While we are not sure how Betty Liu feels about Rogers' invitation to come eat some Wienerschnitzel, what is certain is that Greek PM Papandreou is not too happy with the commodities pundit right about now. When asked should Europe bail out Greece, Jim says: " No, of course not, they should let Greece go bankrupt. It would be good for the euro, it would be good for Greece, it would be good for everybody ." Alas, more true words have rarely been spoken
We were pleasantly surprised earlier today when we discovered that the "head of European rates" at RBS, or as it is better known in the US as CRT LLC (see here , here and here ), Harvinder Sian, not only sends out mollifying notes to clients with extended references to "excitable" blogs such as Zero Hedge, but that apparently cost-cutting measures have forced RBS to cancel their over-budget Dow Jones wire service. Our good friends at Alphaville , who it turns out are the first and last (and also somewhere in the middle) to diligently comb through RBS research, point out this amusing note that was sent out earlier (emphasis from the original): The Greek rumour mill today centres on risks for the banking sector. The website Zero Hedge carries a rather hysterical story that “Greeks Scramble To Pull Out €8 Billion From Local Banks As Greece Responds With Money Control Measures”.
Jose Pinera provides an Entitlement State 101 lecture, in which Chile's former Labor and Social Security Minister demystifies the U.S.'s $100 trillion unfunded benefits problem. Since Pinera is the man who many years ago privatized Chile's entitlement system, America, and the entire Western system, which for the past century has been relying on unfunded liabilities to provide benefits to the population in the hopes that funding day will never come, may do well to listen to what he has to say.
Tomorrow's Bernanke testimony will be eagerly watched by all, not so much for anything that may be revealed in the prepared remarks (those will not disclose anything not already known), nor for the Q&A (because unfortunately the people in Congress who understanding the first thing about monetary policy can be counted on two fingers), but because it is not every day that the undisputed and underrepresented ruler of the not so free world gets to sit down in a kabuki theater in which he pretends to be accountable to some 300+ million peasants and a couple million compulsive gamblers and kleptomaniacs. All in all good, wholesome, TiVoable, and, luckily, just biannual fun.
Much has been said on these pages and elsewhere about the dangers embedded within quant groupthink, in which an ever increasing prevalence of fewer performing factors means that more and more speculators (note: not investors) line up on the same side of the trade pushing up offers, only to experience a regime change based on some heretofore unexpected exogenous event which renders existing signal translation models useless, and causes all former buyers to join the sellers.
One of the less-reported events this weekend was the not so secret central banker meeting that is taking place in Sidney Australia. Now that factual details are finally emerging it is appropriate to collect some information tidbits about this shindig which has some claiming is reminiscent of a modern day version of the Jekyll Island meeting.
Here comes the China liquidity post-sugar high crash.
Submitted by JM Revolutions happen when broken parts of existing structures reassemble themselves in novel ways.
Zero Hedge has been following the topic of Chinese FX reserves, and specifically their change over time, with great interest, as this (presumably) primarily dollar-denominated amount is the critical "dry powder" that our key foreign purchaser of Bonds, Notes and Bills uses when bidding on Treasury Auctions.
Monday, March 8, 2010
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