Friday, 1 November 2013

The EUSSR Folly.



Baltic Dry Index. 1504 +20

LIR Gold Target by 2019: $30,000.  Revised due to QE programs.

“They are Man's and they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance and this girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”

Charles Dickens.

This morning, is Euroland staggering into deflation? Even if it isn’t, “youth jobless rates reached 40.2pc in Italy, 57.6pc in Greece and 56.6pc in Spain.” Continental Europe is dying in a generational catastrophe. Club Med’s youth generation is being tossed under the bus to support the hated Bilderberger United States of Europe, German euro.  Those who can speak passable English head for London and jobs. Those with only Portuguese or Spanish head for Africa or South America. But if you only speak, French or Italian or Greek, where do you head? In Bilderbergese, you head for the scrap heap and hope Pope Francis can shame the consciences of Brussels and Berlin.

 “If they would rather die, . . . they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Charles Dickens.

Europe moves nearer Japan-syle deflation trap with shock price falls

ECB warned it must take immediate and pre-emptive action to head off he risk of full-blown deflation by next year.

All key measures of eurozone inflation fell dramatically in October, stunning the markets and leaving the region dangerously close to a Japan-style deflation trap.

Consumer price inflation (CPI) plunged from 1.1pc to 0.7pc, the lowest since the financial crash in 2008-2009. “This is a massive downward surprise,” said Gizem Kara from BNP Paribas.

A string of debt-crippled states are now sliding into deflation, with Italy buckling over the late summer. The underlying rate is even lower once austerity-linked tax rises are stripped out

The shock data came as EMU-wide unemployment jumped to a record 12.2pc in September, with a further 74,000 people losing their jobs. Youth jobless rates reached 40.2pc in Italy, 57.6pc in Greece and 56.6pc in Spain.

“This is playing out in a very similar way to Japan in the early 1990s,” said Albert Edwards from Societe Generale. “All it needs now is an unexpected recession and Europe will slide into outright deflation. The risk is a trade shock from Asia. That is when the markets will start to panic."

The euro tumbled a cent to below $1.36 against the dollar as investors began to price in a quarter-point rate cut by the European Central Bank as soon as December.

A former ECB governor said the bank’s passive stance over the past few months was a “disaster” for Italy and Spain. The time-lag effects mean that serious damage has already been done.
More

Euro Declines to Two-Week Low on Inflation Data; Yen Strengthens

By Mariko Ishikawa & Kristine Aquino - Nov 1, 2013 6:47 AM GMT
The euro declined to the lowest level in two weeks against the dollar and the yen as signs of economic weakness in the currency bloc fueled speculation the European Central Bank will cut interest rates.

The 17-nation currency extended its biggest drop in more than a year versus the greenback before data forecast to show manufacturing contracted in France while it expanded in the U.S. Reports yesterday showed the euro region’s inflation slowed and unemployment climbed to a record. The yen strengthened against all 16 major peers as declines in stocks boosted demand for haven assets.
More

Italy has lost nearly a decade’s worth of jobs

By Matt Phillips October 31, 2013
Don’t forget. The euro zone’s third-largest economy is still a mess. And we’re not just talking about the never-ending political volatility. Unemployment in September hit the highest level on record at 12.5%.

Youth unemployment hit 40.4%. The total number of unemployed climbed to 3.194 million, an increase of 29,000. And the number of employed people fell to 22.4 million. Employment levels are now back to where they were in early 2004, which means that nearly a decade’s-worth of job creation has been undone.

In US news, great news for America’s tort bar. Fannie Mae sues the banksters for “consequential damages, punitive damages, prejudgment interest and attorneys’ fees.” Not to worry or fret though, Bernocchio stands ready to recapitalise any bankster entering financial distress. Fannie is effectively seeking redress from America’s children and grandchildren. It’s a funny old world on the Great Nixonian Error of fiat money. Though “tricky Dickie” is long gone, his lethal legacy will be with us for most of this century.

Q: What's black and brown and looks good on a lawyer?

A: A Doberman pinscher.

Fannie Mae Sues Banks for $800 Million Over Libor Rigging

By Patricia Hurtado & Christie Smythe - Nov 1, 2013 4:15 AM GMT
Fannie Mae (FNMA) sued nine banks, alleging that their manipulation of the benchmark London interbank offered rate, which four of them have admitted, cost the mortgage-financing company about $800 million.

The U.S. government-owned firm alleged that the banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Citigroup Inc. (C), acted to suppress the rate though quotes they submitted to the British Bankers Association, according to the complaint filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court.

Global authorities have been investigating claims that more than a dozen banks altered submissions used to set benchmarks such as Libor to profit from bets on interest-rate derivatives or to make the lenders’ finances appear healthier.

The alleged suppression of the rate caused Washington-based Fannie Mae to lose as much as $332 million on interest-rate swaps with Barclays Plc (BARC), UBS AG (UBSN), Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse Group AG, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan, according to the complaint.

“Defendants initially took these and other overt acts described above to further the corrupt agreement between them and to carry out a common plan to execute a fraud on Fannie Mae and to benefit defendants,” the company claimed.

The lawsuit includes claims of breach of contract and breach of implied duty of good faith and fair dealing against all of defendants except Rabobank International NA. All nine were sued for common law fraud as well as aiding and abetting. Fannie Mae seeks damages including consequential damages, punitive damages, prejudgment interest and attorneys’ fees.
More

Below, is America reaching escape velocity? If it is, will it be QE forever and the Great Inflation, or will it be the end of the Fedster’s final bubble in stocks and bonds? Muddle along seems to be running out of road.

"Gold would have value if for no other reason than that it enables a citizen to fashion his financial escape from the state."

William F. Rickenbacker

Budget Deficit in U.S. Narrows to 5-Year Low on Record Revenue

By Kasia Klimasinska - Oct 30, 2013 8:30 PM GMT
The U.S. posted its smallest budget deficit in five years as employment gains helped propel revenue to a record.

Spending exceeded receipts by $680.3 billion in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, the narrowest gap since 2008, compared with a $1.09 trillion shortfall in fiscal 2012, the Treasury Department said today in Washington. In September, the U.S. recorded a $75.1 billion surplus, little changed from the surplus in the same month a year earlier.

Stronger hiring has helped reduce the country’s deficit as a share of gross domestic product by more than half in the past four years, narrowing it from a record $1.42 trillion in 2009. Bolstering revenue this year were higher payroll taxes Congress allowed in January, while spending growth has been limited by across-the-board cuts known as sequestration that lawmakers failed to prevent in March.

“We’ve made a lot of fiscal progress in the U.S. because of the sequester cuts, tax rates going back to historic norms and the economy improving,” said Bricklin Dwyer, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York.
More

Asian shares wilt, Fed anxiety eclipses China optimism

TOKYO | Fri Nov 1, 2013 3:20am EDT
(Reuters) - Asian shares struggled on Friday, as surveys showing improvement in Chinese manufacturing activity were eclipsed by anxiety over when the U.S. Federal Reserve will start to taper its massive stimulus.

That uncertainty, heightened by upbeat U.S. data overnight, pushed the dollar to a two-week high and contributed to largely cautious trading in riskier assets.

----China's manufacturing sector grew at the fastest pace in 18 months in October, with the official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rising to 51.4 last month from September's 51.1, beating economists' consensus forecast of 51.2.

A separate private report, the final HSBC/Markit PMI, came in at 50.9, up from 50.2 in September and unchanged from a preliminary flash estimate released last week.

----Later on Friday, the U.S. ISM survey of manufacturing for October could offer investors a fresh signal on the Fed's future course.

"If the ISM report is better than expected, it could add to revived tapering expectations, and U.S. yields and the dollar could go up and stocks could go down," said Masashi Murata, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.

Data on Thursday showed the pace of business activity in the U.S. Midwest jumped more than expected in October, while jobless claims decline in the latest week, soothing some worries about sluggish fourth-quarter growth after last month's federal government shutdown.
More

"Until government administrators can so identify the interests of government with those of the people and refrain from defrauding the masses through the device of currency depreciation for the sake of remaining in office, the wiser ones will prefer to keep as much of their wealth in the most stable and marketable forms possible - forms which only the precious metals provide."

Elgin Groseclose

At the Comex silver depositories Thursday final figures were: Registered 44.26 Moz, Eligible 124.75 Moz, Total 169.01 Moz.  


Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.

Today, more on the coming Asian war between China and Japan. With a “blank cheque” backup from America, Japan is returning to its 1930s militarism. But does America really want a war with China? Will it be Europe that sits this one out as the last two Empires collide?

Japan Denies Disrupting Chinese Military Exercises in Pacific

By Bloomberg News - Nov 1, 2013 5:57 AM GMT
Japan denied disrupting recent Chinese military exercises in the west Pacific Ocean that prompted an official protest, the latest friction between Asia’s two biggest economies embroiled in a territorial dispute.

“It is not true that we carried out dangerous actions that interfered with the Chinese Navy’s exercises,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters in Tokyo today, adding that Japan had lodged a counter-protest with China. “We are paying close attention to the movements of the Chinese armed forces, including those of Chinese military vessels in seas around Japan,” Kato said.

The diplomatic row came as Japan today began an annual large-scale military exercise involving its ground, sea and air forces. The exercise, which runs to Nov. 18, will this year be focused on island defense around Kyushu and Okinawa, according to a document issued by the Self-Defense Forces last month.

China lodged a protest yesterday with Japan, saying its ships entered the area of China’s military exercises and disrupted its drills. The Chinese Navy announced its scheduled training there from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1, while the Japanese entered the area on Oct. 25 and left three days later, the Defense Ministry said in a statement on its website yesterday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said earlier this week he wouldn’t permit China to use force to resolve territorial spats, as the renewed presence of Chinese aircraft near disputed islands in the East China Sea led Japan to dispatch fighter jets. Tensions between the neighbors increased after Japan’s September 2012 purchase of three islands also claimed by China, with damage to trade and tourism ties and no summit between the leaders of the two countries for about 18 months

China yesterday urged the Japanese to take action to “correct its mistakes” and stop its interference with normal military activities, the ministry said in the statement. It also said it reserved the right to take further action
More

"With the exception only of the period of the gold standard, practically all governments of history have used their exclusive power to issue money to defraud and plunder the people."

F. A. von Hayek

The monthly Coppock Indicators finished October:
DJIA: +178 Up. NASDAQ: +238 Up. SP500: +217 Up. The Fed’s final bubble continues to grow, until QE Forever isn’t forever.

No comments:

Post a Comment