Is This Why Car Sales Are Soaring?
By Tyler Durden
While
Behold, the government-enabled source of the v-shaped recovery in vehicular-habitation.
Source: Is This Why Car Sales Are Soaring?
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Is This Why Car Sales Are Soaring?
By Tyler Durden
While
Behold, the government-enabled source of the v-shaped recovery in vehicular-habitation.
Source: Is This Why Car Sales Are Soaring?
Senate rejects plan to regulate airplane seat size
Lawmakers rejected legislation on Thursday that would have required the Federal Aviation Administration to set a minimum seat size and distance between seat rows on airplanes.
Source: Senate rejects plan to regulate airplane seat size
Bonds & Bullion Surge As Stocks Slump Most In 2 Months
By Tyler Durden
But, but, but… jobs…
Financials suffered their biggest drop in 2 months… (down 3 of the last 4 days) – on target for the worst week since the first week of the year
Which weighed on overall sentiment…
Leaving the S&P in the red YTD…
Since the great jobs report, Bonds and bullion lead the way…
Treasury yields plunged…
As Scotiabank's Guy Haselmann exorts, the bottom line: I remain steadfast in my view that 10’s and 30’s will hit an all-time low yield in 2016, regardless of Fed action.
Below is what I wrote on January 4th (“The Bond Awakens” note which is attached). Its explains the demand for long Treasuries. For the time being, I continue to stand by all of these factors.
There still remain strong arguments for owning long-dated Treasuries. The reasons are fundamental, technical, Pension-related, relative, fiscal, regulatory, and due to the Fed’s balance sheet management.
- Fundamental – Economists frequently forecast 10-year Treasury yields by adding expectations for growth and inflation rates to a risk premium. This formula has been unreliable in recent years. Poor understanding of factors such as globalization, innovation, indebtedness, and demographics has led to chronic over-estimations. The business cycle might now be turning lower just as the Fed is hiking.
- Technical – The Fed owns around 40% of all Treasuries 10 years and longer. The ECB is buying 2X the amount of net issuance. The BoJ remains in full QE mode. There might be a shortage of long dated high-quality collateral.
- Pension Demand – Moreover, since 2008, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation has doubled its ‘per participant premium’ and tripled its ‘per unfunded vested benefits (UVB) premium’. These premiums rise on January 1st every year through 2019 and are scheduled to rise by another 25% and 30% respectively. The UVB motivation is to encourage Liability Driven Investment (LDI). The potential demand by the $3.2 trillion in corporate DB plans could be massive and have a profound impact on long Treasury securities.
- Relative – The US 10-year yields more than Germany (164 bps), France (128), Italy(67), Spain (50), Norway (85), and Japan (197). It yields 60 bps more than Slovenia and has the same yield as Bulgaria. In a highly globalized world, sovereign yield differentials among developed world economies may be more limited than in the past. A strengthening USD also increases its relative attraction.
- Fiscal – The US fiscal deficit has fallen dramatically. Net coupon issuance is expected to fall around 25% to the lowest level since 2008. Without any debt ceiling limits to worry about and due to money market reform needs, the Treasury will be funding a larger amount of its budget deficit with …read more
Source: Bonds & Bullion Surge As Stocks Slump Most In 2 Months
100% Pure Garcinia Cambogia Extract – Appetite Suppressant – Carb Blocker Capsules – 2100 MG – 90 Caps
Looking for something special ? Find The Lowest Price HERE
YHOO Jumps Back To Unchanged After Multiple Bidders Appear
By Tyler Durden
While YHOO shares have jumped after the announcement of several potential bidders (including Time Inc, Verizon, Bain, TPG, and Google), it has merely recovered the day’s losses.
- *VERIZON SAID TO PROCEED WITH YAHOO BID; MAY INCLUDE JAPAN STAKE
- *VERIZON SAID TO VALUE YAHOO’S CORE UNIT AT LESS THAN $8B
- *GOOGLE ALSO SAID TO CONSIDER BID FOR YAHOO WEB BUSINESS
- *TIME INC. ALSO SAID TO WEIGH FIRST-ROUND YAHOO BID
- *BAIN, TPG SAID TO PLAN OFFERS FOR YAHOO WEB BUSINESS
As Bloomberg reports,
Verizon Communications Inc. plans to make a first-round bid for Yahoo Inc.’s Web business next week, and is willing to acquire the company’s Yahoo Japan Corp. stake to help sweeten the offer, according to people familiar with the matter.
Google, the main division of Alphabet Inc., is also considering bidding for Yahoo’s core business, a separate person said.
Time Inc. is still evaluating a bid, while private equity funds Bain and TPG — among others — are also planning to make a run at the business, either alone or by backing a strategic acquirer, the people said.
While the buyout firms haven’t yet paired themselves with a strategic buyer, they are open to the idea of doing so, the people said.
First-round bids for the company’s main Web assets are due April 11, a person with knowledge of the matter said last week.
Is that it?
Based on the financial information that it’s seen, Verizon values Yahoo’s core business at less than $8 billion, one of the people said.
But…
- *AT&T, COMCAST SAID TO HAVE LOST INTEREST IN YAHOO BIDS
Potential suitors AT&T Inc. and Comcast have decided against bidding, some
of the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions
aren’t public. Microsoft Corp., which failed with a hostile bid for
Yahoo in 2008, won’t bid this time, another person said.
Source: YHOO Jumps Back To Unchanged After Multiple Bidders Appear
UK Prime Minister Admits He Had A Stake In His Father’s Offshore Trust
By Tyler Durden
It took about 48 hours for Iceland’s prime minister to lose his job over his involvement in the Panama Papers scandal, a move which may or may not have led to the early release of three of Iceland’s criminal bankers early after serving just one year of their 5 year sentences. But Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson may not be the only casualty: the tax haven scandal may have just set its sights on a far more prominent target, following a story by ITV in which UK prime minister David Cameron admits he did have a stake in his father’s offshore trust.
Considering the media spectacle in the UK press “exposing” Putin’s offshore affairs, we wonder if they will target the UK prime minister’s potential involvement as assiduously?
From ITV:
David Cameron admits he did have a stake in his father’s offshore trust
David Cameron and his wife owned shares in the Panamanian trust set up by his late father, before selling them for around £30,000 in 2010, he has told ITV News.
The prime minister made the revelations about his involvement with the offshore fund set up by his father Ian – exposed in the Panana Papers – in an interview with Political Editor Robert Peston.
Mr Cameron said he made a profit on around 5,000 units the couple owned in Blairmore Investment Trust, but insisted the money was subjected to UK tax rules.
He also divulged details of his £300,000 inheritance and said recent criticism of his father was “unfair”.
The Conservative leader was dragged into the the Panama Papers scandal after leaked documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca included details of a multi-million-pound offshore firm set up by his father.
Downing Street has been forced to issue four statements on the matter, initially saying it was a “private matter” whether the Cameron family still had funds in offshore investments, before stating they “do not benefit from any offshore funds” and there are none they will benefit from in the future.
Today the prime minister told ITV News: “We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like £30,000.
“I paid income tax on the dividends. There was a profit on it but it was less than the capital gains tax allowance so I didn’t pay capital gains tax. But it was subject to all the UK taxes in all the normal way.
“I want to be as clear as I can about the past, about the present, about the future, because frankly I don’t have anything to hide.”
Since the scandal was exposed there has been criticism of the arrangements under Blairmore, including of Mr Cameron’s father, and suggestions the prime minister only reached his position because of his privileged upbringing.
Mr Cameron said he received a £300,000 inheritance from his father when he died.
“I obviously can’t point to every source of every bit of the money and dad’s not around for me to ask …read more
Source: UK Prime Minister Admits He Had A Stake In His Father’s Offshore Trust
Manhattan rents finally went down
Rent prices in Manhattan might finally be cooling.
Source: Manhattan rents finally went down
So Called "Trusted Parties", Bank Collapse, the ECB and Blockchains: Watch as I Call the Next Bear Stearns, Again!
The vendors and proprietors of blockchain solutions have almost all traveled the private blockchain route. We, at Veritaseum, have decided to go in the opposite direction. Call it a yearing for our macro and fundamental analysis roots, but the risk of trusting untrustworthy parties is just too great. The only way to eliminate the need for tirust is to open the network to many parties. Think the power of the Internet vs the utility of an intranet. Ths is the third in a series of articles that show, hopefully wihtout a shadow or a doubt, that Veritaseum is on the true and righteous path. The previous two, for your convenience, are:
- With Wall Street Bitten by the Blockchain Bug, How Do We Admit the Truth About the Technology’s Disruptive Potential?
- The Paucity of Plausible Arguments for Private Blockchains in Banking
In January of 2008, I warned (in exquisite detail) of the collapse of Bear Stearns. It was 2 months before Bear Stearns actually fell, while it was trading in the $100s and still had buy ratings and investment grade AA or better from the ratings agencies. See for yourself: Is this the Breaking of the Bear? As part of the analysis, I did a counterparty risk profile, see below:
Counterparty Risk
| In $ million | OTC Derivative credit exposure ($ million) | ||||||
| The table summarizes the counterparty credit quality of the company’s exposure with respect to OTC derivatives | |||||||
| Rating(2) | Exposure | Collateral (3) | Exposure, Net of Collateral (4) | Percentage of Exposure, Net of Collateral | Total exposure a % of Total assets | Net exposure as a % of Total assets | Net exposure as a % of equity |
| AAA | 3,369 | 56 | 3,333 | 42% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 25.6% |
| AA | 6,981 | 4,939 | 2,153 | 27% | 1.8% | 0.5% | 16.6% |
| A | 3,869 | 2,230 | 1,784 | 23% | 1.0% | 0.4% | 13.7% |
| BBB | 354 | 239 | 203 | 3% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 1.6% |
| BB and lower | 1,571 | 3,162 | 322 | 4% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 2.5% |
| Non-rated | 152 | 223 | 94 | 1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.7% |
| 16,296 | 10,849 | 7,889 | 100% | 4.1% | 2.0% | 60.7% | |
(1) Excluded are covered transactions structured to ensure that the market values of collateral will at all
times equal or exceed the related exposures. The net exposure for these transactions will, under all circumstances, be zero.
(2) Internal counterparty credit ratings, as assigned by the Company’s Credit Department, converted to rating agency equivalents.
(3) Includes foreign exchange and forward-settling mortgage transactions) as of August 31, 2007
It didn’t take much of a concentration of bad assets to through Bear off kilter once the market started moving against it. At the end of the day it was a dearth of liquidity and Bear’s counterparties being afraid to touch it with a ten foot pole that did it in. What would such …read more
Trump Unbound
By Tyler Durden
Even if the likes of Bob Woodward haven’t figured this out, the unschooled Donald Trump apparently has. No wonder they fear Trump Unbound.
The full Washington Post Interview can be found here.
Source: Trump Unbound
How to create a secure retirement plan
If you want to make your retirement nest egg into something that approximates a pension, it’s time to think about annuities.
Source: How to create a secure retirement plan
