Jim Bianco Profile picture
Apr 9 7 tweets 4 min read Read on X
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.
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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
I don't think this is China selling bonds to "punish" the US over rates.

There are no good daily statistics to measure this. But I still contend that if this were happening, the dollar would be declining. The Dollar Index (DXY) is up since Thursday's low, suggesting net foreign buying is coming into the US market.
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Above said, technically, China could be selling and keeping their money in overnight repo accounts. If they did this, it says two things ...

1. They are not afraid to dump Treasuries and drive up yields and punish, but they are afraid to take the cash from these Treasury sales and convert it to another currency (dump dollars). Why is it ok to crush the bond market but not the currency market? (Answer, it does not make sense)

2. If they are selling Treasuries and continue to park them in US repo accounts, they are not really serious about punishing the US.

Again, the most logical answer is that they are not the primary seller of Treasury, if they are a seller at all.Image
By the way the US Treasury has an auction of $39 billion of 10-year notes on Wednesday and $22 billion of 30-year bonds on Thursday.

Should be "interesting" to see who wants these Treasuries in the middle of this chaos.
Another sign of how broken things are ...

Since Liberation Day, Crude oil has collapsed 21%. At $57, it is at its lowest level since April 2021 ... or the lowest point since the Ukraine War started in March 2022.

As noted above, over the last three days, bond yields are soaring the most in 40 years.

Restated, bond prices and crude are both crashing together at the same time.

UnprecedentedImage
When the world's largest and most important bond market breaks/is dysfunctional ... knock on effects happen.

*JAPAN’S 40-YR YIELD RISES 32BPS TO HIGHEST SINCE DEBUT IN 2007

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More from @biancoresearch

Jun 2
1/12

Polymarket recession odds peaked at 65% on May 1st, the April ISM release date, suggesting Liberation Day and the 20% stock market correction did not damage the economy, as the "soft data" warned.

Subsequent April data confirmed this.

Will May see more of the same?

🧵 Image
2/12

The prevailing narrative in the market for months has been that the labor market is going to fall apart, forcing the Fed to cut rates.

This has not happened, and so far, the "soft" (survey) data have been wildly off in predicting the economy.
3/12

ISM Employment upticked in May from April. The first monthly "May" data point suggests the labor market is still not weakening. Image
Read 12 tweets
May 30
1/9

Why The Fed Is Not Cutting Anytime Soon

The economy is rebounding strongly, and prices are rising.

It would be reckless to cut rates under these conditions.

The market knows this ... see this chart.

🧵 Image
2/9

Collapsing Imports are Positive For GDP

*US GOODS IMPORTS FALL 19.8% M/M, BIGGEST DROP ON RECORD

The amount of imported goods declined in April, as expected. April 2 was Liberation Day, and the rise in tariffs slowed imports. Image
3/9

Slowing imports halved the Trade Deficit in April, also as expected. Image
Read 9 tweets
May 26
1/5

Inflation Update:

May 1st estimated inflation at 1.35%. 25 days later, they are 0.72% higher at 2.07%.

Tariffs?
--
Truflaton measures more goods than services. Goods inflation is lower than services inflation.

So, the rate of change is more important than the level. Image
2/5

Before, Truflation was the Billion Prices Project, which is now called PriceStats and is owned by State Street Bank. The creator is @albertocavallo

On Thursday, the Financial Times featured some of their work. It says the same thing as truflation.

ft.com/content/b27e76…

See the red line on the right. With increased tariffs (red line to the left), the prices of goods originating from China are increasing rapidly.

Also note that the Chinese-originated price rise (red line to the right) began around May 1st, the same time truflation started its upward march.Image
3/5

From the FT:

The Yale Budget Lab says the average US family would pay $2,800 more for the same basket of products purchased last year, should tariffs remain at their current level, with lower-income homes more exposed.

Chinese products being sold in the US have already seen marked increases in retail prices, according to analysis of high-frequency data from PriceStats by Alberto Cavallo of Harvard Business School.
Read 5 tweets
May 24
1/12

Is the consumer paying higher prices due to tariffs?

We don't know for sure, and will not for months, but some numbers suggest they are.

This will surge inflation and keep the Fed on hold for a long while.

Wall Street does not get this.

🧵
2/12

Customs collects tariffs daily and sends most to the Treasury around the 22nd.

On Thursday (May 22), $16B flowed into the Treasury's account.

Tariff collections are now ~$29B ahead of last year's. On Liberation Day, they were ~$5B ahead of last year.

+$24B in 7 weeks. Image
3/12

The US has been importing about $325B to $340B of goods monthly.

According to the latest data, imports have surged in the last few months (through March) as importers rushed goods ahead of Liberation Day. Image
Read 13 tweets
May 1
1/9

ISM was released this morning, marking the first monthly data point since Liberation Day.

It beat expectations and is not giving indications that manufacturers "froze" or "hit a wall" post Liberation Day.
--
*US APRIL ISM MANUFACTURING INDEX FALLS TO 48.7; EST. 47.9 Image
2/9

It is consistent with decent NON-TARIFF growth. Image
3/9

Why did bonds not like it (yields moved higher)?  Maybe prices paid (tariffs?) Image
Read 9 tweets
Apr 30
1/6

Wall Street only cares about weak growth and wants cuts.

Main Street cares about higher prices.

The Fed is aligned with Main Street.
🧵
--
Polymarket betting is as good a gauge as any to measure the consensus opinion.

Now, 70% expect that a recession will occur in 2025. Image
2/6

So explain this ...

Why is there only a 9% chance of a cut next week? Image
3/6

ASSUMING NO CUT NEXT WEEK, the probability of a cut on June 19 is just 60%. Image
Read 6 tweets

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