USDCHF Plunges To Record Low Following Generali CEO Comments Eurozone Faces Risk Of Breakup, Flight To Safety Resumes

Yep. Europe again. Following comments from Generali's CEO Giovanni Perissinotto based on a transcript from a conference call earlier that the Eurozone is at risk of breakup (something which everyone knows, but nobody dares to say, especially not anyone whose CDS is trading in lockstep with those of Italy), the USDCHF just plunged to fresh all time lows. And so all the goodwill created by the robotic buying on the NFP headlines is gone.

Marc Faber: "Next Week We Will See If Bernanke Is A True Money Printer Or Just An Amateur"

"The whole world is mad" - so says Marc Faber when beginning his latest observations of the markets in the attached Bloomberg TV interview. "Stocks will be dropping 30%, then rallying 20%, and dropping another 30% -  that's going to be the pattern. And whoever can't live with that shouldn't be buying equities at all." And while the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, said "there is a case to be ultrabearish about everything, and markets are going to go lower" he notes that markets are "extremely oversold" and he expects a "snap-back" rally in the U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 Index of about 40-50 points. That said, Faber sees no new highs in 2011. He concludes that he can already smell QE3, and that the next week will be important to see if Bernanke is a true money printer or an amateur, and if he is a true money printer he will start printing soon." Couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Mini Flash Crash Following CDU Statement Eurozone Leaders Have Excluded Boosting Volume Of EFSF Sends ES Down 30 Points

After soaring by over a hundred points, the DJIA subsequently plunged in a flash crash type move after Reuters carried headlines saying that the CDU budget expert said that the Eurozone leaders have clearly excluded boosting the volume of the EFSF (and the plunge has nothing to do with any ridiculous rumor of an S&P downgrade - the S&P would be sent into exile if it dared to defy Obama at this point in his debt ceiling hike victory lap). The plunge was further exacerbated by a previous interview on CNBC with Olli Rehn in which he was pressed for details on the EFSF which he naturally would not provide as obviously Germany is still not onboard. And as everyone knows, without a €1.5 trillion expansion in the SPV monetization mechanism known as the EFSF, Italy is doomed. The result: a 30 point plunge in the ES showing once again that when it comes to flash crash risk, it is once again all about Italy and insolvent Europe in general.

Average Length Of Unemployment Surges To New All Time Record 40.4 Weeks

We already learned that the one biggest red flag in unemployment data had been raised when we found that the labor force participation rate was the lowest since 1984. Now we find that the other critical data point: average length of unemployment, just hit a new all time high of 40.4 weeks in July, up from the previous record of 39.9 in June. Someone should tell the average American who is rapidly approaching one year in average unemployment that the stock market soared on good payroll news. They will be delighted.

Labor Force Participation Rate Drops To 63.9%, Lowest Since January 1984

While we still await for BLS.gov to finally come back up online half an hour after printing the actual NFP number, here is the one data point that we know for a fact: the labor force participation rate, and the reason why the general unemployment rate declined to 9.1%, just dropped to 63.9%, the lowest in 16 years, or matches the participation rate from January 1984.

NFP Prints At 117K, Beats Expectations Of 85K, Unemployment Rate Down To 9.1%

Change in Non-Farm Payrolls M/M 117K vs. Exp. 85K (Prev. 18K)
Change in Private Payrolls (Jul) M/M 154K vs. Exp. 113K (Prev. 57K)
Change in Manufacturing Payrolls (Jul) M/M 24K vs. Exp. 10K (Prev. 6K)
US Average Hourly Earnings (Jul) M/M 0.4% vs. Exp. 0.2% (Prev. 0.0%)
US Unemployment Rate (Jul) M/M 9.1% vs. Exp. 9.2% (Prev. 9.2%)
More coming as soon as bls.gov actually comes up

Fannie Demands Another $5.1 Billion In Aid From Treasury In Q2, $103.8 Billion Total Since Conservatorship

There is just one number that is important in the just released Fannie Mae Q2 earnings release, in which the firm reported a loss of "just" $2.9 billion, which includes $6.1 billion in credit related expenses all of which was blamed on Bush (no, really "substantially all of which were related to the company’s legacy (pre-2009) book of business"). The number that matters is that for the 11th consecutive quarter a bankrupt Fannie Mae came running to the Treasury, this time requesting $5.1 billion from Tim Geithner, the second highest number in the past year. This brings the total cumulative bailout since Fannie's conservatorship to a stunning $103.8 billion. And wasn't it pathological liar Tim Geithner who himself said a month ago that the GSEs are no longer a burden on the Treasury? Perhaps he can explain the chart below taken from the company's announcement.

Italy And Spain Spreads Approaching Incremental LCH Margin Collateralization Trigger

As both Italian and Spanish bond spreads continue slowly creeping wider toward the half a century territory, we are reminded once again that once both countries pass 450 bps, LCH will automatically hike collateral triggers for both countries, in essence initiating another waterfall effect whereby less cash is released upon repo, requiring more bonds to be pledged, which in turn means other assets have to be sold off to make up for the shortfall, which in turn leads to a sell off of the underlying financial institution (recall that banks in Europe buy their nation's sovereign debt and immediately pledge it back via various repo mechanisms) and so on. What this practically means is that the bond vigilantes now have a far more achievable task in terms of endgoals when it comes to punishing the offending debt, in this case Italy and Spain. Expect a prompt move to this appropriate level as debt holders start panicking what an extra margin demand will mean for them, and in turn try to lock up cash at current repo levels.

French, Italian CDS Hit Record, Yen Resumes Climb

After a brief intermission in which even the robots apparently took some long overdue shut-visual sensor, things are back in motion, with both French and Italian CDS pushing out to record wides, France hitting 150, 7 bps wider, while Italy rising 15 bps to over 405 bps at last check. And what is more disturbing for all those who keep pounding the table that Spain should blow up first dammit so stop looking at Italy, Italian 10 Year yields just surpassed those of Spain, for the first time since April 2010. Elsewhere, as Bloomberg reports, the Yen has resumed its rally as the BOJ, has ceased its intervention after spending over Y4 trillion according to some accounts, only to realize what we said from the beginning: the yentervention will fail. "Both BOJ and SNB have made clear they oppose further currency appreciation but absence of other safe-haven alternatives means the yen and swiss franc will remain in demand", Lutz Karpowitz, strategist at Comerzbank, writes in note. And some more observations courtesy of Bloomberg: "Confidence is waning over EU policymakers’ ability to contain debt crisis, Derek Halpenny, strategist at BOTM-UFJ writes in note. These will make it all the more difficult for BOJ to find intervention success in yen. Without further BOJ intervention, intensifying risk aversion will result in further yen gains, Halpenny adds." What is ironic is that the Italian stock market is rebounding rapidly from overnight lows of -3.and 5%, is now green courtesy primarily due to alleged additional ECB bond purchases of Italian bonds, which rumor has in turn stabilized Italian financial stocks which are, as expected, soaring. We are confident this response will be as transitory as all other central bank interventions.

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