Fears of Regime Change in New York
by ilene - August 26th, 2010 11:36 pm
Fears of Regime Change in New York
Courtesy of Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism
Normally, I don’t report on anecdotes from my immediate circle, but a set of conversations in less than a 24 hour period suggests that even those comparatively unaffected by the crisis are bracing themselves for the possibility of sudden, large-scale, adverse changes. And that sort of gnawing worry seems to be growing in New York despite being buoyed by TARP funds and covert bank subsidies.
When out on my rounds the day before yesterday, I ran into an old McKinsey colleague, who had subsequently had impressively titled jobs in Big Firms You Heard Of before semi-retiring to manage family money. He and his very accomplished wife were big Bush donors and had been invited to both inaugurations.
He made short order of niceties and got to the point: “We need more fiscal stimulus. Obama did too little and too much of what he spent on was liberal pork. We could and need to spend a lot on infrastructure. This is looking a lot like 1936. I’m afraid it could get really ugly. And I’m particularly worried that the Republicans will win big this fall. They’ll cut even deeper, that’s the last thing we need right now.”
No I am not making this up, and yes, this is one of the last people I would have expected to express this line of thinking.
Next day, I had lunch with a two long standing, keen observers and participants in the New York scene, as in very involved in some of the city’s important institutions. Both have witnessed the shift in values over the last thirty years and the rising stratification, particularly at the top end (New York has always been plutocratic, but it formerly had a large upper middle class and a much smaller and much less isolated upper crust).
They started by commenting on my Bill Gross post, which had mentioned the appalling Steve Schwarzman contention that taxing private equity overlords more on their carried interest was like HItler invading Poland. Schwarzman is not only not retreating from his remark, he is convinced that the reason the economy is so lousy is that rich men like him are not getting their way (this is if anything an understatement of their account. Both men expect his head to be the first…
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DiggHow Pimco Is Holding American Homeowners Hostage
by ilene - August 21st, 2010 3:56 pm
How Pimco Is Holding American Homeowners Hostage
Courtesy of DAVID STOCKMAN, courtesy of Minyanville
Some raids on the US Treasury by America’s crony capitalists are so egregious as to provoke a rant — even if you aren’t Rick Santelli. One such rant-worthy provocation is Pimco’s latest scheme to loot Uncle Sam’s depleted exchequer.
According to Bill Gross, who heads what appears to be the firm’s squad of public policy front runners, the American economy can be saved only through “full nationalization” of the mortgage finance system and a massive “jubilee” of debt forgiveness for millions of underwater homeowners. If nothing else, these blatantly self-serving recommendations demonstrate that Matt Taibbi was slightly off the mark in his famed Rolling Stone diatribe. It turns out that the real vampire squid wrapped around the face of the American taxpayer isn’t Goldman Sachs (GS) after all. Instead, it’s surely the Pacific Investment Management Co.
As overlord of the fixed-income finance market, the latter generates billions annually in effort-free profits from its trove of essentially riskless US Treasury securities and federally guaranteed housing paper. Now Pimco wants to swell Uncle Sam’s supply of this no-brainer paper even further — adding upward of $2 trillion per year of what would be “government-issue” mortgages on top of the existing $1.5 trillion in general fund deficits.
This final transformation of American taxpayers into indentured servants of HIDC (the Housing Investment & Debt Complex) has been underway for a long time, and is now unstoppable because all principled political opposition to Pimco-style crony capitalism has been extinguished. Indeed, the magnitude of the burden already created is staggering. Before Richard Nixon initiated the era of Republican “me-too” Big Government in the early 1970s — including his massive expansion of subsidized housing programs — there was about $475 billion of real estate mortgage debt outstanding, representing a little more than 47% of GDP.
Had sound risk management and financial rectitude, as it had come to be defined under the relatively relaxed standards of post-war America, remained in tact, mortgage debt today would be about $7 trillion at the pre-Nixon GDP ratio. In fact, at $14 trillion or 100% of GDP the current figure is double that, implying that American real estate owners have been induced to shoulder an incremental mortgage burden that amounts to nearly half the nation’s current economic output.
There’s no mystery as to how America got hooked on this…
DEEP DEMOGRAPHIC DOO-DOO
by ilene - July 28th, 2010 2:44 pm
DEEP DEMOGRAPHIC DOO-DOO
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist
Interesting new commentary out of PIMCO by Bill Gross. Mr. Gross has popularized the idea of the “new normal”. In this month’s missive he discusses one of the major headwinds that the new global
“The danger today, as opposed to prior deleveraging cycles, is that the deleveraging is being attempted into the headwinds of a structural demographic downwave as opposed to a decade of substantial population growth. Japan is the modern-day example of what deleveraging in the face of a slowing and now negatively growing population can do. Prior deleveraging periods such as what the U.S. and European economies experienced in the 1930s exhibited a similar demographic with the lowest levels of fertility in the 20th century and extremely low population growth. Things did not go well then. Today’s developed economies almost assuredly offer substantially less population growth than the 1.5% rate experienced over the prior 50 years. Even when viewed from a total global economy perspective, population growth over the next 10–20 years will barely exceed 1%.
The preceding analysis does not even begin to discuss the aging of this slower-growing population base itself. Japan, Germany, Italy and of course the United States, with its boomers moving toward their 60s, are getting older year after year. Even China with their previous one baby policy faces a similar demographic. And while older people spend a larger percentage of their income – that is, they save less and eventually dissave – the fact is that they spend far fewer dollars per capita than their younger counterparts. No new homes, fewer vacations, less emphasis on conspicuous consumption and no new cars every few years. Healthcare is their primary concern. These aging trends present a one-two negative punch to our New Normal thesis over the next 5–10 years: fewer new consumers in terms of total population, and a growing number of older ones who don’t spend as much money. The combined effect will slow economic growth more than otherwise.”
Read the full piece at PIMCO.
Monday Market Movement
by Phil - July 19th, 2010 8:18 am
What the heck was Friday about?
Our working theory, watching the action in Member chat was that a fund was liquidating but there’s been no confirmation of that over the weekend so we’ll have to get cautiously technical until we get more facts. Also, who says they are done? This is why we add our disaster hedges at the top of any 5% move (which we did Tuesday and Wednesday last week) although a 3% pullback after an 8% run back to our 5% lines can hardly be considered and actual disaster – so far.
Six banks failed on Friday, keeping us at a record breaking pace for 2010 but it’s the same old story with the same old broke FDIC so hard to say that’s a market mover. BP’s well cap may NOT be working as there seems to be a leak somewhere else now. This is like fixing a leaking pipe in the bathroom but then, a few days later, you are still getting water dripping down the walls and you know it’s going to be MUCH harder to fix the leak you can’t see than the leak you can and it’s very hard to find a good plumber at 6,000 feet below sea level…
Europe remains uncertain as the IMF and EU withdraw about $21Bn worth of financing from Hungary, telling them that they must CUTCUTCUT their budget if they expect to get any help. There is a great article in the NY Times about Germany’s views on debt - a great read. Another pullback indicator in China is a sudden drop in the price of Car Plates, licenses to own private cars, which have fallen by 1,018 Yuan ($150) in June from 40,380 in May (2.5%). The licenses are auctioned and are considered pretty good leading indicators of demand AND the government offered fewer licenses and there are indications that 1.3M vehicles are stockpiled as expectations have exceeded actual demand. China is also questioning whether or not GDP is a good way to measure growth as they discover "stuff does not necessarily make you happy."
Bloomberg reports that China’s eastern province of Shandong faces an oversupply of oil products, news portal dzwww.com reported, citing the local petroleum and chemical association. The province received 12.2 million metric tons of oil- product supply in the first half and fuel consumption reached 7.3 million tons during the period, according to…
BILL GROSS: EVERY NATION FOR ITSELF
by ilene - June 30th, 2010 3:20 pm
BILL GROSS: EVERY NATION FOR ITSELF
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist
As always Mr. Gross’ monthly outlook is a must read:
It is this lack of global aggregate demand – resulting from too much debt in parts of the global economy and not enough in others – that is the essence of the problem, which only economists with names beginning in R seem to understand (there is no R in PIMCO no matter how much I want to extend the metaphor, and yes, Paul Rugman fits the description as well!). If policymakers could act in unison and smoothly transition maxed-out indebted consumer nations into future producers, while simultaneously convincing lightly indebted developing nations to consume more, then our predicament would be manageable. They cannot. G-20 Toronto meetings aside, the world is caught up as it usually is in an “every nation for itself” mentality, with China taking its measured time to consume and the U.S. refusing to acknowledge its necessity to invest in goods for export.
Even if your last name doesn’t begin with R, the preceding explanation is all you need to know to explain what is happening to the markets, the global economy, and perhaps your own wobbly-legged standard of living in recent years. Consumption when brought forward must be financed, and that financing is a two-way bargain between borrower and creditor. When debt levels become too high, lenders balk and even lenders of last resort – the sovereigns, the central banks, the supranational agencies – approach limits beyond which private enterprise’s productivity itself is threatened. We have arrived at a New Normal where, despite the introduction of 3 billion new consumers over the past several decades in “Chindia” and beyond, there is a lack of global aggregate demand or perhaps an inability or unwillingness to finance it. Slow growth in the developed world, insufficiently high levels of consumption in the emerging world, and seemingly inexplicable low total returns on investment portfolios – bonds and stocks – lie ahead. Stop whispering (and start shouting) the words “New Normal” or perhaps begin to pronounce your last name with an RRRRRRRRRRRR. Our global economy, our use of debt, and our financial markets have changed – not our alphabet or dictionary.
Source: PIMCO
Testy Tuesday – Are We There Yet?
by Phil - June 15th, 2010 8:17 am
Once again CNBC has gone too far!
The futures were doing very well, up almost 1% until CNBC put together the tag-team guest spot of Mohamed El-Erian, the notorious bond pusher from Pimpco and "Doctor Doom" himself – Nouriel Roubini in a classic bear and bigger bear face-off that was timed right into the EU’s lunch hour. Roubini’s new book is called "Crisis Economics" and there’s nothing like a crisis to chase people into the loving arms of PIMCO, where El-Erian gets the fees. It’s odd that there’s not even a simple disclosure statement from El-Erian to guide viewers like: "You know, I do well when the market does bad."
This same gloom and doom tag-team was touring America in September of 2008 (see "Roubini, El-Erian – ‘Things are Getting Worse‘") and we’re up about 20% since then but, to be fair, things did get worse first. The boys teamed up again this February (12th) and their predicition of an additonal 20% drop off the February lows (also brought to you by the fear-mongers at CNBC) was completely wrong at the time but the boys dusted themselves off and took this show on the road again as noted in this May 28th article pairing the two’s depressing outlook.
Things were getting better yesterday until Moody’s (the company Buffett owns a large stake in but has nothing to do with according to his testimony) downgraded Greece in the afternoon – something that was not at all unexpected but was treated as market-moving information on a slow news day. Does CNBC push doom and gloom for ratings or are they trying to help their bosses at GE water down the financial regulation bill by making it seem like the average investor is against it or are they just trying to keep Cramer and the Fast Money team from looking clueless? This is why we used to have LAWS that kept our news sources "fair and balanced" - the moment a news provider takes a side with one of their high profile shows or personalities – they then have a vested interest in MAKING the prediction come true – how can that not color their future editorial positions?
As I said last week, Dr. Doom doesn’t have to be in on a conspiracy – He’s Doctor Doom! The media loves him because he is predictable tool and he is…
Tuesday – Bill Gross Gives Us 90 Seconds
by Phil - March 2nd, 2010 8:28 am
Our favorite bond pimp is in some mood this month!
Maybe it’s because, despite PimpCo’s best efforts, they failed to tank the markets last week but Gross starts his March newsletter off with this harsh chart but his words are even harsher - saying of cocktail parties:
I suppose the parties wouldn’t be so bad if there was something original to be said, or if “you” had a genuine interest in “me” as opposed to “you,” but let’s face it folks, no one does. The only reason any of us really cares about cocktail conversations is to quickly redirect someone else’s stories into autobiographies that we assume to be instant bestsellers if only in print. If not, if the doe-eyed listener seems simply fascinated by what you’re saying, you can bet there’s a requested personal favor coming when you finally shut up. “Say Bill, I was wondering if you knew somebody at…that could…” Yeah right! But, as my chart shows, 90 seconds into a typical conversation, no one gives a damn about you and your problems – maybe those shoes and that dreadful eye shadow you’re wearing, but not anything audible coming out of your mouth.
Yow Bill! Tell us how you really feel… After telling us how appalling he finds it to endure 90 seconds of our time at a party, Bill then asks for his own 90 seconds to teach us about economics. I’m not going to edit as it is about 90 seconds worth but after that opening – don’t you find it kind of hard to read what he has to say without looking for a place to throw a virtual punch?
To begin with, let’s get reacquainted with the fundamental economic problem of our age – lack of global aggregate demand – and how we got to where we are today:
(1) Twenty years of accelerated globalization incrementally undermined the real incomes of most developed countries’ workers/citizens, forcing governments to promote leverage and asset price appreciation in order to fill in what is known as an “aggregate demand” gap – making sure that consumers keep buying things. When the private sector assumed too much debt and asset prices bubbled (think subprimes and houses, or dotcoms/NASDAQ 5000), American-style capitalism with its leverage, deregulation, and religious belief in lower and lower taxes reached a dead end. There was a willingness to keep on consuming, there just wasn’t
…
Monday Market Movement
by Phil - February 8th, 2010 8:28 am
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We love patterns!
Pattern recognition is the basis for human thought so it’s always fun to look at charts like this one from InTheMoneyStocks and think we may see something we recognize. It’s interesting that looking at some of our other PSW Chart School posts from the weekend that look at virtually the same charts but spot different patterns. Fallond, makes a convincing case that we have confirmed sell signals and Corey at Afraid to Trade also feels we’re in the middle of our correction.
MarketTamer is looking for Dow 9,750, which is the middle of our worst-case targets at around the 10% rule, something I touched on in my own Weekend Wrap-Up, where I did my own humble best to paint a picture that’s worth 1,000 words. Fortunately (although maybe not for you), coming up with 1,000 words has never been a problem for me so I will stick mainly to the Fundamentals, thank you very much!
I did some soul-searching on the situation in Greece, as outlined in our Weekend Reading post and I am comfortable with last week’s gut reaction that we have now adequately priced in both Greece and Portugal’s problems. Our outlying concern is a spread to Spain, Italy and France, which I don’t believe is likely as the cost of bailing out Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Turkey and the UK would not even be what the US spent to bail out AIG. The same way we gave the hyenas a bone back in November of 2008 and they attacked any financial institution that showed even a hint of weakness, the pack is now all over any country that is vulnerable to panic. It’s a simple game, short the bonds (sell bonds at low rates), drive rates high, buy back the bonds, collect high yields.
Sure the fact that this sort of activity can disrupt the lives of millions of people might give some people pause but I’m sure someone like PimpCo’s Mahamed El-Erian feels like he’s doing God’s work when he is done loading up on bloated rate bonds and then suddenly announces, as he did this morning (and we predicted he would last week): "The risk of Greece defaulting is low." El-Erian said that, although the Greek government is in need of external financial aid, it likely will not default.
Oddly enough, it was just this past Thursday that PimpCo’s Michael Gomez…
GURU OUTLOOK: THE BOND KING
by ilene - February 3rd, 2010 8:57 pm
GURU OUTLOOK: THE BOND KING
Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist
James Carville, the famed political strategist once said:
” I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the President, or the pope, or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the
bond market. You can intimidate everybody.”
In today’s world, the bond
His current outlook for the U.S. economy is not particularly rosy (read his latest outlook here). Gross recently coined the term “the new normal” when talking about the post-crisis economy. He believes the global economy has been effectively reset as investors take on less risk, de-leverage the mountain of debt, regulation hampers growth and de-globalization takes hold. He believes this is best presented by the low expectations in the bond market where 10 year treasuries, at 3.5%, are still positioned for very meager economic growth. He says we are entering a sustained period of low growth and low inflation.
A year ago, Gross was seen as a co-conspirator of sorts in the government bailouts. As the U.S. government began to take stakes in financial institutions Gross jumped in head first with them. He piled his firm’s assets into the riskiest of risky assets in what turned out to be a brilliantly simple bet – the U.S. government won’t let these assets fail therefore, we are wise to invest along side them. It couldn’t have worked out much better for the bond king. He is rumored to have netted $1.7B alone on the day of the Fannie and Freddie bailouts. Some saw it as talking his book and asking for his own bailout. Others see it as unrivaled power and brilliance.
Gross believes the U.S. economic recovery has been largely based on the stimulus and that the economy could suffer a relapse when the…
Wednesday Rejection Weakness
by Phil - February 3rd, 2010 8:21 am
So close but yet so far!
We set our bounce levels way back on Jan 25th and just yesterday I posted up the WEAK BOUNCE levels we need to see before taking our bullish betting to the next level but we have only skimmed along our lines, finishing yesterday at Dow 10,296 (down by 2), S&P 1,103 (down by 2), Nasdaq 2,190 (down by 10), NYSE 7,001 (up by 1) and RUT 614 (down by 6). This may be seem like some pretty amazing targeting 10 days in advance but, actually, we could have predicted this move last year as it’s nothing more than the same 5% Rule levels we’ve been using since the middle of last year.
That is why, we are not in the least bit impressed by close. Close, as they say, is no cigar! Don’t forget those are the natrural dead-cat type bounce levels off the drop from the top that we are trained to IGNORE as they are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. What is meaningful is when they we retake those levels and that means we found a true floor at 5% (see weekend chart) NOT taking back AND holding our retrace levels means we are very likely to see phase 2 of our leg down and hit 10% drop levels of Dow 9,630, S&P 1,035, Nasdaq 2,088, NYSE 6,660 and Russell 585 so we will now become much more concerned by failure or those lower levels (10,058 on the Dow etc) which MUST HOLD.
We’re not there yet, we MAY be consolidating along the 5% lines and that would be good, but unnerving. We have our disaster hedges in place and we got our commodity rally so we can on some oil puts (what a joke at $77.50 already with yet another inventory build to be announced today) and perhaps even some gold puts as we test $1,130 (GLL $9 puts have very little premium at .90). Our favorite hedge of the moment is once again EDZ, who are back to $5.50 thanks to a nice move up in Asia today. March $5 puts can be sold for .45 and that’s a very nice way to collect premium as EDZ has to fall 20% before you even owe the putter a nickel but the July $4/6 bull call spread at .85 pays $2 (up 135%) should emerging markets falter…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
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