Blackrock

Mario Draghi broke new ground once again this morning by pushing rates even negative-er. We are sure the ECB's top man will further explain how ABS purchases, TLTRO, and even sovereign QE are just around the corner (so keep buying)...

Even as the NATO summit began hours ago in Wales, conveniently enough (for Obama) at the venue of the 2010 Ryder Cup, so far today geopolitics has taken a backseat to the biggest event of the day - the ECB's much hyped and anticipated announcement. So anticipated in fact that even as it has been priced in for the past month, especially by BlackRock which is already calculating the Christmas bonus on its "consultancy" in implementing the ECB's ABS purchasing program and manifesting itself in record low yields across Europe's bond market, Reuters decided to milk it some more moments ago with the following blast: "Plans to launch an asset-backed securities (ABS) and covered bond purchase programme worth up to 500 billion euros are on the table at Thursday's European Central Bank policy meeting..." The notable being the size of the program, which at €500 billion, is precisely what Deutsche Bank said a week ago the size of the ABS program would be. Almost as if the bank with the world's biggest derivative exposure is helping coordinate the "Private QE"...

Yields on European sovereign debt have collapsed in recent months as investors piled into these 'riskless' investments following hints that the ECB will unleash QE (at some point "we promise") and the economic situation collapses. However, Mario Draghi has made it clear that any QE would be privately-focused (because policy transmission channels were clogged) and the appointment of Blackrock to run an ABS-purchase plan confirms that those buying bonds to front-run the ECB may have done so in error. As Rabobank's Elwin de Groot notes in six simple comments that he expects continued "procrastination" by the ECB over sovereign QE even after dismal economic data - and in doing so, exposes the entire facade behind The Fed's QE.

• Clearly it's time to bomb Assad (on Qatar instructions): Islamic State executes dozens of Syrian army soldiers (Reuters)
• Ukraine Declares Russian Invasion as Sanctions Threat Raised (BBG)
• Ukraine Reports Russian Invasion on a New Front (NYT)
• German Unemployment Rises as Risks to Economy Build (BBG)
• Ebola spreads to Nigeria oil hub Port Harcourt (BBC)
• FBI Probes Possible Hacking Incident at J.P. Morgan (WSJ)
• FBI, Secret Service investigate reports of cyber attacks on U.S. banks (Reuters)
• If you like your Venezuela, you can stay in Venezuela: Airlines Abandon Fliers Amid Currency Dispute (WSJ)
• Boomer Wealth Dented by Mortgages Poses U.S. Risk (BBG)
• People Aren't Buying Guns (BusinessWeek)

If you like your de-escalation, you can keep your de-escalation. To think that heading into, and following the Russia-Ukraine "summit" earlier this week there was so much hope that the tense Ukraine civil war "situation" would somehow fix itself. Oh how wrong that thinking was considering overnight, following rebel separatists gains in the southeast of Ukraine which included the strategic port of Novoazvosk and which is "threatening to open up a new front in the war" including setting up a land corridor to Russia controlled-Crimea, Ukraine's president Poroshenko for the first time came out and directly accused Russia of an "Invasion", or at least a first time in recent weeks, saying he has convened the security council on the recent Russian actions.

Just in case futures buying algos forgot what the regurgitated "catalyst" that activated the overnight ramp was, the ECB was kind enough to remind everyone that the main event over the past 12 hours was the Deutsche Bank leak that while the ECB will not announce outright QE any time soon, thus denying the rumor spread in the past weak by the likes of Citi and JPM, the formerly preannounced and thus already priced-in (by the EURUSD which was about to take out 1.40 a few months ago) ABS purchase program, or as DB called it "private QE" is about to be unleashed. The ECB confirmed this earlier this morning when it announced that it had appointed BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager, to advise on developing a program to buy asset-backed securities.  In other words, Europe's largest public-sector hedge fund has just hired the world's largest private-sector hedge fund to "fix things."

• Pope Francis calls for action as Iraqi Christians forced to flee (Reuters)
• Richest Russians Deprived of Luxury Foods by Putin’s Ban (BBG)
• Exxon Drilling Russian Arctic Shows Sanction Lack Bite (BBG)
• Israeli Jets Strike Gaza Targets After Rockets Shatter Truce (BBG)
• U.S. starts aid airdrops in Iraq but no strikes yet (Reuters)
• Banks Said to Be Arranging Argentine Debt Buyer Group (BBG)
• Siberia Flight-Ban Threat Forces Airlines to Mull Options (BBG)
• Malaysia Airlines to Be Delisted in $429 Million Buyout (BBG)
• Erdogan poised to win Turkey's first popular presidential vote (Reuters)
• African Bank Fights Collapse in Espirito Santo-Like Drama (BBG)
• China to build lighthouses on five isles in defiance of U.S. call (Reuters)

• Russia bans all U.S. food, EU fruit and vegetables in sanctions response (Reuters)
• Snowden receives three-year Russian residence permit (Reuters)
• Headline of the day: Europe's Recovery Menaced by Putin as Ukraine Crisis Bites (BBG)
• Americans worry that illegal migrants threaten way of life, economy (Reuters)
• Almost 90% of Uninsured Won't Pay Penalty Under the Affordable Care Act in 2016 (WSJ)
• Germany’s Bond Advance Sends 2-Year Note Yield Below Zero (BBG)
• Gaza War’s Critics in Crosshairs as Israelis Back Offensive (BBG)
• The 1% May Be Richer Than You Think, Research Shows (BBG)
• Bank of America Near $16 Billion to $17 Billion Settlement (WSJ)
• Deep Water Fracking Next Frontier for Offshore Drilling (BBG)

• So that's what Obama meant by "costs" - Italy Recession, German Orders Signal Euro-Area Struggle (BBG)
• Russia worries, weak German data weigh on Europe (Reuters)
• Hedge Funds Betting Against Banco Espírito Santo in Line for Big Gains (WSJ)
• Bankers Called Up for Ukraine War as Rolls-Royce for Sale (BBG)
• Double Punch for 'Inversion' Deals (WSJ)
• Statist Strongmen Putin-Xi See History’s Capitalism Clash (BBG)
• China bans beards, veils from Xinjiang city's buses (Reuters)
• BATS to Settle High-Speed Trading Case (WSJ)
• Second Ebola patient wheeled into Atlanta hospital for treatment (Reuters)

• Ukraine Says Malaysian Airliner Shot Down Near Russian Border (BBG)
• Downing of airliner seen as pivotal moment in Ukraine crisis (Reuters)
• Malaysian Air Flight Took Route Avoided by Qantas, Asiana (BBG)
• Russian-Made Missile Hit Malaysia Jet, U.S. Officials Say (BBG)
• Netanyahu Orders Military to Ready Wider Gaza Incursion (BBG)
• Silvio Berlusconi Underage Sex Conviction Overturned (WSJ)
• But... but... "economic patriotism" - AbbVie to Buy Shire for $54.8 Billion as Drug Deals Surge (BBG)
• SEC targets 10 firms in high frequency trading probe - SEC document (Reuters)
• Art bubble pop: Sotheby's to Lay Off 'Modest' Number of Employees (WSJ)
• Moar Abenomics: Hermes Sales Trail Estimates as Japanese Revenue Declines (BBG)

• BRICS set up bank to counter Western hold on global finances (Reuters)
• Fed's Yellen Hedges Her View on Rates (Hilsenrath)
• China GDP Grows 7.5% in Second Quarter (WSJ)
• Get More Acquainted With Your Knees as Boeing Reworks 737 (BBG)
• Israel Warns Gazans of New Attack After Hamas Rejects Truce (WSJ)
• Israel poised for Gaza incursions after truce collapses (Reuters)
• China Housing Sales Fall in First Half of 2014 (WSJ)
• IBM to offer iPads and iPhones for business users (Reuters)
• Fed's George says strengthening economy warrants quick rate rise (Reuters)

If last week's big "Risk Off" event was the acute spike in heretofore dormant Portugese bank troubles (as a reference Banco Espirito Santo has a market cap at the close last night stood at around €2.1bn ($2.9bn), contrasting to Goldman Sachs ($78.1bn) and JP Morgan ($220.5bn)), then yesterday's acceleration in the Portuguese lender's troubles which as we reported have now spread to its holding company RioForte which is set to default, were completely ignored by the market. Today this has conveniently flipped, following a Diario Economico report that Banco Espirito Santo has the potential to raise capital from private investors. No detail were given but this news alone was enough to send the stock soaring by nearly 20% higher in early trading. Still, despite the "good", if very vague news (and RioForte is still defaulting), Bunds remained bid, supported by a good Bund auction, in part also dragged higher by Gilts, which gained upside traction after the release of the latest UK jobs report reinforced the view that there is plenty of spare capacity for the economy to absorb before the BoE enact on any rate rises. Also of note, touted domestic buying resulted in SP/GE 10y yield spread narrowing, ahead of bond auctions tomorrow.

Now that the World Cup is over, and following last week's global macro reporting slumber (aside for the Portuguese risk flaring episode of course), things pick up quite a bit in the coming week. Here are the key events.

"We’re in a world where there are very few unambiguously cheap assets...If you ask me to give you the one big bargain out there, I’m not sure there is one." But frustrating as the situation can be for investors hoping for better returns, the bigger question for the global economy is what happens next. How long will this low-return environment last? And what risks are being created that might be realized only if and when the Everything Boom ends?

As the world awaits the last day of the week and hopefully some clarity on the fate (or even state) of Portugal's Banco Espirito Santo ("BES"), which ultimately is controlled by the nebulous and unpublished accounts of the topmost HoldCo, Espirito Santo International, which in turn is merely a family investment vehicle of the Espirito Santo family as we showed this morning, moments ago BES issued two press releases whose purposes was to provide an updated org chart of the troubled financial entity, and more importantly, to boast that as of today, the deepest of value investors, Seth Klarman's Baupost was a 2.27% investor in the company.