Archive for January, 2014

WSJ Hilsenrath Says Fed on Track for Another Taper Move

Tuesday, January 21st, 2014

This WSJ story carrying the Hilsenrath byline is the cause of some turmoil in the market this morning. WSJ: Next Cut in Fed Bond Buys Looms Reduction to $65 Billion Could Be Announced on Jan. 29 By Jon Hilsenrath Updated Jan. 20, 2014 7:47 p.m. ET The Federal Reserve is on track to trim its ...

In Defense of Risk Takers

Monday, January 20th, 2014

A fully paid up subscriber sent me this Op-Ed piece from yesterday's New York Times. It is in the tradition of Michael Lewis' "Liar's Poker" and is an indictment of the greed and avarice which drives many on Wall Street. It is also a lengthy act of self flagellation by ...

Bloomberg Goes Home Again

Sunday, January 19th, 2014

This NYTimes story was out on Friday and speaks to former Mayor Bloomberg's return to the information and media company which he founded and at which he became a billionaire. The story says that he took a far more hands on approach than may had expected after his dozen year ...

From the Oh Canada File

Sunday, January 19th, 2014

When I retired from actively hawking investment grade fixed income products back on September 30 I was in the employ of TD Securities, the securities subsidiary of Canadian banking giant Toronto Dominion Bank. It was a mutually beneficial relationship for the nearly four years I worked there. One of the ...

Less Than Festive Q4 at Deutsche Bank

Sunday, January 19th, 2014

Deutsche Bank announced a few minutes ago a 1.2 billion Euro loss in Q4. The culprit was a 1.66 billion Euro  charge for "valuation adjustment" in the areas of credit and debt and funding. The icing on the cake is weaker results in the investment bank, too. Via WSJ: Deutsche Bank Books ...

Citibank: 10 year yield to test 2.40s

Saturday, January 18th, 2014

This is Citibank via ZeroHedge. The Citibank technical analysis piece trumpets the failure of the 10 year note once again to sustain trading above 3 percent and advises caution as the equity market is wobbly. The Citibank author posits that the 10 year can make a run down toward the ...

Update

Friday, January 17th, 2014

Markets still quiet and no one I speak to has any particular insight regarding the reason for the small sell off. I have heard of fast money types paying in 3 year swap spreads as well as some real money profit taking in 2 year spread product.

Industrial Production

Friday, January 17th, 2014

TD Securities on IP:   Today at 9:35 AM US industrial sector output posted its fifth consecutive monthly gain in December, rising 0.3% m/m following the robust 1.0% m/m advance the month before. The improvement was mostly on account of the out-sized 1.6% m/m gain in motor vehicle production, which accounted for a full ...

Update

Friday, January 17th, 2014

Bonds traded with a firm bid overnight but in the last few minutes have surrendered some of those gains. Intermediates are still better on the day but the 10 year is back to approximately unchanged and the Long Bond is several ticks lower on the day. Dealers report very light ...

Housing Starts

Friday, January 17th, 2014

Housing starts declined nearly 10 percent but remain robust relative to the very depressed levels of the last several years. Here is a note to clients from FTN Financial on the topic:   Housing starts fell 9.8% in December, down to 999k from an upwardly revised, five-year high reading in November of ...