Tag: finance

While nobody is impressed by breaking equity and options markets anymore, since this has become a virtually daily ocurrence and the habituation level is high, bond markets, and especially the US government’s “guaranteed” bond issuance machinery, are a different matter altogether. Which is why any time something out of the ordinary happens, people pay attention. Such as what happened moments ago when the US Treasury announced that it would delay the closing of the 3 and 6 month Bill auctions, originally scheduled to close today, to tomorrow.

The reason: “an error that occurred during a test of Treasury’s auction system.”

This is curious, as it implies there was a test of the system running concurrent with the actual bond auction. One wonders if instead of the stated reason, there simply wasn’t yet another “glitch” with TAAPS, which as we reported in September, had an error due to an order by none other than Goldman Sachs, being stuck in the quere, for reasons unknown resulting in yet another abnormal 3 and 6 month Bill auction.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/-Mwz-Ub1cQs/story01.htm Tyler Durden

With Ukraine’s CDS spiking and the protests growing ever more violent, the government is oddly honest:

• *AZAROV SAYS KIEV PROTESTS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL: INTERFAX
• *AZAROV SAYS GOVT AWARE OF PLAN TO SEIZE PARLIAMENT BUILDING:IFX
• *AZAROV SAYS UKRAINE ASKING WEST FOR HELP TO CALM PROTESTS: IFX

Of course, the only voice that matter is still calm:

• *PUTIN SAYS CRISIS IN UKRAINE WILL SUBSIDE

Is that a directive or a statement…?

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/cAVvuS_4n3A/story01.htm Tyler Durden

With Ukraine’s CDS spiking and the protests growing ever more violent, the government is oddly honest:

• *AZAROV SAYS KIEV PROTESTS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL: INTERFAX
• *AZAROV SAYS GOVT AWARE OF PLAN TO SEIZE PARLIAMENT BUILDING:IFX
• *AZAROV SAYS UKRAINE ASKING WEST FOR HELP TO CALM PROTESTS: IFX

Of course, the only voice that matter is still calm:

• *PUTIN SAYS CRISIS IN UKRAINE WILL SUBSIDE

Is that a directive or a statement…?

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/cAVvuS_4n3A/story01.htm Tyler Durden

While it is not a surprise, and had been reported previously, there is a certain dose of humor in Reuters reminding us that Jeffrey Zients, who is currently tasked with fixing Obamacare.gov Healthcare.gov (and which crashed yesterday for CNN when it experiment with the upgraded website), will soon be leaving his post and replace Gene Sperling as Obama’s top economic advisor. Surely if anyone can fix the economy, it is the man who has hired every private sector sysadmin genius and managed to expand the 500 million lines of code website to accomodate a few more thousand simultaneous requests…. before it crashes again.

From Reuters:

Jeffrey Zients, charged with fixing the troubled HealthCare.gov website, will be replaced when he leaves to start his new job as a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, a White House official said on Monday.

 

Jennifer Palmieri, the White House communications director, told MSNBC that Zients’ departure date as a special adviser for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is as yet unclear.

 

Zients was chosen by Obama in September to take over from Gene Sperling as director of the White House National Economic Council. That job is supposed to start on January 1.

 

“Right now Jeff is focused on the website,” Palmieri said. “He’s going to continue that for the immediate future. He will become the NEC director at some point, I’m not sure exactly the date.

 

“But the other thing that we want people to understand is that when Jeff does leave, that it was always going to be a short-term assignment for him, that he will be replaced by someone,” Palmieri said.

An Amazon drone?

And as a reminder, this is who Zients is:

Zients was the chairman (2001–2004), chief executive officer (1998–2000), and chief operating officer (1996–1998) of the Advisory Board Company and former chairman (2000–2001) of the Corporate Executive Board. Both companies were founded by David G. Bradley and provide research and advice to corporations around the globe on best practices in management, strategy and operations. Zients and Bradley took each of the companies public through successful initial public offerings that made both men multimillionaires. At age 35, Zients was named to Fortune Magazine’s “40 under 40” with an estimated wealth of $149 million.

 

Zients also cofounded the Urban Alliance Foundation.

 

Zients founded and was the managing partner of privately held Portfolio Logic LLC, an investment firm primarily focused on business services companies, that included Best Practices (Emergency Services management), Timbuk2 Designs (a retailer of backpacks, apparel and messenger bags) and Pediatrics Services of America. He was a member of the board of directors of XM Satellite Radio until its 2008 merger, and a board member at Sirius XM Radio until his Senate confirmation. Zients had also served on the boards of Revolution Health Group, Best Practices and Timbuk2 Designs.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/uWmJm44y52k/story01.htm Tyler Durden

While it is not a surprise, and had been reported previously, there is a certain dose of humor in Reuters reminding us that Jeffrey Zients, who is currently tasked with fixing Obamacare.gov Healthcare.gov (and which crashed yesterday for CNN when it experiment with the upgraded website), will soon be leaving his post and replace Gene Sperling as Obama’s top economic advisor. Surely if anyone can fix the economy, it is the man who has hired every private sector sysadmin genius and managed to expand the 500 million lines of code website to accomodate a few more thousand simultaneous requests…. before it crashes again.

From Reuters:

Jeffrey Zients, charged with fixing the troubled HealthCare.gov website, will be replaced when he leaves to start his new job as a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, a White House official said on Monday.

 

Jennifer Palmieri, the White House communications director, told MSNBC that Zients’ departure date as a special adviser for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is as yet unclear.

 

Zients was chosen by Obama in September to take over from Gene Sperling as director of the White House National Economic Council. That job is supposed to start on January 1.

 

“Right now Jeff is focused on the website,” Palmieri said. “He’s going to continue that for the immediate future. He will become the NEC director at some point, I’m not sure exactly the date.

 

“But the other thing that we want people to understand is that when Jeff does leave, that it was always going to be a short-term assignment for him, that he will be replaced by someone,” Palmieri said.

An Amazon drone?

And as a reminder, this is who Zients is:

Zients was the chairman (2001–2004), chief executive officer (1998–2000), and chief operating officer (1996–1998) of the Advisory Board Company and former chairman (2000–2001) of the Corporate Executive Board. Both companies were founded by David G. Bradley and provide research and advice to corporations around the globe on best practices in management, strategy and operations. Zients and Bradley took each of the companies public through successful initial public offerings that made both men multimillionaires. At age 35, Zients was named to Fortune Magazine’s “40 under 40” with an estimated wealth of $149 million.

 

Zients also cofounded the Urban Alliance Foundation.

 

Zients founded and was the managing partner of privately held Portfolio Logic LLC, an investment firm primarily focused on business services companies, that included Best Practices (Emergency Services management), Timbuk2 Designs (a retailer of backpacks, apparel and messenger bags) and Pediatrics Services of America. He was a member of the board of directors of XM Satellite Radio until its 2008 merger, and a board member at Sirius XM Radio until his Senate confirmation. Zients had also served on the boards of Revolution Health Group, Best Practices and Timbuk2 Designs.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/uWmJm44y52k/story01.htm Tyler Durden

“We attempted a Drone delivery, however…”

 

h/t @QuantumPirate

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/4WcaqSDc-Vo/story01.htm Tyler Durden

While good news is good news for China (given the overnight moves post-PMI), it appears good news is not good news for US assets. As ISM and construction spending ‘beat’ expectations, taper chatter removed snapped bond yields higher and gold and silver prices lower instantaneously. Equity prices also fell but S&P 500 futures found support once again at the 1801 level and bounced on the back of “help” from EURJPY.

 

 

For stocks then – good news is good news (justifying nosebleed valuations) and bad news is good news (Fed will support nosebleed valuations)… “can’t lose, right?”

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/kDTO-frkW28/story01.htm Tyler Durden

While good news is good news for China (given the overnight moves post-PMI), it appears good news is not good news for US assets. As ISM and construction spending ‘beat’ expectations, taper chatter removed snapped bond yields higher and gold and silver prices lower instantaneously. Equity prices also fell but S&P 500 futures found support once again at the 1801 level and bounced on the back of “help” from EURJPY.

 

 

For stocks then – good news is good news (justifying nosebleed valuations) and bad news is good news (Fed will support nosebleed valuations)… “can’t lose, right?”

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/kDTO-frkW28/story01.htm Tyler Durden

Thanks to a 3.2% rise in state and local government spending – the most since 2009 – the “public” construction spending lifted the headline data to beat expectations overall. However, a small scratch below the surface an it is clear that residential construction spending is not playing ball. Having fallen for 3 of the last 4 months, residential construction spending dropped 0.5% (the most since July) and private construction spending overall (residential and non-residential) dropped 0.5% – the most since at least April.

 

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/rWOSzJijbOo/story01.htm Tyler Durden

If last week’s Durable Goods miss was great news for stocks, today’s latest surge in the manufacturing ISM contrary to recent diffusion indices suggestion a whipser print of about 53, may be just what the Chairwoman did not order. With a December print of 57.3, up from last month’s 56.4, and well above expectations of a modest decline to 55.1, this was the highest headline Manufacturing ISM print since April of 2011, just when QE2 was about to end and the economy was said to enter the virtuous cycle.

Looking at the internals, the New Orders print of 63.6, up from 60.6 is what led the headline higher. This was the highest print since April 2011.

What was worse for Taper watchers is that the Employment index jumped from 53.2 to 56.5, the highest since April 2012, and indicative that the November NFP number on Friday, perhaps the most critical data point ahead of the December FOMC announcement, may surprise well to the upside. In that case, the Fed may have no choice but to finally do what it threatened it would do in September and adjust the monthly flow lower by $10-$15 billion especially since as we will show momentarily, the Fed now owns one third of all marketable 10 year equivalents!

From the report:

The report was issued today by Bradley J. Holcomb, CPSM, CPSD, chair of the Institute for Supply Management™ Manufacturing Business Survey Committee. “The PMI™ registered 57.3 percent, an increase of 0.9 percentage point from October’s reading of 56.4 percent. The PMI™ has increased progressively each month since June, with November’s reading reflecting the highest PMI™ in 2013. The New Orders Index increased in November by 3 percentage points to 63.6 percent, and the Production Index increased by 2 percentage points to 62.8 percent. The Employment Index registered 56.5 percent, an increase of 3.3 percentage points compared to October’s reading of 53.2 percent. This reflects the highest reading since April 2012 when the Employment Index registered 56.8 percent. With 15 of 18 manufacturing industries reporting growth in November relative to October, the positive growth trend characterizing the second half of 2013 is continuing.”

Of the 18 manufacturing industries, 15 are reporting growth in November in the following order: Plastics & Rubber Products; Textile Mills; Furniture & Related Products; Primary Metals; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Paper Products; Printing & Related Support Activities; Petroleum & Coal Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Transportation Equipment; Chemical Products; Computer & Electronic Products; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; and Fabricated Metal Products. The three industries reporting contraction in November are: Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Wood Products; and Machinery.

The respondents this time, unlike last time when the print once again surged despite pervasive government shutdown pessmism, are almost uniformly optimistic:

• “Seasonal demand has not decreased at the typical pace.” (Primary Metals)
• “Incoming order rate remaining strong.” (Fabricated Metal Products)
• “Outlook for the remainder of the year and into 2014 is trending positive.” (Chemical Products)
• “Overall business climate is good. Business is steady.” (Transportation Equipment)
• “Sequestration and cutbacks in defense spending continue to impact business.” (Computer & Electronic Products)
• “Market continues to be stronger than normal for this time of year.” (Wood Products)
• “Getting much busier toward the end of the year.” (Furniture & Related Products)
• “Seeing consistent uptick in demand.” (Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products)
• “Federal debt, deficit and inefficiency are causing a level of caution and uncertainty.” (Machinery)
• “Ordering for 2014 seems to be increasing in comparison to the past six months.” (Miscellaneous Manufacturing)

Finally, breaking down the commodities up and down in price:

Commodities Up in Price

• Steel Coil; Steel — Cold Rolled; Steel — Hot Rolled; and Wood.

Commodities Down in Price

• Aluminum; Caustic Soda (2); Corn Based Products; Fuel; Polypropylene Resin; and Sulfuric Acid.

via Zero Hedge http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/OWipqCykAg8/story01.htm Tyler Durden