Contango

Back in February, shortly before the big sell off in gold we warned that we have some "Horrible News For Goldbugs - Paulson Is Bullish On Gold Again." We may have some bad news again, as the 'bullish' sentiment this time comes from none other than the muppet master, after Goldman released a note overnight saying that "gold is set to glimmer as growth tarnishes." To wit: "We reiterate our constructive outlook for gold prices in 2012 and our 3, 6-and 12-mo forecasts of $1,785/toz, $1,840/toz and $1,940/toz, respectively. We acknowledge, however, that continued strong US economic data poses growing risk to our forecast for rising gold prices. Net, we reiterate our view that at current price levels gold remains a compelling trade but not a long-term investment, and we continue to recommend a long position in Dec-12 COMEX gold futures." Yes, that's great - we have only one word: Stolper That said, the only saving grace to an all out wipeout is that Goldman appears quite set on getting QE at all costs, potentially as soon as April - a move which would send the metal soaring as the Chairman can not have his cake and eat it too, absent a few helping hands from the CME of course.

The March silver futures contract first entered backwardation on Mar 9 and with a few zigs and zags has not only remained there but has gone deeper and deeper in. The April gold future just entered backwardation today. We shall see what the coming days bring for the April gold future, but the fact that backwardation has occurred at all is significant. The fact that it is now a “normal” occurrence since fall 2008 indicates a deep pathology. Backwardation means that anyone who has gold or silver could simultaneously sell the metal and buy futures contracts to recover their position, and make a profit. The market is tight. The metal is out there, but obviously those who have it in an unencumbered form are not able (retail) or willing (others?) to take this backwardation bait.

Back in May of last year, just after the now historic silver slamdown of "Silver Sunday" on May 1, 2011, when the metal imploded by nearly 20% in the span of seconds, a move that some considered 'normal', primarily the CFTC, we presented the extended biopic of the infamous "Silverfinger": Bunker Hunt, who attempted to corner the silver market, and succeeded, if only briefly (and they say Playboy has no good articles). Today, courtesy of Grant Williams, we have dredged up the following clip from the archives, which is a 10 minute overview of just how there is really nothing new ever in the silver market, bringing up memories of Silver Thursday, March 27, 1980, and raising questions whether last year the move in precious metals was not due to the same attempt to corner the silver and gold markets as happened 30 years prior. A far more important question perhaps is how was it that tried a redux of the Hunt brothers (and Warren Buffett of course), and when will someone take their place next?

Two days ago Obama held a press conference in which he openly prevaricated and disinformed the world about the true nature of his meeting with Israel PM Netanyahu. Today we find what was truly discussed, courtesy of Israel's Maariv newspaper, Spiegel and Reuters, which all tell us that it was a simple case of quid pro quo, namely that Barack Obama would supply Israel with bunker-busters and refueling planes if Bibi promised to delay an Iran attack until after the presidential election. The implication is simple - avoid an oil price shock this summer and delay it until next winter when Obama will be safely in his throne for another 4 years, at which point US citizens can fuel their cars with combustible urine following nights of binging on Everclear in hopes of ending their sorrows with alcohol poisoning, or better yet, all be in possession of the heavily subsidized flaming half ton block of metal known as the Obama Pinto, er, Volt.

After the announcement of the Seaway reversal back in November 2011, a development which some say was oddly anticipated by the market, the Brent-WTI spread collapse from a near record $30 to just $7 in the span of three months. Further alleviating tensions was the fact that Italy is now once again back firmly in control of Libyan Brent production. Yet recent developments in the Persian Gulf, and elsewhere, have led to the Brent-WTI spread trade becoming an energy trader's widowmaker yet again, as it has doubled from $10 to $20 as of early this morning in less than a month. What happens next, and what are the implications for the energy market as a result of the violent move wider? Here is Goldman's David Greely with some observations and some suggestions.

We don't have to run through the maze 5 times before we know what lever to push! 

Silver spreads continue to sell off on Thursday. So far, any theories that weaker spreads are ultimately bullish for the physical metal have to be viewed suspiciously. We spoke with a couple of traders on the topic and our revised possibilities list is as follows...

In silver, the contango was hit hard about 3 AM this morning with 2 year futures coming in as much as 15 cents relative to spot. The Z11/Z12 futures spread settled 21.40 yesterday and the market today is 13/15. The H/Z futures spread settled 19.2 The market today is 9/11. What could cause this? Factually speaking, 2 reasons cause contango to collapse. The first is interest rates and interest rates would have to decrease a large amount for this type of move in the spreads. The second is delivery concerns. When a producer, bullion dealer, or speculator is short the front month, come expiration, it has a a choice: make delivery or don’t make delivery.

On April 15, the VIX contango hit its heretofore steepest of the year. What happened immediately afterward was a peak in the market followed by a plunge, and the flash crash, coupled with a massive flattening of the curve. What also happened was unprecedented pain for Goldman, which had been pushing the Variance Swap so hard, it ended up with residual inventory on its flow (but not prop) desk, resulting in a major loss for the firm once the curve flattened. Yet anyone who thought that Goldman's Delta One prop desk would ever lose money, should just look at today's ridiculous VIX curve which is now trading at a steepness unseen in years. More than obviously someone is pushing very hard on the spot, while ignoring or buying the mid and long end. And as we expected earlier this week, the only driver for stocks right now is what is happening in VIX land, driven by the near record open interest, which is now so disconnected from the volatility in all other assets (FX, bonds), it is beyond deplorable. Yet perfectly expected: with no volume, one market maker can do with the market entirely as they see fit.

The Structure of Crude Oil,including Contango and Options Skew, provides options and futures traders unique opportunities to limit risk and initiate positions with excellent value.

Yesterdays’ activity showed the Q/V spread coming in while the market gyrated a little higher as this time it was Q longs who were the aggressive liquidators. Rumors however still abound about delivery issues. Observably, the majority of spreads continue to come in as the market rallies. It can’t be emphasized enough. The cost of carry should not come in on a financial spread as the underlying rallies, as evidenced in the Contango Crush here.

For gold: Cost of carry = risk free interest rate + storage costs for the time period.

What will happen when the 26-mile long tanker convoy carrying 127 million barrels starts offloading since the oil storage trade is no longer as profitable?

You may recall that the crude spread gap opened just a few weeks after Lehman Brothers failed and AIG required a capital infusion. During the super contago phase of late 2008 and early 2009, the spread was so ridiculously wide that the rate of return was close to 70% at one point of time.
Those few who had a role in taking advantage of the super contango ended up boosting the spot oil price back to a more normal relationship to the outer months.

The recent run up in oil prices has resulted in some dramatic shifts along the crude curve. When we first discussed the contango effect (and some amusing risk free ideas as a result), the 12 month spread was roughly $25.

We like Southwest - cheap tickets, drunk passengers on the Vegas flights, hot passengers on others, sweet equity ticker... Yet something is fishy in the city of Dallas...