Well, my fellow Slope-a-Dopes, the time has finally come. The Idiot Savant has had more than enough. BDI has unequivocally decided to prick Big Bad Ben Bernanke’s Bloviated Bubble Butt. I have outlined below seven fine needles and six sharp scalpels that I shall use to slice and slay his sorry sagging ass:
1) The extensive capital fight outflows, steaming out of the cratering Emerging Market economies, frightfully seeking a safe haven, have most certainly found their way into the U.S. equity markets, pumping the final bit of hot air into an already overly bullish bursting balloon. Taper blow back begins.
2) The Fed has finally begun tapering in earnest, fearfully curtailing QE because they know that the extreme asset valuations it engenders are dangerous weapons of mass misallocated monetary destruction. The teetering global economy is now facing the unintended consequences of economic disequilibrium that the Fed has unwittingly unleashed on the world, which is now disintegrating before us.
3) As a consequence of the announced and scheduled diminishing QE, the 10 year yield has most certainly based. Moreover, after a monumental 30 year down trend, is now clearly working its way higher. Each marginal increase off of these extremely low levels is huge in terms of a percentage move, and thus, the total costs of servicing the outstanding debt loads held both privately and publicly will quickly become a backbreaking burden on the U.S. economy.
4) The outstanding U.S. public and private debt has never been larger in terms of overall USD exposure, the debilitating cost of carry on that tremendous debt has only been temporarily held at bay by a shortsighted FED which synthetically suppressed treasury rates in order to bail out its desperate TBTF private member mega banks. That dubious degenerate policy has completely distorted the treasury bond yields and therefore the natural market cost of money has been eviscerated. Clearly, this can no longer be sustained due to the gross misallocation of capital it has induced, which flows primarily into fixed non producing assets of all kinds in the FIRE economy, as well as the precious metals, gem stones, fine arts and collectibles markets, at the expense of genuine productive growth on the ground in the real economy..
5) The the polyannish assumption that the FED will be able to continue blissfully containing the ever building rate pressures by simply jawboning the debt markets is laughable. The Fed is about to lose control of the United States bond market, by far the largest capital market in the world. Don’t be fooled, they are not and never have been an absolute omnipotent force with complete control of a private economy that generates an annual GDP of $16 trillion. To believe that seven ace academic anal asses sitting in on an FOMC meeting, tweaking financial levers on a whim, can exert absolute control over the massive forces which drive the globe economy is preposterous.
6) China, the acknowledged engine of economic growth for the world, over the past two decades, is apparently in serious trouble. The misallocation of overly cheap finance capital has created such tremendous economic imbalances on the ground, in terms of monumentally excessive development, productive over capacity with massive stock piles of raw materials ( all non cash producing assets), has now morphed into a full blown credit crisis spawned by the perilous parasitic shadow lending phenomenon which rapciously over leveraged the final ferocious funding feeding frenzy.
7) Japan’s economy grew at a slower pace than initially thought in the last quarter of 2013, raising concerns about the pace of recovery under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s crazed crafty kamikaze monetary policies. With Japanese data weaker than expected and their April consumption tax hike imminent, the state of the Japanese economy is cause for significant concern. Tora, Tora, Tora!
8) Despite brash statements and confident claims to the contrary, the EU & ECB have yet to solve the crippling monetary and fiscal structural problems that currently afflict their unfinished and imperfect union, which are distinctly intractable in its current form. The Southern periphery nation states, now joined by La belle France are firmly entrenched in permanent recessions. The latest unemployment data out of Paris is the worst since WW II.
9) The BRICS, which remain heavily dependent on commodity trade are now struggling. Dr. Copper has demonstrably diagnosed their incapacitating illness. Additionally, an increasing number of bi-lateral trade agreements are now being established between the commodity producing nations, completely outside of the USD world reserve currency monetary hegemony, putting added pressure on the Petro-Dollar. The current natural gas impasse in Ukraine and probable retaliatory sanctions against Russia will undoubtedly serve to push Beijing and Moscow even further along those lines. The Arab Spring has morphed into MENA mayhem, Syria is bleeding, Lybia is imploding, Iraq is self destructing, Egypt is a basket case, Saudi Arabia is afraid of Iran fomenting further Sunni Shia anarchy along its borders. All of which could undermine the Petro-Dollar.
10) The USD Index has been trending lower, barely holding onto the all important 80 level. A clear breach of that critical level will put undue pressure on an economy which is 70% based on consumer consumption. Consuming cluttering crap created by countless countries will become considerably costlier.
11) The developed world is in the midst of a substantial consumer slow down. This is particularly true in the middle and low end mass market sectors, which are the meat and potatoes of the largest consumer economy on the planet. The recent results at Walmart & Target highlight this unwelcome development. It’s not the weather stupid!
12) The freakish stock market sentiment boldly postulating that the wall street bull can never stumble again, because the global central bank reflation trade will always prop him up, is astoundingly foolhardy, you simply can not print your way to prosperity, same as it ever was.
13) The fantastic social media gorilla glass gigabyte bubble will surely get the WhatsApp Snapchat Tweeter twits’ party started. Please “Like” me, I’m a LinkedIn Pinterest head party animal! In fact, the unsuspected unenlightened user-base unravelling may have already begun. Friday’s bewitched Nasdaq action may be just the opening super social salvo.
The Joker red card’s the Fed and it’s fantastically foolish frenetic faux market.
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1riVAlo Tim Knight from Slope of Hope