American Express

After starting the overnight trading at its lows, the EURUSD has once again seen the now traditional overnight levitation, this time with absolutely no economic news, in the process raising equity futures across the Atlantic, even as unfounded Chinese optimism for more liquidity has waned leading to the SHCOMP closing down 0.3%. Perhaps the most notable event in the quiet trading session so far has been the surge in 10 year Greek debt whose yield has tumbled to post-restructuring lows, driven by more and more hedge funds piling in to piggyback on Dan Loeb's recent public GGB purchase announcement (strength into which he has long since sold), and hopes that Greece will somehow see an Official Sector Initiative (OSI) to make recovery prospects for Private Investors more attractive: a capital impairment the ECB has said would happen only over its dead body. But in the new normal, facts and rules are for chumps, and only exist to be broken. More on this amusing stupidity here. Amusingly, this comes just as Greece’s Staikouras says the economy’s downward spiral is not over yet. But, again, who cares about fundamentals.

• Rajoy’s Deepening Budget Black Hole Outpaces Spain’s Cuts (Bloomberg)
• ECB May Need to Cut Rates Given Deflation Risk, IMF Says (Bloomberg)
• Global Recession Risk Rises (WSJ)
• Romney Leads Obama in Pew Likely Voter Poll After Debate (Bloomberg)
• IMF Sees Global Risk in China-Japan Spat (WSJ)
• Republicans shift tone on taxing the rich (FT)
• Romney casts Obama's foreign policy as weak, dangerous (Reuters)
• Europe Salutes Greek Budget-Cutting Will, Raising Aid Prospects (Bloomberg)
• U.S. Downgrade Seen as Upgrade as U.S. Debt Dissolved (Bloomberg)
• IMF Says Most Advanced Nations Making Progress Reducing Deficits (Bloomberg)
• Eurozone launches €500bn rescue fund (FT)

• Italy rejects need for EU control (FT)
• ‘Worst US quarterly earnings since 2009’ (FT)
• Chinese firm helps Iran spy on citizens (Reuters)
• World Bank cuts East Asia GDP outlook, flags China risks (Reuters)
• Foxconn factory rolls on in spite of strike (China Daily)
• Economic recovery ‘on the ropes’ (FT)
• Japan Tries Cars That Make the Mini Look Maxi (Businessweek)
• Euro Finance Chiefs to Give Positive Greece Statement, Rehn Says (Bloomberg)
• Romney attacks drones policy (FT)
• Euro zone mulls 20 billion euro separate budget (Reuters)
• Hong Kong’s Leung Seeks Turnaround With Economy Focus (Bloomberg)
• RBA Keeps Some Documents Private in Securency Bribe Probe (Bloomberg)
• India Inflation to Remain at 7.5%-8% Till Early 2013 (WSJ)

• RBA Cuts Rate to 3.25% as Mining-Driven Growth Wanes (Reuters)
• Republicans Not Buying Bernanke’s QE3 Defense (WSJ)
• Spain ready for bailout, Germany signals "wait" (Reuters)
• EU says prop trading and investment banking should be separated from deposit taking (Reuters)
• Call for bank bonuses to be paid in debt (FT)
• Spanish Banks Need More Capital Than Tests Find, Moody’s Says (Bloomberg) ... as we explained on Friday
• "Fiscal cliff" to hit 90% of US families (FT)
• The casualties of Chesapeake's "land grab" across America (Reuters)
• U.K. Government Needs to Do More to Boost Weak Economy, BCC Says (Bloomberg)
• World Bank Sees Long Crisis Effect (WSJ)
• UBS Co-Worker Says He Used Adoboli’s Umbrella Account (Bloomberg)
• And more easing: South Korea central bank switches tack to encourage growth (Reuters)

Simon Black recounts a recent experience as he pulled in to a gas station in Italy; he whipped out his American Express card and asked the attendant in broken Italian to turn on the pump. He acted like Simon had just punched him in the gut, wincing when he saw the credit card. "No... cash, only cash," he said. I didn’t have very much cash on me, so I drove to the next station where a similar experience awaited me. This is a trend that is typical when economies are in decline– cash is king. Businesses often won’t want to spend the extra 2.5% on credit card merchant fees... but more importantly, distrust of the banking system and a debilitatingly extractive tax system pushes people into cash transactions. You can’t really blame them.

Pretty Well-Documented ...

European equities are trading in minor positive territory on light volume and a light economic calendar with the exception of the IBEX and the FTSE MIB which are down 0.3% and 0.4% respectively as US participants begin to come to their desks. Headline employment data from the UK was for the most part in-line with expectations, though the jobless claims change for June showed a 6.1K increase compared with the 5.0K expected, with downward revisions to May’s figures. The BoE minutes showed the July increase in APF was not unanimous at 7-2, and a GBP 75bln increase was also discussed, and that should the additional easing measures not work, a further rate cut would be examined. The final comment caused a spike to the upside in the short Sterling strip of 6 ticks, Gilt futures rose to make highs of 121.78, and GBP/USD to slide back below 1.5600, though the pair has since come off its lows and trades back above this level.

And the real lesson, dear friends, is that the good old USA is a subprime nation

When we announced the news of Jamie Dimon's surprising announcement, we said that "Since we are now obviously replaying the entire credit crisis, from beginning to end, must as well go all in. Now - who's next? And perhaps just as importantly, who isn't." Who isn't it turns out are 4 banks that did not pass the Fed's stress test results. These are SunTrust, naturally Ally, MetLife and... Citi. Way to earn that 2011 $15 million comp Vic! To summarize: across the 19 banks taking the test, the maximum losses are projected to hit a total of $534 billion. But at least Jamie Dimon gets to pay his dividend. Also, the European LTRO stigma comes to the US in the form of banks who do dividend hike/buyback, vs those that do not.. and of course the 4 unlucky ones that fail the stress test entirely.

Another financial company selling off after a weaker than expected earning announcement, in an earnings seasons that so far has been largely disappointing for financials (except for those that enjoy adjusting their loss reserve ratios ever lower).

All three companies beat, yet Amazon not liking the news (down 4% AH), and now AXP going red. Of course, this being one of the most roboticized stocks, looks for the HFT crew to throw in some extra volumechurn in exchange for capital losses offset by liquidity rebates to bring the price back.

Financial stocks had a huge run up from their bottom. Many have doubled and tripled, but are they still cheap?

The chief executive officer supervising the portfolio of fastest growing credit-card delinquencies was paid a total of $27.3 million in 2008. His packages consisted of:

- $1.25 million base
- $10.2 million in stock awards