Jim Cramer

Putting it all into perspective, of the total $178 billion in consumer credit expansion in the past 12 months, a tiny $9 billion, or just 5% of total, was to fund credit card purchases. The rest went - you guessed it - into purchases of cars and paying for tuition, for which GM and strateospheric college tuitions are most grateful. And that is the New Normal economy in a nutshell.

Evolutionary theory as a perspective for understanding human behavior within capital markets is a more useful perspective than what economic theory has become... a cloistered, brittle theology that day after day becomes more abstract in its formation and more narrow in its application. The first and most basic lesson of an evolutionary perspective properly applied: we are well served as investors to jettison the superiority complex that comes with living in the present and looking back on what naturally seems a benighted past. The notions of liberal progress and evolution-as-hierarchy are so deeply ingrained that we assume that whatever behaviors are new or modern, including modern investment management practices or modern investment strategies (or modern monetary policy), must be part and parcel of some advancement over what existed in the past. In truth there is no up-and-to-the-right arrow associated with evolution; there is no intelligent design pushing us “forward”.

Despite the best efforts of 330RAMP CAPITAL, US equity indices ended the first trading day of the year with the biggest loss (on that day) since 2008. Led by weakness in the high-beta indices as Trannies tumbled their most in 4 months and the S&P's biggest daily downswing in over 3 weeks. On a side-note, gas prices have never been this high on the first day of the year. VIX closed higher once again as stocks began to catch down to it's recent warnings. Bonds rallied from the open this morning (with 10Y 6bps lower in yield from its opening print) with 10Y back under 3%. EUR weakness drove the USD higher (but JPY strength weighed on stocks). The biggest moves appeared in commodities with gold and silver up nicely and WTI crude down hard.

With over 60% of those surveyed by Investors Intelligence now bullish, positive sentiment (or crowding, depending on your perspective) has risen once again and now to levels that are practically the highest ever. Perhaps even more crucial is the absolute dearth of bears leaving the Bull-Bear ratio at a record-busting level over 4x. The simple question, as we asked before, is - what happens when there's no one left to buy from?

Given it is the last day of what is being reported as a breath-takingly good year, we thought a gentle reminder of the reality underlying the exuberance was worthwhile. Presented with little comment, we give you 2013... the death cross...

Just Do Da Maf...

We wondered previously what happens when there are no more greater fools to sell to? But, US investors have turned the euphoria dial to 11 this week as the percent bullish is the highest since the peak in Fall 2007 and bears are at their lowest percentage since Spring 1987. Thus, the Bull-bear spread (based on AAII's survey) has never been wider (and don't forget, even Cliff Asness knows the unbridled idiocy of the 'money-on-the-sidelines'-meme).

With most stock indices breaking record highs (and even the NASDAQ back to 13+ year highs), we thought a time of reflection and giving (as opposed to receiving Fed liquidity) required a look at the bigger picture. The following 13 charts of the last 13 years cover everything from collapsing SAT scores to record high prices of alcohol and from surging gun background checks to record high food stamp recipients, this is not your great grandma's depression-"recovery"...

Of the 68 "economists" (which incidentally none of which are "qualified") that Bloomberg surveyed, 24 believe a taper is coming with the majority expecting a $10 billion cut in the asset-purchase program.

While this morning we were re-assured by the government's statistics that there is no inflation (or deflation); implicitly enabling the Fed's extreme monetary policy to continue with no immediate consequence, it would appear there is an oddly synchronized rise in the price of something critical to day-to-day 'coping' for many - alcohol prices. Spurious correlation or unintended consequence? Cost-push or demand-pull?

Quietly, while no one was watching, European stocks have been pummeled lower in the last 2 weeks. Since the start of December, Spanish and Italian stock markets are down 6% and the broad-based Bloomberg 500 Index is down 4.75% - its biggest such drop in 6 months - to 2-month lows. With the EUR testing multi-year highs against the USD, and the earnings picture fading dismalling into the dark, it seems all those "believers" in a European recovery (on the basis of some "soft" surveys) have been proved wrong (or early?).

Perhaps not so United States?

S&P futures dumped their most in almost 4 months on marginal volume today as a budget deal (moar fiscal means less moar monetary policy) and a potentially hawkish Stan Fischer on the Fed spread taper fears across all assets with gold lower, Treasury yields higher, and USD rising. New 52-week-lows spiked to 4 month highs as higher beta muppetry took Trannies down most in almost 4 months. The S&P tested back below the payrolls-data and FOMC Minutes launchpad levels from last week as rather notably, while most sectors are still up 5-10% from the debt-ceiling lows, Utilities are now unch. Treasuries weakened back to unchanged from the payrolls print for 5Y (though 7s-130s are -3 to 4bps still). This is the biggest jump in VIX in 2 months as the term structure is the most inverted since US downgrade levels in Aug 2011. Dow <16,000; S&P <1,800; NASDAQ ~4,000 - Retirement Off!  

The ratio of bulls to bears has never (that is ever) been higher according to (the perhaps ironically names) Investor's Intelligence. There are now more than 4x more bulls than bears and even more concerning, the only time "bears" have been lower than the current 14.3% was in the spring of 1987...

Much has been said about Bitcoin: an alternative currency; a "honeypot" scheme by the central banks and Feds to capture excess cash, punish the rebellious and track abusers of money laundering laws; a revolution against fiat. Perhaps one other word may be used as well: "distraction"?