Jim Bianco Profile picture
Dec 3, 2021 7 tweets 3 min read Read on X
1/7

What is the issue with inflation/the economy?

3 three charts to detail.

* Record consumption of durables (or "stuff").

Restated, the US economy has record demand. Not good demand, but record demand (bottom panel, distance above the trendline).

@kofinas @mercoglianos
2/7

To meet this demand Pacific rim countries are running factors as fast as they can.

The area in this chart is the trade deficit five years BEFORE COVID (2015 to 2019). Red is 2021.

Asian countries are sending us a record amount of stuff, way ahead of pre-covid levels.
3/7

40% of these shipments go to the LA and Long Beach ports.

They are also running at record rates, way above the five years before COVID.

We call it a bottleneck, and while that is technically true, "running at the limits of capacity" might be a better term.
4/7

When record demand meets the limits of production and the supply chain, how do you fix it?

Simple jack prices, which also cools demand

Aka inflation
5/7

How do you fix it without inflation? Get everyone back to work, now!!

But COVID cases in Europe is at a record and the world is at a two-month high and rising rapidly.
6/7

Omicron came a bad time.

When we need people to get together in large groups (aka, go back to work), we now have a reason to slow this process down.

Results, more "bottlenecks" and higher inflation.
7/7

Fed apologists like to say, "the Fed cannot print more ships."

True.

But they can slow record demand that is contributing to higher inflation.

This is why, I believe the market is pricing far more aggressive Fed hikes that the consensus expects.

Cool demand Jay!

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More from @biancoresearch

Apr 13
1/7

Yesterday, I made the case that tariff-driven inflation expectations are soaring, driving the bond market, and paralyzing the Fed from cutting despite fears of a recession.



In the 🧵I will address some retorts.
2/7

Yesterday I noted the soaring surveys of inflation expectations and included this chart. Image
3/7

The retort is the chart above, the Fed's favorite measure of inflation expectations (IE): the 5y/5y inflation breakeven.

This is the 5yr avg inflation rate in 5 years (10yr IE, the 5yr IE, and back into the 5yr/5yr IE).

It is slumping and nearly a 3-year low. Image
Read 7 tweets
Apr 12
1/16

What Happened to Bonds Last Week?

🧵

Last week, the 30-year yield rose 46 basis points last week to end at 4.87%.

As this chart shows, this was its biggest weekly rise since April 1987 (38 years ago!). Image
2/16

Why Did This Happen?

Let's start with what it was not. It was not data that suggested the economy was strong or recent inflation was high.

Here is a tick chart of the last 3-days of the 10-year yield.Image
3/16

The better-than-expected CPI and PPI reports (green) had no impact on the 10-year yield.

The worst-than-expected Michigan Survey (red), with its collapse in sentiment implying a severe slowdown or recession, did nothing to stop the drive in yields to the highs of the day.
Read 16 tweets
Apr 11
1/6

Bonds are getting crushed again today. Now it looks like selling is coming from foreigners, especially Europe.

China is believed to hold several hundred billion of US Treasuries in legal entities in Belgium and Luxembourg.
🧵
2/6

The 10-year continues to get crushed today ... just traded 4.57%.

Higher than Tuesday's peak of 4.51%

*US 10-YEAR YIELD HITS HIGHEST SINCE FEBRUARY AS SELLOFF RESUMES Image
3/6

Where is the selling coming from?
Answer: Europe

The dollar is going straight down, and US yields are going straight up as this chart shows.

This relationship has broken this week. Image
Read 6 tweets
Apr 10
1/4

How stressed are markets? By this metric, the most in 17 years.
---
SPY = The S&P 500 Index Trust. This was the first ETF created in 1993 and is one of the largest at $575 billion.
----
The middle panel is SPY's Net Asset Value (NAV). The price closed at a 90-basis-point premium to the underlying value of the assets.

The last time anything like this happened was 2008. To emphasize, not even in the crazy days of 2020 did its divergence get this big.Image
2/4

VOO = Vanguard S&P 500, $566 billion in assets

At the same time VOO, which is Vanguard's version of SPY, went out at one of its biggest discounts in years (middle panel). Image
3/4

Finally, IVV iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, $559 billion in assets
It has been trading at a persistent discount for a few weeks (middle panel). Image
Read 4 tweets
Apr 9
Something has broken tonight in the bond market. We are seeing a disorderly liquidation.

If I had to GUESS, the basis trade is in full unwind.

Since Friday's close to now ... the 30-year yield is up 56 bps, in three trading days.

The last time this yield rose this much in 3 days (close to close) was January 7, 1982, when the yield was 14%.

This kind of historic move is caused by a forced liquidation, not human managers make decisions about the outlook for rates at midnight ET.Image
It keeps going, the 30-year yield is now 5.00%!

As chart shows, since Sunday Night, 54 hours ago, the 30-year is up 67 basis points. Cannot find a move like this in my database.

The only overlay is the 30-year Gily blowing up during the Liz Truss moment" in September 2022. That was 130 bos in 5 days. We are now 67 bps 2 1/2 days.Image
S&P futures are down another 100 points or 2% tonight as I write. This sell-off might not be about tariffs but on the realization that the bond market is broken/breaking.

Markets are fragile. Tariffs broke the bond market and now this decline is about this realization.
---

A liquation is underway and must be completed, losing positions have to be exited, not supported or ignored.

Cutting rates and making financing rates cheaper in the middle of this kind of liquidation, encourages speculation ... exactly what is not needed in the middle of such a move.

I think the market knows this which is why the chart below shows only a 63% probability of a cut in rates in a month. Not intra-meeting! Rates cuts are not the answer.

The Fed restarting QE to artificially raise bond prices will only cement the belief that a massive spike in inflation is coming.

This is not a problem that can be fixed with "printing." It was years of "printing" that encouraged the massive build-up in speculation that is now being forced to liquidate.

You cannot drink yourself sober. You can encourage speculation by cutting rates/WE to stop a speculative unwind.Image
Read 7 tweets
Apr 7
1/n

Polymarket betting for an emergency rate cut is 26%. This looks consistent with April fed fund futures. Image
2/n

Fed fund futures now have spiked to a 77% probability of a rate cut on May 7. Image
3/n

Market are crashing and the economy barreling toward a recession. Image
Read 7 tweets

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