Jim Bianco Profile picture
Sep 28, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
Solid signals the debt ceiling is going to be a problem, and might be a catalyst (not they catalyst) behind today's risk market selloff.

Yes, it eventually gets resolved but the fear it will be messy and chaotic this time around.

A thread to explain.

1/6
First, their is 1.3 trillion in Fed reverse repo (RRP). The Fed is offering 5 basis points in this RRP facility

Their is no reason for a T-Bill to have a yield above the 5 bps RRP rate.

2/6
Here is the bill curve out the next 9 mos and the Oct 18 date that the govt runs out of money.

The only bill yield yields above 5 bps is from Oct 19 to Oct 28.

By trading above the RRP rate after Oct 18 signals the debt ceiling is going to be a problem in this time period.

3/6
The betting markets have a contract with an Oct 15 date. It is essentially 50/50 it will be raised before this date.

This signals no early deal. So, even if a deal gets done in time to avoid a mess, it is going down to the wire.

4/6
Now for the political part to ask why this is happening.
The Ds are the majority of the House, Senate and Presidency. They do not need R votes.

But hiking the debt ceiling is deeply unpopular and they want cover from the Rs. They are not getting it.

5/6
Biden is deeply unpopular and it just gets worse everyday. See the orange line, new highs in "disapprove" regularly.

Does Biden lack the stature IN HIS OWN PARTY to cut a deal between his progressives and moderates? He would if he was at 55% appr.

6/6
Bonus

All the Wall Street strategists are in universal agreement this is a bunch of nothing and will get resolved without drama.

This last time they we this sure about something was Feb 2020 with they all concluded CV19 was temporary and not important.

You have been warned!
Can/should the Fed buy T-Bills and stop a mess with the debt ceiling?

Buying bills or any kind of "support" for the Treasury market is taking a side in an intensely political fight.

1/2
Powell is fond of saying that congress does the will of the American People. The Fed job is to respond, not take sides.

And for the Fed to get involved would be especially political given they all but signaled they are going to start tapering at the Nov 3rd FOMC meeting.

2/2

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More from @biancoresearch

Jul 5
1/9

Since the 10 Spot ETFs started trading on January 11, they have collectively generated $14.6 billion in net new money. They peaked near $16 billion last month.

Collectively, these ETFs are the most successful ETF launches in history.

The problem might be they are successful for ETF providers but maybe not as much for BTC holders.

A 🧵to explain.Image
2/9

As I noted last month, most of this "new" ETF money was on-chain coins moved to regulated brokerage accounts that bought the BTC ETFs.

Of the peak inflows near $16 billion into BTC ETFs, only ~$3 billion was really "new" money into the BTC ecosystem.

3/9

The lack of a rally showed that the "new" money in the entire BTC ecosystem was small (~$3 billion). Despite all the bullish talk and "here come the boomers" proclamations, BTC peaked in March at $74k.

The BTC bulls were correct that near $16 billion of "new" money into the ecosystem should have pushed BTC to >$100k. However, it was not near $16 billion as most ETF flows came from on-chain accounts and not new fiat entering for the first time.

Further supporting this are the fears surrounding Mt. Gox liquidations. A total of $7.6 billion of BTC (140k BTC) is getting transferred. If $7.6 billion is hitting the price this much, and only a small portion will be liquidated for fiat, then near $16 billion of new BTC ETF money, if this was the case, should have skyrocketed the BTC price.

It did not happen.

forbes.com/sites/siladity…
Read 9 tweets
Jun 30
1/3

Breaking news Saturday night ... just as Biden arrives at the Hamptons fundraiser.

----

President Joe Biden is expected to discuss the future of his re-election campaign with family at Camp David on Sunday, following a nationally televised debate Thursday that left many fellow Democrats worried about his ability to beat former President Donald Trump in November, according to five people familiar with the matter.

nbcnews.com/politics/2024-…
2/3

Betting market reaction to this news ....

Notice who moved ahead of Gavin Newsom into second place for the Democrat nomination. Image
3/3

The last time Harris was ahead of Newsom for the Democrat Nomination ....

July 2022!! Image
Read 4 tweets
Jun 18
1/4

Last week, BlackRock Admitted:

For now, about 80% of bitcoin ETF purchases have likely been coming from “self-directed investors who have made their own allocation, often through an online brokerage account."

cnbc.com/2024/06/16/adv…
2/4

The following chart shows that the average size of a Spot BTC ETF trade (blue) is just $14.6k, far less than any other ETFs that are very popular with Tradfi ... and about one-tenth the size of a SPY trade.

This is exactly what you'd expect if they buyer is retail Degens. Image
3/4

In other words, the chart above is consistent with BlackRock's statement that Tradfi is largely not playing. This blue line will go up when they start to play, which they are not doing now.

For now, the Spot BTC ETF buyer is a retail Degen, and as explained below, most of them came from on-chain accounts to a regulated brokerage account.

Read 4 tweets
Jun 14
1/8

Consumer Confidence came out today and contained a message for everyone interested in markets and the economy.

tl:dr - Consumer confidence came in much worse than expected. Driving this was Democrats turning sour on the economy. Behind this seems to be a big worry they are going to lose the election this fall.

Since so much of economic data is opinion surveys, like consumer confidence, economists will look at this data and conclude that it means the economy is worsening, not that these surveys are really political, not economic, opinions.

----

The University of Michigan put out its June estimate for Consumer Sentiment. It declined to 65.6, the lowest reading of 2024.Image
2/8

Bloomberg surveyed 50 economists, and they predicted Consumer Sentiment would rise from May's 69.1 to 72 in June. Instead, as shown above, it fell to 65.6.

Only one of the 50 economists had it this low. So, a big surprise. Image
3/8

What drove this downside surprise?

Here is a breakdown of consumer sentiment by (self-identified) political party.

You can see how partisanship drives one's outlook on the economy. What matters is your political identification and which party controls the White House, not an objective assessment of the economy.

Not that Democrat sentiment (blue) in June fell almost 7 points whereas Republican sentiment (red) fell less than 0.5 of a point.Image
Read 8 tweets
Jun 12
1/5

What I'm looking for at the FOMC meeting today.

tl:dr - The long-term dot or their estimate of the neutral funds rate.
---
This FOMC releases a new Dot Plot every quarter (M/J/S/D). Here is March.

Every dot is an FOMC participant forecast. The orange line is the median.

The Street's focus is the 2024 dots. The median (red line) was for 3 cuts. Will that come down to 1 or 2?Image
2/5

Instead, I'm looking at the long-term dot. As noted above, it is 2.56%

Here are all the long-term dots back to 2018. It was steady at 2.50% until a slight increase at the March meeting to 2.56%.

It has not moved for years, so it has been forgotten. But it might be ready to move now, and that matters.Image
3/5

The long-term dot is the Fed projection for the neutral rate, or R*.

The Fed has consistently maintained that the long-run inflation is 2%, and they augment this by 0.5% to reach 2.5% (again R*).

There has been much talk that the neutral fund rate has moved higher. If the long-run inflation is now 3% to 4% (chart), and given the uncertainty, it should push the 0.5% to 1.0%, this puts the neural fund's rate between 4% and 5%. Many are making this argument; I am, too.

I do not expect the Fed to jump all the way to 4% today, but do we see upward movement in the neutral funds today? The start of a trend?Image
Read 5 tweets
Jun 5
1/4

Lots of talk about an economic slowdown, but what exactly is slowing down?

tl:dr, surveys of opinions, not actual or "hard" data.
---
Start with the Bloomberg Surprise Index. It is an index of economic releases measured against the consensus forecast for each release.

How to read it?

A number above zero means the economic data is coming in above expectations, and a number below zero means worse than expectations. The trend matters as it shows whether things are improving or deteriorating (again relative to expectations).

What does it say?

The economy has turned sharply lower (steep downtrend) and, since the beginning of April, coming in much worse than forecasted (below zero).

Sound ominous. However ....Image
2/4

The chart above can be broken into two broad categories, shown below:

* Hard data (blue), which are actual measures of economic performance. Think retail sales, durable goods, auto sales (number of cars sold), international trade, etc.

* Soft data (orange) that measures surveys of how various economic actors think the economy is doing. Think consumer confidence, the Institute of Supply Management report of manufacturing (it is a survey of purchasing managers' opinions, not an actual measure of activity), the regional Fed Reserve surveys of activity, and the Conference Board Index of Leading Economic Indicators.

What does it say?

The soft data (orange) is falling apart fast and well below zero. This is the so-called "vibecession." People feel lousy about the economy.

But the hard data (blue), in this case, the measures of the labor market, are holding up reasonably well. This measure is still above zero and generally moves sideways in the better-than-expected range.Image
3/4

Like the hard data measure of labor above, below are the hard data measures of retail activity (green) and the Household (green).

The are also above zero and not meaningfully trending lower. Image
Read 4 tweets

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