If Any Of You Have Bonds, I Would Urge You To Go Home And Sell Them

 Jim Rogers Blog - 1 hour ago

"If any of you have bonds, I would urge you to go home and sell them. If any of you are bond portfolio managers, I would get another job if I were you, I would think about becoming a farmer.” - *in Uncommo...

Gross' Compares Bondholders To Slowly Boiling Frogs, Explains How PIMCO Is Profitable Despite Treasury Short Position 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/01/2011 08:31 -0400

Just out in Bill Gross' latest monthly missive in which he compares Treasury longs to frogs in a pot, which are slowly starting to boil. As a result, he issues a clarion call to all: "All right fellow frogs, so we’re being repressed and shortchanged in order to allow Uncle Sam to balance its books. Whatta we gonna do about it? “Frogs of the world unite,” as Lenin might have said" and urges bondholders to be properly compensated for their risk by switching out of "rich" fixed rate into "cheap" floating rate exposure. The reason is that nominal yields, Gross contends, just make no sense: "Prices are already nearing the boiling point and his coupons are subzero, CPI adjusted. Total return…and our frog…are cooked, or if not they are certainly trapped in a future low return kettle of water." Then, Gross once again goes on a detour to explain how contrary to being short Treasury exposure (and we will have more of a breakdown on this shortly), PIMCO is still having a good year: "Journalists, financial advisors, and perhaps even some clients marvel at how PIMCO can be doing so well in 2011 while being underweight the Treasury/durational component of the bond market. Folks – we're making butter....We suggest buying “cheap bonds” focusing on “safe spread,” which means buying more floating and fewer fixed rate notes, adding an additional credit component – be it investment grade, high yield, non-agency mortgage or emerging market related – and shading your portfolio in the direction of non-dollar emerging market currencies. Investors shouldn’t give their money away, and at the moment, the duration component of a bond portfolio comes close to doing just that – not because a bear market is just around the corner come July 1, but because it doesn’t yield enough relative to inflation. Come on frogs, make butter, not someone else’s dinner." As always an engrossing read.

Goldman Cuts NFP Forecast To 100,000 - Sheer Panic On Wall Street As The Heroin Addicts Demand QE3 NOW 

Not even 5 mintues ago we predicted that Goldman would lower its 150,000 NFP forecast to 125,000. Well, even we were off. Hatzius just cut his Friday NFP forecast to 100,000. Just like last August when the horrendous NFP number set off QE2, so Wall Street is in full panic mode, as it tries to find a way to crush stocks enough to give Bernanke validation for QE3, but without getting retail to throw in the towel for the last time. Still to come: the firm trimming H2 GDP to under 3%. We give it a few days. "We are lowering our forecast for May nonfarm payroll employment to +100,000 from +150,000 previously. While the ADP report has a mixed tracked record in forecasting payroll growth, our research indicates it should receive some weight. Moreover, the weakness in the ADP report follows a streak of weaker-than-expected news on both the labor market and activity as whole. We are holding our forecast for the unemployment rate at 8.9% and for average hourly earnings growth at 0.2% mom." Elsewhere, Joe Lavorgna is dry heaving in a corner somewhere, trying to find a way not to look like a complete idiot for having to cut his NFP forecast two days in a row, from 300,000 to under 150,000. 

Gold Vertical As Market Realizes That After QE 2 Comes.... 

So finally, after much delay, the market lemmings realize that after QE2 comes QE3. 

Deutsche Bank's Joe Lavorgna Cuts His NFP Forecast From 300,000 To 160,000 In Two Days 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/01/2011 11:58 -0400

There is little we can add to what can only be classified as career suicide facilitated by terminal incompetence from one of CNBC's most beloved "economists" (in this case, naturally, Deutsche Bank's Joe LaVorgna), who just cut his NFP estimate from 300,000 to 160,000 in two days. From yesterday: "Our preliminary estimates were for +300k on payrolls and a three-tenths decline in the unemployment rate to 8.7%. However, in light of the softer tone of the data—particularly the inability of initial jobless claims to recover below 400k—we trimmed our projections. We lowered our May payroll estimate to +225k and raised our unemployment rate target to 8.9%." And from 10 minutes ago: "In light of the significant downside surprise in the ADP employment numbers earlier today, as well as the equally important slowdown in the ISM employment component, we are trimming our May nonfarm payroll projection to 160k from 225k as we previously estimated. We project private payrolls to increase 185k. We continue to anticipate a one-tenth decline in the unemployment rate to 8.9%."

Europe Delays Second Bank Stress Test Due To "Unrealistic Assumptions" And "Errors" 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/01/2011 11:17 -0400

Remember when the European Stress Test round 2 was supposed to be "credible" and restore "confidence", this time for realz? Well, as Reuters reports, "A second round of data gathering is needed for the European Union's health check of banks because of "errors" and "unrealistic assumptions", the European Banking Authority said on Wednesday. Arising from the peer review and quality assurance process, the EBA is currently assessing and challenging the first round of results from individual banks," the EBA said. "This will mean that another round of data will be required from banks. Errors will have to be rectified and amendments made where there are inconsistencies or unrealistic assumptions."  Data from the second round won't be received until mid to late June -- the time when the EBA had indicated it would publish the results of the test. What else could one expect from a continent which is run by a bureaucrat who has openly admitted he lies to prevent a crash in the EURUSD.  Plus really: who gives a flying fornication? At this point nobody, and we mean nobody, believes that any bank in Europe is even remotely not bankrupt. It is time for the kleptocrats to actually save the taxpayers some money and just pull the whole farce.

Guest Post: Greece, Please Do The Right Thing: Default Now 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/01/2011 10:34 -0400

If you think this through, there is only one ethical thing for the maiden to do: toss the spiked sugary drink in the face of the predator and deliver a swift, hard kick between his legs "where it counts." Greece should respond to this planned predation with complete and total default: not a "haircut" or "extended terms," a complete and total refusal to pay any of the debt. We are constantly warned that the resulting collapse of the "too big to fail" banks would trigger a global implosion. That is false; life would go on after the predators declared bankruptcy and were liquidated. What the predators fear most is an awareness that any disruption in normal life would be brief and relatively painless compared to the vast suffering imposed to render them their pound of flesh. 

Timberrrrr: Manufacturing ISM At Lowest Since September 2009 

Yesterday we had the biggest monthly drop in the Chicago PMI since the Lehman collapse. Today, the Lehman bankruptcy is invoked again, after the critical ISM Manufacturing index plunges to 53.5, far below expectations of 57.1, and from 60.4 previously: this is the lowest number since September 2009. At this level of "growth" stall , the US economy will be in an official contraction (Sub 50) next month. From the report: "The PMI registered 53.5 percent and indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector for the 22nd consecutive month. This month's index, however, registered 6.9 percentage points below the April reading of 60.4 percent, and is the first reading below 60 percent for 2011, as well as the lowest PMI reported for the past 12 months. Slower growth in new orders and production are the primary contributors to this month's lower PMI reading. Manufacturing employment continues to show good momentum for the year, as the Employment Index registered 58.2 percent, which is 4.5 percentage points lower than the 62.7 percent reported in April. Manufacturers continue to experience significant cost pressures from commodities and other inputs." Surprisingly, inventories declined from 53.6 to 48.7, refuting yesterday's PMI data. The only good news: Prices Paid dropped from 85.5 to 76.5. Too bad it is taking more than 15 minutes. Next up: Goldman to (i) lower NFP to 125,000 and (ii) H2 GDP to under 3%.

150 Economists Sign Letter Against Increase Of US Debt; Spoiler Alert - Paul Krugman Is Not Among Them 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/01/2011 09:29 -0400

Following last night's largely irrelevant and extremely theatrical vote for a clean debt ceiling hike, this morning 150 economists (of which those belonging to Ivy League institutions can be counted on one finger... the middle one) have signed a letter warning that "a debt limit increase without spending cuts and budget reform will destroy American jobs." Luckily, since a clean debt ceiling hike will have no impact on the BLS birth/death model, there is no reason to bother Paul Krugman with the fact that ever more of his peers think that those calling for endless fiscal largesse are now a part of the problem, and not the solution. From the letter: "An increase in the national debt limit that is not accompanied by significant spending cuts and budget reforms to address our government’s spending addiction will harm private- sector job creation in America. It is critical that any debt limit legislation enacted by Congress include spending cuts and reforms that are greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority being granted to the president. We will not succeed in balancing the federal budget and overcoming the challenges of our debt until we succeed in committing ourselves to government policies that allow our economy to grow. An increase in the national debt limit that is not accompanied by significant spending cuts and budget reforms would harm private-sector job growth and represent a tremendous setback in the effort to deal with our national debt." The full list of signatories is below. Among them are Nobel prize winner and Euro scourge Robert Mundell, John Taylor, Alan Meltzer, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, as well as former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, and many more. Suddenly the idea of buying US CDS does not seem so outlandish. 

The Thundering Herd Of Wall Street Lemmings Begins To Move: NFP Forecast Cuts Galore 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 06/01/2011 09:03 -0400

And so the thunderous herd of highly overpaid and always wildly inaccurate Wall Street lemmings better known as "economists" starts moving. Yesterday it was that paragon of the 0.000 batting average Joe LaVorgna who cut his NFP forecast from 300,000 to 225,000 (a number we expect will be cut to about 155,000 today, or indicative that little Joey was off by about 100% as usual), and today Morgan Stanley has already fired the reactionary salvo, trimming its NFP forecast for this Friday's number from 175,000, accompanied by Credit Suisse which cuts from 185,000 to 120,000. And these lemmings are paid 7 digit salaries why again? So far the most resilient is Goldman's Jan Hatzius, who just threw up all over the ADP number, but has so far refused to cut his NFP prediction of 150,000. We give him at most 48 hours before he does following today's upcoming abysmal CPI number.