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Week-in-Review: Mon: Chinese May trade surplus $59.5bln masks weakness (imports -18%, exports -2.8%), Japan Q1 GDP revised to +3.9% (prev +2.8%), Japan C/A surplus 10th straight mth, Korea 1-day MERS cases jump 23 people, G7 agrees to phase out fossil fuels, Erdogan losses majority, Merkel “time is running out for Greece,” German IP +1.4% yoy (+0.9% exp), German Trade balance remains at elevated levels led by an incr

Week-in-Review: Mon: China PMI soft 50.2, Macau May gaming revenue -37%, Japan Q1 capital spending surges 7.3% yoy, Korea PMI 21mth low (exports 5yr low), Aussie PMI +4.3 to 52.3 (18mth high), Norway PMI 2yr low, Swedish retail sales +3% yoy, German CPI +0.7% yoy, US personal income +4.1% yoy (spending +2.8%), savings rate 5.6%, core PCE prices +1.2% yoy, ISM manufacturing +1.3 to 52.8, S&P +0.2%; Tue: RBA rates/

Week-in-Review: Mon: Japan trade balance slips back into a deficit, Greece says won’t make June IMF payment without new bailout deal, Spain’s People’s Party suffers loses in muni elections, S&P closed; Tue: IMF “Renminbi no longer undervalued,” South Africa Q1 GDP soft at 1.3% yoy, New Zealand trade deficit 6yr high, Tsipras gets party approval to conclude bailout deal (Greece says out of money again), US core ca

Week-in-Review: Mon: Japan machine orders +2.6% yoy (exp -6%), Japan IP -1.7% yoy, NZ introduces cap gains real estate tax (macro prudential policy), ISIS seizes Ramadi, Yemen conflict resumes, UK house prices fall most in 9mths, New Zealand announces cap gains tax on real estate, SF Fed paper “Q1 GDP may understate true strength of economy, S&P +0.3%; Tue: China record capital outflows(trade surplus stable), RBA

Narendra Modi floated in a sea of terracotta warriors. Marveling at the magnificence of ancient China. And the passage of time. Xi Jinping looked on, proud of his past, hungry for greatness. China’s first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, was buried with 9,000 protective terracotta soldiers and horses. Which in 2015 AD ranks amongst mankind’s finest treasures, though in 209 BC it was its foremost capital misallocation. But it’

She loaded her weapon. Applied her lipstick. Rehearsed her lines. Global bond markets were imploding. And with yields this low, it’s difficult to put the losses into context. But in two weeks, 10yr German Bund investors lost the equivalent of 29yrs worth of coupon payments. And sure as a fool and his money are soon parted, holders of $4trln of European bonds dizzied themselves in circular references, as their Excel s

“The idea that you pay governments to hold their debt, it’s just crazy,” said Alan Howard, commanding the world’s largest macro fund. And in a flash, what had once been crazy to deny, became crazy to accept. You see, investors have grown to slavishly believe they should own whatever a central bank is buying. Or short whatever they’re printing. But with $3trln of European bonds trading at negative yields, that Emperor

Week-in-Review: Mon: China cuts RRR 100bps (largest cut since 2008), China property developer Kaisa defaults, Kuroda “underlying trend of inflation has improved markedly,” NZ CPI +0.1% yoy, German PPI -1.7% yoy (20th mthly decline), France central banker Noyer “Greek banks could soon run out of ELA collateral,” UK home prices +4.7% yoy, S&P +0.9%; Tue: China’s Tianwei Group defaults, Korean PM offers to resign ov

“There is no Plan-B,” stated Moscovici. Which is in fact Plan-A. Because the only way to maintain Europe’s political construct, despite deep structural flaws and self-inflicted economic handicaps, is by denying member states an exit. Which itself is a flaw. You see, there’s always an exit. From anything. Everything. Though it may not be pretty. Lagarde denied the Greeks a grace period in repaying its IMF debts, tactf

“We’ve opened the aperture a bit wider,” said the US official, “We’re helping the Saudis get a better sense of the battlefield and the state of play with the Houthi forces.” You see, two weeks of relentless Sunni airstrikes have failed to halt the Shiite advance. Because not even the most sophisticated fighter jets have much value if pilots don’t know what to bomb. Which means that without America’s electronic