Archive for February, 2014

Russian Ruble Roasted

Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

In my early morning  piece I noted the weakness in the Ruble and lamented my loss of Bloomberg charting services for a historical perspective. Bloomberg is reporting that the levels attained this morning are the cheapest levels for that currency since man learned to walk erect. Via Bloomberg: * RUB -0.8% vs ...

EIB Issuance

Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

This is a decent chunk of new issuance by EIB. I do not have any inside track as to pricing time but if history is any guide it will be sometime reasonably early this morning. Via Bloomberg: EIB 5 bln Aaa/AAA  3 yr global ~                  ...

Bubble Brewing Department Continued

Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

I posted this last night regarding Tesla and there is a similar story of excessive gains and irrational exuberance following the IPO of AO an on line appliance seller. The company's shares surged as much as 45 percent above the deal price. I am not here to call a top ...

February 26 2014 Opening

Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

Prices of Treasury coupon securities are registering small mixed changes relative to levels which prevailed last evening at about 800PM New York time ( I am provincial New Yorker so that is the only time!). In the overnight session the yield on the new 2 year note and the 3 ...

Aging Baby Boomer Alert: Cassius Clay Dethrones Sonny Liston 50 Years Ago

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014

I did not realize it but today is the anniversary of Muhammad Ali's victory over Sonny Liston in a heavyweight championship fight in Miami Florida. Liston, the reigning champ and a prohibitive betting favorite failed to answer the bell for round 7. Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, went on ...

Merrill Lynch on Consumer Spending

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014

This is a piece from Merrill Lynch research which comments on the weather effect and the soft data controversy. Merill (B of A) constantly measures spending flows by its credit card and debit card holders and this evening's piece states that as weather improved spending increased in the post Valentine's ...

Canary in the Credit Coal Mine

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014

This Bloomberg article tells the story of widening credit spreads and the signal that wider spreads may be sending. It also makes an apt comparison to the turmoil in the credit markets which began here in August 2007 as the first wave of the global financial crisis swept across the ...

Bubble Brewing

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014

This is from the "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" department. An analyst at Morgan Stanley wrote a research piece today expounding on the virtues and graces of Tesla Motors. The stock rocketed 14 percent higher in a move reminiscent of some dot com price ...

Swap Spreads

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014

Swap spreads are unchanged today following two days of tightening. One trader noted that for a local trade many want to pay spreads when 10 year spreads reach 9 (currently 9 1/2). Longer term there are some factors which augur for tighter spreads. There was an article yesterday I believe ...

Better Late Than Never

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014

I was out today enjoying the fruits of being a retired bond salesman. Consequently, this commentary from William O Donnell at RBS is a little late but still relevant I hope. Via RBS Securities: Treasury auctioned $32bn in new 2yr notes at 0.340% versus a 1:00pm level of 0.342% so the auction ...