There is a wonderful song from the tumultuous 1960s by the band Buffalo Springfield that is so apropos for the financial markets over the last two weeks (staying away from Kabul). The lyrics for the first two verses describe the situation for investors as we approach the tectonic plates of monetary policy that have provided the Kansas City Fed Symposium at Jackson Hole with its heightened significance. Several keynote speeches revealing policy changes have been delivered to this August group.
“There’s something happening here ,But what it is ain’t exactly clear
there’s a man with a printing press over there, telling me I got to beware
“There’s battle lines being drawn,nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking there minds,Getting so much resistance from behind”
The markets are playing with ECB President Mario Draghi. Just a few short weeks ago the suave performer of the ECB press conference only had to be concerned about being doused with paper confetti from an anarchist demonstrator decrying the dictatorial powers of the central bank. Post-ECB meeting, the BUNDS, OATS and BTPs made all-time highs in the futures and yields on German and French 10-year notes touched extreme lows. As the ECB paraded the success of QE the EURO currency was also trading at multi-year lows, 1.06 euros to the U.S. dollar.
Alfred E. Neuman, the beloved character of Mad Magazine, was famous for his deadpan look while espousing the philosophy, “What, Me Worry?”
While the world has certainly entered the madness zone, the world’s equity markets remain in bull mode, floating on a sea of central-bank provided liquidity. Russian support and arming of “rebel” groups results in the downing of a commercial airliner … no problem. An Israeli invasion of Gaza to thwart the nihilistic behavior of Hamas, and the markets shrug and offer up a bland response of, “whatever.”
ECB President Mario Draghi has been able to convince the world that the Euro’s problems have been contained and it is safe to re-enter the financial pool of credit assets throughout Europe. The July 2012 speech that proclaimed the ECB had no taboos and would “do whatever it takes” to preserve the euro has been a masterpiece of doing nothing while generating the desired outcome. The master plumber of all things credit (JA) alerted me to the ECB’s balance sheet (as seen on the Bloomberg terminal). After Mario Draghi pledged to offer the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) to any European country that contracted with the ESM or EFSF for help, the sovereign debt markets in Europe have quieted and yield spreads returned to a sense of normalcy. Many people believed that the euro currency would suffer from Draghi’s promise of massive liquidity to meet funding needs. The EURO shorts were wrong and the proof lies in the three charts I am providing.
Friday’s unemployment report solidified the TRIFECTA of LIQUIDITY for the week. ECB President Draghi seeded the “liquidity clouds” at Thursday’s press conference by announcing the installation of the OTM (outright monetary transaction), which will allow the ECB/ESM to purchase unlimited amounts of sovereign debt of up to three-year duration–of course with conditions for those asking for help. Draghi is hoping to buy the whole EU project enough time so that a FISCAL UNION CAN BE FORMED WITH THE ABILITY FOR THE EU TO ISSUE A TRUE EUROBOND.
It is now official: EUROPE UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF THE TWO DEANS OF PSY-OPS HAVE A PLAN FOR RECAPITALIZING THE BANKS AND BOLSTERING THE EUROPEAN FINANCIAL SYSTEM. The world heaved a sigh of relief that the Sunday meeting in Berlin resulted in a PLAN. The intricacies of what the plan entails are a secret, but for today the markets reacted positively, grasping for any sense of hope. The world’s equity markets reacted as if EURO’s were being air dropped all over the continent. The BUNDS were sold as the reallocation trade sent money exiting the havens in search of risk and the possibility of higher returns … at least for a day.
