Jul 172012
 
 July 17, 2012  Posted by at 9:35 pm Finance


The world is waiting for more of those cryptic messages from the head of the Fed, who today listens to the name Ben Bernanke and speaks on Capitol Hill. Today may not be an FOMC announcement occasion, but there's still the eternal hope that Ben will give a sign, even though it will undoubtedly be excruciatingly small and ambiguous, that more free public money is on the way for the financial system. There's a nice report out on how and why that works. But first, to give some perspective, here's this from UPI today:

Bernanke likely to point to new stimulus

Ben Bernanke was expected to tell U.S. lawmakers Tuesday the Federal Reserve is poised to embrace new stimulus measures but won't say when, economists said.

Bernanke's message to the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m. EDT is expected to be that the Fed is "prepared to take further easing action as appropriate, but will give no indication that such action is imminent," economists at Barclays Investment Bank said in a research note ahead of the Fed chairman's semi-annual report to Congress. Bernanke is to testify before the House Banking Committee Wednesday.

Minutes of the Fed's June meeting, released last week, indicated "a few" of the 12 officials who vote on Fed policy thought quantitative easing and other stimulus measures "likely would be necessary to promote satisfactory growth." Several others said they would consider such steps only if economic conditions deteriorated, the minutes indicated.

The Fed announced after its June 19-20 meeting it would continue until year's end an effort to reduce business and consumer borrowing costs by rearranging its portfolio.

Not that everyone is equally sure about the inner workings of the process, mind you. Take Paul Vigna at WSJ's Marketbeat:

We Know What Ben Bernanke’s Going to Say (Because He’s Said it Before)

Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, trudges up to Capitol Hill this morning with the fate of the world resting upon his shoulders. Or at least the fate of today’s trading session.

We’ll save you the trouble. Bernanke’s such a broken record these days — given the current political environment who can blame him – we can tell you ahead of time what he’ll say.

Here’s the bottom line: Bernanke’s been jawboning about policy and levers and QE3 for more than a year now, but hasn’t acted. He knows better than the market the limits of the Fed’s powers. If things get much, much worse, he’ll hold his nose and “do something,” but until that time, it’s just more jawboning.

So here’s our take on what you can expect Bernanke to say in little less than an hour (if you want a more straight-up take, head over to Real Time Economics):

• First off, you can expect a lot of on the one hand, on the other hand (expect some variation of this theme about 400 times. On the other hand…)

• Economic conditions since my last appearance have deteriorated. On the other hand, we believe the second half will improve, and the economy will avoid a recession.

• The pace of job creation remains frustratingly slow.

• Inflation expectations have come down. On the other hand, if they come down much further, we will raise them.

• We will keep rates exceptionally low until 2014, or 2015, or 2020, or until the bond market’s completely broken.

• Operation Twist has been a success (there’s no on the other hand to this, at least not to the Fed).

• If economic conditions were to deteriorate further, the Fed stands ready to act, and has several options, both conventional and unconventional, that it can draw upon (in other words, we can always print money).

• Europe is a concern. The odds of a eurozone breakup have increased. If Europe melts down, it will have an adverse effect on the U.S. economy and U.S. consumers.

• On the other hand, European leaders “get it,” and the worst will be avoided.

• Libor. Yeah, we’ve heard of it.

• Congress has got to do something before the fiscal cliff hits. (This is where it gets tricky. Bernanke has to show Congress he means business, but he can’t let the market think he’ll hold off on the QE in order to force Congress to act).

That’s about it, no promise of QE, several hints about QE, but then a gnawing reluctance to do QE in an election year and to let Congress off the hook. He’ll do enough to let the market know he’s serious, but won’t actually do anything.

On the other hand…

However, at first superficial glance Vigna's convictions on Bernanke at least seem to be quite bluntly contradicted (though Ben just almost literally said: "The pace of job creation remains frustratingly slow" , by the report I mentioned. It came from The New York Fed, no less, last week. John Melloy summarized it for CNBC:

Market Savior? Stocks Might Be 50% Lower Without Fed

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York suggests that the bulk of equity returns for more than a decade are due to actions by the US central bank.

Theoretically, the S&P 500 would be more than 50% lower—at the 600 level—if the bullish price action preceding Fed announcements was excluded, the study showed.

Posted on the New York Fed’s web site Wednesday, the study sought out to explain why equities receive such a high premium over less risky assets such as bonds. What they found was that the Federal Reserve has had an outsized impact on equities relative to other asset classes.

For example, the market has a tendency to rise in the 24-hour period before the release of the Fed’s statement on interest rates and the economy, presumably on expectations Chairman Ben Bernanke and his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, would discuss or implement a stimulus measure to lift asset prices.

The FOMC has released eight announcements a year at 2:15 ET since 1994. The study took the gains in the S&P 500 from 2 pm the day before the announcement to 2 pm the day of the statement and subtracted that market move from the S&P 500’s total return over that time span.

 


Without the gains in anticipation of a positive Fed action, the S&P 500 would stand at just 600 today, rather than above 1300.

“I would conclude that correctly analyzing Fed moves is much more important than stock picking,” said Brian Kelly of Shelter Harbor Capital. “If you want to generate alpha, you should trade the stock market 24 hours before an FOMC meeting. Simply follow the trend for that 24 hours and you will outperform.”

The chart shows the effect to be significantly pronounced in the aftermath of the tech bubble when Greenspan re-inflated stock and housing prices by slashing rates. It widens even further in the period since the financial crisis of 2008 as the market became beholden to the Fed’s use of its balance sheet to add liquidity to the market.

“Blame Greenspan for this S&P 500 effect… it’s his free put,” said Robert Savage, chief executive of research site Track.com and formerly managing director of FX Macro Sales at Goldman Sachs. “Since 1994, the battle of central banks hasn't been to fight inflation, but rather to smooth out the business cycle and credit. The convergence of global rates and inflation left the decisions of the FOMC as the key variable for S&P 500.” [..]

To be sure, one cannot look at these Fed actions in a vacuum and conclude the S&P 500 would plummet 50 percent if the Fed were to undue all of its supportive measures of the last two decades. But that doesn’t mean this exercise can’t be instructive.

For example, proponents of index funds will often argue their case by using data that shows a significant drop in S&P 500’s yearly returns if you took out the five best days of that particular year. The point: you need to always be fully invested so you don’t miss one of those days, which account for the majority of the market’s annual return.

The Fed’s next announcement is due August 1st and it would seem by this study, one would want to make sure they are invested in the market by 2pm on July 31st, “It's a QE world,” said Josh Brown, an investment advisor and popular author of The Reformed Broker blog. “We're all just trading in it.”

Here's the New York Fed report in question, written by David Lucca and Emanuel Moench. Click on the title to read the whole thing:

The Puzzling Pre-FOMC Announcement 'Drift'

For many years, economists have struggled to explain the “equity premium puzzle”—the fact that the average return on stocks is larger than what would be expected to compensate for their riskiness. In this post, which draws on our recent New York Fed staff report, we deepen the puzzle further. We show that since 1994, more than 80% of the equity premium on U.S. stocks has been earned over the twenty-four hours preceding scheduled Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcements (which occur only eight times a year)—a phenomenon we call the pre-FOMC announcement “drift.”

The conclusion is that 8 FOMC announcements a year are responsible for half the S&P number. Without them, it would presently be at 600 instead of 1200, as the graph clearly shows.

Hard to believe perhaps, but really, why should it be? What the report documents is the ever increasing reliance of the financial markets on public handouts. This reliance – dare we say addiction – came in the face of ever shrinking profits in the financial markets juxtaposed with ever growing gambling losses. Derivatives, don't you know…

Of course this addiction could only have grown into what it is today because the Fed and the government have consistently signalled their increased willingness to jump into holes caused by losses, with taxpayer funds.

And that's not all the Fed and successive governments had to offer the financial industry. They added another big present at the other end of the calculation: the erosion of accounting standards (re: FASB 157).

The combination of the two is what runs our economies today. What still keeps them running despite the reality they hide.

I labeled this zombie money a long time ago. There are tons of companies out there, quite a few of which are banks, that are allowed to continue to exist only because they are allowed to hide their losses. While that has certain advantages in the short term, like you still have a job and a home, though you're quite likely a zombie too, just like your bank, in the long term it's lethal to our economic system (and our political and social systems too).

Ultimately, losses will need to be recognized, and debts paid. The only point of contention is when. The path we're on now will mean those losses won't be recognized until they've all been transferred to the public account. Which will by then be unable to do much of anything about them, since all its firepower will have been transferred in the opposite direction, i.e. all available public funds – and then some -will have been used to bailout companies that hide their losses.

This is your double whammy: your money is used to bail out banks, while at the same their losses are transferred to your account. You're losing big time on both ends. Does that register yet? I'm sorry for asking, but I just don't know how many people have truly figured that one out.

If true losses would be out in the open, no-one would agree to using public funds for the bail-outs, since it would be obvious that they are nowhere near sufficient to "solve" the losses. The public “agrees" to have its funds used for bail-outs only because the impression is created that the funds may stabilize the banking system and stave off further crises.

This is an absolute illusion. But the public won't find that out until it's too late. This whole scheme can exist solely because, while governments give away trillions in dollars of people's money to the banking system, it's not "today's money". It is tomorrow's money, our tomorrows and our children's. And the human mind is famous/notorious for its ability to discount the future. In other words, while we may have an idea of what's going on, we dismiss it because it doesn't immediately affect us. And we have hope and faith in the future. Tomorrow will be better. All tomorrows. Every single one of them.

What the New York Fed report makes painfully clear is that the economy as we see it presented to us on a daily basis, for instance in the S&P 500, is not real. It is a zombie economy based on zombie money, and it's, as we speak, sucking the lifeblood out of our future existence, and, more importantly, our children's.

And if you would like to contest that assessment, you probably only have to imagine what would happen if the S&P were really at 600 today. In the present climate, it could mean only one thing: the Fed and the government would pour untold additional trillions of your dollars into the banking system. It's simply how the system works (and not just in the US).

Well, the S&P WILL go to 600. And it won't be long. So what do you suggest we should do?

Image top: Retrogarde

 

Home Forums The New York Fed Confirms the Economy Runs on Zombie Money

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  • #8467

    The world is waiting for more of those cryptic messages from the head of the Fed, who today listens to the name Ben Bernanke and speaks on Capitol Hil
    [See the full post at: The New York Fed Confirms the Economy Runs on Zombie Money]

    #4681
    jal
    Participant

    In other words, while we may have an idea of what’s going on, we dismiss it because it doesn’t immediately affect us. And we have hope and faith in the future. Tomorrow will be better. All tomorrows. Every single one of them.

    so true … so sad 🙁

    #4682
    pikipikipoet
    Member

    Very good piece Ilargi. Unfortunately 🙁

    #4683
    jal
    Participant

    Bennie will need to print money and send it where it is needed.

    Municipalities, districts, states are choking on their debts and cannot pay their workers and give the needed service that they have promised.

    Banks are terrified that those level of governments will default and stop the cash flow. They have the ear of Bennie. Bennie will listen if he want to keep the system operating for a while longer.

    Its a no brainer …

    Buy muni. bonds etc., in exchange for cash to muni., this relieves the munis. of having to pay the bond holders.
    The cash flow continues from Bennie and everyone is happy.

    Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean that they haven’t figured a way of doing it.

    #4684
    Viscount St. Albans
    Participant

    Should the Spanish coal miners continue to chip away at their much-depleted deposits? What would Al Gore and Greenpeace recommend?

    Is it wise for the Spanish government to continue subsidizing this sacred cow? Is there any other context, apart from the current crisis, in which this discussion could occur?

    There is a silver lining here: The disappearance of this one particular coal-dust-laden pie slice, along with 1000s of other fabricated pie slices, has done much to curb the global appetite.

    Our sovereign debt crises have done more to realign global wants with Earth-bound realities than anything the climate change campaigners could ever hope to achieve.

    There’s an ironic altruism at work here. Lloyd Blankfein wasn’t entirely joking when he mentioned doing the Lord’s work.

    #4686
    seychelles
    Participant

    It’s nice to know when to get back into the market.

    #4690
    TheTrivium4TW
    Participant

    Excellent article Ilargi.

    autoearthadmin post=4345 wrote: “Blame Greenspan for this S&P 500 effect… it’s his free put,” said Robert Savage, chief executive of research site Track.com and formerly managing director of FX Macro Sales at Goldman Sachs. “Since 1994, the battle of central banks hasn’t been to fight inflation, but rather to smooth out the business cycle and credit. The convergence of global rates and inflation left the decisions of the FOMC as the key variable for S&P 500.”

    Uh, not quite Mr. Savage. There is the oligarch run Central State sanctioned narrative and then there is reality.

    The central banks have been fighting to criminally take credit exponential to GDP in the United States – a clear violation of Section 2A fo the Federal Reserve Act:

    https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3324744/wmdebt-graph-3-79k?tr=77

    Not only do people not value money in the future correctly, they can’t value factual reality that isn’t highlighted in the oligarch controlled main stream media.

    This is all a big con game run by the world’s most powerful mob using economic application to roll everyone up into this covert tyranny from hades.

    Even worse, the whole monetary system is based upon treasonous societal asset stripping debt based money fraud:

    https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3325954/debt-dollar-tyranny-2-54k?tr=77

    “It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. The one aim of these financiers is world control by the creation of inextinguishable debt.” ~Henry Ford

    “Under the Federal Reserve Act, panics are scientifically created. The present panic is the first scientific one, worked out as we figure a mathematical equation.” (Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh, The Economic Pinch, 1921.)

    Look how pretty that “mathematical equation” graphs out:

    https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3324744/wmdebt-graph-3-79k?tr=77

    “This Act establishes the most gigantic trust on earth.…When the President signs this Act, the invisible government by the Money Power, proven to exist by the Money Trust Investigation, will be legalized.…The money power overawes the legislative and executive forces of the Nation and of the States. I have seen these forces exerted during the different stages of this bill.…” (Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh, referring to the act which established the Federal Reserve. Congressional Record, Vol. 51, p. 1446. December 22, 1913.)

    PS – In the context of the criminal exponential debt growth and the criminal insider trading, it makes sense that the insiders would front run a central bank when they knew, in advance of everyone else, that the central bank would come out and “ease” into the world’s largest credit bubble.

    At some point, the bust operation goes full tilt… the whole point is to asset strip “Muppets” and kill off their competition.

    #4691
    TheTrivium4TW
    Participant

    Viscount St. Albans post=4349 wrote: Should the Spanish coal miners continue to chip away at their much-depleted deposits? What would Al Gore and Greenpeace recommend?

    Is it wise for the Spanish government to continue subsidizing this sacred cow? Is there any other context, apart from the current crisis, in which this discussion could occur?

    There is a silver lining here: The disappearance of this one particular coal-dust-laden pie slice, along with 1000s of other fabricated pie slices, has done much to curb the global appetite.

    Our sovereign debt crises have done more to realign global wants with Earth-bound realities than anything the climate change campaigners could ever hope to achieve.

    There’s an ironic altruism at work here. Lloyd Blankfein wasn’t entirely joking when he mentioned doing the Lord’s work.

    You are missing some of the context. Blankfein and company criminally blew the world’s largest credit bubble – and that enabled much of the excesses that enslave us today.

    Now that he’s cut back a little, he gets credit for doing “God’s Work?”

    Uh, no. He’s running a criminal bubble / bust operation and using the climate change agenda to trick people into accepting the bust portion of this criminal operation as being “good.”

    You know something is up when the mega banks who created this criminal bubble (and positively correlated energy use) now fund the promotion of reduced energy…

    They didn’t blow the bubble because they liked the Earth and they aren’t deflating the bubble because they like the Earth.

    Try… because they hate you and want to rob you blind such that you don’t even know you’ve been robbed.

    Read Art of War by Sun Tzu:

    “War is all about deception”

    “The best warriors never have to fight.”

    Got that? They trick you… they con you with something like a fraudulent monetary system that systematically conveys monetary wealth to themselves so they can then use the “free market” veneer to seize control of society and its citizens that need a pay check to live

    So elementary, my dear Watson. Sooooo elementary. Just open your eyes… it is right there in front of you.

    Also “The Ultimate History Lesson” explains much of the greater context:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQiW_l848t8

    You can click through for the rest of the 5 total parts.

    #4692
    TheTrivium4TW
    Participant

    jal post=4348 wrote: Bennie will need to print money and send it where it is needed.

    Municipalities, districts, states are choking on their debts and cannot pay their workers and give the needed service that they have promised.

    Banks are terrified that those level of governments will default and stop the cash flow. They have the ear of Bennie. Bennie will listen if he want to keep the system operating for a while longer.

    Its a no brainer …

    Buy muni. bonds etc., in exchange for cash to muni., this relieves the munis. of having to pay the bond holders.
    The cash flow continues from Bennie and everyone is happy.

    Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean that they haven’t figured a way of doing it.

    jal, Ben is a figurehead. The MONEY POWER that controls the major multinationals including, but not limited to, mega TBTF&J banks, call the shots and Bernanke knows he best not step in the way of their self interest.

    Their goal is not to kick the can until it collapses. That’s economically irrational – and these MONEY POWER people are nothing if not economically rational.

    They won’t bail out munis in any serious way, if at all.

    As the munis go bankrupt, the MONEY POWER will swoop in and buy up the infrastructure with all our bail out money.

    Then they will triple the prices and cut back on services and repair.

    How many times have they done this? Watch The Corporation – they even privatized rain water in Bolivia!

    This is a criminal bubble / bust operation. The bust has only just begun – and it is every bit the intention of Big Finance Capital as the bubble portion.

    This is how they eliminate their competition (anyone not TBTF&J like themselves) and roll up society’s assets under their front corporations and seize control of, frankly, the world – that’s the way it looks now and the ignorance and apathy of almost everyone isn’t much of a road block for them.

    BTW, did you watch the Ultimate History Lesson? If so, what did you think?

    #4694

    The Chinese criminals are sucking the lifeblood from that country too.

    China’s Fragile $2.2 Trillion Shadow Banking System:

    1. The Investment Trust industry
    2. Pawn shops
    3. Guarantors
    4. Underground banks
    5. Wealth management products (WMP)

    Leverage upon leverage upon leverage, sliced and diced and ponzied. When this finishes unravelling, there will be nothing left.

    The article highlights David Cui’s (Merrill Lynch China strategist) report.

    “Given the shadow banking system’s enormous size, importance to the real economy in terms of the credit it provides, and the numerous feedback loops back into the traditional banking sector, China could face major issues if it starts to look like no one is able to pay anyone else back.”

    https://www.businessinsider.com/complete-guide-to-chinas-shadow-banking-system-2012-7?utm_source=twbutton&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=moneygame&page=1

    #4695

    Trivium – the Ultimate History Lesson is on my list of things to watch. Thanks for posting.

    Ilargi – you are a wonderful writer. You have a way with words. Thank you.

    #4697
    seychelles
    Participant

    Ultimate History Gatto Interview is MUST viewing. First 17 min of first interview is mostly infomercial and can be skipped. Main concise phrase I remember from these is “pragmatic justifiable sinning”. Once this guideline becomes ascendant, everything pretty much turns to poop…which is where we are now. Does anyone know if the Carroll Quigley “Tragedy and Hope” reprint is significantly redacted?

    #4698
    Don Levit
    Member

    Thanks so much for posting the key elements of this report, as well as the link to the entire report.
    I have evacuated the stock market, but am still linked to it through fixed-indexed annuities.
    The 4 annuities are indexed to the S&P.
    If the index goes down, I lose nothing, and start from a lower level, making it easier for a gain the following year.
    If it goes up, I capture part of the gain.
    I think this is a good product for a volatile market.
    Don Levit

    #4711
    Nassim
    Participant

    Nice concise explanation of what is going on. I will try to link to it in the FT’s comments. Thank you.

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