else can the Fed do?

The whole world is still stunned from what just happened today. In essence, Germany has taken a major step to not only declaring it is the master of the European continent and all those who don't like it can just focus on their own bankrupt banks (Sarkozy), but is breaking ranks with the US, as the surprising nature of today's move was aimed not so much at European "speculators" but at Wall Street. Furthermore, knowing full well it may soon lose access to US capital markets, Germany is likely preparing to abandon the EU and EMU (to which "good riddance" is likely all it has to say). But the key implication from today is that Bernanke must now move with urgency to find a way to keep the pressure on the dollar as he is now solidly losing the currency devaluation race. The impact of this on major multinationals and on the "must do" reflation experiment could be cataclysmic. Additionally, without gobs of new domestic liquidity to prop it up, the US market will now likely collapse, further forcing Bernanke to act against the interests of the US Middle class and America's savers. We can not wait to see what he pulls out of his sleeve. With ZIRP ravaging the nation, and negative interest rates still illegal, he may just find his hands very much tied.

In the meantime, here are some preliminary shocked observations on today's events from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

The WSJ reports that "Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Morgan Stanley misled investors about mortgage-derivatives deals it helped design and sometimes bet against, people familiar with the matter say, in a step that intensifies Washington's scrutiny of Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis." In essence, Abacus comes to Times Square. And the latest soundbite for today's media feeding frenzy: the "Dead Presidents." So going down the list: Goldman - check, Morgan Stanley -check, Merrill, Deutsche and UBS - to come, especially once Khuzami finds a replacement to fill his recused status when investigating the German bank.

Yesterday we discussed the statistically impossible trading desk results of Goldman Sachs, which reported in its 10Q that it lost money on exactly 0 days last quarter, and was profitable on 63 out of 63 days. Today we find that the rape and pillage of the middle class was not isolated to Goldman, and that JP Morgan also had a flawless quarter. And if the odds of Goldman making 63 out of 63 are virtually impossible in any universe in which risk goes hand in hand with return (but in those in which monopolies are encouraged and bailed out), the coincidence of the two main firms that control the world having a perfect track record is impossible². And since things in reality tend to be zero sum, when everyone makes money, someone may be tempted to ask the question, just who is losing money? And the answer, dear taxpayers, and [Goldman|JPMorgan] clients, is you.

The one biggest bond bear since December 2009, Morgan Stanley, has just thrown in the towel, and instead of expecting 4.50% on the 10 Year by June 30, the firm has now pushed back its target by 2 quarters. Which means that its longer 5.50% Target on 10 Years has been scrapped. The firm's strategists have also adjusted their call on Fed hikes (now expected to occur no sooner than 2011 instead of September 2010). Lastly, the firm's most vocal call, one for a substantial 2s10s steepening to 325 bps has also been moderated from Q2 to Q4. We also include the latest Rates Strategy slide deck from MS.

Morgan Stanley's Stephen Roach spoke with Bloomberg's Tom Keene earlier, pointing out the most troubling statistic about recent market activity, which has to do with both the frequency and amplitude of catastrophes: "The crises are coming with greater frequency. Over the last 25 years we have had an average of one crisis every 3 years. The gap this time is 18 months. The scale is bigger. This is a much more serious problem in the eurozone than the Asian financial crisis." So intercrisis half-life continues to decline as the severity jumps exponentially. In other words, in nine months we will need a combined Fed-ECB-BOE-PBoC-BOJ effort for about $10 trillion just to calm the markets. 4.5 months after that, $100 trillion more... And so forth. Enjoy.

• Final step towards bilateral loans and IMF stand-by agreement taken
• The aid package limits the near-term liquidity risk and buys more time
• But the long-term issue of debt sustainability (i.e., solvency) remains
• Debt restructuring unlikely in the near term, but possible longer term
• Financial market reaction to the package will determine whether it works
• Key factors are additional austerity measures the IMF/EU are asking for
• Near-term event risk: last political or legal hurdles
• Contagion: Focus back on other peripheral countries (Portugal, Spain)
• Portugal may be too small to matter; Spain would raise capacity issues.
• Periphery needs to act now, in our view, and propose additional austerity measures

The full blown curve inversion that is taking the PIIGS by storm is slowly coming to a TBTF near you. As the chart below shows, the 5s/10s in CDS curves for the most prominent banks are now inverted, while the bulk of them are flat at best. Should the ongoing pounding in GS stock continue, look for flatness to slowly creep to the 4, 3, 2 and 1 Year marks.