Were European Bonds Mispriced in 2012 or are they Now?

By EconMatters

 

How to properly value European Bonds

 

This seems to be the biggest question in financial markets for me right now because the math just doesn`t add up any way you slice it. When you look at the pricing for European bonds this conclusion jumps out from an analyst perspective, either European bonds were analyzed and incorrectly priced two years ago, or they are currently being analyzed and mispriced today!  

 

Possible Explanations for Large Valuation Gap 

 

Belgium 10 Year Bond Yield

One might say it is a little of both, the yields shouldn`t have been that high two years ago, and they shouldn`t be this low right now. However, the gap is just too large from a valuation standpoint to hold much water or relevance here. The next possible answer is that central banks have made interest rates for borrowing money so low that this has incentivized bondholders to accumulate more bonds in search of a yield vehicle to invest this ZIRPMoney

Ireland 10 Year Bond Yield

Also, the US QE Program of $85 Billion per month, much of this money may have found its way into the European banking and financial markets further incentivizing liquidity driven asset purchases of all kinds in Europe. But remember, Europe itself has done very little besides the main weapon of ZIRP compared with the United States, and these are European bonds we are talking about. But if it just comes down to ZIRP offering enough of an incentive to buy what were perceived as risky bonds for investors just two years ago, why weren`t these yields much lower as soon as ZIRP began in Europe? 

One answer might be that there was a scale issue regarding liquidity, and ultimately there was a lag effect, until liquidity reached a certain threshold, first of filling the deleveraging credit gap, then there is enough to spill over into alternative investments like chasing yield trades. However this two year period also happened to correspond with the $85 Billion QE policy in the United States, and this seems to have been some of the catalyst for ditching investments like Gold in favor of Yield Investments. There is also this ‘Binary Mentality’ in financial markets in evaluating an investment risk or trading strategy, it is ‘Risk On’ or ‘Risk Off’, ‘Yield On’ or ‘Yield Off’, or European bonds are ‘Safe’ or really ‘Risky’. 

 

Fundamentals in Europe Haven`t Changed

 

 

Italy 10 Year Bond Yield

However when you look at the fundamentals and compare them to 2012 things haven`t really changed that much in Europe from a ‘getting their financial house in order’ standpoint, and their economies aren’t exactly booming, so these bonds seem as risky now as they ever have been from a solvency standpoint. I realize that the higher yields feed on themselves and make Europe`s outlook worse by some metrics, and that lower yields help alleviate near-term financing concerns from an interest on debt perspective, but the moves in these European bond yields just don`t make sense on a valuation standpoint, who would buy these bonds at current prices and yields? [Moreover, lower yields may be bad because it allows the governments to put off the much needing structural reforms that are necessary for fixing Europe in the long run.] The possible answer is that banks think that they can front run central banks, beg for QE, and get the central banks to take these bonds off their books. 


How Big can the ECB Balance Sheet Really Get?

 

 

Spain 10 Year Bond Yield

But remember Europe hasn`t really done any bond buying program, and it really seems like a big risk to take with your only real out being that Mario Draghi can convince policy makers to buy European bonds in any sizeable scale to make all these bonds good values here. The scale is enormous because the amount of debt that Europe needs to sustain their deficit spending weak economies that are not very competitive from a global standpoint outside of Germany is enormous each year. Furthermore, the ECB is really going to buy “all of these European bonds” from Italy to Belgium? The math doesn`t add up, just think about the Fed`s 4.5 Trillion dollar balance sheet, how big would the ECB balance sheet need to be to have any real impact in buying all these bonds from the banks that currently hold them? 

 

What Will Germany Sign Off On?

 

Would Germany really sign off on this even if it was potentially possible to buy even half the bonds of these European countries? This just seems ludicrous and I hope this isn`t a real investment rationale for buying all these European bonds, that the ECB is going to take them off their hands regardless of price. The other explanation is that these bond investors think they can get out quick enough, make enough money before ZIRP and the market reverses itself, and basically dump these bonds back onto the market without getting hurt. 

However, when you calculate the magnitude of how many bonds were bought all across Europe with deficit spending needed to sustain largess social governments, taking yields down from such heights just two years ago, this is a lot of bonds that will have to be dumped onto the market, what effect is this going to have regarding a tremendous spike in yields during this process? 

 

Paper Gains on Bank`s Balance Sheets Likely to Reverse to Actual Losses Again

 

 

Portugal 10 Year Bond Yield

Remember so far these banks and financial players have gained ‘paper gains’ on their books, they of course book the yield profits, but these are small relative to the price moves in these bonds. However the bonds are still on their books and nothing has changed in Europe and in reality many of these ‘paper gains’ on the books will reverse themselves. In many cases any financial institution who bought bonds over the last year in Europe at extremely high historical prices relative to recent history and the dire fundamentals of Europe from a debt to GDP standpoint is going to incur massive losses on these bonds that make the banks themselves extremely vulnerable to collapse. Basically needing to be bailed out all over again, i.e., the collapse of the Spanish Real Estate market, and the after effects of all this bad debt on bank`s balance sheets who had exposure to the overbuilding in Spain. 

 

The Problem with Accumulating Assets without regard to Fundamental Value means these Assets are Forever Stuck on the Bank`s Books – Nobody will buy them when they need to sell

 

 

France 10 Year Bond Yield

But based just on the fact that bond investors have no real clue what any of these bonds should be priced at just in a two year period, I have no confidence that their models over a ten year time period have any validity or insight regarding valuations and sound investment decisions. It seems more likely that somebody in Europe is going to have to take huge haircuts on these bond positions, as unlike Japan Europe relies on external funding for these bonds. It seems like the likely scenario is that yields start rising slowly at first with the extinction of the massive US QE program in October by the Federal Reserve. And pick up steam as the ECB cannot deliver relative to the expectations already priced into European Bonds, and then the technicals take over fueled by the reality that Europe was never fixed. This leads to the same scenario for these bonds getting ‘re-priced’ back into the bond market that we had just two short years ago. That most of these bondholders will have to take massive haircuts on these positions, and in two to five years European bonds are back pushing the upper limits of yield once again on an increased insolvency risk profile or EU breakup entirely.

 

 The German Bund is a Long-Term Short over 10-Year Duration

 

But the one thing that is certain is European bonds are not properly priced today on any scenario. There is a high probability that these bonds are completely worthless in ten years for some of these countries, the math just doesn’t work out in some of these peripheral countries. The German Bund also looks like a short at least back to 1.2% from the current 0.88 % yield for the 10-year duration as the market has really gotten ahead of itself in a slow summer, and as markets often do overshoot based upon one-sided momentum trading. 

 

European Bonds Biggest Bubble in a World of Mispriced Assets

 

I would also reiterate that most of these European bonds are massive shorts, just take positions, be able to stay in these markets for ten years, and most of these bonds are going to ‘re-price’ back to the fundamentals of Europe and a sustainable risk profile. Any investor buying European bonds at these prices is going to lose money on this investment when they have to sell these same bonds in an escalating yield environment. 

 

More Money Has Been Lost Chasing Yield the last 10 Years than any other Investment Strategy – Yet it Remains one of the most popular – so much for “Prudential Regulation” Janet Yellen as being an Effective Tool for Containing Risk to the Financial System

 

Remember you haven`t made money on a trade until the position is officially closed out, good luck buying European bonds in the biggest bubble of the vast universe of bubbles that currently exist in the financial universe that we find ourselves in due to incompetent Central Banks, matched only by incompetent governments who spend more than they can possibly take in regarding revenue, all cheered on by irresponsible banks who want their investment risk subsidized by others. I am a finance guy, and the math ultimately has to make sense, and it just doesn`t make any sense in Europe, and unlike the United States, the margin of error for Europe is not nearly as big to fall back on!

 

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This Is How ISIS Is Building An Airforce

The Islamic State is nothing if not ambitious. Despite no record of current 'airplane' assets in their annual reports, ISIS has begun detaining and forcing Syrian pilots to train militant fighters to fly stolen aircraft. According to CNN Arabic, the pilots (and their planes and helicopters) were abducted when the terrorist group gained control of Tabqa military base. It appears that if beheadings, executions, and whippings are not enough to strike fear into the hearts of the locals, then (just as America is tryiung to do), an air assault will greatly demoralize. We can only imagine how this changes Obama's strategy (and just where are all the rest of Syria and Iraq's airplanes stored?)

 

 

Via Al Arabiya,

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria said in a recent tweet it is forcing detained Syrian pilots to train militant fighters to fly stolen aircraft, CNN Arabic reported on Saturday.

 

In an account reportedly associated with the militant group, ISIS said in a tweet the pilots were abducted when the group gained control over the Tabqa military airbase in Raqqa Province.

 

ISIS seized the airbase earlier this month. The major airfield houses warplanes, helicopters, tanks and other artillery and ammunition, which were also confiscated by ISIS, according to several media reports.

 

ISIS did not provide any information about the nature of the training, according to CNN Arabic.

*  *   *

As NYTimes reported,

The fall of the Tabqa air base followed the group’s seizing of two other Syrian military bases and gave it effective control of Raqqa Province, which abuts the Turkish border and whose capital city, Raqqa, has long served as the group’s de facto headquarters.

 

Photographs posted Sunday on Twitter accounts sympathetic to ISIS showed bearded fighters in the air base, standing next to a destroyed fighter jet and appearing to cut the head off a dead soldier.

*  *  *

Some more of the 'loot'




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Past Fear, Present Fear

From Slope of Hope: I was looking at the entire history of the volatility index (the oft-cited “VIX’) and found an interesting parallel. Take note of this chart

0831-oldfix

So what we have here is:

Cyan tint – a grinding, multi-year slide following the bursting of a gigantic bubble. In this instance, it was the bursting of the Internet bubble, and during Greenspan’s deliberate inflation of the housing bubble, investors got calmer………..and calmer.

Yellow tint – The slide seemed to be over, and there was a period where fear seemed to be coming back. However, it really never seemed to take hold.

Magenta tint – Just when it seemed that fear was forever outlawed, and the VIX cracked briefly to lows never seen before (Grey tint), there was a sudden burst higher in volatility. In the case of February 2007, it was when the Chinese stock market made a brief tumble.

Green tint – Nope, the fear index falls back again to similar levels it has been grinding around at for a while. The “VIX fix” seems to be permanent.

Now take a look at more recent history, and apply every single one of those descriptions to the chart below. The only difference I see is that the most recent burst (Magenta) was muted compared to the one from 2007.

0831-newvix

Of course, after nearly six years of this nonsense, even someone like me starts to worry that, for the first time in the history of the universe, It Really Is Different This Time. But, ummm, that’s kind of what they want us to think, isn’t it?




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It’s Settled: Central Banks Trade S&P500 Futures

Based on the unprecedented collapse in trading volumes of cash products over the past 6 years, one thing has become clear: retail, and increasingly, institutional investors and traders are gone, probably for ever and certainly until the Fed’s market-distorting central planning ends. However, one entity appears to have taken the place of conventional equity traders: central banks.

Courtesy of an observation by Nanex’s Eric Hunsader, we now know, with certainty and beyond merely speculation by tinfoil fringe blogs, that central banks around the world trade (and by “trade” we mean buy) S&P 500 futures such as the E-mini, in both futures and option form, as well as full size, and micro versions, in addition to the well-known central bank trading in Interest Rates, TSY and FX products.

In fact, central banks are such active traders, that the CME Globex has its own “Central Bank Incentive Program”, designed to “incentivize” central banks to provide market liquidity, i.e., limit orders, by paying them (!) tiny rebates on every trade. Because central banks can’t just print whatever money they need, apparently they need the CME to pay them to trade.

 

So the next time you sell some E-minis, ask yourself: is the ECB on the other side? Or the BOE? Or, perhaps, you are selling S&P 500 futures to Kuroda. Who knows: there is no paper trail anywhere, although a FOIA request and/or the discovery from a lawsuit, class action or otherwise, of the CME’s central bank incentive program would likely yield some stunning results.

But the only place where “discovery” would be by far the most interesting, is for the CME to disclose just which central banks provide, or take such as at 8am every morning when one market sell order takes out the entire bid staack, the most liquidity when it comes to central bank trades in “Metals Futures Contracts (Physicals).”

Because imagine the shock and awe if and when it is uncovered that the biggest active manipulators of gold are not some junior-level traders out of Britain’s criminal bank cartel, but the central banks themselves.

Finally, while the list above deals with international central banks “providing” ES liquidity, those wondering why the NY Fed is not on the list and just how the Fed’s active trading team participates in the market without breaking the law, we have just one word: Citadel.

Source: Modifications to Central Bank Incentive Program. CME/CBOT/NYMEX/COMEX #14-038




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Arizona Cops Seize $455,000 from Medical Marijuana Patient

“Over $455,000 Seized from Medical Marijuana Patient
Slapped with Civil Forfeiture,” produced by Tracy Oppenheimer.
Approximately 6 minutes.

Original release date was August 25, 2014. The original writeup
is below.

In March 2013, Steve Oates’ home in Goodyear, Ariz. was stormed
by police, SWAT, and DEA agents because of a marijuana grow room in
the guest house.

“It was like something you see in the movies. It was 6:30 in the
morning, and basically you hear ‘bang! bang! bang!’ on the door,
and next thing you know you hear the crash of a battering ram,”
says Oates.

Oates’ doctor had recommended medicinal marijuana for Oates’
chronic back pain, so he attained a medical marijuana card with
cultivation rights. Dispensaries were still few and far between at
the time, and Oates didn’t trust Craigslist for his medicine.MMJ
Card

“I felt like the next alternative was to grow it ourselves,”
says Oates. Oates met a few other patients who shared concerns
about underground marijuana channels, and they decided to start
growing together. Oates had their entire supply during the raid,
which ended up being more than the permitted amount that he could
grow with cultivation rights. He pled guilty to possessing under
two pounds of marijuana.

But the conviction ended up being the smallest price that Oates
had to pay. Goodyear Police Department brought Oates’ case to the
Attorney General, who consequently slapped Oates with over $455,000
in civil asset forfeiture. Civil asset forfeiture is when the
government can seize property and finances that they suspect have a
connection to illicit activity. However, they sue the property
instead of the person, so there doesn’t have to be a related
conviction.

“That’s what they’re claiming, is that the market value of the
sales that he allegedly made was $455,000,” says Oates’ attorney
John Moore. “They don’t have any proof or any evidence that the
property that they are trying to forfeit is related to the crime of
his possession of marijuana for sale.”

Oates says that between property taken, bank accounts seized,
and legal fees, he has actually lost over $600,000, but that he
would “rather spend every dollar on an attorney than just let [law
enforcement] have it.”

Moore is helping Oates fight to get his assets back, yet says
it’s easier said than done.

“In a typical civil case, it’s the plaintiff that has the burden
of proof. But in a civil forfeiture case, it turns­­ out it’s
actually the defendant that has to show where this money came
from,” says Moore. “We have to show by preponderance of the
evidence, that this money that they are trying to forfeit came from
legal means.

Moore adds that Arizona has a direct incentive to utilize asset
forfeiture because unlike other states, Arizona law enforcement
gets to keep seized funds for their own departments.

“Their focus is on raising revenues instead of actual law
enforcement itself,” says Moore. “Instead of going after real drug
dealers who are transporting across state lines or criminal gangs
that are creating great crime and personal injury to people,
they’re going after an individual because they know he had funds in
his bank account.”

About 5:45 minutes.

Written and produced by Tracy Oppenheimer, who also narrates.
Camera by Zach Weissmueller. Featuring “Vibe Drive” by Podington
Bear.

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French President Says “There Is Risk Of War” As Europe Plans Additional Russia Sanctions

For months Europe had thought that mere verbal (and hollow) threats, populist posturing and propaganda would be enough to force Russia’s Putin to back off and withdraw from the endless Ukraine escalation, into a Kremlin cocoon with his tail between his legs. What they didn’t anticipate was that Putin would in no way back down (as that would be seen as defeat and weakness by his numerous internal foes), nor would have have to: with Russia providing a third of European gas and with winter approaching, Russia had all the trumps cards from day one. Furthermore, as a result of escalating trade wars it is not Russia’s economy that is hurting but Europe, which is on the verge of a historic triple-dip recession, only unlike 2010 and 2012, this time it is Europe’s growth dynamo, Germany, itself which is leading the lemmings into the abyss.

Now, finally, Europe has realized that its “strategy” (if it ever had one, red: Obama’s ‘strategy’ on dealing with ISIS) was flawed. It is with this mindset that European Union leaders met in Brussels earlier today and while, as usual, the the threat of new and improved sanctions to Russia was present, suddenly Europe’s leaders seem far more “fearful of a new Cold War and self-inflicted harm to their own economies” and instead decided to give Moscow another chance to make peace according to Reuters.

Confirming Europe’s realization just how serious events are, and how far down the rabbit hole Europe’s bureaucrats have gone, French President Francois Hollande, while stressing that a failure by Russia to reverse a flow of weapons and troops into eastern Ukraine would force the bloc to impose new economic measures i.e., nothing new, it is what he said just after that indicated a dramatic change in rhetoric: “Are we going to let the situation worsen, until it leads to war?” Hollande said at a news conference. “Because that’s the risk today. There is no time to waste.”

Because when Europe, the cradle of both World War I and II talks war, it is a good idea to listen.

Of course, the problem of hypocrisy promptly emerges, because it is France whose mistral amphibious assault ship is being delivered to Russia over the objections of both Germany (whose own military export complex has quite a few pending RFPs to the Kremlin) and of course Washington. That, and the fact that it is Europe’s actions that have led the situation to the bring of another world war. Actions such as the expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders which the Kremlin, justifiably, sees as yet another offensive intrusion by the west into purely regional matters, because last time anyone checked, Ukraine was neither a member of NATO nor the European Union.

The paradoxical hypocrisy continued when none other than British PM, who has been teasing with pulling the UK out of Europe for months over the election of Jean-Claude “You have to lie pretty much all the time in Europe” Juncker, also spoke on behalf of a united Europe. From Reuters:

British Prime Minister David Cameron said: “We have to address the completely unacceptable situation of having Russian troops on Ukrainian soil. Countries in Europe shouldn’t need to think long before realising just how unacceptable that is. We know that from our history.

 

“So consequences must follow if that situation continues.”

Consequences such as pushing Germany into outright depression, which in turn would lead to a global economic contraction? Sure, go ahead, but keep in mind that once again Putin has done his homework. Unless, of course, the entire premise is to launch another round of global coordinated QEasing, and this time have the Kremlin to blame as the “scapegoat” for thrusting the world into at least one more year of unprecedented Reverse Robin Hood wealth redistribution by way of central banks.

Meanwhile, Europe’s hawkish warmongers had free reign today to tell the world how they really feel:

The president of formerly Soviet Lithuania, an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin and of EU hesitation to challenge him, called for urgent military supplies to Kiev and a tougher arms embargo on Russia. Dalia Grybauskaite said Moscow, by attacking Ukraine, was effectively “in a state of war against Europe”.

 

But large Western countries are wary of damaging their own economies through sanctions. Those include Germany, Britain and France, as well as Italy, which is heavily dependent on Russian gas and expects to secure the post of EU foreign affairs chief. Poroshenko gave short shrift to Moscow’s denials by denouncing the past week’s incursion of thousands of troops with hundreds of armoured vehicles and said he expected the summit to order the European Commission to prepare a new set of sanctions.

 

But, like Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, he used their joint news conference to stress a will to find a political solution to a crisis that President Putin blames on Kiev’s drive to turn the ex-Soviet state away from its former master Moscow and toward a Western alliance with the EU and NATO.

 

He said he was not looking for foreign military intervention and expected progress toward peace as early as Monday – because failure could push the conflict to a point of no return: “Let’s not try to spark the new flame of war in Europe,” he said.

 

Barroso also warned of the risk of a “point of no return” in stressing that EU leaders wanted to defuse the confrontation with their nuclear-armed neighbour.

 

“It makes no sense to have … a new Cold War,” Barroso said. Further conflict would hurt all of Europe, he said, adding that sanctions were meant to push Moscow to talk. His Commission already had prepared a number of options for further measures.

Europe may be shocked to learn that the Cold War never went away, but simply was on hiatus until the Russian bear and the Chinese dragon felt strong enough they can finally ascend to global superpower status, in the process sweeping away the insolvent west, and its reserve currency status.

All that said, no pun intended, there was nothing actually decided today in Brussels, nor was any action taken, as is generically the case in Europe. In fact, the only thing that did happen is that as was known in advance, moments ago Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk replaced Haiku-spewing, unelected Gollum lookalike Herman Van Rompuy, a well-known figurehead from the days when Europe was actively fighting for its survival.

With Tusk, a conservative easterner, replacing the Belgian Van Rompuy, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini from the centre left would take over as the bloc’s foreign policy chief, replacing Briton Catherine Ashton.

In overall charge of the executive Commission, in succession to Barroso, will be conservative former Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker, appointed at a stormy summit two months ago.

 

 

Eastern leaders, alarmed by a resurgent Moscow, had resisted the appointment of Mogherini at that time. At 41 and in government only since February, they saw her as lacking the political experience and weight to stand up to the Kremlin and also handicapped by Italy’s dependence on Russian energy.

In fact, while Europe’s powerlessness to do anything to halt Putin’s advance is well-known, the most interesting aspect of today’s meeting that left Belgian caterers that much richer, was the horsetrading of hollow, bureaucratic figureheads at the top: something Europe also excels at.

Britain, France, Germany and other countries are competing to see their nominees secure important portfolios in Juncker’s team, such as in economic affairs, trade and energy supply.

 

The horse-trading over jobs underlines the power of rival national governments over the supranational institutions of the EU. Proponents of a strong political leadership in Brussels that can inspire and rally an increasingly sceptical European public behind the common project may again be left disappointed.

 

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Friday he would propose a meeting to discuss tackling the “really worrying” economic situation across Europe, with growth and jobs elusive and fears of a new crisis for the euro currency.

 

The leaders agreed to schedule that summit for Oct. 7, according to the draft statement.

And so on.

To summarize: more worthless power moves, more hollow rhetoric and threats, more verbal escalation and nothing else.

In fact, the most notable comment all day today came from Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban who said that EU sanctions on Russia haven’t worked and it’s “self-delusion” to think they’ll help resolve the crisis in Ukraine.

Well, if there is anything Europe, and its virtually unlimited, but certainly limited amount of political capital are spent to preserve an unsustainable, artificial union, excels at, it is “self-delusions”




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The Economics Of Perpetual War

Submitted by Matt McCaffrey via The Mises Economics Blog,

The 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I seems like an ideal opportunity to spread a message of peace and economic cooperation; sadly, 2014 has so far been a year of new and renewed conflict far more than one of reconciliation.

By now, talk of the horrors of war is nothing new. Everyone knows about the total destruction war brings; in fact, we’ve known for millennia. As Lew Rockwell points out, “just about everyone makes the perfunctory nod to the tragedy of war, that war is a last resort only, and that everyone sincerely regrets having to go to war”—but war continues all the same. Even classical military strategists like Sun Tzu believed war should only be used only as a last resort, and argued that military campaigns could bankrupt states and ultimately, destroy them. Art of War actually states that “no country has ever profited from protracted warfare,” and cautions generals to “fight under Heaven with the paramount aim of ‘preservation.’” Yet as far back as we have historical records, these sorts of ideas have fallen on deaf ears among governments and military organizations alike.

Economics offers many insights into war making and why it persists, but the most fundamental explanation is an institutional one. It’s tragically simple: warnings about the horrors of war go unheeded because the power to make war—as well as “justify” it in the eyes of those forced to fight and finance it—lies in the hands of the state and its business and intellectual allies. States are monopolists of organized force, and as such decide when and how to use their power on a grand scale, especially when they wish to confront other monopolists.

In fact, economic reasoning tells us that conflict is an integral part of the logic of states, which are inherently prone to warfare and imperialism. That war is an essential and practically inevitable behavior of government has been known since ancient times: for instance, Art of War begins by stating that “War is the greatest affair of state, the basis of [its] life and death, the Tao to survival or extinction.”

The central problem is that government is based on the use of the “political means” rather than the “economic means” of social organization. States are not producers of goods and services in the market; rather, they operate by forcible redistribution. They are therefore founded on a conflict of interest between the rulers and the ruled, especially between the winners and losers of the redistribution process.

Furthermore, because state decisions are not guided by entrepreneurial calculation, they result in the waste and destruction of resources, resources that must be replenished if the ruling class hopes to continue to consume. States therefore search constantly for new sources of revenue to support themselves, and to that end they use traditional methods of public finance: taxation, borrowing, and inflation. But these policies ultimately compound their difficulties, generating poverty and inequality, and intensifying social conflict.

Every way they turn, states face recurring economic problems and the need to distract or suppress the victims of exploitation; war making serves the dual purpose of (a) disguising fundamental social conflicts by refocusing attention and/or blame, and (b) providing economic gains to the state and its allies. This then is one economic explanation of how organized violence on a small scale leads to organized violence on a massive scale.

If we want to understand why war persists, we have to take account of the economic foundation of the state. We can’t reason in an institutional vacuum, like the many people throughout history who believed it was enough to simply point out the obvious calamity of war, while leaving the power to make it in the hands of a ruling class.




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Zach Weissmueller and Emily Ekins on What Millennials Think About Politics

Millennials:
Who are they? What do they believe? Why do we care? Armed with data
from Emily Ekin’s recent Reason-Rupe poll on the same
subject, Zach Weissmueller explored these questions on the campus
of University of California, Irvine by asking students in the 18-29
age group to talk about their political philosophies, their
attitudes towards Democrats and Republicans, their reactions to the
word socialism, and their perspectives on
entrepreneurship.

View this article.

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Ebola Outbreak Spreads To 6th African Nation: 20 Cases In Senegal

Despite border closures, flight bans, cordoning off the sick (and healthy), and rubber (and live) bullets and tear gas on ‘protesters’; the world’s worst outbreak of Ebola just keeps spreading, now to a sixth African nation. Just day after Congo (5th nation) reported cases of Ebola, as The BBC reports, Senegal’s health minister confirmed the first case of Ebola in his nation yesterday and Bloomberg confirms 20 more people are “under surveillance.” Meanwhile, in Guinea a Red Cross official said riots had broken out in the nation’s 2nd largest city over rumors that health workers had infected people with the virus; and Nigerians are protesting plans to build isolation units in some local clinics. “contained”

 

Senegal becomes the 6th African nation with Ebola after Congo, Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra-Leone, and Liberia

 

As The BBC reports, Senegal had tried to block this…

Senegal had previously closed its border with Guinea in an attempt to halt the spread of Ebola, but the frontier is porous.

 

It had also banned flights and ships from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – the three worst-hit countries.

But…

  • *EBOLA-INFECTED MAN ENTERED SENEGAL BY CAR FROM GUINEA: MINISTER

Awa Marie Coll Seck told reporters on Friday that a young man from Guinea had travelled to Senegal despite having been infected with the virus.

The man was immediately placed in quarantine, she added.

For now he is ‘stable’…

  • *EBOLA CASE IN SENEGAL IS STABLE, NO FEVER, MAY RECOVER

But…

  • *ABOUT 20 PEOPLE UNDER SURVEILLANCE FOR EBOLA: SENEGAL MINISTER

And…

  • *SENEGAL WILL REQUEST EBOLA DRUG VIA WORLD HEALTH ORG.: MINISTER

*  *  *

In Guinea, a 24-hour curfew has been imposed in the second city, Nzerekore, because of a riot after the main market was sprayed with disinfectant in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus.

The exact cause of the riot is not clear – some people reportedly feared the spray would spread Ebola, while other chanted: “Ebola is a lie”. Police responded by firing tear gas.

 

“A rumor, which was totally false, spread that we had sprayed the market in order to transmit the virus to locals,” Traore said. “People revolted and resorted to violence, prompting soldiers to intervene.”

 

The city is the capital of the Forest Region, where the Ebola epidemic has its epicentre – near the town of Gueckedou.

 

However the BBC’s Alhassan Sillah in Guinea says the town has miraculously remained free of Ebola so far.

And Nigerians are not happy…

In Nigeria, meanwhile, some have pushed back against government plans to build isolation units in their neighborhoods, even saying they would sooner burn Ebola centers down than allow them to operate.

 

In the northern city of Kaduna, hundreds of people on Wednesday protested plans to convert sections of a local clinic into an Ebola treatment center. Many carried signs that said: “No Ebola in our hospital.”

*  *  *
Much worse than expected and is crushing Africa’s GDP…




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A Few Comments on the Technical Condition of the Dollar

Driven by the real and anticipated divergence in economic performance and trajectory of monetary policy, the long anticipated US dollar recovery has begun.  As is evident in the positioning of the futures market, and confirmed by anecdotal evidence, speculative participants have amassed a significant large US dollar position.    Broader measures of portfolio flows are less timely, but those that track mutual fund and ETF flows also report foreign demand for US assets.  

 

The two knocks against the currency market have been the lack of follow through and the low volatility.   The former has been exaggerated, and the latter may be changing.  Perhaps what many say was the lack of follow through was really about being on the wrong side of the trade.  Rather than continue to rally, the dollar’s advance against the yen stopped dead in its tracked at the start of the year.  Sterling trended higher from around $1.65 in mid-March to $1.72 in mid-July and that back to $1.65 in late-August.    Sterling’s recent decline including a 7-week losing streak that ended last week (just barely).  And with last week’s losses, the euro itself has declined for seven consecutive weeks.  

 

Volatility in the euro and yen have been moving higher.  The three-month implied volatility of both the euro-dollar and dollar-yen spent last week above their 100-day moving averages after bottoming in mid-July.   For the euro, it is the first time since the start of the year, and this is the longest the implied dollar-yen vol has stayed above its 100-day average since the middle of last year.  

 

Sterling is an exception to the general pattern of a stronger dollar, higher volatility.  Sterling peaking against the dollar in mid-July, but the implied volatility peaked a few weeks later in early August. Perhaps at when sterling fell through a technical retracement objective near $1.68, the option players only then recognized that a top of some import was in place and were no longer looking to buy upside protection.  As the sterling has moved back into more familiar levels, volatility has continued to ease and is back to within striking distance of the multi-year low set in June near 5%.  That said, we can see how an out-of-the-money options could offer attractive returned if the Scottish referendum in the middle of September surprises or, if once passed this key event, sterling rallies.  

 

Technically, the dollar looks stretched, but there is no compelling evidence to think that it has reached an important top against the yen, or that the euro is near a bottom.  Sterling has been nesting in the $1.6540-60 area and is fundamentally positioned to out-perform the continental currencies and yen. However, it might struggle to recoup much ground against the dollar until the Scottish referendum is held.   

 

The ECB meeting is key, and ahead of it, the euro could lose a cent, but remain above $1.30. We see a better chance of a rate cut than the unveiling of an ABS purchase program, or some other variant of QE that many other observers have emphasized.  Many observers do think Draghi pre-committed ECB action in his Jackson Hole speech, especially the improvised additions.  

 

We are bemused by the fact that many who have argued that QE was ineffective in the US, UK, Japan, and Switzerland are among those who advocate it for the ECB.    In any event, do see a heightened risk of either disappointment with the ECB’s action or “sell the rumor buy the fact” type of activity that can potentially trigger a squeeze. Such a bounce can be anticipated by investors and used to help time the implementation of an allocation strategy.  

 

It is interesting to consider who is selling the yen.  We know speculators in the futures market has built a substantial short yen position.  We know from the MOF weekly data that Japanese investors have stepped up their purchases of foreign assets.  Japan’s public pension fund appears to have stepped up the diversification out of JGBs, raising foreign bond allocations.  Many suggest the carry-trade is back in vogue. While this is possible, we are skeptical.  There are other reasons to sell the yen besides carry, like momentum and portfolio allocation optimization.   

 

Moreover, Japan is no longer the low-interest rate country.   Overnight money in the euro area briefly exchanged hands at less than zero.  The German yield curve, out to three years, had a negative yield at the end of the week.   None of the Japanese curve is negative.  At the long-end consider that Switzerland’s benchmark 10-year bond yield is a couple of basis points through Japan.  

 

The point is not that it is not a carry trade because there is no yield pick-up, but rather because the yen is not the most attractive funding currency now.  In addition, the fact of the matter is that the dollar-yen upside breakout was not a function of a wider US premium over Japan, which many, including ourselves had expected.  

 

The dollar-bloc currencies do look to be better-positioned technically.  Since the end of the Q1, the Canadian and Australian dollars have been the best performers, gaining 1.7% and 0.8% respectively against the dollar.  We suspect the Canadian dollar can continue to outperform.  Both central banks meet next week.  Neither will change policy, but the RBA is more likely to complain about the currency’s strength.  

 

Currently, we would argue; Canada draws a bigger benefit of being integrated into the US economy that Australia does being tied to China.  The recent data suggests that the Canadian economy has greater momentum than Australia. This is especially important for equity investors, where the Toronto Stock Index is up 14.5% compared with the ASX’s 5.1% advance year-to-date.   Australia does offer a higher yields than Canada.  We are also more inclined to see the RBA cut than the BOC (though not until late this year, or more likely, next year).   

 

The US dollar found support ahead of CAD1.08.  This is an important area, and a break would allow the greenback to complete the double top pattern carved out near CAD1.10 and has a minimal objective of  CAD1.0720.  The 5-day moving average crossed below the 20-day at the end of last week  This is the first such crossing since mid-July that signaled a near-3% move.  

 

US S&P 500 made new record highs last week, though spent most of last week consolidating. August was its best month since February (up ~1.5%, NASDAQ up near 3%).  Volume was especially light during the last week and a half.  With interest rates low and still falling, what many see as the ultimate fuel for equities would appear to remain in place.  The US 10-year yield made new lows for the move before the weekend, while the 2-year yield was pushed back below 50 bp.  Lastly, we note that the price of oil (generic) rallied last week, snapping a six week declining streak.  It is testing its 20-day moving average near $96.  It has not traded above this average since July 22.  

 

 

Observations from speculative positioning in the futures market:  

 

1.  There were two significant position adjustments in the CFTC reporting period ending August 26.  The gross long yen position increased by 17.2k contracts to 122.4k.  The gross long Mexican peso position grew 15.5k contracts to 71.7k.  

 

2. Separately, we note that the gross short euro position rose by 9k contracts to 204.6.    The record gross position was set in July 2012 near 244k contracts.  Even though the risk of break-up of the euro area and the risk that a large country defaults have fallen sharply, sentiment is almost as extreme.  

 

3.  Many Treasury bears threw in the towel in the latest period.  About 22% of the gross short position was covered.  In numerical terms, this was 116.5k contracts.  This brought the gross short position down to 410k contracts.  The gross longs were pared by 65k contracts to 418k.   This was enough to swing the net position to long for the first time in a year.




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