Bank of America

Whether it is strong-USD-based forward revenue reductions for US corporations, rear-view mirror-based fuel-cost implicit tax-cuts, or unsustainable savings rate reductions, the recent US data has created a plethora of 'this time is different' decoupling theorists. We discussed David Rosenberg's perspective on this unsustainability last week and now his old employer (Bank of America) is notably out with a rather negative note on the chances of this 'local' European problem becoming a global issue and impacting US growth through both trade and financial linkages. In their view, we will see a steady deceleration in growth this year while the consensus sees a pick up and by the spring these negative revisions (from sell-side economists) will weigh heavily on stock markets and support bonds. They sum it up succinctly: 'Enjoy the recent price action while it lasts.'

Back in mid-May just after the market had topped for the year, in a post titled "The Great QE Unwind Compression Trade(s)" we told readers to "focus purely on Utilities and Consumer Staples as the long leg in a compression trade, while shorting Industrials and Consumer Discretionary, leaving Financials alone (John Paulson's projections of Bank of America hitting $30/share by the end of 2011 notwithstanding)." Granted Financials were by far the worst performing trade of the year although with the possibility of a Fed bailout around every corner, it was imprudent to be short the sector (rather going long various unique opportunities such as MBIA proved to be a 100% return in months if not weeks). Instead, we referred to precious metals, namely gold, as a natural hedge against any potential Fed (and global central planner) stupidity. So how did anyone who followed our 2011 advice do? Well - the above three suggestions represented three of the five best performing sectors in the year (with the shorts not offsetting any gains). As can be seen below. Which we merely bring up to those who, counterfactualy, desire to brand this site as some fringe lunatic goldbug asylum. Which we are not saying it isn't: we urge most people to stay out of stocks entirely: the possibility of another flash crash is always present. For those for whom capital preservation is of paramount importance, precious metals are the way to go. But we realize there are those for whom career risk means being involved in stocks, and we realize that they represent a substantial portion of our readership. Which is why we try to be of use to everyone who comes here.

Looking for a reason why the surge of BAC has been abruptly halted after hours? Look no further - as predicted earlier, when we commented on the periodic reincarnation of the always false global refi rumor which served among other things to push BAC higher by almost 10%, the rumor was found to be false... all over again. In other words no refi, no benefit to TBTF, and all of today's gains are based on what Bloomberg noted was a report issued yesterday by a Jaret Seiberg, who until recently was an employee of MF Global, and has since been acquired with his entire Washington Research Group by none other than Guggenheim partners, which just happens to be run by former Bear Stearns exec Alan Scwhartz. From Bloomberg, here is the official denial (which came literally seconds after market close):

• White House Has No Plan for Mass Home Refinancing, Person Says

Incidentally, even if the rumor was true, here is JMP explaining why it would have no real impact on Bank of America

How many of those millions of dollars in cars does the "Foreclosure King" still have? How is he able to stay so warm and cozy in his castle on the intercoastal in Ft.Lauderdale staring out at his 100 foot yachts and where is the Florida Bar in all this?

If there is one piece of data that should make you scrap all optimistic forecasts for 2012 year end S&P price targets and EPS forecasts, it is the following chart from Morgan Stanley which shows the relative contribution of financial stocks to the change in full S&P earnings (combined they account for 26.3% of the change from the actual $883.5 billion to $970.6 billion). Specifically we are looking at Bank of America, which with a forecast surge in Earnings from ($2.5) billion to $10 billion accounts for 14.1% of the entire change in S&P earnings forecasts. And since the S&P is simply the Earnings number multiplied by some multiple, all consensus views that have 1400 as their 2012 year end forecast rely on bank of America to account for nearly 20 S&P points! The US market has now devolved to such a sad state when the most insolvent of all US banks has to carry nearly the bulk of earnings growth in 2012. At least with Apple they produce something - unfortunately in BAC's case it is only legal fees for the avalanche of endless litigation against them.

The catalyst so many have been waiting for, and the nearly 30 million shorts dreading, has arrived. From Judge Eileen Bransten: "ORDERED that MBIA Insurance Corporation’s motion for partial summary judgment is granted to the extent that MBIA Insurance Corporation (“MBIA”) must establish for its claim of fraud that misrepresentations by the defendant(s) induced MBIA to issue insurance policies on terms to which it otherwise would not have agreed and that MBIA is not required to establish a direct causal link between defendant(s) misrepresentations and MBIA’s claims payments made pursuant to the insurance policies at issue; and it is further ordered that MBIA's motion for partial summary judgment is granted to the extent that MBIA must establish for its claim for breach of the Insurance Agreement against Countrywide Home Loans that CHL's breach of warranties in the issued insurance policies' transaction documents increased the risk profile of the issued insurance policies and MBIA is not required to establish a direct causal connection between proven warranty breaches by CHL and MBIA's claims payments made pursuant to the insurance policies at issue, and it is further Ordered that MBIA's motion for partial summary judgment is granted to the extent that MBIA may seek rescissory damages upon proving all elements of its claims for fraud and breach of representation and/or warranty." In short, this is core catalyst that Manal Mehta expected and which BTIG envisioned to justify its $22.50 price target. It is also the judgment that will make Bank of America's case law life a living nightmare going forward (naturally following repeated failed attempts at appealing). Lastly, any and all shorts in the name may have their work cut out for them.

Yesterday we charted the combined ECB balance sheet which showed that it had hit an all time record of €2.5 trillion, exclusing today's operation (to the stunned surprise of all those who scream that the ECB should be printing more, more, more). Today, we focus exclusively on the various forms of unsecured liquidity measures, such as today's 3 Year LTRO, because as the following chart from Bank of America shows, European emergency liquidity provisioning post today's liquidity bailout brings the total to €873 billion and is just shy of its all time record of €896 billion, a number which we expect will be taken out as soon as the next liquidity provisioning operation. In other words, European liquidity in euro terms, has virtually never been worse. And as today's additional drawdown of Fed swap lines indicates, the USD liquidity crunch is getting worse not better (confirmed by the rapid deterioration in basis swap levels). Perhaps the fact that not only is nothing fixed, but things are about as bad as they have ever been explains why Europe closed blood red across the board, and also why Bank of America continues to push for an outright crash in all risk (and some were doubting our earlier analysis that BAC is outright yearning for a market crash): To wit from Bank of America's Ralf Preusser: "The tender results do not however change either our longer term  cautious outlook on growth, or the periphery. We remain long 5y CDS protection on France, at 210bp (target 300bp, stop loss 175bp)." So let's see: BAC is shorting the EURUSD, which implies they are pushing for a market drop, and now they want French CDS to soar? Who was it that said the megabanks do not want a crash?

It is no secret that US banks are pushing hard for a big market dump: after all that is the only thing that could unleash QE either in Europe, or far more likely, in the US. Whether that means the Fed will much more aggressively monetize US or, as discussed yesterday European debt, remains unclear, but one thing is certain: US and European banks for the most part loathe the LTRO as it simply delays the day of printing and buys the banks time they don't need and can't afford. Which is why Bank of America, as it is the most exposed to a world without QE, was the first to jump in and demand the market crash itself, by presenting an FX note saying the EURUSD "squeeze has run its course" and is proceeding to sell the EURUSD at 1.3045 with a target of 1.2510. Whether or not the EURUSD gets there is irrelevant. What matters is that, as expected, the push for QE will be renewed with far greater vigor by the very entities that are supposed to benefit from the LTRO as paradoxically the banks now have to scramble to offset the favorable, if very short term, impact from the LTRO because they know it achieves nothing and the only savior is and has always been Ben.

While not quite a "jarring" as the Saxo Bank "outrageous predictions", Bank of America has also put together yet another list of "other" risks for 2012, which as BofA's Martin Mauro says, "have persisted or become worse over the course of the year, but have escaped market attention due to the spotlight on Europe." The risks are as follows: i) Hard landing in China; ii) Currency wars (competitive currency devaluation); iii) Middle East oil supply shock and iv) Municipal default fears. The only thing we would add is that these are not really risks, as the are all developing processes in some stage of deterioration. And, as usually happens, they will likely all strike at the same time, just when the world is most vulnerable, likely minutes after Greece announces it has left the Eurozone, and the Euro is in legal and structural limbo. But luckily we have at least a few weeks to months before that happens. So here is Bank of America's predictive prowess in all its rhetorical glory.

It’s clear that the BRICS cannot be the engine room of global economic growth. Meanwhile, Europe is a complete basket case, and the euro is looking increasingly as though it will be consigned to the dustbin of history. Across the pond, the US is trying to put a brave face on its jobless recovery whilst kicking a $15 trillion debt bomb down the road. Anyone who steps back and looks at the big picture has -got- to recognize the absurdity of this situation. Now… here’s the good news: you and I have a huge advantage. Citi, Deutsche Bank, Unicredit, etc. are sitting on incalculable losses, unrealistic obligations, and worthless paper that will destroy their organizations. They’ve been accumulating these for years and have no way of avoiding the endgame. We do. We, on the other hand, are little guys. If you and I want to cut our exposure to these silly pieces of paper that governments pass off as currency, we can do that easily. We can easily do that by buying gold or productive land overseas. Bank of America, on the other hand, has to hold Tim Geithner’s dirty laundry.

Forget the Santa rally, and pack up on parachutes. That is the advice of Bank of America's chief technician Mary Ann Bartels who in a note today writes: "Test of the October lows is underway – Santa is not coming - Last week the S&P 500 fell below its 50-day moving average which is the new level to watch – 1228. A failure to move above and hold the 50-day moving average confirms to us that we have already begun to enter the phase of testing the October lows near 1100-1074. This pattern is becoming eerily similar to 2008 into 2009. A base building process has been underway since August but we have maintained the belief that the lows still need to be tested and undercuts to 985- 935 are possible (50% probability) as part of this process. We expect a new cyclical bull market to emerge near 2Q12. Time and patience are needed." Which is to be expected: after all Bank of America, which is about to have a $4 handle once the Maginot Fortress of a near infinite number of bids at $5.00 is soaked up, will be the first to go the way of the dodo unless the market cracks and the Fed has political cover for QE3. Which is precisely what we have been saying for a year - namely that the market has to stop discounting (events such as QE3, 4 and so on) and allow itself to plunge in order to unleash all these favorable outcomes. And yet it refuses to as someone always start lifting the offer on every big dip in following with the now suicidal (for many banks) practices of BTFD. Oh well, when you have 24 year olds like this kid, who somehow made top billing in Forbes 30 under 30, defining market structure, we are long past overdue for the mother of all market crashes.

As of minutes ago, BAC stock hit the nearly 3 year low value of $5.01 which immediately set off algorithmic defense programs, because as has been explained previously, should the stock trade under $5.00 during regular hours, instead of the After Hours session, when it hit $4.90 a few weeks ago, it will most likely set off numerous selling programs from plain vanilla funds which despite what pundits claims, have a hard floor of $5.00 (these are the same "pundits" who believe a downgrade of the EuropeAAAn club will have no impact on asset vallue) for held stocks.The result would be unpredictable so it is better to eat losses on algo all bid programs than to find out what would happen when the stock has  $4 handle.

While we have extensively covered the blood feud between Bank of America, and its archnemeis, the mysteriously titled Walnut Place in the past (see here and here and here and here and most importantly here) which just happens to be the entity that successfully scuttled Bank of America's "proposed" $8.5 billion settlement with a bevy of so called litigants (among which BlackRock, PIMCO and the New York Fed for god's sake - the very entities who survival depends on BAC's continued existence) who in realty were merely subversive agents seeking to settle $424 billion in misrepresented mortgage CFC trusts just so the status quo would not be impaired, we never asked one simple question: just who is Walnut Place? Now, courtesy of Reuters, we know, and the revelation is quite stunning, because it means that the person who potentially has the biggest short in Bank of America either via equity or CDS (which do not have to be publicly desclosed) is the legendary head of Baupost: Seth Klarman. Reuters reports: "Walnut Place, a group of undisclosed investors who oppose Bank of America Corp's $8.5 billion mortgage bond settlement, is the Baupost Group, a distressed debt fund, according to an attorney for the bank. "Walnut Place is actually a made up name," Theodore Mirvis, an attorney with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz who represents Bank of America, said at a hearing in New York state Supreme Court Thursday. The "real" firm, which sued Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon BKNYK.UL, as trustee, over mortgage-backed securities trusts is Baupost -- "known as a distressed debt or sometimes a vulture fund," Mirvis said." As a reminder, Baupost is one of the world's biggest hedge funds at $23 billion, and unlike other fly-by-night one hit wonders, is not down 47% YTD. In fact, the mere name of Seth Klarman being long or short a stock has typically had a huge impact on the stock price. And since by implication in his continued efforts to destabilize the proposed settlement, Klarman is either short BAC, or long the beneficiaries of ongoing, and successful, litigation such as MBIA, this means that the pain for BAC is about to magnified as the traditional 13F clones jump on board the pair trade, and short BAC while going long MBIA et al (incidentally this is half the thesis that we presented back in September 15, when we said to... go long MBIA and short Bank of America).

While the general media may be ignoring the latest peculiar twist on the "Occupy" theme, or in this case the "occupyourhomes.org", Bank of America is taking it quote seriously. As a reminder, "Tuesday, December 6th is the National Day of Action to stop and reverse foreclosures. The Occupy Homes movement is holding actions around the country in support of homeowners and people fighting to have a home. Find an event near you and join in our day of action tomorrow!. There are actions happening in over 20 cities nationwide. Events are taking place in Brooklyn, Buffalo and Rochester New York; Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose, Petaluma, Sacramento, Paradise and Contra Costa California; Lake Worth, Florida; Atlanta, Fayetteville, and DeKalb Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Bloomington, Indiana; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Cleveland, Ohio; Denver, Colorado; Detroit and Southgate Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington." And if you have not heard about today's protest on the conventional media that is understandable: as BAC says internally, this event "could impact our industry." Here are the specific warnings to BAC "field services" agents: i) Your safety is our primary concern, so do not engage with the protesters; ii) While in neighborhoods, please take notice of vacant BAC Field Services managed homes and ensure they are secured; iii) Remind all parties of the bank’s media policy and report any media incidents. Aside from the superficial implications, what is more important is that the big banks are showing precisely what the weakest links in the system are, and what makes them the most nervous: it is not protesters living in tents in a major metropolitan city: it is protesters disrupting the lifeblood of the broken banking system - the home selling/repossession pathway. Expect many more such protests now that Bank of America has tipped its hand.

Five National Banks Sued by AG Coakley in Connection with Illegal Foreclosures and Loan Servicing