Riders On The Storm(y).

Well, today probably should have been about trying to discern what markets were trying to say about the Fed statement and also about how folks are setting up for payrolls, but instead the focus shifted to Michael Cohen and presidential porn star payoffs, as the nation’s focus is wont to do in 2018.

It turns out Rudy Giuliani might be too old and senile to be trusted when it comes to defending a sitting President and damage control efforts notwithstanding, ol’ Rudy really screwed the pooch on Hannity Wednesday night. That would have been bad enough on its own, but then we learned that the Feds had Cohen’s phones tapped and intercepted “at least” one call with the White House. This Stormy Daniels situation is getting like, really bad, you guys. Riders on the Storm. Literally. Or maybe, “Riders of the Stormy”.

It’s just a matter of time before Trump has some kind of epic meltdown on Twitter over this and I for one can’t wait to see what he comes up with wandering around the White House eating a greasy KFC chicken leg and drowning his sorrow in a 32 oz. container of mashed potato gravy.

Meanwhile, markets were cautious ahead of the April jobs report and on the heels of the Fed – apparently, no one knows whether the May statement was a “hawkish hold” or a “dovish relent” and in the current environment – characterized as it is by nascent signs of wage pressures and late-cycle fiscal stimulus, the difference between those two interpretations is profound.

The dollar gave some of its rebound off the post-Fed knee-jerk lows back on Thursday:

DXY

Treasurys bull flattened after Wednesday’s rarely-seen-in-the-wild bull steepening episode. 10Y yields fell below 2.93 at one point.

10Y

https://twitter.com/USRateBot/status/992127366909644802

The Dow erased a 400-point decline to close green. A quick look at S&P futs tells an amusing story:

ES

Horrible day for Tesla after Elon Musk’s epic conference call meltdown. If you haven’t already, you really should read my roundup of the analyst commentary on that in “‘M-A-R-S’! A Disillusioned Wall Street Picks Up The Pieces After Elon Musk’s ‘Downright Bizarre’, Extraterrestrial Conference Call.

The stock was not lovin’ it (worst day in over a month):

TSLA

And neither were the bonds, for that matter:

TeslaBonds

Lisa wants to know who the hell is buying these:

Speaking of riders on the storm, emerging markets may be about to take a hit as the dollar rises and the Fed sticks to its guns on the rate path.

The carry trade seems to be unwinding and markets are suddenly questioning the viability of yet another previously “foolproof” strategy that depends on a weak dollar. We talked about this a few days ago in “Cracks In The Carry Trade“, and it’s a fluid situation:

EM equities have been under pressure and although the ETF pared losses with other equities during the U.S. day, this is something you need to keep a close eye on.

EEM

The peso is super fucked – Argentina hiked for the second time in less than a week, as the currency plunged the most since the December 2015 free float.

Peso

Long story short, the central bank is in deep shit after failing to act earlier and there are now serious credibility questions. They’ve blown through nearly 10% of their reserves YTD in an effort to stanch the FX bleed, but to no avail (obviously).

Remember those 100-year bonds Argentina sold last year amid EM euphoria? Yeah, well:

Century

“At this stage the central bank should deemphasize the 15% inflation target for 2018, for it is now even less credible as a target than it was before the recent currency move,” Goldman’s Alberto Ramos wrote on Thursday afternoon, before noting that “given the risk of short-term capital outflows and the limited capacity for spot market intervention the monetary authority should entertain the possibility of using alternative intervention instruments, such as Dollar swaps or NDFs, given that they are not a direct claim on reserves as they settle in local currency, and offer valuable FX hedging/protection to the market in a period of significant uncertainty but no large spot market outflows.”

You get the idea – that’s an increasingly desperate situation.

Meanwhile, Turkey is having FX problems of its own. As documented extensively earlier, the lira plunged to a fresh record low on Thursday as inflation continues to accelerate ahead of snap elections. Erdogan’s not helping and neither are broad-based EM jitters regarding the prospect of a resurgent dollar and higher rates in the U.S. 10-year local-bond yields in Turkey spiked 49 basis points to 13.03%. Here’s an annotated lira chart for you:

USDTRYAnnotated

On Thursday morning, we noted that the rupiah looks like it’s in trouble as well:
USDIDR

The central bank pledged to stay in the market to shore things up. Bank Indonesia will have to tighten to protect the currency if the Fed hikes more than three times this year, former Finance Minister Chatib Basri said. Stocks aren’t loving it and have fallen to 7-month lows:

JCI

Finally, for your moment of zen, this right here is why Michelle Wolf was right:

Speak your mind

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5 thoughts on “Riders On The Storm(y).

  1. Wolf went very easy on Sanders.

    Sanders treats most WH reporters with great disrespect. Reporters must sit there to make a living. They put up with her sarcasm, snarls, inpatient sounds and faces, condescension, patronizing attitude, vague and internally non-sensical answers, lies and verbal attacks.

    Sanders knowingly and intentionally act wrongfully every day by insulting every American who asks only for the truth couched in factual sentences about what is happening to their country. Instead we hear everything but. If she can’t take what she deserves for being a Propaganda Secretary then she should find new work.

    Sanders well deserved Wolf taking her out to the public woodshed and smacking her around as she did. Sanders is a classless bully who deserves no empathy, no compassion or sympathy.

  2. How do you really feel, Marty? 🙂 On another subject Drumpf and Musk are simpatico brothers from a different mother. Both are long time carnival barkers that immediately change the conversation when the news (usually bad) doesn’t suit them. They can both KMA.

      1. It was hard to believe how upset some of the people were about how hard Wolf was on Sanders! Do they not see her scowling ugly face and snotty replies to questions? I don’t know why the press continues to attend and hear her ridiculous comments and lies! She treats them horrible and it is clear on her face she hates being there. Wolf made comments about her smoky eye shadow – which looks like crap. We can blame The Mooch for the eye shadow – he made comments about her appearance during the 11 days he was there. What does he know about eye shadow – her smoky look was not a normal daytime look! And she needs a hair cut too!

  3. Mr. H., thanks for your own words regarding the white house shit show. While I find articles from Wonkette and those by David Stockman entertaining, they are third party, and their authors don’t reply to comments. When you write, we get the direct connection, and we even get scolded or ridiculed from you or other commenters. Much for fun this way.

    So, keep giving us YOUR take on trump.

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