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Cristina Takes on Financial Times in Multi-Platform BRICS Tirade
Cristina Takes on Financial Times in Multi-Platform BRICS Tirade
Cristina has been on the media warpath against a perceived attack on emerging markets.
This Monday, Cronista republished (in Spanish) an article from the Financial Times titled, “Emerging Markets: Fixing a Broken Model.” The article is long, a bit on the dry side, hardly sensational and difficult to construe as an attack on anyone.
The article does not mention Argentina even one time. Nevertheless, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner exploded onto the Twittersphere with close to 100 tweets, shot back with twoblog posts and drove her point home at an electoral rally where she somehow connected the BRIC issue with European nations turning away migrants.
I have to preface this by saying that a few years ago, I liked Cristina enough. I disagreed with her, but at least could respond to her policy moves and statements as a professional with reasoning based in economics. In this case, her violently emotional reaction to a newspaper article reads like a crazy person writing a stream of consciousness. You disagree with Cristina or want to suggest she has misread an article? Too bad! You’re a racist who hates the poor and celebrates genocide.
Before attempting to decipher why an economic assessment of emerging market growth happens to grind Cristina’s gears, it’s important to have a bit of context concerning emerging markets and the terms BRIC and BRICS.
BRIC is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China that was coined in 2001 by a Goldman Sachs investment bank paper to describe these big, rapidly growing countries. Over the ’00s, BRICs was used to describe the shift in global economic power away from the historically rich economies to the developing world. Back then, economists debated projections of the future power of the BRIC economies, with estimates ranging from overtaking the G7 economies by the middle of the 2020s to the 2050s.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Globalized Crisis
Globalized Crisis
If there is a bright side to the turmoil that has roiled the global economy since 2008, it is that not every part of the world has erupted simultaneously. The first blow was the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States, to which Europeans responded with self-satisfied reflections on the superior resilience of their social model. Then, in 2010, with the outbreak of the European debt crises, it was America’s turn for schadenfreude, while Asian countries pointed to the over-extended welfare state as the root of the problem.
Today, the world is obsessed with the slowdown in China and the woes of its stock market. Indeed, to some, what is happening in China may be a modern version of the American stock-market crash in 1929 – a shock that shakes the world. And it is not only the Chinese economy that has hit turbulence; Russia and Brazil are in much worse shape.
As globalization connects far-flung people and economies, the consequences are not always what was expected – or welcome. And, with the economic crisis becoming ever more global in nature, the next challenge for policymakers will be to try to mitigate its effects at home – and to contain their constituents’ impulse to reduce engagement with the rest of the world.
By now, it has become clear that every success story has its dark side, and that no economy is likely to continue to rocket upward indefinitely. But, to paraphrase Leo Tolstoy, it is important to remember that every unhappy economy is unhappy in its own way, and that a fix for one country’s problems might not work for another’s.
Europe’s problems, for example, cannot be attributed to a simple, single cause – such as the adoption of a common currency. In the run-up to the euro crisis, Italy had undergone a long period of stagnation, while Spain had experienced an American-style housing bubble and Greece was suffering from too much government-fueled growth. The uniting factor was that each had adopted unsustainable policies that required corrective action.
Read more at http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/globalized-economic-crisis-by-harold-james-2015-09#f5oBvDqv7Zb9mM5A.99
Will the Fed Have to Save Emerging Markets with QE4?
Will the Fed Have to Save Emerging Markets with QE4?
The risk-off tide is rising, and sand castles of QE will only hold the tide back for a brief period of apparent calm.
A funny thing happened on the way to permanently expanding global markets: unintended consequences. Borrowing cheap, abundant U.S. dollars seemed like a good idea when the dollar was declining, and few voiced any concern when $9 trillion was borrowed in USD-denominated debt around the world in the years since 2009.
Few saw the possibility of the USD rising, or that if it did appreciate against other currencies, that the blowback would destabilize the global economy.
It turns out a strengthening USD has triggered capital flight as other currencies devalue. Anyone propping up their currency to stem the flood tide faces another unintended consequence–a faltering export sector: China: Doomed If You Do, Doomed If You Don’t (September 1, 2015).
Meanwhile, the Imperial economy is suffering its own spate of unintended consequences, notably rising yields, a.k.a. quantitative tightening. As emerging markets and nations attempting to defend their currency pegs to the USD sell U.S. Treasury bonds (which have been held as foreign exchange reserves), the yields on the Treasuries rise as a matter of supply and demand.
As supply increases, sellers must offer higher yields to entice buyers to soak up the inventory.
This increase in yields reverses the primary effect of quantitative easing, i.e. declining yields/interest rates in the U.S.
This dynamic undermines both the emerging markets and the U.S. Emerging markets are not really restored to growth by selling Treasuries; the strong dollar continues to crush their currencies and dampen growth, as assets must be sold to pay back debt borrowed in USD.
Rising rates threaten the feeble U.S. “recovery” as well.
So what’s the solution to this inconvenient dynamic? QE4, of course. Why would the Federal Reserve launch QE4, if not to push rates down in the U.S.?
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The “Great Accumulation” Is Over: The Biggest Risk Facing The World’s Central Banks Has Arrived
The “Great Accumulation” Is Over: The Biggest Risk Facing The World’s Central Banks Has Arrived
To be sure, there’s been no shortage of media coverage regarding the collapse in crude prices that’s unfolded over the course of the past year. Similarly, it’s no secret that commodity prices in general are sitting near their lowest levels of the 21st century.
When Saudi Arabia, in an effort to bankrupt the US shale space and tighten the screws on a recalcitrant Moscow, endeavored late last year to keep oil prices suppressed, the kingdom killed the petrodollar, a move we argued would put pressure on USD assets and suck hundreds of billions in liquidity from global markets.
Thanks to the fanfare surrounding China’s stepped up UST liquidation in support of the yuan, the world is beginning to understand what we meant. The accumulation of USD assets held as FX reserves across the emerging world served as a source of liquidity and kept a bid under things like US Treasurys. Now that commodity prices have fallen off a cliff thanks to lackluster global demand and trade, the accumulation of those assets slowed, and as a looming Fed hike along with fears about the stability of commodity currencies conspired to put pressure on EM FX, the great EM reserve accumulation reversed itself. This is the environment into which China is now dumping its own reserves and indeed, the PBoC’s rapid liquidation of USTs over the past two weeks has added fuel to the fire and effectively boxed the Fed in.
On Tuesday, Deutsche Bank is out extending their “quantitative tightening” (QT) analysis with a look at what’s ahead now that the so-called “Great Accumulation” is over.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
How China Cornered The Fed With Its “Worst Case” Capital Outflow Countdown
How China Cornered The Fed With Its “Worst Case” Capital Outflow Countdown
Last week, in “What China’s Treasury Liquidation Means: $1 Trillion QE In Reverse,” we took a look at the potential size of the RMB carry trade, noting that according to BofAML, the unwind could, in the worst case scenario, be somewhere on the order of $1 trillion.
Extrapolating from that and applying Citi’s take on the impact of EM reserve drawdowns on 10Y UST yields (which, incidentally, is based on “Financing US Debt: Is There Enough Money in the World – and at What Cost?“, by John Kitchen and Menzie Chinn from 2011), we noted that potentially, if China were to use its FX reserves to offset the pressure on the yuan from the unwind of the great RMB carry, the effect could be to put more than 200bps of upward pressure on the 10Y yield.
Going farther, we also said that $1 trillion in FX reserve liquidation by the PBoC would essentially negate around 60% of QE3. In other words, China’s persistent FX interventions amount to reverse QE or, as Deutsche Bank calls is “quantitative tightening.”
Now, SocGen is out with a description of China’s “impossible trinity” or “trilemma”. Here’s the critical passage:
The PBoC is caught in an awkward position: not letting the currency go requires significant FX intervention that will not prevent ongoing capital outflows but which will result in tightening domestic liquidity conditions; but letting the currency go risks more immense capital outflow pressures in the immediate short term, external debt defaults and possibly further domestic investment deceleration. Furthermore, it has to consider the painful repercussions globally that could result from any sharp RMB depreciation.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Most Astounding Credit Binge in History
The Most Astounding Credit Binge in History
Stripped Gears
DELRAY BEACH, Florida – “The Donald” breathed a sigh of relief yesterday. He and other rich people got a break from the beating they’ve been taking: Stocks bounced, with the Dow ending yesterday’s session up more than 600 points.
The gears have been stripped, and they look rusty…
Photo credit: Jonathon Cianfrani
Yesterday’s bump confirms the mainstream view: There is nothing to worry about. The recent sell-off is just a case of nerves, not a sign of an epizootic.
DJIA: don’t worry, be happy? – click to enlarge.
Here is U.S. Trust, a private bank for the ultra-wealthy, reassuring its customers:
“The action in the past few days has been based on fears that we will revisit the market environment from 1997 to 1998, in which the Asian currency crisis led to a sizable correction in world equity markets. A second breakdown in energy, a continued fall to record‐low prices in many commodities, and a deep drop in emerging market currencies and equities are sparking fears that a global growth recession is coming our way. And add to that the fact that investors are worried that the Federal Reserve may tighten into a large-scale slowdown is increasing the flight to safety.”
U.S. Trust, like Donald Trump and much of the media, blames the Chinese for the recent sell-off. Emerging market economies are slowing, they say, as the U.S. and developed economies are moving into “higher gear.” Higher gear? As near as we can determine, the gears have been stripped.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Global Markets to Fed: No Rate Hike, the Strong Dollar Is Killing Us
Global Markets to Fed: No Rate Hike, the Strong Dollar Is Killing Us
Global markets are puking at the prospect of higher yields in the U.S.
There are many reasons for global markets to melt down, but one that doesn’t get enough attention is the strong dollar. In effect, global markets are telling the Federal Reserve: don’t raise rates–the strong dollar is killing us.
Here’s the dynamic that’s killing emerging markets’ currencies and stocks, the China Story and U.S. corporate profits. In the glory years of a declining U.S. dollar (USD), a vast global carry trade emerged as speculators borrowed money in USD and invested it in high-yield emerging market assets such as stocks, bonds and real estate.
This carry trade was a two-fer: not only were yields much higher in emerging markets, the appreciation of local currencies against the USD provided a currency gain on top of the higher yield.
As the yuan strengthened against the USD, an enormous river of capital flowed into China to take advantage of the revaluation and higher yields in China. How much of this money was borrowed USD is unknown, but it’s estimated that Chinese corporations alone borrowed $1 trillion in USD to profit from higher yields in China.
The virtuous benefits of a weakening USD extended to U.S. corporations, which reap 40% to 50% of their total profits from sales overseas. As the USD weakened, U.S. corporations reaped the currency gains every time they reported overseas sales in USD.
Everybody won with the weakening dollar, except the U.S. consumer, who paid more for imported goods.
But a funny thing happened in late summer 2014–the USD started rising against other currencies–by a lot. Suddenly all those profitable carry trades reversed.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Deutsche Bank Sums It Up “The Fragility Of This Artificially Manipulated Financial System Was Finally Exposed”
Deutsche Bank Sums It Up “The Fragility Of This Artificially Manipulated Financial System Was Finally Exposed”
Today’s dose of vile tinfoil hattery magick comes straight from the bank with the cool $55 trillion or so in derivatives, Deutsche Bank:
The fragility of this artificially manipulated financial system was exposed over the last couple of days of last week. It all ended with the S&P 500 falling -3.19% on Friday – its worst day since November 9th 2011.* * *
We’ve long felt that the only thing preventing another financial crisis has been extraordinary central bank liquidity and general interventions from the global authorities which we still expect to continue for a long while yet. So when policy changes, risks arise. The genesis of this recent sell-off has been the threat of the Fed raising rates next month, but China’s confrontational move two weeks ago and the subsequent knock-on through EM have accelerated us towards something more serious. We always thought something would get in the way of the Fed raising rates in September and we’re perhaps seeing this now. With 24 days to go until we find out, the probability of a hike has gone down to 34% from a 54% recent peak on August 9th. Having said we always thought something would come along to derail a Fed rate hike we probably should have gone underweight credit.However with trading liquidity poor and with a reasonably high desire to be long amongst investors there has to be a big move to justify the change in stance. Also with a strong possibility that the Fed will relent and that China could add more stimulus soon, there may be a small window to be short European credit. So at the moment this could be a dangerous time to sell.However if it wasn’t for expected intervention and extraordinary central bank policy we would be very bearish as the global financial system remains an artificial construct reliant on the largesse of the authorities.
So 6 years after we first said what at the time was seen as heretical “tinfoil” conspiracy theory, now everyone admits it. Almost time to take a vacation maybe…
Oil Price Collapse Triggers Currency Crisis In Emerging Markets
Oil Price Collapse Triggers Currency Crisis In Emerging Markets
Emerging market currencies are getting slammed by the collapse in commodity prices, a downturn that has accelerated in recent weeks.
The health of many middle-income and emerging market economies has been predicated on relatively strong commodity prices. A whole category of countries achieved strong growth by exporting their natural resources. For example, Brazil’s impressive economic expansion since the early 2000s, and the huge number of people that were able to jump into the middle class, was made possible by exporting oil, soy, iron ore, beef, and a variety of other resources. High prices for these goods led to more growth, a strengthening of the currency, and a real estate boom in cities like Rio de Janeiro.
The same story unfolded in many other commodity-driven economies, from Latin America, to Africa, to Central and Southeast Asia.
However, with commodity prices down dramatically from a year ago, growth in these countries has slowed, and their currencies are sharply weaker than they have been in the past.
Related: Oil Prices Must Rebound. Here’s Why
In fact, the fall of Brent crude below $50 per barrel has sparked a sudden downturn in emerging market currencies across the globe.
But it isn’t just oil prices slamming currencies. The worries over the Chinese economy, including the plunge in its main stock market this summer, have raised concerns about the vigor of emerging market economies. Worse yet, China’s surprise devaluation has sent shock waves through currency markets around the world.
Other countries now feel pressure to let their currencies depreciate, and if they have adhered to a currency peg up until now, some are being pushed to float. Kazakhstan decided to scrap its currency peg last week, and the tenge promptly lost 23 percent of its value against the dollar. Vietnam also devalued the dong.
The devaluations tend to have a cascading effect, with other emerging markets coming under increasing pressure from their competitors.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Is The Oil Crash A Result Of Excess Supply Or Plunging Demand: The Unpleasant Answer In One Chart
Is The Oil Crash A Result Of Excess Supply Or Plunging Demand: The Unpleasant Answer In One Chart
One of the most vocal discussions in the past year has been whether the collapse, subsequent rebound, and recent relapse in the price of oil is due to surging supply as Saudi Arabia pumps out month after month of record production to bankrupt as many shale companies before its reserves are depleted, or tumbling demand as a result of a global economic slowdown. Naturally, the bulls have been pounding the table on the former, because if it is the later it suggests the global economy is in far worse shape than anyone but those long the 10Year have imagined.
Courtesy of the following chart by BofA, we have the answer: while for the most part of 2015, the move in the price of oil was a combination of both supply and demand, the most recent plunge has been entirely a function of what now appears to be a global economic recession, one which will get far worse if the Fed indeed hikes rates as it has repeatedly threatened as it begins to undo 7 years of ultra easy monetary policy.
Here is BofA:
Retreating global equities, bond yields and DM breakevens confirm that EM has company. Much as in late 2014, global markets are going through a significant global growth scare. To illustrate this, we update our oil price decomposition exercise, breaking down changes in crude prices into supply and demand drivers (The disinflation red-herring).Chart 6 shows that, in early July, the drop in oil prices seems to have reflected primarily abundant supply (related, for example, to the Iran deal). Over the past month, however, falling oil prices have all but reflected weak demand.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Turkey On The Brink As Calls For Martial Law, Civil War Send Lira Plunging Again
Turkey On The Brink As Calls For Martial Law, Civil War Send Lira Plunging Again
For anyone who might have missed it, Turkey is quickly descending into chaos on all fronts.
The lira is putting to new lows against the dollar on a daily basis as confidence suffers from a worsening political crisis which began in June when AKP lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in over a decade throwing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plan to transform the country’s political system into an executive presidency into doubt. Not one to give up easily (especially when it comes to consolidating his power), Erdogan proceeded to launch an ad hoc military offensive against the PKK in an attempt to undermine support for the pro-Kurdish HDP ahead of new elections which, thanks to the willful obstruction of the coalition formation process, are now virtually inevitable.
Turkey’s central bank hasn’t helped matters and the lira legged lower on Wednesday after it was made clear that a rate hike was not in the cards until Fed liftoff is official.
Citi has taken a look at the situation and determined that in fact, the lira is the most vulnerable of all EM currencies they track:
We believe it is going to be difficult for the local markets angle of the EM asset class, in this important (potential) transition of monetary policy in the US, and also taking into account any potential move by the ECB in 2016 (away from a QE stance). That prompted us to revisit our FX vulnerability model. In the model, we look into EMFX from three angles: 1) the macro vulnerability aspect (focused on BoP dynamics, FX reserve metrics, portfolio flows and CDS); 2) interest rate coverage (measured by 1y1y forward real rates, current implied yields and bond yield premium after hedging costs); and 3) our assessment of positioning by real money investors and leveraged accounts in the several EM currencies. TRY, BRL, ZAR, MXN and MYR rank high in terms of aggregate vulnerability.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
It Starts: Broad Retaliation Against China in Currency War
It Starts: Broad Retaliation Against China in Currency War
The biggest global “tail risk” is China’s deteriorating economy and an emerging market debt crisis, according to BofA Merrill Lynch’s monthly poll of fund managers. And 48% of them were expecting the Fed to raise rates, despite languid growth and low inflation expectations.
Hot money is already fleeing emerging markets. Higher rates in the US will drain more capital out of countries that need it the most. It will pressure emerging market currencies and further increase the likelihood of a debt crisis in countries whose governments, banks, and corporations borrow in a currency other than their own.
This scenario would be bad enough for the emerging economies. But now China has devalued the yuan to stimulate its exports and thus its economy at the expense of others. And one thing has become clear today: these struggling economies that compete with China are going to protect their exports against Chinese encroachment.
Hence a currency war.
It didn’t help that oil plunged nearly 5% to a new 6-year low, with WTI at $40.55 a barrel, after the EIA’s report of an “unexpected” crude oil inventory buildup in the US,now, during driving season when inventories are supposed to decline!
And copper dropped to $5,000 per ton for the first time since the Financial Crisis, down 20% so far this year. Copper is the ultimate industrial metal. China, which accounts for 45% of global copper consumption, is the bull’s eye of all the fretting about demand. 5,000 is the line in the sand. A big scary number. Other metals fared similarly.
Copper powerhouse Glencore, whose shares plunged nearly 10% today, blamed“aggressive and synchronized large-scale short selling” for the copper debacle, instead of fundamentals. But fundamentals have been whacking copper for years, and shorts have simply been joyriding the trend.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
23 Nations Around The World Where Stock Market Crashes Are Already Happening
23 Nations Around The World Where Stock Market Crashes Are Already Happening
You can stop waiting for a global financial crisis to happen. The truth is that one is happening right now. All over the world, stock markets are already crashing. Most of these stock market crashes are occurring in nations that are known as “emerging markets”. In recent years, developing countries in Asia, South America and Africa loaded up on lots of cheap loans that were denominated in U.S. dollars. But now that the U.S. dollar has been surging, those borrowers are finding that it takes much more of their own local currencies to service those loans. At the same time, prices are crashing for many of the commodities that those countries export. The exact same kind of double whammy caused the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s and the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s.
As you read this article, almost every single stock market in the world is down significantly from a record high that was set either earlier this year or late in 2014. But even though stocks have been sliding in the western world, they haven’t completely collapsed just yet.
In much of the developing world, it is a very different story. Emerging market currencies are crashing hard, recessions are starting, and equity prices are getting absolutely hammered.
Posted below is a list that I put together of 23 nations around the world where stock market crashes are already happening. To see the stock market chart for each country, just click the link…
1. Malaysia
2. Brazil
3. Egypt
4. China
5. Indonesia
6. South Korea
7. Turkey
8. Chile
9. Colombia
10. Peru
11. Bulgaria
12. Greece
13. Poland
14. Serbia
15. Slovenia
16. Ukraine
17. Ghana
18. Kenya
19. Morocco
20. Nigeria
21. Singapore
22. Taiwan
23. Thailand
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Emerging Market Currencies To Crash 30-50%, Jen Says
Emerging Market Currencies To Crash 30-50%, Jen Says
Less than 24 hours ago, we argued that although it might have seemed as though Brazil hit rock bottom in Q2 when it suffered through the worst inflation-growth mix in over a decade, things were likely to get worse still.
The country, which is also coping with twin deficits and a terribly fractious political environment, is at the center of what Morgan Stanley recently called “a triple unwind of EM credit, China’s leverage, and US monetary easing” and now that its most critical trading partner has officially entered the global currency war, all roads lead to further devaluation of the faltering BRL.
And it’s not just the BRL. As Bloomberg reports, former IMF economist Stephen Jen (who called the 1997 Asian crisis while at Morgan Stanley) thinks EM currencies could fall by an average of 30% going forward on the back of the PBoC’s move to devalue the yuan. Here’s more:
[The] devaluation of the yuan risks a new round of competitive easing that may send currencies from Brazil’s real to Indonesia’s rupiah tumbling by an average 30 percent to 50 percent in the next nine months, according to investor and former International Monetary Fund economist Stephen Jen.
Volatility measures were already signaling rising distress in emerging markets even before China’s shock move. An index of anticipated price swings climbed above a rich-world gauge at the end of July, reversing the trend seen for most of the past six months.
“If this is the beginning of a new phase in Beijing’s currency policy, it would be the biggest development in the currency world this year,” said Jen, founder of London-based hedge fund SLJ Macro Partners LLP. “The emerging-market currency weakening trend is now going global.”
Latin America is a particular concern because of the region’s high levels of corporate debt, said Jen
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
