QE 'Taper' to T Bond 'Carry Trade'

The following is the opening segment to this week’s premium letter, NFTRH 242.  The balance of #242 went on to discuss the technical status of US and global stock markets, key commodities, the current status of ‘inflation expectations’, precious metals and currencies; all in detail.

Taper to Carry

Last week we introduced the theoretical 'taper to carry' scenario whereby the Federal Reserve would indeed 'have the balls' to begin the end of traditional QE and transition the inflation via a new set of mechanics.  Mind you, we still get inflation under this scenario, but it would be less stealth and more honest and obvious to the public.  Here are the theoretical components of the play… Continue reading "QE 'Taper' to T Bond 'Carry Trade'"

A 'Carry Trade' Returns?

As I was charting long-term Treasury yields in NFTRH 241, I ran a chart of the ratio between the banks and the S&P 500 and what do you know?  The ratio had broken out to the upside right along with long-term interest rates.  'Hmmm…'said I, 'maybe this is relevant to the analysis.' ;-)

Excerpted from NFTRH 241:

bkx.spx.tnx

BKX-SPX ratio w/ 10 year yield, weekly

"The Bank Index ratio to the S&P 500 (BKX-SPX) is breaking out to the upside in defiance of a bear case in stocks.  The BKX has modestly led the SPX since 2011.  We have noted that this is a necessary bullish factor for the financialized economy, which is quite different from a real or organic economy. Continue reading "A 'Carry Trade' Returns?"

Whack-a-Mole (Japanese Nikkei is the Latest Bubble)

Alan Greenspan gave them the playbook (Credit & Debt Manipulation 101) and now Ben Bernanke and global inflators everywhere have taken the ball and run with it in new, innovative and levered up ways.  Actually it’s a game of Whack-a-Mole and they play it well, these inflating moles.  The minute you think you’re going to drop the hammer on one of their heads, he’s gone and another one pops up elsewhere.

So how can we follow all the data points that hands-on, manipulative policy has introduced and forecast conclusions with accuracy?  The answer is that it is difficult in the short-term, but in the long-term we are all dead anyway, so we might as well use some inflationary bubbles of the past as a road map to what may be ahead.

There are currently several bubbles (and one anti-bubble*) in play over varying time frames.  These bubbles are the direct result of policy actions.  Last weekend we reviewed the bubble in Japan’s Nikkei in relation to its policy-induced crashing of the Yen and then last week wouldn’t you know that the Yen caught a bid and the Nikkei suffered an incredibly bearish day? Continue reading "Whack-a-Mole (Japanese Nikkei is the Latest Bubble)"

Young FrankenMarket Lives

In failing to take a “healthy” correction to the equivalent of SPX 1350 to 1450 from the upside target zone of 1550 to 1590, the market is now running on policy and momentum. Hence we now dub thee Young FrankenMarket; Ben Bernanke’s creation, sustained by government and legacy MBA debt, following Alan Greenspan’s monster that was stitched together with artificially low interest rates that ultimately manifested in a huge commercial credit bubble.

Payrolls came in at 165,000 and an over bought, over loved* market popped its cork and exploded into blue sky. It had to be more than an okay ‘jobs’ report that did the trick. It was likely the combination of a still inflating Fed (and ECB, Europe popped hard as well) with some data that was good enough, but not so good as to call into question the Fed’s systematic inflation regime. This is Bernanke’s FrankenMarket, created by policy.

After making bearish patterns and/or negatively diverging from the Dow and S&P 500, the Russell 2000, Nasdaq 100 and Semiconductors all broke to new all-time (RUT) or recovery (NDX, SOX) highs on Friday. This left one notable holdout, the often-watched Transports. Since I normally do not give much weight to Dow Theory, I’ll not do so now. But it should be noted that the Trannies are not at new highs… yet [edit: They are now].

So it appears that recent writing I have done about a topping process may have been incorrect or at least, early. The current period reminds me a lot of Greenspan’s monster that emerged from the credit bubble early last decade, FrankenMarket as I called it in the first public article I ever wrote. Continue reading "Young FrankenMarket Lives"

Macro Sleight of Hand is Working, for Now

Right in plain site, the Federal Reserve is doing this to the US money supply. It is a hockey stick with the blade pointing up, but will one day turn into a big, bloated chicken and come home to roost. The Fed’s global counterparts continue apace with inflation as well.

base

Meanwhile, economic data like M2′s velocity would give out of control monetarists free license to provide more of what they say is good for us, because newly printed money is not getting out into the economy to a sufficient degree. ‘If we can just inflate a little more’ think our myopic bureaucrats, ‘maybe that will finally do it. Continue reading "Macro Sleight of Hand is Working, for Now"