PIMCO

Gross: 3 to 4 percent credit growth can’t produce much more than 3-4 percent increases in asset prices. No more QE's? No more bull markets.

— PIMCO (@PIMCO) August 21, 2013

Gross: Today I feel less "GUARDED" than yesterday. Is the free press still free?

— PIMCO (@PIMCO) August 20, 2013

“We have to turn the page on the bubble-and-bust mentality that created this mess,” President Obama stated authoritatively in his weekend radio address... but do not get too excited by the possibility of a real end to the Keynesian experiment and a return to 'free' markets for the President, in his oh-so-not-trying-to-start-a-class-warfare-battle way, blames bubbles not on Central banks (who have done "an outstanding job") but on the skewed distribution of income. As Bloomberg reports, Obama states “When wealth concentrates at the very top, it can inflate unstable bubbles that threaten the economy." The problem with his way of thinking is best described by the status quo defender Sarah Bloom Raskin who offered up this insight into what the manipulation of market interest rates gives us, "asset bubbles are a feature of our financial landscape." So there it is, a feature (not a bug) that the President wants to get rid of (and yet wants to maintain the illusion that unrealized profit (and debt) is wealth).

If the following just released forecast of where the 10 Year is going, from Bank of America's chief technical strategist MacNeill Curry is accurate, not only is the bond bottom nowhere near but we sense a Tweetstorm is coming from Bill Gross.

Gross: Pogo said, We have met the enemy & he is us. I say, All asset mkts peaking; W/o central bank ck writing we only have ourselves 2sell2

— PIMCO (@PIMCO) August 16, 2013

As JPM's Michael Feroli notes, the September FOMC Taper announcement (which certainly isn't assured, although if the Fed does not taper, it will end up monetizing 0.4%-0.5% of the total private TSY stock per week before year end) may just be a sideshow to a previously undiscussed main event: the Fed's first forecast of 2016 interest rates.

Gross: Strategists/writers I follow? Dalio, Durden, Bianco, Arnott, Aitken, Santelli, Grant, Grantham, Inker, Marks, Quaintenance & Brodsky

— PIMCO (@PIMCO) August 9, 2013

While the likes of PIMCO, BlackRock, DoubleLine, and Wells Fargo are major RMBS holders, their reasons for seeking a court order to block Richmond, California's Eminent Domain seizure of mortgages are applicable (and should be worrisome) for all US citizens. As we have noted previously, the asset managers warn that the Mortgage Resolution Partners actions will "seriously harm average Americans, including pension members, other retirees and individual savers through a brazen scheme to abuse government powers for its own profit." While the Richmond Mayor stands by her decision, the investors argue that this plan is unconstitutional and discriminatory - sounds just about right in our new normal.

From Bill Gross: "Capitalism depends on the successful offering and capture of carry in its multiple forms. If capitalism is faltering (recession) in developed/developing economies and yields are close to the zero bound, then portfolios should have less carry than before. If prospects are mediocre, portfolios should be overweight carry. If prospects are very bright, they should again be underweight bond carry. If we can be mindful of this, and accurately forecast it, we will be successful. This may be the most important conceptual change I have ever written about in an Investment Outlook. Readers who have stuck with this Outlook at least to this point have a scoop, if not a magic feather."

Gross: So #QE 1, 2 & 3 lifted stock prices by nearly unanimous agreement. When the #Fed #tapers, stocks will keep climbing?

— PIMCO (@PIMCO) August 7, 2013

In April, according to JOLTS, there were 108K job additions. According to the NFP data, the job gain was 199K or 84% more than per JOLTS
In May, according to JOLTS, there were 109K jobs additions. According to the NFP data, the job gain was 176K or 62% more than per JOLTS
In June, according to JOLTS, there were 120K jobs additions. According to the NFP data, the job gain was 188K or 57% more than per JOLTS
Adding across for all of 2013, JOLTS would have us know that only 837K jobs were added (or 140K per month average). Compare this to the 1,185K new jobs according to the Establishment Survey (198K per month average).

-> A 42% difference!

With the return of Federal Reserve Chair(wo)man odds at PaddyPower (leaving Summers a dreary 28% likelihood of winning) comes the Irish bettors' latest gamble... when will the US Fed initiate Tapering of QE? Based on the month during which the first reduction of QE bond-buying from the current $85bn per month, it seems (unlike the majority of prognosticators and standing blithely in the face of technical, political, and deficit reasons) that tapering will not begin until December at earliest with most believing 2014-or-later...

We had absolutely no concern about the outcome of today's 5 Year auction: after all, when push comes to shove, Bill Gross who yesterday was pitching 5 Year bonds to twitter would have certainly bought up the entire issue. Yet we were surprised to find that Direct Bidders, among which such bond kings as PIMCO, tendered only $6 billion (a 47% hit rate) in bids into today's $35 billion auction. Odd - could Bill Gross have been untruthful in expressing his interest in the bond and was merely looking for greater fools? Unpossible.

Gross: Nominal GDP growing at 3.5% last 12 months. #Fed wants/needs 5%. So they #taper/tighten? Low odds. Buy 5’s.

— PIMCO (@PIMCO) July 23, 2013

Gold surged over 3% yesterday due to what appears to be have been significant short covering due to concerns about gold backwardation and the continual haemorrhaging of gold inventories from the COMEX.

Concerns about a default on the COMEX, once the preserve of a few observant market watchers, are becoming more widespread  as we appear to be witnessing a run on the highly leveraged bullion banking system.

Very robust physical demand from the Middle East, Asia and particularly China and a decline in the dollar also helped prices log their biggest one-day gain in over a year and their first close above $1,300 an ounce in nearly five weeks.

Gains in silver futures, meanwhile, outpaced gold’s rise, with silver surging 5%.