"Wall Street Finest : It´s Always A Good Time To Buy, Buy, Buy....." BP Edition.....

Even as i have to admit that the "BP SPILL DRAMA" is a very complicated to judge it is nevertheless a perfect fit to my earlier post Wall Street Finest.... Of Course It´s A Good Time To Buy, Buy, Buy..... and a nice confirmation for what i´ve said in the past ....

"There maybe are legitimate reasons to buy stocks, but a favourable opinion from "Wall Street Finest" should definitely not play any role in your screening process .... Except you use them as a "contrary indicator".... ;-) "

Selbst wenn ich zugeben muß das der BP GAU schwer einzuschätzen ist, passt es wie die Faust aufs Auge zu Wall Street Finest.... Of Course It´s A Good Time To Buy, Buy, Buy..... und ist nebenbei die Bestätigung zu dem was ich bereits seit langem zum Thema "Experten" zu sagen habe....

"Grundsätzlich mag es ja durchaus gute Gründe die für Aktien sprechen geben, man sollte aber sicherstellen das die Einschätzungen der "Experten" beim Auswahlprozess keinerlei Rolle spielen....Es sei denn man nutzt sie als Kontraindikator.... ;-)"

Special Report: Amid the Gulf crisis, Wall St touted BP stock Reuters

As early word of BP's Deepwater Horizon blowout began spreading, investors panicked. After closing above $60 before the April 20 disaster, the energy giant's shares plunged almost 20 percent in New York, to below $50, in just two weeks.

It is not hard to understand why. Even then, the out-of-control oil spill in the midst of rich fishing grounds and nearby resort beaches raised the specter of horrific damages and untold potential liabilities.

Yet, nearly to a person, the dozens of securities analysts who followed the British oil giant were unfazed. As BP shares continued to drop, most were screaming the same message: buy, baby, buy.

Credit Suisse, which had a "buy" rating on the stock at the time, did not even mention the accident in an April 28 report. The firm upgraded earnings estimates after BP reported strong quarterly results the day before.

A day later, with BP's shares then down 11 percent, Citigroup's Mark Fletcher weighed in. He argued that the decline was "disproportionate to the likely costs to the company, even assuming damages can be claimed." In the same report, he estimated BP's total share of the cleanup at just $450 million -- today, conservative guesses put the figure at $10 billion to $20 billion.

Around that time, Morgan Stanley was among the chorus citing the strong rebound of Exxon (XOM.N) shares after the 1989 Valdez tanker spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, as a reason to be bullish. "We think the sell-off presents an attractive buying opportunity for investors with medium-term investment horizons," the firm wrote.

All told, 27 of 34 analysts tracked by Thomson Reuters rated the stock "buy" or "outperform" as recently as May 11. The other seven rated the shares "hold." There was not a single rating of "sell" or "underperform" among those tracked.

And then there was the exuberant television host Jim Cramer, who insisted that Bear Stearns was fine just days before the company's stock crashed. On May 10, he told viewers of his "Mad Money" (Cramer: "The Dividend Is Safe, Way Overdone On The Downside" / Stock just under $ 50 & Cramer:Gulf Spill Won’t Break BP / Stock above $ 50 ) show on CNBC that he was purchasing shares of BP for his charitable trust at just under $50. "If you get any good news at all, you're at the bottom," he said. "I'd like to buy it.

BP has at least managed to outperform his May 10th "Housing Shortage Top Pick" SPF... I doubt that he is still refering to his Housing Shortgage Play Version 1.0 July 2008 and has meanwhile switched to version 2.0 or 3.0....To be continued.....UPDATE: Watch his comments after the entire group has tumbled close to 30% & his top pick SPF worst.... To call him a revisionist is an understatement.... Couldn´t resist.....

Immerhin hat BP es geschafft besser als sein anderer Favorit SPF abzuschneiden....Nach seinen letzten Kommentaren im Angesicht einen 30% Crashes im Homebuildingsektor sowie einer Halbierung seines Favoriten SPF muß man schon sagen das der CHUZPAH mehr als treffend ist....

If he did, he didn't make out so well. As estimates of the spill grew -- and grew and grew -- and efforts to cap it failed, BP's stock sunk ever lower. It didn't hit bottom for another month, the New York-traded ADRs touching $29 in midday trading on June 9, down 52 percent from just before the Deepwater Horizon disaster. That's approaching $100 billion in shareholder wealth that has been destroyed.

GROUP THINK

Others say the failure of even one analyst at a major firm to grasp the potential risks and advise clients to dump the stock reflects the profession's overall group-think tendencies. "For sell-side analysts, the incentive is to remain toward the center of the pack. If they are going to be wrong, they have got to be in good company," said Michael MacPhee, at investment manager Baillie Gifford.

As the shares headed toward almost half their pre-disaster level, most analysts issued more cautious notes, with Goldman, Natixis, S&P equity research and Charles Stanley, cutting their ratings to neutral or hold from buy.

By June 16, BP was rated a buy by 16 analysts, outperform by eight, a hold by another 8 with only one sell, according to data on Reuters Knowledge. That was the date, of course, when BP agreed to fund a $20 billion escrow account and suspend its dividends for the year.

With the price around half what it was before the spill, analysts might have a stronger argument that BP was a buy in mid-June, though that will be of little comfort to anybody who followed the advice to buy a month ago.

H/T Reformed Broker

Bloomberg

The split over BP between U.K. and U.S. investors extends to analysts. The U.K. stock has 26 “buy” recommendations, while 12 analysts recommend holding the stock and two say to sell. In contrast, almost as many U.S. analysts advise against purchasing the stock as buying it. The ADRs have seven “buy” recommendations, five “holds” and one “sell.”

And when a guy like Chanos is shorting Exxon widely viewed as the goldstandart in the industry you have to wonder even more....

Wenn ein Typ wie Chanos momentan aber selbst den am meist angesehenen Titel im Sektor Exxon shortet ist das zumindest mehr als eine Randnotitz wert.....

Watch the percentage of sell ratings for S&P 500 companies flatlining even in the deepest recession since 1930........

Man beachte die rote Linie der Verkaufsempfehlungen für die 500 Unternehmen im S&P die selbst während der tiefsten Rezession seit 1930 "stabil" geblieben ist......

BP Oil Spill: Brief History of The Incredible Rising Cost Estimate WSJ Marketbeat

BofA Merrill, April 28 — “To put it in context, the Valdez clean-up cost reportedly reached [around] U.S. $3 billion and we expect the cost to BP to be lower at this point.”

BofA Merrill, April 30 — “If we assume the clean-up takes 6 months and include relief wells costs, total costs would be in the U.S. $2 billion range (U.S. $100 million per well + 180 days at $10 million/day). Even assuming additional civil damages similar to Exxon Valdez of US$2.5 [billion] awarded against [Exxon Mobil] in 2009, BP’s net costs for Macondo would approach [$3 billion] – just over half [first quarter 2010] earnings. While the market may not be willing to assume such a scenario, given ongoing uncertainty, it, nevertheless, underscores that the hit on BP’s shares looks overdone.”

BofA Merrill, May 28 — “The US Geological Survey (USGS) has independently estimated that the flow rate at Macondo is in the 12-19kb/d range. Whilst this is clearly larger than the previous [5,000 barrels a day range] estimate, it is inline with the flowrates of typical wells in the area as we had indicated (see BP: Making tangible progress 21-May). We note that this new information makes no difference to our worst case liability estimate of U.S. $10 [billion] – based on the recently proposed liability limit.”

BofA Merrill, June 10 — “Given the uncertainties presented by the spill (our base case cost est. is $28 [billion] but the worst case scenario cannot be adequately quantified.”

To be continued.....Check out the link for more stunning quotes.... Let´s all hope we won´t see an updated "Hurricane Edition".....

Fortsetzung folgt.......Mehr von den "Experten" gibt es hier.... Daumen drücken das wir um eine ähnliche Auflistung im Zusammenhang mit der "Hurricane Saison" herumkommen.....

"Rise ( & Fall ) Of The Machines" ...

With volatility finally creeping back into the markets i think the "Rise Of The Machines" aka the QUANT story is deserving extra attention....Especially with market stats shown in Does Anyone Detect A Hint Of Complacency? from 2 weeks ago..... Make sure you also read the UPDATE....

Ich denke das dank der etwas gestiegenen Volatilität das Thema ROBOTRADING aka QUANTS einen ganz genauen Blick wert sein sollte....Das gilt umsomehr als das noch vor 2 Wochen ein kollektiver Realitätsverlust ( siehe Does Anyone Detect A Hint Of Complacency? )die Marktteilnehmer erfasst hatte.... Verweise ausdrücklich auf das UPDATE......



The Minds Behind the Meltdown WSJ

How a swashbuckling breed of mathematicians and computer scientists nearly destroyed Wall Street

Instead of looking at individual companies and their performance, management and competitors, they use math formulas to make bets on which stocks were going up or down.

By the early 2000s, such tech-savvy investors had come to dominate Wall Street, helped by theoretical breakthroughs in the application of mathematics to financial markets, advances that had earned their discoverers several shelves of Nobel Prizes.

PDT, one of the most secretive quant funds around, was now a global powerhouse, with offices in London and Tokyo and about $6 billion in assets (the amount could change daily depending on how much money Morgan funneled its way). It was a well-oiled machine that did little but print money, day after day.

That week, however, PDT wouldn't print money—it would destroy it like an industrial shredder.

The market moves PDT and other quant funds started to see early that week defied logic. The fine-tuned models, the bell curves and random walks, the calibrated correlations—all the math and science that had propelled the quants to the pinnacle of Wall Street—couldn't capture what was happening.

At the time, few quants realized what was happening, but over the next few days a theory would emerge: The U.S. housing market was unraveling, leading to big losses in the mortgage portfolios of banks and hedge funds

The result was a catastrophic domino effect. The rapid selling scrambled the models that quants used to buy and sell stocks, forcing them to unload their own holdings.

Authorities, meanwhile, had little idea about the massive losses taking place across Wall Street.

That Tuesday afternoon, the Federal Reserve said it had decided to leave short-term interest rates alone at 5.25%.Investors on Main Street had little idea that a historic blowup was occurring on Wall Street.

Oddly, the Bizarro World of quant trading largely masked the losses to the outside world at first. Since the stocks they'd shorted were rising rapidly, leading to the appearance of gains on the broader market, that balanced out the diving stocks the quants had expected to rise. Monday, the Dow industrials actually gained 287 points. It gained 36 more points Tuesday, and another 154 points Wednesday.

The huge gains in those shorted stocks created an optical illusion: the market seemed to be rising, even as its pillars were crumbling beneath it.

A source of the extreme damage Wednesday and the following day was the absence of some high-frequency statistical arbitrage traders, firms that use high-powered computers to trade rapidly in and out of stocks and can act as liquidity providers for the market.

As investors tried to unload their positions, the high-frequency funds weren't there to buy them—they were selling, too. The result was a black hole of no liquidity whatsoever. Prices collapsed

UPDATE:

Rise of the news-reading machines FT Alphaville

The arms race in trading technology is set to intensify this week as Thomson Reuters, the news and market data company, on Monday unveils a service for “high-frequency” traders allowing them to make split-second trading decisions based on news articles “before the information moves the market” . . .

So-called “machine readable news” services, such as the new Thomson Reuters product, have grown up in parallel with the emergence of high-frequency and algorithmic trading, which depend on lightning-fast delivery of data and news to traders specialising in such computer-driven trading strategies.

Machine readable news systems use computers to “scrub” thousands of breaking news stories, prioritising their relevance for traders – often based on simple key words – and delivering them in a special feed. This provides traders with “signals” that are used to drive their strategies

Chicago Federal Reserve Joins Zero Hedge In Warning Over Threats From High Frequency Trading ZH

A handful of high-frequency trading firms accounted for an estimated 70 percent of overall trading volume on U.S. equities markets in 2009. One firm with such a computerized system traded over 2 billion shares in a single day in October 2008, amounting to over 10 percent of U.S. equities trading volume for the day.

AN INTERVIEW WITH ED THORPE – THE GODFATHER OF QUANTS Pragmatic Capitalist

Thorpe was the first true quant and an enormously successful gambler and hedge fund manager. He covers everything from beating casinos at their own game to the financial crisis, the role quants played in the downturn and even his own desire to be cryogenically frozen. He even provides his personal outlook and his worries that the return of “business as usual” on Wall Street means the next big crash is inevitable

The Audio Interview

Sounds reassuring... ;-) For more on this topic i recommend Kass: The Quant Bubble

Hört sich doch beruhigend an, oder...? Mehr zum Thema Kass: The Quant Bubble

Does Anyone Detect A Hint Of Complacency?

What a fascinating market and via FT Alphaville comes another good indicator of how "extreme" investor sentiment has become. Joshua Brown in Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Trading On The Moon (!) has so far the best & funniest transcription of the latest market behavior....

As i have written in the past few days in Don´t Call It A Bubble.... & "Anti Spin" i´m a very sceptical ( more bearish than ever ) that this kind of market level is sustainable.... Especially in the face of a "spiking" Sovereign Misery Index .....To be honest i´m thinking this since October.... Make sure you watch the following clip.... Nice to see that Saluzzi still isn´t drinking the kool aid....

Bin jeden Tag aufs neue fasziniert wie der Markt auf die Nachrichtenlage reagiert. Meiner Meinung nach Joshua Brown in Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Trading On The Moon (!) die bisher beste und lustigste Analyse zu Papier gebracht.

Ich bin wie in Don´t Call It A Bubble.... & "Anti Spin" geschrieben "skeptisch" ( höflich umschrieben ) was die Nachhaltigkeit der Kursanstiege angeht. Und all das im Angesicht eines täglich steigenden Sovereign Misery Index .....Meiner Meinung nach ist das Chance/Risikoprofil so unvorteilhaft wie selten....Die Skepsis steigt momentan tagtäglich und erreicht geradezu schwindelerregende Höhen.... ;-) Der nachfolgende Clip von Saluzzi liefert eine weitere gute Bestandsaufnahme in Sachen aktuelle Marktstimmung.....

Chilled markets FT Alphaville

Markets move on the interaction of news with flows of greed and fear among investors. When fear is lowest, the danger of a fall is greatest.

Especially when other sentiment indicators are considered:

Another great contrarian indicator is the survey of sentiment by the American Association of Individual Investors. Last week, this showed the lowest proportion of self-described “bears” since February 2007 – when volatility first started to spike as investors at last began to grasp the severity of the subprime mortgage crisis in the US.

Bearishness in this survey hit an all-time high in March last year when the current rally first started, showing how much money can be made by betting against extremes of sentiment.

But it’s not just the retail punter who’s bullish.

The Pros are too.

From Bloomberg:

Investors forecast gains in each of the nine countries represented in the Bloomberg Professional Confidence Survey for the first time since the data began in 2007.

The sentiment measure for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 35 percent to 54.37. That’s only the second time the reading exceeded 50, signaling participants anticipate a rally in the next six months.

The responses from 4,101 Bloomberg users were gathered Jan. 4-8 as the MSCI World Index added 2.6 percent.

The Bloomberg sentiment indexes for the U.S., Japan and Spain rose above 50 and reached all-time highs.

The U.K. gauge topped 50 for the first time since October, while Switzerland climbed to a record.

Spain exceeded 50 for the first time, adding 17 percent to 51.41.

Confidence in Switzerland climbed 3.6 percent to 60.89, and the U.K. index surged 22 percent to 55.61. The measures for Italy, France and Germany increased 14 percent, 3.7 percent and 2.4 percent to 62.61, 57.77 and 53.33, respectively.

Does anyone detect a hint of complacency?

FUND MANAGER BULLISHNESS COULD BE WARNING SIGN PragCap

The latest survey showed the highest surge in Merrill’s Risk & Liquidity(46%) indicator since May of 2006. In the past, this indicator has served as a fairly good contrarian indicator.

This survey is showing some contrariansell signals. Just 45% of fund managers are protecting themselves against a downturn versus 52% in December. The survey also shows a strong appetite for risk and high beta names

Faber on complacency & investor sentiment......



EXCELLENT!

Kass: The Quant Bubble

A must read...... Pflichtlektüre......

"When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance. We're still dancing."

Chuck Prince, former chairman and CEO of Citigroup (told to the Financial Times on July 10, 2007).

Kass: The Quant Bubble TSC ( H/T Anti Lemming )

A portion of the sharp rise in several asset classes over the past few months could be the dominance of quant funds that worship at the altar of price momentum (and the self-fulfilling prophecy of the fund flows that follow the price momentum induced by the quants!).

By some estimates, this price-momentum-based quant trading now has doubled in significance since early in the year, to more than two-thirds of the average day's trading.

> I doubt that this figure is correct, but it is verry telling that combined with High Frenquency Trading the "Quants" are the main market force dominating trading...... Doesn´t give me much comfort that the recent gains are "sustainable" ...... Especially after one of the biggest Bear Market Rallies ever on almost non existent Volume ( ! ) ..... Thank god the retail investor this time is smarter than the so called "smart money" ( 13th Straight Week Of Domestic Equity Fund Outflows As Market Rips 11% Over Same Period ) BRAVO ;-)

> Ich bezweifle das die von Kass gennante Zahl in der Tat so hoch ist.... Das aber die Quants zusammen mit dem sonstigen computergetützten Handel ( HFT) der wesentliche "Spieler" ( Investor traue ich mich in diesem Zusammenhang nicht in den Mund zu nehmen.... ) an den momentanen Märkten sind fördert nicht gerade mein Vertrauen in die Nachhaltigkeit in einen nicht "unwesentlicher" Teil der bisher verbuchten Kursgewinne . Nicht verbessert wird das Gesamtbild das der Anstieg praktisch unter minimalen ( ! ) Handelsvolumen stattgefunden hat.. Wenn man jetzt noch bedenkt das wir gerade einer der größten Bear Market Rallies aller Zeiten hinter uns haben sind immer neue Kursziele die man so jeden Tag zu hören bekommt zumindest "mutig"...Glücklicherweise scheint es diesemal so das der "Kleinanleger" sich nicht erneut für das über Jahre erprobte "PUMP & DUMB" begeistern läßt ( 13th Straight Week Of Domestic Equity Fund Outflows As Market Rips 11% Over Same Period ). BRAVO ;-)

Trades initiated by these funds are insensitive to an underemployment rate approaching 18%, signs of an unsteady recovery in housing, the prospects for higher marginal tax rates and how we are going to finance our budget deficit, which hurdles ever higher.

If you don't believe me about the growing quant fund influence, speak to any prominent institutional trader or salesman: They will tell you that their business with plain vanilla institutions is weak and that the quant funds are the ever growing whales of trading.

The pattern is all-too familiar as a new marginal buyer of an asset class dominates the market until they don't.

Here is an anecdote that underscores the changing landscape and is reminiscent of other sectors hiring at tops. (To refresh your memory, this occurred several years ago in private equity and was followed by a sharp cyclical decline in private-equity deals.) At any rate, a subscriber wrote me a telling note recently about his son's friend who attends Wharton and is "a genius in math and game theory." He was just hired by a high-frequency trading firm after being interviewed by 15 similarly talented employees at the firm. He is 20 years old and has been offered approximately $100,000 a year, with a bonus that can add up to an additional $100,000 a quarter! That's far better than even the estimable Goldman Sachs pays!

Keep dancing if you will, but I continue to sit out the melt-up in stocks and the bubble in other asset classes. When investors/traders are arguably overinfluenced by prices (not fundamentals) that dominate the markets, and are all on a similar side, it has the potential to lead to a treacherous and slippery slope, as it did in 2007-08.

Remember, it is some of the same momentum-based quant funds that sold in March 2009 that have been buying over the past few months

AMEN.....

You Know Something Is Wrong When.......

A veteran like Art Cashin is scared that the markets cannot handle ( QUOTE: "Meltdown" , "800 Point Plunge" ) a 2 percent intraday "spike" in the $......Needless to say that after Cashin finished the interview the market scored the biggest gain fueled from the "blockbuster" Government Domestic Product report since July hand in hand with a weaker $...... Shocking to see that this "bulletprove" strategy cannot work indefinitely.....

Wenn ein Veteran wie Art Cashin Angst vor einem Crash ( ZITAT: "Meltdown, "800 Point Plunge") hat nur weil der $ nach einer langen Talfahrt keine 2% intraday Erholung vertragen kann sollte man zumindest mal kurz innehalten..... Brauche wohl nicht zu erwähnen das nur Minuten nachdem Cashin die Bombe hat platzen lassen die Märkte getragen von dem "überzeugenden" Government Domestic Product den größten Tagesgewinn seit Juli haben folgen lassen.... Hand in Hand mit einem stark schwächelnden $...... Schon schade das diese "idiotensichere" Strategie nicht in alle Ewigkeit fortgeführt werden kann.....



Combine this with one of the biggest stock market rallies of all time ( chart ) & the Highest Risk Appetite Since April 2006 among the so called "smart money" and things can get "interesting"....... God forbid when the $ moves lower and the markets refuse to follow the inverse course.....Would probably qualify at least for a "Grey Swan".....

Wenn man nun noch bedenkt das wir gerade eine der gewaltigsten Aktienmarktrallies aller Zeiten ( Chart ) hinter uns haben und die Risikobereitschaft der "Professionellen" den höchsten Stand seit April 2006 erreicht hat kann es schnell "ungemütlich" werden..... Nicht auszudenken was passiert wenn der $ gen Süden geht und die Märkte daraufhin weigern zu steigen..... Denke dann dürften einige Marktteilnehmer zumindest einen "Grey Swan" am Horizont erkennen....;-)

"A Sham GDP For A Sham Economy"......

The high quality of the GDP aka "Government Domestic Product" growth is indeed "impressive".... As a GOLDBUG you gotta love this kind of "sustainable" growth.....

Solch "solides" und vor allem "nachhaltig" erkauftes GDP bzw "Government Domestic Product" Wachstum verdeutlichen eindrucksvoll warum ich starker Befürworter von GOLD bin..... ;-)

Mean Street: A Sham GDP for a Sham Economy Even Newmark

Americans rejoice! GDP grew by 3.5% in the third quarter and the recession is over.

It’s time to drink champagne, dance in the streets, and have a group hug with Nancy Pelosi and Ben Bernanke. But whatever you do, don’t ask yourself why the recession has ended. The answer might ruin the party.

The recession is over only because Washington decided it should be. With billions in fresh government spending, it was only a matter of time before GDP posted some growth.

It’s too bad all that government spending is borrowed money. Someday, we’ll actually have to pay off this year’s $1.4 trillion deficit.

Of course, all of the president’s Keynesian men will argue that everything is working to plan — the stimulus is stimulating. But it’s hard not to see today’s GDP bounce as a bit of a sham.

Just check out where the economy grew. Almost half — or 1.7% of the pickup in GDP growth came from “motor vehicle output.” That’s the summer’s $3 billion cash-for-clunkers program doing its thing.

H/T Clusterstock

But at what cost?

Edmunds.com just released some compelling analysis on cash-for-clunkers. Apparently, it cost the U.S. taxpayer about $24,000 per vehicle sold. Edmunds gets that number by dividing the $3 billion by the 125,000 additional car sales generated by the program. The methodology makes sense to me, but click here and decide for yourself.

The White House would probably contend that it’s impossible to determine incremental sales — meaning each sale that only happened because of the government $3,500 to $4,500 subsidy. And that the sale of each and every car spurs economic activity well beyond the program’s $3 billion.

But isn’t it possible that the Edmunds.com analysis is actually understating the true costs to the taxpayer? What about the interest costs on the borrowed $3 billion?

What about the cost of propping up GMAC so that it could underwrite cash-for-clunker loans?

That’s the catch with all this government intervention — lots of unforeseen consequences. And we never learn. The trillion dollar disasters with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac haven’t stopped the government from tinkering with the housing market.

Consider another one of Washington’s smashing successes: the $8,000 credit for first-time home buyers.

For the third quarter, “real residential fixed investment” — also known as “homebuilding” — jumped 23.4%. That boosted GDP by another 0.5%. Do you feel like hugging Harry Reid now?

H/T Mark Hanson

> More Homes.......Just what the Doctor ordered...... Thank god there are only 18.8 Million Vacant Homes In Q3 ......

> Mehr Häuser.....Macht bei Ansicht der o.g. Grafik die das Verhältnis von neuen Hausverkäufen und neuen Zwangsvollstreckungen extrem viel Sinn..... Besonders wenn man bedenkt das in den USA lediglich 18.8 Million leerstehende Häuser existieren ...... Brauche nicht zu erwähnen das diese mehr als sinnvolle Förderung gerade ausgedehnt und verlängert worden ist......

But we’re not seeing the real cost of the homebuyer tax credit. This is very expensive stuff. The Calculated Risk blog figures the home-buyer credit costs the taxpayer $43,000 per incremental home sale. Goldman Sachs ran its own numbers, reckoning that each incremental home sale cost the taxpayer an astounding $80,000. Again, the methodology seems right to me, but decide for yourself.

And again, this analysis understates the program’s true costs. We don’t include the cost of all the fraud — even though we know thousands of false and improper claims are being filed.

We don’t consider the cost of propping up the FHA , which is now underwriting all of the mortgages

And we can never calculate the true economic cost of messing with home prices – though the crisis over the last three years certainly gives us a hint.

So, let’s party as we welcome GDP growth. But never forget how the party ends – a group hug with lots of tears.

UPDATE

Monument Securities' Stephen Lewis via FT Alphaville

Government purchases were surprisingly strong. Instead of falling back from what had looked an erratic 14.0% annualised rise in Q2, defence spending increased further, at an 8.4% rate.

Cheering Over Ugly Report MISH

Personal income decreased $15.5 billion (0.5 percent), while real disposable personal income decreased 3.4 percent, in contrast to an increase of 3.8 percent last quarter. Those are horrible numbers

The savings rate is down, which no doubt has misguided economists cheering, but people spending more than they make is one of the things that got us into trouble.

The government sloshed trillions around and yet disposable income is down, jobs are horrendously weak, and the only reason GDP rose is wasteful government spending, cash-for-clunkers and extremely unaffordable housing tax credits whose effect is soon going to start diminishing even though the program was just extended.

I see plenty of chances for negative territory or at least extremely anemic growth starting in the second quarter of 2010, if indeed not the first quarter.Let's see what Christmas brings.

I am expecting far weaker numbers than most. In the meantime, let's party even if only for a day or two. Reality is likely to return soon.

Mark Zandi H/ Claculated Risk

This suggests that all the growth in Q3 was due to the stimulus package, and the impact will now wane - only 2% in Q4, and 1.5% in Q1 2010 - and then the package will be a drag on the economy in the 2nd half of 2010.

It's Alive, It's ALIVE, It's ALLLIIIIVVVE! Paul Kedrosky

Turns out coursing a few gigavolts of financial stimulus current through even an economy the size of the U.S. will still get Frankenstein off the slab, however briefly.

Inside GDP : The Figures Behind The Number ( nice chart )

Full GDP observations from Goldman Sachs ZH

David Rosenberg: GDP Head-Fake H/T Expected Returns

> Why i´m not surprised that the bubblehead from CNBC brouht up all the "Cash On The Sidelines"...... UPDATE: What a difference a day makes.... The same guys laughing at Rosenberg & spinning the cash on the sidelines, strong gdp, markets moving higher etc have reversed course and are suffering severe AMNESIA.....Click here for BUBBLEVISION at its best.....

> Passend zur euphoriuschen GDP Stimmung verwundert es nicht das der Typ von CNBC das Totschlagargument "Cash On The Sidelines" ins Spiel gebracht hat...... UPDATE: Was für ein Unterschied doch 24 Stunden machen können.... Dieselben "Gestalten" die noch gestern Rosenberg "belächelt" haben und was von Cash on the sidelines, starkes GDP, etc gefaselt haben leiden unter akutem Gedächnisverlust und haben Ihre Meinung um 180% gedreht....Hier klicken um zu erfahren warum CNBC als Bubblevision geadelt worden ist....

From the latest Rosenberg report

U.S. Q3 REAL GDP — ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO GET EXCITED ABOUT

Never before did a gap between a 3.2% consensus GDP forecast and an actual print of 3.5% manage to elicit so much excitement in the equity market. It just goes to show how speculative the stock market has become. The question is why it is that the economy couldn’t do even better?

Historically, the auto sector adds 0.1 percentage point or 0.2 percentage point to any given GDP report. In the third quarter, courtesy of cash-for-clunkers, the sector added 1.7 percentage points to the headline figure, which is less a than 1-in-10 event in terms of probabilities.

Because of the housing and auto subsidies, the personal savings rate plunged to 3.3% in Q3 from 4.9% in Q2 — in the past quarter-century, there have been only four other times that the savings rate went down so much in one quarter.

If not for that plunge in savings, real GDP actually would have contracted fractionally last quarter. The entire GDP growth was funded by a rundown in the savings rate that occurs less than 5% of the time.

Moreover, what is normal in that first positive post-recession GDP release is a 5% annual rate of growth. That puts 3.5% in Q3 into a certain perspective, especially when you consider the massive amount of stimulus that underpinned the latest batch of data.

While it seems very flashy, 3.5% growth is far from a trend-setter. Let’s go back to Japan. Since 1990, it has enjoyed no fewer than 19 of these 3.5%-or-better GDP growth quarters.

That is almost 25% of the time, by the way.

And we know with hindsight that this was noise around the fundamental downtrend because the Japanese economy has experienced four recessions and the equity market is down more than 70% from the peak

Without "Cash for Kindles, I-Phones, trucks etc" 2010 will be very "interesting".... Thank god the "experts" still argue the stock market is discounting the obviously bright outlook for the coming years....How else would you justify one of the biggest stock market rallies of all time ( chart ) ...... Would be shocking to see the "Herd" get it wrong ......... ;-)

Ohne "Cash for I Phones, LKW´s usw. " dürfte das Jahr 2010 mehr als interessant werden.... Zum Glück schauen die Märkte ja wie uns regelmäßig erzählt wird voraus und haben die "exzellenten" Aussichten für die nächsten Jahre sicher eingepreist.... Wie anders ist einer der gewaltigsten Aktienmarktrallies aller Zeiten ( Chart ) auch sonst zu erklären.....Wäre ja auch das erste Mal das die "Herde" komplett daneben liegen würde, oder ? ;-)

Fuzzy Numbers Chris Martenson

"Enron-esque characteristics".......

BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey Finds Risk Appetite at Highest Point Since April 2006

With almost all asset classes ( Dow 10.100, S&P 500 1100, N100 1780, Dax 5860, FTSE 5250, Oil $ 80 etc ) at new highs it looks like the herd mentality is once more rampant ( fueled in large part from the $ Carry Trade - €/$ 1,50 - & "Quantitive Easing" see also Speaking Of A Money Illusion........ ). Nice to see that after one of the biggest rallies in decades finally the "smart money" ( unlike the retail investor ) is getting more bullish..... As a contrarian it seems lots of folks are "all in"...... Another UPDATE: It remains to be seen if last hour drop from Wednesday was only a minor glitch in the Matrix..... Very telling that this (!!) "bulletproof" strategy seems the only relevant parameter that is important.... until it stops working ....;-) UPDATE: Taking todays ( Oct. 26th ) action into account i think this was more than a minor glitch in the MATRIX... There is now a reasonable chance that this guy will get the upper hand for some time to come..... At least all the "Cash On The Sidelines" ( sarcasm ) has now the opportunity to step in. Add to this that "Wall Street Finest" have only a sell rating on 5 percent of all stocks and the potential for some extra SCHADENFREUDE is not getting smaller.... ;-)

Da gerade heute praktisch alle Vermögenswerte nahe Ihren Jahreshochs ( Dow 10.100, S&P 500 1100, DAX 5860, MDAX 7450, TECDAX 775, FTSE 5250, Öl $ 80 ) notieren ( dank des$ Carry Trades invers zum $ - €/$ 1,50 - versteht sich, sowie dank des sog. "Quantitive Easing" , passend zum Thema Speaking Of A Money Illusion........ ) sieht es in der Tat einmal mehr so aus als wenn der Herdentrieb praktisch alle Marktteilnehmer infiziert hat... Da paßt es gut ins Bild das auch gerade jetzt die Big Boys ( ganz im Gegensatz zu dem Kleinanleger ) nach einer der größten Kursexplosion der letzten Jahrzehnte endlich Ihre Vorsicht über Bord geworfen haben und zum Teil massiv Ihr Risiprofil erhöht haben... Man könnte auch sagen das sie "all in" sind... Erneutes Update: Es bleibt abzuwarten ob der starke Abverkauf in der letzten Handelsstunde vom Dienstag nur ein kleiner Fehler in der Matrix gewesen ist... Wenn man sich aber die anscheinend momentan gängige "Strategie" (!!) ansieht wie die Märkte "funktionieren" sagt das einiges über Robustheit der Rally aus......;-) UPDATE: Nach dem heutigen ( 26. Oktober ) erneuten Abverkauf handelt es sich wohl um mehr als nur einen kleinen Fehler in der Matrix..... Es ist nun nicht unrealistisch das dieser Typ bis auf weiteres die Oberhand gewonnen hat ...... Immerhin ermöglicht dieser noch kleine Rückschlag ja den angeblichem "Cash On The Sidelines" ;- ) sich endlich massivst in den Aktienmarkt einzukaufen.....Wenn man jetzt noch bedenkt das die "Analysten" lediglich 5% der Aktien mit einer Verkaufsempfehlung versehen haben dürfte das die mögliche Schadenfreude nicht gerade mindern..... ;-)

H/T RobotTrader

BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey Finds Risk Appetite at Highest Point Since April 2006 as Double-Dip Recession Fears Fade Marketwatch

--Investors See Brighter Corporate Profits on Horizon - Shift from Cash to Equities

Investors' risk appetite has reached its highest point in more than three years amid continued optimism about the prospects for a global economic recovery and rising corporate profits, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for October

Investors are increasingly confident that the threat of a double-dip recession is waning. A net 65 percent of respondents believe a global recession is unlikely in the next 12 months, up from 47 percent a month earlier.

A net 72 percent of respondents believe the outlook for corporate profits will improve in the next year, up from 68 percent a month earlier.

The survey also shows asset allocators shifting out of cash and into equities as risk appetite grows. Their cash positions are at their lowest level since January 2004. A net 7 percent of respondents are underweight cash in October, compared to a net 10 percent overweight a month earlier.

A net 38 percent of panelists are overweight equities, up from 27 percent in September. Technology, Energy, Materials and Industrials are the favored sectors for asset allocators in October with investors still shying away from financial
stocks.

Investors seeing value in Europe hits eight-year high

Asset allocators are showing a growing conviction that global corporate profits will post double digit earnings growth, the survey shows. A net 39 percent of panelists think profits will rise by at least 10 percent in the next 12 months, up from just 25 percent in September.

Optimism about Europe is pronounced in the October survey. A net 30 percent of global portfolio managers see eurozone equities as undervalued relative to other regions, the highest reading since April 2001

. A net 9 percent of panelists want to overweight the region in the next 12 months, up from 7 percent last month. This contrasts with Japan, which a net 20 percent of investors regard as the least attractive region a year ahead.

The change in sentiment coincides with a shift in investors' appetite for European financials. Investors are overweight European banks for the first time since June 2007, courtesy of greater confidence in bank balance sheets and profitability trends.

"Europe is emerging phoenix-like from the ashes as confidence in its banks boosts overall confidence in European equities," said Gary Baker, head of European equity strategy at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.

> Read this twice...... ;-)

> Das sollte man zur Sicherheit zweimal lesen....... ;-)

Chinese confidence rebounds: U.S. dollar confidence sinks

Confidence in the prospects for the Chinese economy and emerging markets in general remains robust. A net 49 percent of respondents think China's economy will strengthen in the next 12 months, up from 35 percent in September. A net 36 percent of respondents also said they would most like to overweight emerging markets in the next year.

Continuing weakness in the U.S. dollar has resulted in a growing number of respondents who believe the dollar is undervalued. A net 20 percent of panelists regard the currency as undervalued, compared to one percent a month earlier. Japan's economic outlook is marked by a growing number of asset allocators who view the yen as overvalued. A net 34 percent of respondents believe it is overvalued, compared to just 21 percent last month.

"Confidence in Chinese growth has rebounded but worries over a U.S. dollar crisis are on the rise. The dollar is seen as undervalued and the yen as very overvalued, suggesting that central bank intervention in currency markets in coming months could soon prove successful," said Michael Hartnett.

A total of 229 fund managers, managing a total of US$616 billion, participated in the global survey from 2 October to 8 October. A total of 195 managers, managing US$384 billion, participated in the regional surveys.

> It feels like my blog headline "Bubbles Are Normal And Non-Bubble Times Are Depressions...." is the new mantra among central banksters...... ;-)

> Ich fürchte immer mehr das meine Blogüberschrift "Bubbles Are Normal And Non-Bubble Times Are Depressions...." weltweit alle Zentralbankster erfaßt hat....... ;-)

UPDATE:

90% Of Fund Managers Think The Market Will Go Up Clusterstock

Maybe the street has become a bit too bullish afterall.

90% of institutional investors believe that the S&P500 will rise to 1,200 by the end 2011 according to a survey by The Markets. 75% then expect it to hit 1,500 by the end of 2013, and 75% believe that the market already bottomed earlier this year. The survey covered 103 invesors in 20 countries.

We don't necessarily disagree with these views, but naturally find it disturbing to find such a strong consensus on market direction. It sets off our contrarian alarm loud and clear.

From Paul Tudor Jones, who reports in his third-quarter letter to investors

While many of our surveys of aggregate hedge fund positioning would say net long exposure has rebounded to late 2007 percentages (though on a smaller base), and mutual fund cash/asset ratios have come in significantly, markets continue to trade as if most are not satisfied with their current commitment to equities.

Fall 2009 Big Money Poll Results Out: Only 13% Are Bearish, 70% Are Beating S&P, As Taxpayers Get Hosed ZH

On economic matters, 72% of respondents believe the recession has ended, and an amusing 52% believe there is no chance of a double dip recession. It is scary that over half of the "sophisticiated community" thinks that Fed can succeed where so many central planning administration have failed before.

Uh-Oh: Economists Say Recovery, Market Gains Solid BR

Nearly four of five economists surveyed by USA TODAY say the stock market rally since March is heralding a sustainable recovery.

> Needless to say that i agree almost 100 percent with this guy & Geremy Grantham....

> Kann nicht oft genug wiederholen das ich zu fast 100% mit diesem Typen & Geremy Grantham übereinstimme.....


JGLetter_ALL_3Q09 -

Herd Mentality On Steroids

It seems I wasn´t far off..... Everybody is once more chasing the same strategy.......No wonder when computer trading ( must see clip Themis Trading: "Principal Program Trading Is A Way To Get The Market Go In Your Direction" )& models are the dominant force on the exchanges these days.....This leaves unfortunately little room for "common sense"..... I doubt that this will end as hilarious ( see "Depression-Era Bear Market Rallies" ) as in the following clip .....

Da lag ich dann wohl nicht nicht ganz verkehrt .... Sieht ganz so aus als wenn einmal mehr alle ein und dieselbe Strategie verfolgen..... Liegt sicher auch daran das heutzutage computergestützter Handel ( passend hierzu Themis Trading: "Principal Program Trading Is A Way To Get The Market Go In Your Direction" ) bzw. Strategien die Märkte dominieren..... Da kommt der "gesunde Menscheverstand" leider oft zu kurz......Bezweifle aber stark das dieser Anfall von "Herdentrieb" für die Akteure ähnlich ausgelassen ( siehe "Depression-Era Bear Market Rallies" ) wie im folgenden Clip enden wird ....


FT Alphaville

June 29 (Bloomberg) — Investors are moving in lockstep like never before, driving up stocks, commodities and emerging markets and risking a replay of last year, when they all plunged the most since World War II.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, whose increase in the past three months was the steepest in seven decades, is rallying in tandem with benchmark measures for raw materials, developing- country equities and hedge funds. The so-called correlation coefficient that measures how closely markets rise and fall together has reached the highest levels ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg . .

The correlation coefficient for the S&P 500 and the Reuters/Jeffries CRB index of commodities has been at 0.74 for the last 60 days.

A value of 1 means perfectly correlated, but to give you the historical significance of a reading of 0.74 — it’s the highest correlation in at least five decades, according to Bloomberg

The S&P is also increasingly (werrdly) moving in tandem with the price of crude oil, with the correlation value above 0.7 in June. The correlation between the S&P and the MSCI Emerging markets index is also apparently the tightest since Russia defaulted on its debt in 1998

The rather dramatic increase in correlation should be a bit of a worry for investors, since it makes diversification rather difficult.

> Here another stunning chart.....

> Hier ein weiterer Chart der zeigt das momentan eine Art "Ausnahmezustand" herrscht.......

Contrary Indicator.... The Retail Investor Is Back.....

Looks like the "herd mentality" ( with the help from usual vicarious agents / see Abby Joseph Cohen 2009 vs Abby Joseph Cohen 2001.....Which Call Is Worse? & The Wall Street Clown Show via Michael Panzner UPDATE: CNBC´s Dennis Kneale: "The Great Recession Is Over") has once again sucked the small investor into this very dangerous market.... Just in time after a 40 percent ( S&P from 666 to over 900, DAX from 3600 to north of 5.000, Nikkei from 7.000 to over 10K, etc..... ) runup & insiders dumping shares ( see Insiders Exit Shares at the Fastest Pace in Two Years including a very interesting chart ) .... The clip is excellent !

Es sieht einmal mehr danach als wenn der "Herdentrieb" ( auch dank der wunderbaren "Expertenunterstützung" / siehe Abby Joseph Cohen 2009 vs Abby Joseph Cohen 2001.....Which Call Is Worse? & The Wall Street Clown Show via Michael Panzner UPDATE: CNBC´s Dennis Kneale: "The Great Recession Is Over" PURE COMEDY!) einmal mehr ganze Arbeit geleistet hat und den Privatanleger im großen Stil zurück in den "verminten" Markt gelockt hat...... Nach Anstiegen von ca. 40% ( S&P von 666 auf über 900, Dax von 3600 auf fast 5200, Nikkei von 7000 auf über 10K, usw. ) und massivsten Insiderverkäufen ( siehe Insiders Exit Shares at the Fastest Pace in Two Years beinhaltet u.a. einen sehr sehenswerten Chart ) gerade noch rechtzeitig..... Klasse Clip!

Hat tip to Zero Hedge



Neesdless to say that i think Biderman is spot on & that herding is a global "phenomenon" ( see A year in perspective, Shanghai edition via FT Alphaville )......

Überflüssig zu erwähnen das ich hundertprozentig mit Biderman übereinstimme und das der Börsenwahn weltweit erneut um sich gegriffen hat ( siehe A year in perspective, Shanghai edition via FT Alphaville ) ...... UPDATE: Hier ein weiterer erstklassiger Kontraindikator.... Der ZEW Index ( Das ZEW befragt jeden Monat Analysten und institutionelle Anleger zu ihren Erwartungen an die konjunkturelle Entwicklung ) sieht charttechnisch so aus ( sicher kein Zufall das der fast identisch mit dem DAXverlauf ist..... ). Textlich geht das dann ähnlich dem Artikel im MM ( siehe ZEW-Index signalisiert Ende der Talfahrt ) über den Ticker.....

Herd Mentality / Herdentrieb

What this has to do with Wall Street......? More than you think.....

Was das alles mit den Märkten zu tun hat....? Mehr als man denkt......



Hat tip Paul Kedrosky

Have a nice weekend... Looks like concerts from Santigold are fun to attend.... Just in case here is the list with their tour dates..... I´m not sure i can resist to watch them in Hamburg.... But i´ll have to check out if this guy is also on board... :-)

Allen ein schöne Wochenende....Sieht ganz so aus als wenn Konzerte von Santigold Spaß machen können..... Bin mir nicht sicher ob ich der Versuchung widerstehen kann die in Hamburg zu sehen..... Natürlich nur wenn der Typ erneut den Einpeitscher macht...... :-)

China at 45 Times Earnings Fed by `Herd Mentality,' Government

As is wrote yesterday this feels more and more like a deja vu. Herd mentality at its best.....

Wie bereits gestern bemerkt erinnert das gnaze doch immer mehr an die wilden "Neuer Markt/Nasdag Zeiten". Der Begriff "Herdentreib" umschreibt das ganze ziemlich gut.

Aspiration and envy are key emotions driving China's stocks boom as investors ignore warnings of a growing bubble to pursue quick riches and gain respect from friends and neighbors. Rapid recoveries from two government-triggered sell-offs this year have deepened investors' belief that the market is immune to a crash. ....

Unlike business people who amass wealth through political connections and corruption, successful stock traders are respected for winning on their own merits, Shi says. ....

Such is China's investing frenzy that an average of 300,000 stock-trading accounts have been opened every day since April, according to China Securities Depository & Clearing Corp. Trading by individual investors accounts for about 60 percent of market volume, estimates the Shanghai-based brokerage Guotai Junan Securities Co. In the U.S., individuals account for only 5 percent of trading as institutional investors dominate.

Soup Shop Dream
Since a four-year bear market ended in the third quarter of 2005, the CSI 300 has quadrupled. While the index fell as much as 16 percent the week of May 30, after the government tripled a share-trading tax, all the losses were recouped by the close of trading June 18. The index has fallen 1.4 percent since then because of concerns the central bank would raise interest rates.
At Shenyin & Wanguo Securities, human-resources consultant Guan Fengxian checks her stocks at one of the terminals small investors line up to use.

Nearby is a chef from the adjoining restaurant and the building's cleaning lady. Guan, 30, says her dream is to make enough money to open a soup shop with two friends -- and quit her job.

Guan opened her trading account in early June, during the market sell-off. She bought 1,000 shares in Hunan Valin Steel Tube & Wire for about 7 yuan apiece; they have risen to 9.18 yuan. Guan says she's waiting to plow an additional 160,000 yuan, most of her savings, into the market.

``I'm not afraid,'' says Guan, tightening her clutch on a pink Mickey Mouse wallet. ``Our economy is doing so well; nothing could possibly go wrong, right?''

Foreign Vultures
Such confidence defies warnings from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing who last month said shares were too expensive.

Xu says he ignores such comments from abroad.

``These foreign interests want to get in on the action themselves but can't because the market has risen too much,'' he says. ``That's why they are talking down the market, so they can swoop in and pick up some cheap stocks.''

Government support for the stock market is guaranteed because it is selling state-owned shares to pay for future pension obligations and education programs, Xu says.

``If we take a beating in the stock market, the government takes a beating too,'' he says. ``There's no reason the government would want to smash the stock market.'' ....

Chinese shares are among the most expensive in the world, trading at about 45 times reported earnings. By comparison, shares trade for an average of 17 times earnings on the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong and 18 times on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index in the U.S.

Only Chinese nationals are allowed to buy yuan-denominated shares traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen, except for 52 authorized foreign money managers that are allowed to invest a combined $10 billion in Chinese stocks, a fraction of the nation's $2.27 trillion market capitalization.

``Herd mentality prevails in Chinese society,'' Shi says. ``If they see everyone around them -- neighbors, friends and colleagues -- trading stocks, they would want to follow.''

Ironically, government-triggered market declines may provide the impetus for future surges.

Chastened by Declines
``With each plunge, investors become more immune to market volatility,'' says Yao Maogong, chief trader at Shanghai Securities Co. ``Chinese investors don't pay much attention to ratios; as long as the market trends up, they think it's safe.''

Some Chinese investors are chastened by the recent sell-off. Retired school teacher Wu had ``tens of thousands'' wiped off her portfolio. While she hasn't sold stocks, Wu has stopped buying and talks gravely of the stock-market plunge in 2001 that cut the value of her holdings in half.

Xu says: ``There's no way the government would let the stock market crash.''

> Today the stock market in cghina tanked over 4%.....Good opportunity for Xu to buy the dip......

> Heute ist der Markt n China über 4% eingebrochen.......Also gute Nachkaufgelegenheiten für Xu und co.....