Well it took the flu to get us back down to zero, in between a little hand wringing by Trump for the past 3 years. All of that really hard work of extricating the US out of deflation and into normalized rates is gone.
In an unprecedented move, the Fed, getting in before Asian trade, slashed rates from 1.00-1.25% to fucking zero. That is 100bps and on top of that — $700b in fantasy cash to buy into treasuries and MBS.
The quantitative easing will take the form of $500 billion of Treasurys and $200 billion of agency-backed mortgage securities. The Fed said the purchases will begin Monday with a $40 billion installment.
The rationale for treasuries and MBS is to provide a counter-party to all of the companies who are now LIQUIDATING in order to shore up capital. The Fed will now serve as a bag holder for all of the people needing to sell. It’s worth noting, this is the last major bullet in the Fed’s chamber and this is being used to buy us time — the markets that is. I suspect this will serve as a sugar rush and people with a modicum of sophistication will know this is a SELL THE NEWS type of release.
Reason being: unlike 2008-2009 where all we needed was to paper over stuff and instill confidence, today you cannot go to Disney if you wanted to — because it’s fucking closed. There is now a social stigma attached to people who do not go outside with a hazmat suit and anyone discussing vacation plans is equal to Hitler.
Since the news in Italy, Spain, and France is only getting worse, with cases and deaths going parabolic day over day, one could only begin to imagine how long Americans will be holed up inside of their homes, corporations ripping thru capital reserves — ebbing quickly towards insolvency.
I will sell the rip or the dip — makes no difference to me.
NOTE: GS is estimating Q2 GDP will come in at -5%.
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