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I feel we are facing significant headwinds moving forward because of the loose monetary policy of the Federal Reserve, the refusal to address the core problems in our financial system and the incredibly opaque derivatives market that has yet to be regulated or even cleared on open exchanges.

The root of the problem

To expand on the first point of loose monetary policy, from my own research I have gathered that the government has put at least $12T, possibly up to $30T worth of guarantees, backstops and other forms of insurance against the prospect of another meltdown. In addition the Federal Reserve has, in my opinion, illegally taken control of AIG through programs they are not authorized to participate in. These actions and other measures have transferred the risk of collapse from the private sector to the US government and to the Federal Reserve.

Interest rates remain below 1% in a range of 0.00% to 0.25%. Combine that with the infusion of US dollars the Federal Reserve has given to other central banks around the world and we have literally created a carry trade scenario. Not only are we repeating the mistakes of Japan, but we are going down a path where should a geopolitical event or other significant negative catalyst occur the repatriation of dollars could create a collapse across nearly every asset class.

Risk grows as stability wanes

This environment that has been created to engender a recovery is not only unsustainable, but it has created more risks than had existed beforehand:

#1 Should another market panic occur where AIG’s credit default swaps are due, the US Treasury and Federal Reserve must cough up the difference. This would lead to another series of bailouts and funneling cash to foreign and domestic banks at the tax payer’s expense on bets that never should have been made and were downright idiotic.

#2 Big banks are BIGGER now than before: JPM, BAC, WFC, USB and others are now larger and present a much more significant risk to the system should, say for example, one of their mark to make believe off balance sheet assets implode — potentially bringing down the entire world financial system, again.

#3 The stress tests were fraudulent and did not expose the off balance sheet asset liquidity vacuum these banks are suffering from. Papering over fraud never leads to a sustainable rebound.

#4 Tax receipts are down across the board – how can counties, cities, states and the Federal government hope to control deficit spending if they are not collecting as much in taxes? They can’t sell bonds forever, bringing me to my next point.

#5 Commercial real estate and corporate bonds are headed towards a potential implosion in the next few years, with major mall holders filing bankruptcy and many occupants of office and retail space vacating as they downsize. Corporations also must refinance their debtload which is ever growing while the global appetite for these bonds is diminishing.

#6 We in the United States are very seriously facing the risk of a sovereign debt default in the future. This prospect is made even more serious by continued bail outs, war spending, entitlements and other programs that are completely unsustainable with our country’s $14T debt burden.

#7 Such a sovereign debt default would lead to a currency collapse and that could engender either an environment of hyperinflation or heavy deflation — all depending on where the chips fall at the end of the day.

Inflation or deflation?

While speculators are now hedging for inflation and shorting the dollar in any way possible, there is another market we must pay close attention to. A market that significantly dwarfs the size of the commodities markets as a whole. That is the US Treasury Bond Market. Last I checked it was $33.5 trillion dollars. I find it interesting that gold is touching $1111.00 an ounce while 10 year bonds are at only 3.625% — who is wrong in this gigantic game of chicken?

Either the folks buying gold are insane to believe inflation is the bogeyman to fear or the much larger, much more influential and liquid bond market is crazy because they obviously fear deflation. Why else would a rational human being buy a bond at 3.625% that they must hold for 10 years? Such an instrument would be less than worthless in an inflationary environment.

First the principle value of the bond erodes as interest rates rise, and secondly the yield would not make up for the rate of inflation. So we are experiencing a financial conundrum right now. Either we are on the verge of a deflationary collapse or a hyperinflationary currency crisis. Which way we’re going to go has not yet been made clear to me because I feel the markets are being propped up, even manipulated.

The most dangerous bubble

Why would I pose such an idea? Let’s start with the P/E of the S&P 500 which is now well over 25 (and was at one point over 100). How can anyone feel that these stocks are reasonably valued with such an absurd P/E? Most of the decrease in P/E from over 100 to over 25 has been from companies downsizing, firing employees, hiding bad assets and not organic growth. In the current global macroeconomic environment there’s no feasible way earnings can catch up, so in my opinion we’re already in a bubble.

Bubbles of the past were not as dangerous because the US government never had such a large stake in the market. Now we’re talking about a situation where if the credit, bond, currency and/or stock markets implode, so does our sovereign debt and currency potentially.

Investing is now speculation

Investing in this environment is difficult at best. During the March panic I was a buyer in the high S&P 600s of just about any material, technology, financial and energy stock I could find, but once we got to the 900s and I saw P/Es jump beyond levels I felt were fair valuations I became a seller of my holdings. I also invested some in to silver, foreign currencies and other commodities during the March lows, but also have since taken a lot of those profits off the table.

We are in a very risky area for people to be entering the market. I don’t feel these lofty levels are sustainable nor do I think the valuations are rational. I don’t know when the rally will end, but I do know that any parabolic move usually ends very badly and any time there has been a carry trade in the history of money it has ended painfully for all the speculators who did not exit in time.

Another collapse coming?

In closing I will say that before Rome’s collapse the government was shaving gold and silver coins down to create more currency. They also had a severe debt crisis. The shaving and continued spending led to awful inflation that eventually catalyzed the empire’s downfall.

History is being made every day and the decisions are going to shape the face of America’s future. It is imperative that we start to take our medicine (meaning we must face the financial problems instead of ignoring them) and deal with the overwhelming burden of debt before it swallows up everything left.

Karl Denninger is an extremely gifted investor, businessman and technologist.  When he speaks about the economy I listen.  His latest video issues a dire warning to Americans.  I believe everything he has said is correct and aligns with projections I’ve made in the past.  Please give his video a view and consider the implications of this irresponsible monetary policy.

Now that the equity markets around the world have rallied about 50% or more it seems that interest rates have heightened around the world as well. In the US 10 year bonds were as low as 2% in March and now have neared 4%.

If home owners need to refinance their mortgages to lower rates, but those rates are no longer available how can we have a sustainable recovery in housing (which is always a driver behind economic recoveries here)? Doesn’t this lack of available credit and affordable interest rates undermine the recovery efforts?

In addition, with many bright minds believing China was the key to the recovery how does China’s correction affect the views of equity investors? Is the global rally in question?

It looks like safe haven assets like bonds, yen and dollars are becoming more attractive vs. risky assets like commodity currencies, commodities, equities and emerging markets in general.

I think we may be entering the next leg down as Mohamed El-Erian and others have expressed the same sentiment I have. The rally is running on fumes.

We probably will retest the lows in the market and bring some fear back in to the trading. VIX is up 6%+ today and we’re seeing a lot more put buying as institutions either bet against or insure profits in stocks.

Consumer sentiment was terrible and there is now some question as to whether the FDIC is solvent after taking over Colonial Bank. All the Maes are probably completely toxic now, too. I hope foreign central banks continue their generosity or the falloff here could become a disaster.

Every day more light is shed in the dark corners of our banking system.  Today I thought I’d share this tid bit.  While Americans lose their jobs, houses and ability to sustain themselves the Federal Reserve was busy handing out $500B in “currency swaps” to 14 foreign central banks all over the world. Watch the following clip and judge for yourself the kind of message that’s being conveyed:

Everyone is welcome to correct me if I’m wrong here, but I was under the impression that the Federal Reserve had a mandate to maintain stable employment and fight inflation. It seems to me that these kind of actions actually ensure the polar opposite end result. Ben is deliberately printing tons of dollars, shipping them overseas and taking foreign currency in exchange in order to supposedly facilitate a more liquid, lower interest lending facility for US dollar-based loans. This is not part of the Federal Reserve’s mandate nor does it seem as though it could be a constitutionally sound policy.

When Ben was asked about the Federal Reserve’s opposition to an audit of their programs and balance sheet, he responded by alluding that interest rates would rise if there was any attempt to oversee the actions of the Fed. This is a veiled threat and can not be taken as anything less. Our economy is now being held hostage.

The flight from US treasuries, equities and the dollar is a category five hurricane against the once safe haven.  Is it fear of hyperinflation or just a ripple of the recession?

Speculation is increasing that the US will not be able to pay off its mounting debt and it is showing in the markets.  Most currencies, especially commodity driven ones like the Australian and Canadian dollar, are rallying.  The US treasury bonds are selling off at an alarming rate.  The stock market is starting to either consolidate or make a larger move down.

If the hyperinflation hits and creates a panic, this type of activity will increase markedly.  If instead this is a ripple from the recession tarnishing the confidence of other markets it is still a negative because it shows that central banks around the world are not supporting US debt to the degree that they did in the past during a time when the US is creating more debt than ever before.

The implications are vast and will have an effect on purchasing power, employment, wages and the types of jobs available moving forward.

What do silver, the Australian and Canadian dollars all have in common? They should all be considered good inflation hedges for US dollar-based portfolios.  The Australian and Canadian dollar are commodity-based currencies, because their underlying economies are very much driven by the production of commodities such as gold, silver, oil, industrial metals, etc.  Silver itself is very undervalued against ever increasing real world demand for coinage, jewelry, electrical and chemical applications.  The combination of all three assets, in two different asset classes (foreign currencies and commodities) provide strong upside as the dollar weakens and world growth comes more from emerging economies than industrial economies.

The Australian dollar ETF can be bought through symbol FXA, the Canadian dollar ETF through FXC and silver through SLV.  I currently have holdings in all three assets and advise those concerned about inflation to consider what their long term investment goals are and how these assets may or may not fit in to their strategy.

As the rally appears to be running on fumes at this point, I’d like to say that I was a little early saying to sell it before, but one never can trust a bear market rally.  That’s what it still seems like we’re dealing with, too.  The technicals were powerful during the 8 week surge, but we do not yet have a Dow theory buy signal (need a close above 9125) or a break above the 200 day moving average on the S&P 500.  Now the charts are beginning to look more exhausted as the overbought conditions are worked out.  Longer term the trend remains down as we seem to continue with the 10+ year double top formation playing out on the S&P 500.

Banks led the rally up and now they are beginning to give way as fundamentals point to a more pessimistic picture than the prior trading action of their equities might suggest.  While I do feel that the substantive cash injections, ZIRP cheap liquidity and stimulus have filled part of the vacuum left by the implosion of Lehman and the deleveraging process, there is simply too much enthusiasm around when this alleged recovery is due to transpire.

We are quite literally in the midst of a complete reinvention of how the world does business and in that process there likely will be further dislocations and market abberations before settling in to a U or L-shaped recovery — either economic destiny will be determined by the shape of fiscal policy and whether insolvent institutions are infact allowed to fail or continue indefinitely as “zombies”.  Unregulated derivatives markets must be brought in to the light and fully regulated in order to prevent credit default swaps and other leveraged contracts from contributing to widespread system disruptions.

This turning point has been marked by the downfall of the US as the financial capital of the world.  A slow unwinding process that in the decades to come will be much more apparent than it is now.  This is the unfortunate consequence of being the largest debt bearing nation in the world whose currency is quickly losing popularity as reserves for central bankers around the world.  The unraveling is going to degrade the quality of life for Americans and boost domestic inflation considerably.

If nothing can be done to restore confidence by regulating the shadow markets and unraveling the insolvent institutions, then this trying period shall last quite a while.  At this point I don’t feel the actions of the US government or the Federal Reserve have been constructive to that end.  That is why I feel the rally is largely unsustainable and right now we are in a frothy period where short positions in equities and long positions in foreign currencies may be appropriate to consider putting back on the table.

Disclosure: Short US equities, long foreign currencies

We may be seeing an interim top on the US dollar index, which is no doubt expected to see pressure from the stimulus plan and the Obama administration’s bank bailout 2.0 that is expected to be revealed in the weeks to come.  The US dollar index appears to be making a descending series of highs.  If the pattern continues this could signal the next wave down.

Watch the foreign exchange markets, as the US dollar could be bound for a correction soon.  Possible trades include going long Canadian dollars, Australian dollars, Swiss francs, Gold, Silver and hedging by shorting the GBP Sterling.

With the US poised to announce multiple government endorsed packages  to stimulate the economy and assist banks, it is likely that a dramatic weakening of the US dollar will occur.  The Canadian dollar seems especially well positioned to rally, perhaps even back to par with the US dollar.

We can see in the above chart a bottoming process in the Canadian dollar beginning to take shape. Now that oil is also potentially bottoming and some commodities are finding strength, the trend serves the commodity-driven Canadian dollar well.  Watch the USDCAD pair and the FXC Canadian dollar ETF.

Just when a collective sigh of relief was breathed about 2008 ending and a fresh year beginning, 2009 was ushered in by the worst ever index performance in the S&P 500 and Dow Jones 30 for a January.  This was certainly not encouraging for those that believe in the adage, “So goes January, so goes the year”.

Outlook not so good

2009 promises investors and traders one thing.  Uncertainty.  While the market has declined nearly 50% peak to trough, the deleveraging process has not been completed.  Banks still have far too much common stock equity vs. assets on book.   Usually recoveries in any stock market are led by financials, so this turn around prospect seems bleak until the equity to assets ratio improves.

Inflation prospects seem to be rearing their ugly head again, as precious metals are catching a strong bid.  Oil seems to have bottomed.  Gas prices are on the rise again for consumers.  Treasury bonds are selling off.  The baltic dryships index has been recovering based on Asian demand for raw materials.  Certainly ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) has created the possibility of a new carry trade.

Recovery, what recovery?

Most predict that the US markets will tread through a slow, “L-shaped” recovery because of the serious damage to credit and stock markets, and most importantly, confidence.  Nearly $9 trillion is sitting on the sidelines in virtually zero yield short term treasuries and money markets.  That cash has yet to be deployed, and was originally retracted from equities, because of a flight to safety from confidence being lost.

The smart money is watching China and Taiwan, as the markets there have enjoyed a significant recovery from their lows and forming a bottoming pattern.  With the US dollar nearly free to borrow for currency traders, the possibility of the dollar becoming a carry trade currency is quite real.  Long term prospects for the dollar are weak so traders would not feel as though their principle loan is going to increase from dollar strength.

History in the making or repeating itself?

The possibility is striking because when Japan suffered a similar crisis in the early 90s, their currency suffered this very fate.  The carry trade in Japan caused most financial institutions to move money outside of Japan rather than invest in the country and assist its recovery.  Infact, Japanese equity markets have never recovered and still thrash around making significant lower highs and lower lows in recent months.

In my opinion, this is indicative of a significant risk to recovery in the US markets.  Already gold is more valuable per ounce than the S&P index.  Other stock markets are outperforming the US market on their recoveries.  Will the trend continue?

The stock market cheered the US central bank’s historic interest rate cut today, surging nearly 5% on the S&P 500 back above 900 to 911.82. The rate cut, combined with continued quantitative easing in Treasury bonds was evident in today’s trading, with a flood out of US dollars in to commodities and other currencies as well as bond yields dropping sharply.

The implications are clear. Inflation will begin in some measure of time, whether it is days, weeks or months. We can see traders already preparing by taking long positions in anything that stands to benefit from the dollar’s fall. Near term we could see the US dollar index fall as low as 72, retesting its prior lows and further confirming the head and shoulders pattern. Commodities and currencies remain attractive buys.

The US dollar index is forming an all too familiar pattern.  This is certainly a result of wreckless monetary policy turning deflation in to a potential stagflationary situation. At this point we recommend purchasing commodities (DYY is a good ETF because it is 2x leveraged and well diversified) and other currencies while there are reasonably priced opportunities.  We like the Euro and Yen for this trade.

US dollar index shows head and shoulders pattern

The courageous may consider purchasing commodities stocks as they will likely participate, but the future of the equities market is not necessarily certain as the recession is deepening.  Today’s unemployment claims were higher than the expected 525k at 573k.  That is a very bad sign that the worst is far from over in terms of how many layoffs we can expect.

The US Federal Reserve, a private bank, is mulling issuing its own debt.  There are several problems with this, one of which is that if the debt is backed by nothing, no one will buy it. If it is backed by the full faith and credit of the US Government it needs Congressional approval.  Either way, the fundamental story is clear.  The Federal Reserve has overextended itself and finds its balance sheet loaded with worthless assets that it can not sell.  Karl Denninger has a nice rant about this on his blog that I recommend for your morning reading.

US equity markets are giving back gains seen earlier in the day and now turning negative, crossing below the VWAP (1014), testing the pivot point (990) and set to possibly retest support (960) on the S&P 500 if the selling continues at this rate. This is likely because redemptions and liquidations are continuing from individuals, banks and funds. Keep an eye on 960 as that’s an important level of short term support. We are still looking for the correction in the dollar to continue.

Markets have been a wild seesaw ride through positive and negative territory all day.  No sign that this indecisiveness will let up before a decision is reached, one way or the other, by the US Congress.   Commodities markets are mixed as players are uncertain of where to put cash to work.  Foreign exchange markets have shown some dollar strength vs. European currencies.  Overall, a day that most could have slept through without regret.

The Fed is quickly working with central banks around the world to increase dollar liquidity availability in an attempt to ease strains on the short term credit markets.  These moves further suggest that global rate cuts may be in the works as the stresses on growth continue to outweigh inflation concerns in many economies.

More info in the official Fed press release here: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20080929a.htm

Could an interest rate cut at the ECB be in the works?  We’ve seen interesting overnight activity indicating the rate dropped to 3.0% as liquidity was flooded in to the markets in an attempt to avert a panic over the bail out of Fortis and other troubled financial institutions.  Risks to growth seem to be worsening faster than the risks of inflation in the Euro zone.  Significant rate cuts by the end of the year seem likely.

Overseas the Brits nationalized some more financial institutions to “boost” confidence.  The GBP fell 475 pips to below 1.80.  Concerns about the economy are growing.  This is the biggest drop vs US dollar in 15 years.