Notes From Underground

As I covered in NOTES yesterday, the three-ring circus was coming to town Thursday and the show was so fantastic that it dazzled investors worldwide. The RIKSBANK began the show by cutting its rate by 25 basis points to get the audience in a festive mood. Mervyn the Magnificent from the Bank of England did his laying down and going limp act so as not to be sawed in half by the by those magicians of the slight of hand. The BOE left everything as is and presented a very benign statement that offered up very little as to its rationale for maintaining the present rates as well as the same ASSET BUYING PROGRAM. The market was gawking at the rising financials in Europe when in the center ring, Marvelous Mario dropped his cape and headed out on the high wire in which the safety net was pretended to be removed or was totally transparent.

At first, Mario failed to impress the crowd as it was revealed that there was to be NO CUT IN RATES. As the crowd gathered and watched the tight rope walker traveling further from the platform, the crowd cheered as Mario proved he was capable of balancing himself on the thinnest of margins and provide the flexibility to make everyone in the audience happy–BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO. So what in fact was actually done by the monetary guardians of the EU?

A new acronym was presented, OMT (Outright Monetary Transaction), which is replacing the SMP (Security Market Program). The workings of the new OMT seem very similar to the old SMP machinery but hey, always need a new and improved product. In the final analysis though, it appears to be another LTRO (Long-Term Refinancing Operation) as the ECB has the authority to purchase sovereign debt of up to a three-year duration and the amount appears to be unlimited although Draghi promises all purchases will be sterilized. We just will not know when and how much so the STERILIZATION concept leaves the markets dazed and confused as to its real effect. The OMT program being unlimited gives the ECB the ability to put the markets on edge and keep the speculators from attacking the efforts of the CENTRAL BANK to effect monetary policy in the short end of the market.

The impact of FISCAL AUSTERITY can only be offset by huge injections of liquidity and Mario Draghi wants to prevent a redo of the July 25 market action when SPANISH AND ITALIAN YIELDS TOUCHED 7%, DRAMATICALLY FLATTENING THE CURVES AND THREATENING THE SEIZING UP OF THE EUROPEAN PERIPHERAL DEBT MARKETS. Because the OMT has no limits and is totally at the discretion of Mario Draghi’s ECB executive board, this is LTRO IN MOTION. There is an element of CONDITIONALITY, which placate the BUNDESBANK as the ECB can cancel the buying of any nation’s sovereign debt that fails to live up to the conditions that the stressed sovereign agreed to–think the AUSTERITY BUDGETS OF GREECE AND IRELAND, et al. If the ECB deems the nations to be in noncompliance with agreed upon terms, then the BOND BUYING STOPS AND THE MARKETS WILL HAVE THEIR WAY AND DRIVE RATES HIGHER. Thus, Draghi has something for everyone. The true tightrope walker, “flanked by life and the funeral pyre.”

The new program gets even more complicated as there is an “enhanced conditions credit line” (ECCL), which has not completely been clarified as of yet but some analysts suggest that this is where the IMF is going to become an active participant in the Draghi Plan. The ECB will let the IMF play the bad cop role and lay down tough conditions that the nation in need will have to adhere to and become the major enforcer. Not totally clear as to the minutiae as it still needs to be looked at further. Also, the ECB eased the restrictions on credit ratings for government and guaranteed debt, basically allowing the use of lower grades of collateral. My respect of Mario Draghi grows and as we can be certain. He is “NO JEAN CLAUDE TRICHET.”

Mario Draghi is certainly in a tough spot but his respect for the power of financial markets seems to provide him with the agility to buy some time. He said in his press conference that much of what is desired for the EU is with the authority of the politicians. The final question as to what will be done with the time that Draghi is trying to provide: WILL IT BE A MORE GERMAN EUROPE OR A MORE EUROPEAN GERMANY?

***It’s unemployment Friday in both the U.S. and Canada. Again, I remind my readers that both sets of data are now released at the same time, 7:30 a.m. CST. The Canadian data will be a mere sideshow because of the robustness of the ADP number–201,000–which was way above consensus. The strong ADP number resulted in a sell off of the S&Ps as traders felt that such a strong number would prevent any further FED QE until after the election. The end result was the ECB liquidity and hope for a turn in the U.S. economy provided the thrust to slough off the impact of the QE CROWD.

If the U.S. numbers come in weaker than now expected the S&Ps and risk on trades will be in a quandary–better economic data or more promise of FED action. I think that any break off weak data will result in a late rally as the FED liquidity plan will keep market shorts very nervous. THE ADP CAUSED AN EARLY RALLY, WHICH HAS MADE TOMORROW’S TRADE SO VERY DIFFICULT. Be patient and look for clues in the European debt markets and in the precious metals. A further gold rally on weak data will set in motion the ALL POWER TO THE QE.

Tags: ADP, BOE, BOJ, Bundesbank, Draghi, ECB, Fed, Fiscal Austerity, Greece, IMF, Ireland, Mervyn King, nonfarm payrolls, OMT, QE, riksbank, Shirakawa, SMP, Yen

This entry was posted on September 6, 2012 at 7:47 pm and is filed under Central Banks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.