Market Manipulation

One senior UK bank director said: “The problem with Martin was that he made so many enemies, partly for good reason because banks did rightly need firm treatment after the crisis. But he seemed to have a mindset that all bankers were evil.”

• Back Greek talks or face chaos, Merkel tells German lawmakers (Reuters)
• Fear of the Unknown Binds a Greek Deal With Few Believers (WSJ)
• Grexit Still on the Table Even With EU’s Latest Band-Aid (BBG)
• Donald Tusk warns of extremist political contagion (FT)
• Germany, Not Greece, Should Exit the Euro (BBG)
• Sabine Files Bankruptcy in New York as Oil Prices Fall (BBG)
• Markets Bow to Central Bankers as Bonds Rise, Pound Strengthens (BBG)

But... but... they just provide liquidity.

Since 1982, the entire market has been nothing but one massive slow-motion leveraged buyout. This places the SEC right up there with the Federal Reserve in market manipulation credentials.

We already know that markets and exchanges only break on downdays. So does that mean that on days in which algos are indescriminatly buying ES as follow through from China's stock market manipulation and Greece's "hopes" for can kicking, investors are safe? Nope, as one of the most popular online discount brokers found out moments ago:

• TD AMERITRADE EXPERIENCING "WIDESPREAD" ORDER-ROUTING PROBLEMS - OFFICE OF PRESIDENT: RTRS
• TD AMERITRADE SAYS EVEN ORDERS THAT WERE ACCEPTED ARE STALLED

Were some TDA traders maliciously selling China stocks overnight one wonders, or did Ameritrade also decide to do a "software update" in the middle of the trading day?

Over the past two weeks, China has resorted to an eye-watering array of policy maneuvers and pronouncements in a desperate attempt to resurrect the country's margin-fueled equity bubble. Amid the chaos, Morgan Stanley — whose "don't buy this dip" call might well have been the straw that broke the dragon's back, so to speak — is out with a detailed history of Beijing's plunge protection playbook.  

While the folks clogging the US tattoo parlors may not have noticed, things are beginning to look a little World War one-ish out there. Except the current blossoming world conflict is being fought not with massed troops and tanks but with interest rates and repayment schedules. Germany now dawdles in reply to the gauntlet slammed down Sunday in the Greek referendum (hell) “no” vote. Germany’s immediate strategy, it appears, is to apply some good old fashioned Teutonic todesfurcht — let the Greeks simmer in their own juices for a few days while depositors suck the dwindling cash reserves from the banks and the grocery store shelves empty out. Then what? Nobody knows. And anything can happen.

What investors will focus on in the week ahead

As one local reporter put it, despite being told not to say anything negative, "the government appeared to have lost its ability to manage the market." Chinese stocks are down 4-5% at the open, pressing new cycle lows with Shenzhen and CHINEXT now down 25% from last week. As The South China Morning Post reports, many investors said the government was at least partly to blame for the collapse because it encouraged them to go into the market - for months, state-owned media have issued daily commentaries to encourage people to load up on shares.

Less than two weeks after Bank of China became the first Chinese bank to join the list of participants in the London gold auction, The Shanghai Gold Exchange confirms that a yuan-denominated gold fix will be in place by the end of 2015.

We present the Ackman Appendix, which appears to have been surgically removed from his "Keys To Successful Investing" presentation with unfortunate consequences...

Just when we thought the absurdity that marks every single day of Obama's reign could not possibly be surpassed, we learned that 4 hours (3 hours and 47 minutes to be precise) after the US president vowed to sign a new law banning bulk data collection by the NSA (named, for purely grotesque reasons, the "USA Freedom Act"), the Obama administration asked the secret Fisa surveillance court to ignore a federal court that found bulk surveillance illegal and to once again grant the National Security Agency the power to collect the phone records of millions of Americans for six months.

Earleir today in confirmation that a crack down on yet another market for gross manipulation is imminent, the Post reported that the Department of Justice fresh from doing all it can do prevent Vladimir Putin from blowing $10 billion in the bottomless hole that is World Cup 2018 infrastructure spending, is probing the Treasury market for possible manipulation.

"It occurs to me that such massive speculation in COMEX silver futures may not be in keeping with the spirit and intent of commodity law and may suggest something is wrong with the price discovery process, since real producers and consumers of silver don't appear to be represented.... As one of the largest primary silver producers in the world, we feel that an effective and fair pricing mechanism is critical for the healthiness of our industry and for the millions of people impacted by what appears from the outside, to be manipulative practices by a concentration of players."