Quick thread here as I get a lot of questions with regards to “why the risk-off”.
• SPX Options expired last week dropping a huge amount of gamma which was protective of downside short term.
1/x
• CTAs are better buyers of US Bonds
To give you an idea the 30y UST signal is -50%.
If we sell-off 25bp in the next month that moves it to -62% but if we rally 25bp it moves it to -10%.

2/x
That evolution is only starting to be priced in the rates vol market.
Here you can see the tails for 3M expiry swaptions. The receiver vols (ie the ones for lower rates) have come back, but we're still far last month's vols esp 3M>10Y -25bp.
3/x
• Deleveraging will continue as PBs face more questions:
“Credit Suisse Halts Star Trader’s Fund on Risk Concerns”
That is the big driver lately. Convexity is still cheap but it has started to move.
4/x
• There are still some very large positions:
Equities: Taiwan obv but even DM are quite large.
Bonds: Market still short 30Y US
FX: AUDJPY/USDJPY/USDCHF
AUDJPY vols are still cheap so it's not surprising we get accidents
5/x
Also recent darlign trades like long USDTWD (given forwards were whacky) are now underwater. Which brings an added level of deleveraging.
6/x
Overall it's not a bad picture and there are reasons to be positive (vaccine, the whole world buying houses - except for me).
But fragility is increasing.
The turning point should be the June FOMC with how the Fed will deal with the better data both in urate and inflation.
7/7

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More from @pauleluard

15 Apr
So this bond rally looks like deleveraging. There's been strong paying since the start of the year, as we got into the reflation.
Now Powell is pushing against "fast" and the market is caught a bit too short. Hence strong flattening.
1/x
UK in particular is at risk because between Brexit and reflation and no negative rates, plus two smart BOE guys leaving (@GVlieghe and Haldane), market not sure of direction. And as you can see today even 2s got bid.
CTAs in gilts are also much better buyers of 10s and 30s.
2/x
Thing is, the latest data is strong and yes one can disregard the inflation risk for now but we cannot kill it entirely. But Fed pricing was already strong. Here I'm looking at 1y gaps in ois and we can see the risk reward for more hikes was not good.
3/x
Read 4 tweets
11 Apr
So I was talking about 1958 recently and @Fullcarry didn't know the link so I thought, if he doesn't know then maybe it's time to re-up as we say (because he's clever and knowledgeable but there are so many hours in the day you can use to play with your dogs).
1/x
So the thing is as everyone is posting (cc @pearkes), housing and car sales are on fuego in the US (and looking at prices in my London hood this morning, it's the same here).
Auto loans were crashing last year but we can expect a resurgence, and looking at sales in China...
2/x
And when I look at the JOLTs data (not that i like it but it's what we have to use to construct Beveridge curves a la @TimDuy , despite the fact that it's a bit weird for the average monthly job opening to be 0 per cohort).
Waiters and Nurses are needed. In the South. FAST!.
3/x
Read 15 tweets
6 Apr
So I've been a bit silent lately but Covid has hit me a bit both physically and mentally. Anyway let's be honest that Archegos story is quite interesting and though I think it's just a case of "mate it's never going to fall 25%" it begs some interest thoughts for after.
1/10
Prime brokers are likely to have to reduce the leverage they provide, or equivalently increase the margins they need.
Looking at a portfolio of 60/40 US Bonds and stocks, a move from weekly VaR (value at risk) from 95% to 97% is a 40bp increase in the risk of the portfolio.
2/10
Now you might think that's small, but when you're 10x levered (and some funds are especially in Fixed Income RV space), a 40bp increase over 10bn assets means 400m extra margin, and that's a couple desks which have to cut their positions.
3/10
Read 10 tweets
29 Mar
Been a while since i posted some charts but looking at the past two weeks, it feels like that ship. Market is stuck in a glut and doesn't where to steer.
1/x
Fed pricing is almost unchanged. Guess we need to see jobs inequality or inflation. As expected this is the waiting part of the pricing. No new info and Powell and co will hammer their nails so you don't jump the gun.
Other CBs trying same.
2/x
But looking at the Fed surveys, the outlook is rosy. Activity is strong, employment tight and the prices paid are the highest in recent records.
3/x
Read 10 tweets
14 Mar
It's sunday night so it's time to post some weekly updates.
Pooches have been fed, it's the PhD student's turn to cook dinner and there is a lot to ponder after watching gogglebox.
1/x
First we have the stymie checks coming. This happens in a very protective gamma environment.
We have FOMC this week and it won't be hawkish (that's Yellen's job now).
An opex which should be lenient.
Can we break 4000 this week? Certainly.
2/x
Also we still have a ton of underwater VIX hedges (remember those guys who sold 1M VIX at 25 just to realise it decayed?).
Skew has been killed. And Bitcoin is being pushed with the checks. Value is up. All is good.
Kill those forward vols please.
(h/t @BRzymelka re btc)
3/x
Read 12 tweets
9 Mar
Thanks to my amigo B. Vladimirov for reminding me of the NY Fed consumer survey.
We have CPI tomorrow and it's not a big deal. I'm waiting for the FOMC SEP and then prints will become much more relevant.

1/x
The Fed Survey shows some pick up in inflation expectations but more importantly for the lower income cohort, the variance of expectations continues to increase.
This is very interesting because the Biden Stimulus will push a lot of money in households...
2/x
via child credits (cc @MagnusMacro for highlighting).
What's also interesting is that their housing inflation expectations are sharply lower this month, while the 50k-100k bracket pushed significantly higher (alongside the move in USD rates).

So something to keep an eye on.
Read 4 tweets

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