Showing posts with label saxo bank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label saxo bank. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

New markets? New blog?

Dear Investors,

Sorry for small delay in my updates, but shortly - I hope from Friday I will be fully back into the game of commenting and analyzing the market with the promised "models" but also with the usual angle of macro thoughts.

I am constructing a new blog as the old one was started and kept from my former Saxo Bank life. I am desperately trying to mitigate the issue of not bothering my subscribers with having to register yet again - but being the primitive type I am - I may have to do so anyway... the new blog URL is:
http://steenjakobsen.blogspot.com/

Give me a few days to complete it but rest assure starting next week things are back to normal.

On the market I'm 100 pct non-committed in every single market - I find the price action close to random, and despite the "200day moving average" breaks in commodity and stock markets.. I find all thoughts, valuations inflated and without merit - actually I would love you all to read Peter Thiel piece on long-term lack of productivity as it to me is one of the missing links in the present analysis of the market.

When I grew up (Yes, just after the war I know....) I remember how the bright future would be "paperless" - everything would be easier and productivity would rise forever - hmmm... we use more paper than ever and despite the fascination with internet and its ability to make us all "smarter" - one has to ask "are we really smarter"? Better ? Than we were 2o years ago? Alot of the smartness is really convenience - people are not less busy now - en-contraire - there is so little time to be reflective and thoughtfull today than ever before .....with the consquent loss of new frontiers, imagnition running wild - every thing is "priced control" - Resource allocation... we have mini-maxed everything into atoms - atoms which have not independent life or drift....

Remember the long term yield of stock market will have to be: Growth of the economy plus productivity gains and inflation ... Thiel argues there has not been any REAL PRODUCTIVITY gains since the late 1960s.. if so.. we have equation where long-term stock market gain = 0 (zero)inflation + o (zero) productivity + low growth... hmm... not my favourite cocktail, but then again I am simple, agnostic and uneducated independent trader :-)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14468282/Clarium-Investment-Commentary-The-Wonderful-Wizard-of-Oz

Finally one of my favourite people of 2008 - David Einhorn were back this past week at the Ira W. Sohn Research Investment Conference, the annual hedge-fund conference where just last year he held forth with his now-famous takedown of Lehman Brothers, and Einhorn had a new target: The most over-rated politician in history: The O'- administration.... read on my friends: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/05/david_einhorn_strikes_again.html

See you in the new format Friday or over the weekend.

Safe trading,

Steen Jakobsen

jakobsst@gmail.com

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.” Otto Von Bismack

Just back from minus 20 degrees celcius in Russia and an quick 24 hrs on the ground. There is no way 24 hrs can do any justice to such a large and complicated country, but I must say I was impressed by the investors and journalists I met on the ground, the bad news being I got strong feeling Russia is going to get a serious dose of almost hyper inflation through the weak Ruble, but the Russians are used to boom-and-bust cycles so do not count them out, so here Jim Roger and I will have to disagree http://tinyurl.com/cog8z6

It is clear, also in Russia, that defending the Ruble @ 41 in the basket vs EUR & USD is not going to be the end game, but one has to remember the devaluation in Russia is no bigger than what we have seen in the UK.

Don't count on me as your new Russia expert, but writing off whole nations in an environment which is hostile to one and everyone due to credit constraints and general downsizing is a mistake in my opinion. When we move into to the reflationary side of this business cycle (not likely before 2011-ish) countries like Russia, India, China will do well.

Back in the "land of hope" the freight rates has been rising and created a lot of noise about market having turned, growth is coming back... but I'm sorry to be carrier of bad news, but using Baltic exchanges as gauge/indicator is simply wrong.

1. You need to look at individual routes

2. The supply/demand function of the pricing is skewed in favor of demand, as it takes very small additional demand to move the markets. There is fixed supply (the amount of ships) where as demand is ORDER DRIVEN. Hence making long-term conclusions based on small "bleeps on the radar" is clearly a hazardous policy.. but as always be my guest to live dangerously.

Strategy wise some investment ideas starting to formualte themselves medium term:

EUR.GBP: SELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
The GBP is now oversold and the EUR is the most overvalued currency around, Eastern Europe is slowly indicating more pain in Europe(due to the high investments by core European countries) than most people of willing to accept for now including it seems Mr. Trichet....

(Link: Fitch sees more E.Europe downgrades after Russia http://tinyurl.com/aswpot). John Hardy my expert chartist agrees .....be short w. stop above .9050 for now.

(click on chart for larger version)



On the stock market we have been caught in 800-850 range for quite some time - for now there is hope of break to upside despite the continued erosion of capital in the banking sector across the world, but.. I will leave it to the market going into the Non-farm tomorrow, but will maintain the overall target of 600-690 for the S&P...

Still keeping an eye of 3.00 in 10y US notes - there continues to be issuance and noise about potential "buying stop" from overseas investors but ..........I like to be in opposition.

Going on winter holiday from tomorrow night will do one more post tomorrow....

Safe trading,

Steen

Monday, February 2, 2009

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure. Mark Twain

This week-end I "wasted" some time reading Bill Gross' (I like the double meaning of Gross!) newest writing on why we should bail him and his investors out: http://tinyurl.com/cjqxya

I will have to warn you its waste of time, but its kind of interesting to see how a well paid, "well respected" investor like Mr. Pimco seems to think that the solution to all the problems in the world is for the US Government to buy asset he is long - there is no talk of the small matter of funding this small exercise- only then notion that spending money is good.

I guess its the financial equivalent of "The boy with the Golden trousers (http://tinyurl.com/dnhqz3).......

I find its perplexing that in a time where we need everyone to think positively about solutions then Wall Street and its derivatives continues to look for ways of lining their pockets with state subsidised money. For the record Gross is even intellectually wrong: In order to stop the rot in the financial markets we need to reduce debt to equity not increase Mr. Gross.....

Only by governments taking the ultimate loss' on their plans/packages will we get the economy flowing again.....but do not let facts disturb your arguments.

I am just back from longer business trip to: France, Switzerland, UK and Dubai. Different parts of the business cycle obviously but everywhere there is now clear indication that the word CRISIS is well established, in the UK so much that in the local bookstore, they now have whole sections titled: Dealing with the Financial Crisis..sign of the times I guess.

From Davos I get same reports; everyone is reporting how negative everyone is but they are all taking this as an indication the low is in ? I never really understood these types of arguments: Why get the supposely smartest people in the world to meet up and talk openly about the economic affairs only to dismiss them ?

Anyway I am with Soros (as always). Read this great FT piece please, pretty please: http://tinyurl.com/cyq7rr - explains a lot of things even for simple people like me.

David Karsbøl, my Chief Economist, have updated his excellent leading indicator model for World GDP Growth per Capita and the result is NOT GOOD.. it looks like we could see - 2.0% this year - first time in history- so in other words - be my guest fade the facts and the smart guys, I hope it works - but as always hope belongs in Church.


(Click on chart for bigger version)


Why there may not be "bubble" in yields


Everyone and his brother is subscribing to the concept that yields are too low, especially in government bonds. (http://tinyurl.com/calo3u)

....but it's all based on the concepts off:

  1. Fiscal & Monetary policy works

  2. Inflation

My firm believe remains that in times of rising unemployment levels everything becomes binary: its all ZERO and ONES.

If you lose your job you do not care where interest are going, what Bernanke thinks, What Obama does - No you want your job back and now!

Effectively right now we are in the path of the cycle where everything is ZERO's:


  • Consumer confidence - 0

  • Unemployment - 0

  • Business margins -0

  • Faith in banking system - 0

  • Ability to maintain your job - 0

  • Interest in Fed - 0

  • Faith in Fed - 0


I think you get the picture - we got excess capacity in all business sectors, we got government busy printing & spending money not dealing with the problem, but getting reelected .......this is the true ingredients for deflation large -... meaning inflation will be ZERO at best minus 1% at worst(?).......

So now if monetary & fiscal policy have less tracktion plus DEFLATION....... a yield of 2.5% becomes 3.5% after inflation - I think it will compete very nicely with the return on the stock markets will considerable less volatility.

This picture is even confirmed technically. Below is the 10y notes yield in the US - it looks to me like we are in the 4th wave - looking for 300 bps roughtly before we make it into new lows for bonds... this also finally matches the theory of Q1 being excessive in issuance. I have been wrong before and carry no predictability but for now I will keep most of my money in fixed income as the alternative cost analysis (i.e being long stocks...) still costs me money.

(Click on chart for bigger version)



Strategy:

85% in cash/FI - short eurusd and eurjpy.... looking for break of 800-ish to sell S&P... still target for S&P @ 650-690.


Safe trading,

Steen

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Back to basics....

Finally back from a busy travelling schedule ....... lots of ideas and thoughts... but for now I will once again do the easy thing and give you my interview done w. Bloomberg this week......

More here tomorrow/Monday.....


http://www.truveo.com/Investment-Strategy/id/229188125

Safe trading,

Steen

Friday, January 23, 2009

Denial is the new black....


I'm in Paris, Zurich and Geneva and there is one common theme: Denial.... financial crisis does not happen here, its somebody elses problem.... shopping is good, no pain.......

Meanwhile in Washington Geithner is also in denial.... I am so sorry I "forgot" to pay tax for 5 years........

The outgoing President Bush also claims..... He did a few mistakes but he left the US a better and safer place...

I must be from the moon...... I have travelled pretty much the whole world in the last three month and the only two places where denial is prevalent is Paris & Geneva/Zurich....

Another theme I found again and again was the morale hazard many company CEOs have created for themselves..... annoucing 2008 was a great year, no incoming crisis in sight...and now they are forced to not only cut marketing spending, expansion plan but most importantly making serious lay-offs..... the world is in the "winter phase", globalisation works, and it's time to face reality and move away from everything being based on hope....... (ands the non-change Obama stands for)


Position wise.. I still keep 75% in cash/bonds.... 25% applied negatively.....net short dax, s&p and eurusd mainly.... 650-690 the goal......both from technical perspective but also from bottom up analysis.... ( 50 US Dollar expected earnings in the S&P ...13 P/E (recession lows) equals.....650....)

I look forward to the market moving to more realisme as it would indicate conditions should be improving.. for now my key indicator remains unemployment as long as the velocity of lay-offs are accelerating.. I wil remain short.......

Safe trading,

Steen

Monday, January 19, 2009

It feels, smell & look like the week of the Lehman break down...

Short note as I am in Management meetings all day - the week-end packages have ZERO impact except crystalizing how insolvent the banks are and how they "underestimated" - another word for lying? the pressure of their credit facilitation.
In short: In smells, feel, and looks like the week that ended with Lehman bankruptcy....

Three banks involved in the bank bail-outs.. looks at their performance today!

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/090119/business_us_financial.html?.v=20

(Click on chart for bigger version)

Barclays...


Danske Bank, Copenhagen


RBS - down 65% !!!!



Still same positions:


  • 75% long cash & short-term fixed income
  • 25% deployed negatively: S&P + Dax.......

Short EURUSD......

Safe trading

Steen


Friday, January 16, 2009

If in doubt tell the truth - Mark Twain

BoA now more owned by Government than private shareholders - what is wrong in the State of Boa? http://tinyurl.com/9mvknv

Doesn't the American tax payer have the right to know where the money goes? Apperently not according to Fed! This is scary....scary... please spend six minutes on this: http://tinyurl.com/ytn8ru

C - as in Citigroup begins to look, smell and feel like LEH did - an arrogant management, a business model which has never worked, a board full of incompetence - and now they release their numbers today - look at the chart---- http://tinyurl.com/693pla

(Click on chart for larger version)

My friend Jesper Christiansen (http://mrtitrading.blogspot.com/) and I spend some time this morning over coffee trying for once to be constructive - at least on the crisis ;-)...

Let us put the overall economy and investment cycle into a perspective:

(Click on chart for larger version)




We are in the "Winter" mode of the Kondradratiev cycle(http://tinyurl.com/2xxsj2)

You know I am no believer in any specific model, but this model shows a few key things:

1. Where we are in the business cycle
2. How we will find bottom in economy
3. The impact on policies

We are moving into: plant closings, unemployment, debt defaults, beggar thy neighbor, competitive devaluations - in other words:

The "fundamental" problem for the world is that the consumer is INSOLVENT (there is no pend up demand with negative saving rates and a massive debt mountain to service) - to remedy this issue we need to see serious write-down of debt........making the debt mountain smaller.

How do we achieve this?

Firstly, the investors owning the debt needs to take a loss - there is a reason why they have been paid a high interest (yes, this includes the "articially safe havens" of mortgage bond as well) and hereby taking away the uncertainty which end of the day is probably the worst negative factor on every single decision big and small.

Secondly, the total debt burden needs to reduced - someone has to pay - and it should not be the future generations as every single "recovery plan" dictates right now

Thirdly, we need to stop Government & Policy makers from spending money on unproductive projects like keeping Detroit a live, paving roads, subsidising this and that - remember one US Dollar spend in public regime goes from one being spend in private.

Fourthly, the resolution to Detroit and similar problems is to make it go into Chap. 7 or 11 - then buy out the best most productive component reapply them somewhere else - guarantee mimimum social standards and then critically give 3-5 year tax reduction to start-ups, make funding capital available for new business, short-term subsidise redeployment of laid-off works... this way you support the actual tax payers directly through security, potential job growth...and not through roads, and keeping jobs which ultimately will disappear.

Evolutions dictates that "destruction of capital" will happen for us to see a new better world, rest assure I am VERY positive on long-term growth, employment and market returns, but first the world needs to own up to the fact we are in the "Winter phase" ... then we need to apply our IC, interlectual capital, to solve this crisis.

The beauty being the very reason we survive is our always positive outlook, and I am 100 pct certain if "people" & investors where told the REAL TRUTH, i.e. how bad things are - they would adjust accordingly and we would be out of this crisis very quickly, but unfortunately we need to take serious detour due to policy makers and politicians which must rank the most incompetent in history....

Strategy

We have restarted our negative equity market outlook by bying some out-the-money DAX puts on S&P equivalent rate of 850.00. I feel too nakes with no downside on, but this is small position and I stand by my overall view that into Obama Inaugaration market will be volatile both ways....

We are still short EURUSD - we saw 1.3020 low post ECB meeting - Trichet talks rubbish - as per usual, EUR rates is going to zero.. he knows, I know, and you should certainly know....

I am slightly concerned about fixed income (Europe) - Bunds - the high yesterday had both divergence and "spinning top" making for excellent risk reward selling here @ 125.90 with stop above high yesterday plus margin of error. (High: 126.53 - suggest stop 126.70)

Otherwise we are sticking to low exposure due to upcoming event risk...............

Safe trading,

Nice weekend



Steen

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Hope is gone and fear is in....

Seems "fear" theme is back in fashion - Deutsche Bank(http://tinyurl.com/6vojqu) got the bulls nervous yesterday - and this morning I keep getting rumours of Boa and C getting "nationalised" this week-end (Listen: they are already de facto exactly that).... nice lead-up to Obama's Inaugaration next week.

ECB's Trichet - I have to laugh - he sits and it seems honestly says: Inflation will be rising again this year? Mr. Trichet - which planet are you from?

  1. Greece, Spain and Portugal in such dire straits its getting their currency debt downgraded
  2. Italy is mere days away from same....
  3. Eastern European Pre-ins countries collapsing day-by-day (Take a look at banks with exposure to Baltic region ---- ouch!)
  4. Export growth ...which was Asia only in the last three years - has collapsed --- China calls on growth all of the sudden in line with our Outragous predictions ttp://tinyurl.com/84mv7x
  5. PMI leading indicators tells us unemployment will reach 10% minimum this year..

Keep it coming Trichet --- it will only make EURUSD go quicker to 0.9500.....!!!

I maintain very defensive stance - feels naked with no equity short exposure (S&P @ 820.00) - but promised myself that 910-00 could happen........only short EUR/USD from here......

I am doing a few speeches next few weeks.. if anyone want to have a look at it feel to download from here: http://drop.io/z8p0m5v# (password: tosser)

Watch this week-end - it feels like the week ahead of Lehman.....

Safe trading,

Steen

PS: A few people been asking to our Macro Performance so here goes:

2008: +700 bps

2009 YTD: + 250 bps

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Tactical note: Now from short back to Neutral





We have enjoyed a nice run from 935-00 to 835-00 (short the S&P) and hence we have taking almost all our positions of today except short EURUSD……we took off: Short gold, short eurchf, long bunds, short S&P and Stoxx50.. .


It is as much “money management” as a believe in that the market could bounce from here – but clearly the market is now closer aligned to us on the present themes:

  1. China growth an issue – export/import numbers have now confirmed our view…•

  2. Europe in trouble on credit (Portugal, Greece and Spain --- downgrades and potential downgrades)

  3. Obama premium should not exist --- (our new catch line on this being: The Obama plan is like jump starting a car UP a hill!)……

  4. January effect is a concept, and nothing more than a concept..


Upcoming events which we need to gauge before recomminting…


  1. TARP – 2nd installment – by asking President Bush to ask for the money, Obama initiated a 15 days period inside which Congress needs to approve. Right now it looks there is Sunday vote(coming Sunday) but he is already facing rebellion from leading Democrats! (Click on Rebellion for link) http://tinyurl.com/a6ntaq

  2. ECB announcement – despite ECB should go 50-75 bps tomorrow and at next meeting – they will go 25-50 bps, Pause, cut, Pause, cut, Pause… Trichet loves to hear himself talk, but the game is changing and fast.

  3. Redemptions – January 15th widely rumoured to be “magic date” •

  4. My friend and S&P guru Drew Baptiste of Morgan Stanley tells me 810/820 and 835 ish…. First tactical target(From Drew’s email) S&P Micro to Near Term (871.79 CASH 862.50 SPH9) Off the 942.00 rebound high (January 6th = current 2009 high), SPH9 is declining in an “impulsive fashion” to date (a still unfolding five-wave sequence). Yesterday and again today in the Globex session, SPH9 traded up to proposed micro term resistance at 875+-2 before turning down. The next level to further expose the downside is 855+-2 (5 week low), a break of which exposes a minor cluster at 838.50 / 836.00, ahead of what T.A.G. views as a near term ACTION / REACTION area at 820 / 810. T.A.G. will reassess the current Near Term Bear Mode above 877 / 880.

Having a nice profit in January drives this move, but post-analysis as seen above seems to support taking one or two days for thoughts.

Positions:

Cash @ 95% - short EURUSD

Safe trading,
Steen

Friday, January 9, 2009

Tactical ALERT on Friday Non-farm

I am adjusting down my call for non-farm today - it will be worse than even the whisper numbers as a friend of mine been saying for most of the week, and finally it dawned on me: Obama been talking as if he knew todays numbers for a while - and its likely he has seen them otherwise why say:

  • "It appeared those critics were the focus of Obama’s speech, as he said, “If nothing is done this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits.” (source:http://www.freep.com/article/20090108/NEWS15/90108054)
  • Some cyclical work we do shows MAJOR infliction point for todays Friday...

Hence we suggest extreme caution into this market today - and we will not be surprised that the worst is confirmed - if wrong.....then it egg on my face..

We are:

Short EURUSD, short S&P, short Stoxx50, long bunds, long USD p jpy c.......short Gold.

Steen

Friday, January 2, 2009

An optimist stays up to see the New Year in. A pessimist waits to make sure the old one leaves.

Dear Investors,

Finally back into the rhytme of work again - must say holidays can be too long these days! Stunning weather, the market is happy and it looks like everyone got the same scenario for 2009 in place - tough first half-half then "flying through" 2nd half...I am not committed yet, having been one of the biggest bears for years, I must remain focused on seeing/understanding the catalysts for 2009, first up being the incoming President and next weeks Unemployment rate.

We have de facto ZIP (Zero Interest Policy) with all the risk of deflation ........the numbers looks bleak. It's almost certain 2009 will be best worst economic year since the 1930s, this does not, however, secure 2009 as a bad equity year per se... the balance will be between looking into the future and finding earnings, tracktions for credit and the extremely low interest rates on US debt or looking into the abyss...

A few things stands out as being in "riot" mode:

  • Private Equity is "toast" - no hidding there. I really enjoy this piece by Michael Wolff from Vanity Fair:http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/02/wolff200902
  • US yield @ ZERO percent - while the CDS on US Debt risis and credit rating overall falls ...? Makes no sense, there will be price to be paid..I am sincerely concerned about continued talks of Overseas Foreign Banks selling of both agencies and treasuries overall ( http://seekingalpha.com/article/110873-who-s-piloting-u-s-treasury-bonds-flight-to-safety)
  • EURO strength... with major Euro sceptic Vaclav Klaus taking the presidency from the ever self-promoting Sakozy there could major change in the "economic tunes" of Europe....so far there seems to be this crazy ideas Europe is in a better place... not so.. EURUSD down to 1.000 will be one of the major moves this year.. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5430362.ece
  • Volatility will continue to be high.... I expect major ranges to remain in place for this year..I am still in process of looking at technical levels, but my friend Jesper gave me headstart by point to these amazing charts, which tells a story most counters DO NOT want to engage in: http://dshort.com/ (please do yourself the honor of clicking on ALL the charts to get enlarged version..its simply....terrifying who little REAL RETURN stocks have given!)
  • Believe in Obama and a planned economy....I still do not understand why a capitlist society just rolls over and accepts general government intervention at large. Major banks in the US, UK, Denmark and elsewhere preaches Capitalisme and reacts with Socialisme. The talk of this working must stop and now... 2009 clearly will show how infrastructure projects DOES NOT solve the worlds issue, that we need serious Destruction of Capital for this game to continue..........
Strategy

I will ignore what everyone else thinks.. and start on the basis of our economic models which show pain is coming fast and furious in the incoming data sets - this will lead to further policy responses of infrastructure and spending future generations money they dont have.

There will be EURO fatigque and it will come early on, as market finally sees how changing Sarkozy for Klaus is not constructive for EUR values - the data for Europe will show how dogmatic the ECB and its merry chairman Trichet has been and unemployment will hit 10% in Q2 2009.......Europe finally paying the full-price for the FULL STOP on consumption......

No one I know feels good about the future..... not even my always miserable friends, thats not a good sign for markets and even less so for the consumption and risk taking which needs to be reestablished.

End of the day when you take TRILLIONS aways in private credit and substitute it with public credit, then the smart guys/girls will recognize it for what it is..... crowding out of private capital.........so unless you vote Socialist 2009 can become Annus Horribilies for us all.

Safe trading,

Steen

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Happy Holidays and Post Fed comments

It is time for me to write the final piece for 2008 - I have under the circumstances had excellent year in the fund, but somehow I am totally exhausted watching the S&P go up-and-down 100 points every day.... and today I went to the funeral of my dear friend Jens.....and it made me realise that I need to take some time of - enjoy the good year - and let markets be markets as the "lottery" circus continues into the year-end.

Fed was decisively desperate - "all in" poker style as my friend Jesper calls it....and Bless them, I wish them luck..... hope is good, especially considering the year we are going to face in 2009 with rising unemployment.

I will keep a few positions - would not be able to sleep if not - so.... long puts in STOX50 still, bought some EUR p USD c @ 1.4050 ish today...., and our allocation model still maintains the exposure as stated before.

Finally, let me wish you all a Happy Holiday, may the presents be big and expensive for you all.

Safe Xmas,

Steen

Aren't we forgeting the true meaning of Christmas? You know, the birth of Santa. Bart Simpson. Weekly Investment Meeting

The three driving PREMISES remains:
  1. Cost of funding drives market and valuations
  2. Price of liquidity new unknown (tax on money)
  3. No prior analogy historically will work (because this is different, very different)

Conclusion

Zero visibility from here - main topics for 2009 being:

Negatives:

  • Unemployment - we see >10% in both Europe and the US (see more under overall conclusion) - and losing your job makes people STOP ...stop living, stop buying, stop thinking... making it binary - while in the Ivory Tower of the banks they talk like its continues process - its not! You lose your job, you lose it...
  • Low oil prices - the impact could be massive on Social tension, geopolitcal risks and earnings power for EMG countries and companies. No one seems willing and able to imagine <20>
  • China growh makes it to zero - A story I have carried around since my Asia trip - seems banks now overtaking me..all of the sudden China not growing is the new Black, but even with growth at 3-5% China will be losing jobs, millions of jobs...and the 2009 will be real test for the THIRD WAY (you all know what happened to the 3rd way of Clinton, Merkel and Clinton)

Positives

  • Psychology so negative it can work positively for the market. If there is 100.000 jobs right now in Bank of America and 30.000 needs to go - then 100.000 are afraid and living like they will lose their job, but when job cuts are done theoretically the 70.000 will start spending again. (The risk being 30.000 jobs become 50 or 60.000 later on)
  • Q1 2009 circumstantial evidence would suggest there is "plenty of cash" on the sidelines, some of this should be deployed when we go into 2009?
  • Fed/Treasury plans does work. Unrealistic but let us put it up there. Fed takes rates to zero, start engaging in Investment Grade, they borrow not 3 trillion but 10 trillion of the future earnings of America... and it works!!! Hurrah!!!

I have put our target out before but for now we remain with key predictions of:

  1. S&P500 will see 500.00 in 2009
  2. Yield in Europe & US will go to zero
  3. China growth will be less than 3%
  4. Tension in the EU will increase
  5. Oil goes below 30.00 maybe even 20.00 US dollars
  6. EUR/USD will see both 0.9500 and 1.4000 in 2009?
  7. EMG underperforms everything else...
  8. Credit spreads will continue to widen.....

Investment meeting conclusion: There is some "nervousness" ahead of the FOMC on the text and its implications. It seems unlikely Fed will deliver more clarity if only because they do not have it themselves, but there will the usual: We will do whatever it takes to restart economy....market looking for minimum 50 bps. Meeting could disappoint.

We are still see incoming data being extremely negative, earnings likewise, and there is growing recognition of our own main theme: Unemployment - when this hit the "Street" it could take us down again to new lows.

Allocation:

This week: Unchanged 90% in cash, 10% deployed in negative stock markets.

Last week: Move from 70% to 90% based on lack of direction and incoming policy response being confusing.

Economics: (David Karsbøl)

  • Economy in freefall
  • Tankan worst in 30 years
  • CPI drop today expected to +1.5% from 3.4% biggest drop ever (?)
  • Empire Manu. contracting
  • Every single indicator at multi year low, some of the indicators can not go further down due to the way they are constructed!
  • Our weekly model remain low - staying low
  • The US and Sweden the two most decelerating economies

Main themes: Lack of credit & unemployment rising

Fixed Income:(Jesper Christiansen)

  • Where the Government is involved "value is being created"--- i.e lower spreads, but everything else is still showing pain, lots of pain
  • Next move from Fed would be to enter Investment Grade and High Yield -- Q1 2009?
  • Plenty of value prepositions. On-and-off-the-run Treasury gives you guaranteed 50 bps!
  • TIPS underperforming
  • US ABS almost unchanged - EUR ABS wider spreads
  • Danish mortgage spreads more or less unchanged with refinancing over
  • NOK and SEK putting pressure on DKK (deval in 2009?)
  • US Government fixed income outperform EU on quantative easing, Trichet talks down rate expectations, massive supply in EU Gov. FI in January
  • Credit spread making high after high - Deutsche Bank impact?
  • Investment grade starting to do better - FDIC bonds included?

OVERALL: Our mechanical model maintains serious overweight, so do we: (check bottom part of this blog for models allocations) http://saxomacro.blogspot.com/2008/12/market-is-long-hope-hope-and-hopethe.html

Technical Input: (John Hardy - copy version available here: http://drop.io/itvld6d# password: saxobank

Stoxx50 and S&P: Waiting to Bearish stance. Failure to maintain upside break disappointing.

VIX: We need > 60% for bearish sentiment go gain tracktion.

10 yr US: Buy option for downside (price risk) ?

Yield curve in EU and US huge different. Europe is steepning while US is flattening.

EUR looks stretched.

Equity

  • Market is historically fairyl priced, but based on forward earnings expensive
  • Lack of credit remains key issue.
  • Unemployment will hit earnings and consumptions.
  • Commodity cycle repricing from recession to depression a negative?
  • Low low physcology could lift the market.

Commodities

  • Contango begs for being crude for delivery but no one got balance sheet to do so.
  • Gold, Silver at breaking point failure would lead to big sell of.

OVERALL

End of the year, we are in wait-and-see mode, however almost as per usual we remain extremely negative on the outlook - believing there have not been a proper pricing of the impact on ACTUAL UNEMPLOYMENT ABOVE 10.0% into stock market and valuations of housing stocks.

There simply is not anything worse the losing your job, except death, and for some people losing their job would be equivalent of that!

When people lose their job everything stops for them. They do not care if stock market goes or down, that Wal-Mart has discount of 50%, that Bernanke talks positively, that the Government wants to help them, they need to be back at work that's it.........

Obama gives us(US) hope, but is it enough, is it too late? I think so - I would love to the positive guy calling for higher markets, lower unemployment, but I am paid to be sceptical, paid to deliver real return (unlike Madoff's)....so for now I will be concerned, more concerned than ever before, but then again, I am merely a poor farmer boy from Denmark.

Safe trading,

Steen

Monday, December 15, 2008

Monday morning quarterbacking..again...

Watched some good old American football yesterday and Monday morning quaterbacking was certainly part of the speakers "game".......anyway kind of interesting how Bernie Madoff all of the sudden becomes front-line news, not as much because of the size, big as it is at 50 bln. $, but due to the fact no one seemed willing to "call the bluff".....It sad to see "innocent" people getting hurt, but this is really the part of cycle we are.... where EVERYONE who could/should pay pays...

Why did Madoff' game got called? Redemptions! It was not due diligence, it was not financial oversight, it was not even the SEC!

No, everyone thought this was cleaner than clean, despite the performance being a serious anormally not even copied by the great George Soros ......I believe the side-effects from this will be much bigger than market willing to acknowledge as it is another blow to the confidence of ANY FINANCIAL institution - if there is not any any confidence left, what is the "goodwill" on their balance then?

EUR is flying, of course, but we took profit too early as the game continues - I see the weaker US Dollar as the market call on the Ponzi-scheme directed by Bush, Paulson & Bernanke - some nice gentleman from Barclays sales-team claimed today they were doing a good job! I do not know if this was based on him being nervous about keeping his job or his firm believe that offering "public money" for private would work wonders.. ????

EUR is going to get US disease on growth..or lack of it.. but for now we are in a December EUR rally which could easily see 1.3700 and 1.4000 on-route to our tactical call change as of last week....... of 1.5000

Stock market - in broad based consolidation - got feeling with the US Dollar starting to weaken that post FOMC, there could be a price to paid for the stock market, but as some of you have commented maybe I am tooooo negative for my own good. Investment meeting tomorrow... we start @ 90% cash, rest in negative markets positions.....full disclosure tomorrow.

Strategy

Keep powder dry to post FOMC - our indicator/model shows increased risk of sell-off as credit spreads continues to expand, short-term fixed income remains bid, US Dollar weakens, and foreign press officers throw shoes after the Prez Bush.........Calling him "a dog" would be considered a compliment for him in the US I guess... ? ;-)

Valuation hard to figure out.....but I am looking forward to the investment meeting and to measure our conservative stance vs. the alternative "normal allocation" in the last week, month and quarter.

Main concern remains the turn-of-the-year in the money markets, and into Q1 my counterpart risk. I got nasty feeling Lehman will not be last major institution to "die"........if the hope connected to Obama does not materilalise soon....this could get ugly....

Safe trading till tomorrow,

Steen

Friday, December 12, 2008

Market is long: Hope, hope and hope....the cynic Friday comment



No one seems to care for 50 bln. $ fraud scandale, no one seems to notice Obama is knee-deep involved in Chicago and that ALL PRESS, ALL WEEKEND will be on him trying to explain away how apperently the 2nd most important man in the US.. the Chief of Staff got involved in Chicago... dodgy politics....

Washington wud not be able to sell a cold Coke in Sahara, but pretends things are good

Jamie Dimon, CEO JP Morgan pretty much tell the world Q4 is TOAST - and that they have serious issue with earnings and potentially capital... but still...market is long hope, hope and hope...

I bid you all a lovely week-end...and will not remind you that 2008 was the year of financial industry insolvency, it seems more and more 2009 will be the year of Consumer/Private insolvency, something much worse at its entails people losing their job.. as Reagan said: A recession is when your neightbour loses his job, a depression is when you lose your job... I am afraid...Depression is now the name of game - the key catalyst being EVERYONE on CNBC USA tells me its impossible.. making it a 99% certainty.........

Strategy

Long 90% cash/fixed income - took profit on short cash S&P-500, took profit in the massive move in EURUSD.......took profit in Gold.....still MEGA long puts in STOXX50..... took profit in S&P500 put options (exp next Friday- decay starting to hurt).....and in our Allocation model we are:

All codes are Saxo system codes and number of shares/index based on 1mio EUR.....:

Short 12% S&P-500 (SP500.I) --- 145
Short 3% Stoxx50(Stoxx50e.I) --- 13
Short 3% Nikkei (NI225.I) --- 444
Long 3.5% Ultrashort MSCI Emerging market(EEV:arcx) --- 516
Long 5.0% Short DJ AIG Commodity Index(SALL:xlon) --- 520
Long 35% IShares 10-20 Y Treasury Bonds (TLH:acrx) --- 3838
Long 35% 7-10 Y Eur bons (IBCL:xlon) --- 2229

Safe trading,

Steen

Tactical change - EURUSD in 1.5000? The Silly Detroit business plan....and finally...The idiots on CNBC US ....

Dear Investor,

This is my note from this morning for internal use:

It is simply frightening the logics behind this Detroit plan – please read this transcript from Nightly Business News – under PBS in the US…….there is no way Detroit can have
5-6 pct growth in sales, cut cost by 50% and then maintain solvency….. but…. Politicians more than willing to use 13-15 bln on this --- I remember when 10 bln. US Dollars was a lot of money.. no more…..

We are in process of changing our EURUSD call to 1.5000 by Q1 next year…..here is why:

1. Fed to issue debt? No governance.. must be junior-debt to Treasury? So why? Plus as friend point out: if they issue debt surely there will be CDS on it – meaning direct “credibility measurement of Fed”.. not something I think Bernanke would want.....

2. Treasury Czar (where do this idiotic term come from ?)… listen market: We will issue 1-2 trln. US dollar….. WHAT!!!!!!!

3. Credibility – as much as I think EUROPE going to break-down – I must say I think the US is close to being TOTALLY INSOLVENT……..

4. Yields – interest differentials very negative for US Dollar..

5. GMAC will face Chap. 11 it seems….

6. Money market funds yielding close to zero..and not taking in new money (as it dilutes present holders…)

7. Sentiment – I cannot shake of the feeling the US is only in 2nd inning of double header (Thanks E..)……..

8. Positioning – my prop. Indicators indicates building momentum on upside in EURUSD …most people “fading this move”….

Please, please listen to this clowns...... please please do..and realise that listening to CNBC is absolutely guaranteed to lose you money:(Thkx Matt for link) www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

Finally... this is from PBS... very interesting conclusion:
=========================================================
NBR's Darren Gersh Gives GM's Financial Plan A Test Drive

PAUL KANGAS: If GM gets the money, what happens then? And just what is this company worth now, anyway? Good questions. So we decided it was time to get some better answers about what's behind the numbers GM sent to Congress. While Washington debates a bailout, we sent Darren Gersh to get some expert input from outside the beltway.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: To test drive GM's financial plan, I went to Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and asked finance Professor Anant Sundaram to scrub the numbers the auto makers gave Congress. All right professor, so here is GM's term paper. Let's start with what grade would you give it.

ANANT SUNDARAM, FINANCE PROFESSOR, TUCK SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: If this was a term paper in my class, I would have to give it unfortunately, a "C" plus.

GERSH: Ouch.

SUNDARAM: The reason is there is lack of clarity. There is lack of consistency and the data, the methods, the approaches, are just not transparent.

GERSH: So this is kind of an all nighter?

SUNDARAM: Absolutely. Never happens at the Tuck School of Business though, but I have to say it has the feel of an all-nighter that was pulled with a drop dead deadline.

GERSH: In that all-nighter GM apparently left out a cash flow analysis, the gold standard of finance. So Sundaram did some detective work to estimate GM's revenues based on a chart on page 21. You can see all those details on our website, but here's the result.

SUNDARAM: Making certain very favorable assumptions, assumptions favorable to GM, if I were to back out a revenue forecast, essentially tells me that GM is expected to have about $136 billion in revenues in 2009, but they expect these revenues to increase to something in the $160 to $165 billion range by the end of year 2012.

GERSH: OK, so you've got the revenues up there. Now how aggressive is that assumption? How fast do they have revenues growing and have they done that before?

SUNDARAM: This revenue growth implicitly assumes something like 6 to 7 percent in compounded annual growth rate in revenues, which is a little bit on the optimistic side. Actually, if you look at how their revenues have grown in the last five years, it's been less than 1/2 percent per year, in fact closer to a 1/3 of a percent, so we are talking about growth rates being about 15 to 20 times what they have been in the recent past.

GERSH: Sundaram points out GM plans to do that while cutting brands, employees and dealers, but if we assume the company hits that goal, we can put a value on GM. Sundaram cautions it's a rough estimate which compares GM to companies like Toyota and Honda. Bottom line: GM could be worth $50 billion to $80 billion after it has successfully restructured the company in 2012. And using some fancy math that we will spare you, Sundaram adjusts that figure back to get a value for GM today.

SUNDARAM: And essentially under some reasonable judgments one can make about discount rates and so forth for GM, suffice it to say that in today's value, this $50 to $80 billion by the year 2012 will probably be - we're talking about it being somewhere in between $32 billion to $50 billion range.

GERSH: But wait, GM owes banks and investors and its union $66 billion.

SUNDARAM: So if $66 billion were the claims against this company, then what we are saying is the value that is left over for equity holders is negative.

GERSH: Which is why GM is promising Congress it plans to negotiate a deal to cut its debt almost in half. So if you were the bank of Congress, the first amalgamated bank of Uncle Sam and this company comes to you and says, we want $12 to 18 billion? Would you give it to them?

SUNDARAM: I would hesitate to say yes, unless I'm convinced that they can get all the reductions, perhaps a little more than they're hoping for. If I were the car czar that they are thinking of putting in place, the issue that I'd be focused on night and day, 24/7, is the speed at which I can get the liability down to $34 billion or below, i.e. the negotiations with the lenders and labor.

GERSH: Consider those debt restructuring negotiations GM's real final exam, one it must ace to stay in business.

Darren Gersh, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Hanover, New Hampshire.

Strategy:

We went long EURUSD @ 1.3098 (stop @ 1.3055 offered), Long Gold @ 816... (stop 793)...and we are short S&P cash @ 899.98... and VERY LONG puts in Stoxx50 and S&P.. into year-end....

I simply do not get this --- still @ 90% cash - with the 10% deployed negatively...

Safe trading,

Steen

Thursday, December 11, 2008

China, China pants of fire......

My Chief Economist David Karsbøl has produced short piece on China growth - I remain extremely sceptical of the illussion of 8% even 5% growth in China - a lot of hope is built on China being able to pull demand with it and infrastructure et al... I will be surprised to see 5% growth, even 3% .... I think, unfortunately that China is going to have tough times ahead and as David points out the similarities with the US in the 1920s are more than relevant.

David Karsbøl, Chief Economist, Saxo Bank:

China, China, China. China has been THE story in the past five years. Who would not be invested in a country with minimum 10% growth per year, with a strongly growing consumption (at least sometime in the future), thousands and thousands of new millionaires and a voracious appetite on commodities? Everyone depended on China – both to get a return and to explain how the global growth could and would continue. Everyone wanted to go there, either physically or by investing.

Well, isn’t this exactly how investors were perceiving the United States in 1929 (albeit US growth was only averaging 4% p.a. before 1929, but it was still somewhat higher than in the rest of the world)?

There are more parallels: Both China and the US in 1929 experiences extremely strong growth rates (roaring twenties in the US) for almost a decade, which completely blinded observers. Both have had some of the world’s highest savings and investment rates in their boom periods. Both had significant current account surpluses that they tried to cope with (China by buying US Treasuries, the US by buying gold). Both were trying to uphold pegs to faltering and unsound assets: The US tried to prop up the GBP at a ridiculous rate after the re-peg to gold caused by WW1 inflation and China is now trying to peg to the USD, which despite the newfound strength is still trending lower and will end in catastrophe. For both of the countries and their boom periods, monetary policy was extremely expansive at the same time as the general price levels were flat to only moderately increasing, which led observes to erroneously conclude that monetary policy was “neutral”. Therefore, very big bubbles were allowed to evolve and burst.

In the 1930’s, the US was one of the economies worst hit by the crisis, because their monetary policy was taken to the farthest extremes. Chinese monetary policy has consistently been most extreme among the G20 countries. Over the past 10 years, annual M2 Money Supply growth in China has averaged +16%. That should be very frightening for the eternal China bulls. They will be lucky to see positive growth in the next three years.

David Karsbøl, December 11th, 2009

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes - JF Kennedy

Back in the land of 80% tax and winter depressions..........This does not make sense! I am a simple man by all accounts and I need things to make some kind of sense for me to enter into it, maybe that's why I never become filthy rich or make 200% returns, but somewhere deep in me I need transperency and I am none from the markets or the policy makers:

This morning starts with the Fed wanting to issue bonds- leave aside the fact Fed not authorized to do so, which havent stop them from doing things which is not kosher before, abd focus on the accountability: Who will oversee this? Who is controlling Bernanke ?

Bernanke is doing everything he wants - he feels like having a free option and he is using it - poorly........

Read Karl Denninger, Market tickers view: http://tinyurl.com/5dq93q

Market is on a bullish move and more and more people are joining the ranks of: End of year / Q1 rally ....... Be my guest. I need more than a few days of low volume trading to change my mind.....lets go through a few risk measurements:

  1. 3 month T-bill trades below 0.00% -- wow, that's positive news....
  2. VIX is @ 60% - wow, that's low...
  3. Itrax > 1000 -- wow, that's surprisingly low...
  4. Freight rates --- all of them floored-- wow, that's good news, then they can only go up...
  5. Earnings is being down-graded daily - wow, cool, meaning it will go up soon....

I could go on, but clearly all of above is "good" news and I should be buying everything in sight......

Seriously the world is not analog as everyone in the US told me - it's binary: It's either Zero or 1... 1 is the condition in which fiscal policy, monetary policy, tax rebates, central bank BS works and ZERO is a situation where everyone is more concerned about losing their job than anything else....

  1. Unemployment --- (0,1) = 0 --- No one outside Wall Street cares about the stock market - they want to know if they got a job or not. Everything else is irrelevant.
  2. Mortgage rates -- (0,1) = 0 --- Bernanke/Paulson the Dodgy Duo, DD, is busy helping out the banks - no real help to mortgages holders.... AND even with a perfect credit score your JUMBO rate is 10.0%!
  3. Pension return -- (0,1) = 0--- No one ever thought stock market would not go up forever!!!.... and now pretty much ALL public and private pensions are not only underfunded by they are also losing so much that many people needs to extend their retirement age by 2-5 years... nice job administrators..
  4. Refinancing --- (0,1) =0 --- 22% of corporate debt in the US is bank debt (vs 58% for Europe)...meaning 22% of all debt needs to refinanced inside one year - I wish everyone a Merry Christmas on talking to their bank managers on extensions(maybe they can get hair extension instead?)
  5. Balance sheets and real money ability to enter market --- (0,1) = 0 --- I went looking for ONE, just one bank or fund manager, willing and able to arbitrage some of the "free money" away in the fixed income market - I found none -- do you know any? This indicates that despite the rumors of big cash on the sidelines - no one willing to use it...
  6. Hope (0,1) = 1 Major hopes all around - let's hope it works going to Church praying for a better day tomorrow.

Call me bitter, call me negative, call me anything but untill I understand EXACTLY how this Ponzi Scheme of printing money and moving loss' from private to public sector works out - or give me EXIT STRATEGY for the DD.....then I will be most positive guy in the world.....I am getting nervous that my S&P500 in 500 next year is too conservative... but as fortunately for you and the Hopers... I have ZERO PREDICTIVE POWERS.......

Strategy

We moved to 90% cash from 75% in the Investment Meeting yesterday - too much hope out there and too little analysis of facts..... the 10% is employed on negative markets.. we have been scaling short in S&P and Stoxx50 for the last 5% ......

It is soon Christmas... no need to risk the gains for this year.....

Safe trading,

Steen

Monday, December 8, 2008

A leader is a dealer in hope. Bonaparte

Hope, hope and more hope. The readers of this blog knows what I think about hope - it belongs in Church on Sundays with the other prayers, but sometimes there is so much "pain" that it creates a psychological need for hope.

This is such a time - the frustrations in the US have reached levels which have made the Americans even more irrational than normal. Every single meeting I walked into in New York talked about the "choices being analog" - Analog? It was almost so indoctrinated that I started to believe they all had been brainwashed.

The consensus US story goes like this: (The score 12/13 meetings ):

  1. The political and economic choices are analog - there is no downside to fiscal stimulus and massive printing of momoney... its eithers ZERO or "something"......and it will be something... (bad?)
  2. Obama is a fine young man, who has the abilility to unite the US, and taking them through this crisis. He is rumoured to be more afraid of Speaker Pelosi than the GOP!
  3. The good news is that we are 50% through this crisis (apperently all recessions lasts exactly two years) and stock market always starts to go higher six month before recession is over - ergo: we are one year into the recesison, leaving between now and the next six month to be major rally point.
  4. Fed lies about the outlook (and denies reality) - they are saying unemployment peaks at 7.0% ish, but really believe its 9.0%+ -
  5. The closed circles of Treasury and Fed rallies behind each other like hangers on - or entrourages - there seems lots of room for Larry Summers( 'The women are less intelligent than men' former Harvard President....a former Clinitonite official) and the ever present Mr. Rubin, who despite taking Cititbank to the brink of bankruptcy is still called upon to help the US again - and unfortunately for me, and you, Volcker is merely seen as figurehead - a Statesman not to be heard.
  6. One day, soon, greed will return and the banks will stop asking the Fed or Treasury for more money and start taking risk on themselves.(I did not get how they in the meantime recapitalized the balancesheets?...but I am not one to let facts get in the way).. The only thing missing is the 4.5 mio. unsold homes - but with the printing press working overtime this is only matter of months before the inventory is gone.....
  7. 2009 is a lost year, but do not worry it will only make 2010 a much better year......
  8. The corporates in the US is doing great, hence there is no need for worry, it is "only"" the banks and the consumers which are toast ... but hang on.... aren't the corporations selling to those exact two audiences ? Apperently not.....and here I am being told US consumers is 70% of GDP- but it seems that's only when there is tailwind!
  9. The US consumers will never net safe - and here I must agree - they will move from spending more than they have to spending what they earn.... but they will not net safe... I agree, consider the average US smaller to medium sized cities ... they are built for people to consume.The US is built to spend money, it's a Ponzi scheme, where we continue to extract dimes in order to save on service, products and quality. Think about US cars, US food, design..........The US has given up on itself... it has lowered its standard to levels which is really only comparative to an emerging economy. In the middle of its biggest economic crisis I had the worst service EVER in New York, somebody needs to wake up!
  10. Pensions are now down so much it's impacting peoples work, life and future. I met several people seriously concerned about their future - their jobs.. and this is everybody from school teachers to Wall Street types.. they all live like they are going to lose their job...which to me indicated this economy will contract even further.

Friend of mine claims Wall Street will only be 50% of what it is today in one years time - I am sad to say I hope so, there is nothing to be had on Wall Street anymore - business is closed, and the IC, Intellectual Capital, remains focused on creating the consensus' scenarios like the above... maybe it is a good thing Obama creates hope, because if Bonaparte is right he may get the chance to be a leader.

Strategy

Market continues to behave like it thinks this will work. Be my guest - I remain with 910/920 top in S&P which should be used to be maximum short. The sentiment will not change in six or twelve month. I was here in May, now in December its 50% worse.......

Finally, a personal note: My childhood friend Jens Christiansen, 44, passed away on Saturday all to soon.... Jens was my closest friend growing up....I will miss him, and my prayers goes out to his family...

Safe trading,

Steen