Archive for November, 2014

JPMorgan Duration Survey

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

All Clients                 Long          Neutral           Short Nov 17                          20                56                  24 Nov 10                          15                 61                  24 Nov  3                            15                61                   24 Active Clients Nov 17                           25                50                  25 Nov 10                           25                 58                 17 Nov 3                              17                  58                 25   In the all clients survey, the percent of longs increased by 5 and the percent of neutrals decreased by 5, ...

FX

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

Via Marc Chandler at Brown Brothers Harriman: Dollar Broadly Mixed as Corrective Forces Try to Take Hold - The overall theme today appears to be one of consolidation, but major currencies are trading inside yesterday’s ranges - UK today reported slight higher than expected consumer prices - The better than expected German ZEW survey ...

Deal Time

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

The NYTimes Dealbook has a long article on the return of the mega deal as exemplified by the drug company merger and the oil service company mergers yesterday. Via the NYTimes Dealbook: Stocks are surging, corporate executives are ambitious and debt is cheap. The result is one of the biggest booms ever ...

Highest Volume Monday of the Year

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

Via the good folks at Bloomberg: IG CREDIT: Highest Volume Monday of Year; Spreads at New Wides 2014-11-18 11:11:18.397 GMT By Robert Elson Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The final Trace count for secondary trading was $15.7b, the highest volume Monday of 2014, vs $14.5b Friday and $10.4b the previous Monday. 10-DMA at $14.5b; 10-DMA of only Monday ...

November 18 2014 Opening

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

Prices of Treasury coupon securities have meandered about in a very narrow range in overnight trading and yields have registered very small declines. The yield on the benchmark 5 year note slipped to 1.617 from 1.627 (at the NY close yesterday). The yield on the 7 year note edged lower ...

Dissecting the October 15 Treasury Flash Crash

Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

Earlier in the evening I posted an article from Bloomberg which discussed the disruptive events of October 15 when the 10 year Treasury traded down to 1.85 percent. There must be some journalistic competition because the FT also is running a comprehensive examination of that day's trading and the causes ...

Reflections on the October 15 2014 Short Squeeze

Monday, November 17th, 2014

This Bloomberg (long) story reflects on the events of that day and discusses the changes which will make trading more volatile in the future. Via Bloomberg: Flash Boys Raising Volatility in Wild New Treasury Market By Susanne Walker and Lisa Abramowicz Nov 17, 2014 7:45 PM ET In a flash, the bond market went ...

Falling Home Prices in China

Monday, November 17th, 2014

Via the FT: Economy Bleak house prices China October edition House prices in China are falling, and at a faster rate than before. China's property prices index for October showed that new home prices fell month to month in 69 of 70 cities and the average was down 2.6 per cent from a ...

Guest Post

Monday, November 17th, 2014

This post is courtesy of my good friend and former colleague Steve Liddy. As I have mentioned previously Steve is seeking gainful employment. He is an avid and enthusiastic student of the market and has worked at various primary dealers in both the sales function and in trading. Via Steve Liddy: It's ...

Pension Problem Persists

Monday, November 17th, 2014

The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation is a government entity which insures private  pensions. The entity has a $62 billion dollar problem in the form of a long term deficit of that amount. According to a WSJ story the PBGC is likely to go bankrupt in the next few years without ...