por Fenix » Mar Abr 19, 2016 7:59 pm
Nuevas razones para preocuparse por los bancos de Europa
por Carlos Montero •Hace 17 horas
Los bancos europeos han perdido su mojo. Una combinación tóxica de tasas de interés negativas, el estancamiento de las economías y un telón de fondo regulatorio que eufemísticamente se podría describir como un reto, está haciendo estragos con los modelos de negocio bancarios. El valor de mercado del sector se ha reducido una cuarta parte desde principios de año.
Las señales que emanan del Banco Central Europeo en las últimas semanas sugieren que los reguladores no son ciegos a esto. Daniele Nouy, que preside el consejo de supervisión bancaria del BCE, dijo la semana pasada que el banco central "es consciente de que el entorno de bajos tipos de interés está presionando la rentabilidad de los bancos europeos". Los reguladores pueden responder a esto suavizando la regulación.
"Las normas de quiebra bancarias prescriben cómo los bancos tienen que diseñar sus balances para absorber las pérdidas potenciales y los reguladores podrían suavizar estas leyes", dice Mark Gilbert en Bloomberg. "Mientras tanto, un panel mundial de reguladores se reunirá en Londres este mes para dejar que los bancos den su opinión sobre las reglas relacionadas con la cantidad de capital que deben reservar para respaldar sus actividades comerciales.
Esto viene a tiempo. La caída de la capitalización de la industria, que refleja la inquietud de los inversores acerca de la rentabilidad futura, está reorganizando el orden jerárquico de las finanzas europeas. Deutsche Bank, por ejemplo, era el banco más activo vendiendo bonos en Europa en 2014, con una cuota de mercado cercana al 6,5 por ciento; el año pasado cayó a la tercera posición, y este año ocupa el cuarto lugar. A finales de 2015, el prestamista alemán era el 14º mayor banco de Europa; ahora es 20.
Ranking de los bancos europeos por capitalización (con porcentaje de cambio en el año)
Imagen
El consejero delegado del Deutsche Bank, John Cryan, dijo el mes pasado que, agobiados por la reestructuración y los costes legales, que no espera que su firma sea rentable este año. Está lejos de ser el único banco que lo está pasando mal; el martes, Barclays advirtió que los ingresos de su división de banca de inversión en primer trimestre serán peores que los del año pasado. En Italia, intentan crear un fondo respaldado por el estado para apuntalar un sector que soporta una gran mora.
No es extraño que el presidente del BCE, Mario Draghi, pasara gran parte de su conferencia de prensa de hace un mes respondiendo a las preguntas sobre el daño que las tasas de interés negativas están haciendo a los bancos. Tienen que pagar por el privilegio de mantener efectivo depositado en el banco central, pero no pueden pasar esos costos a sus propios depositantes.
La estructura actual del sistema bancario es "inviable", y el 90 por ciento de los bancos del mundo habrá desaparecido en los próximos 20 años, dijo el presidente del Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Francisco González, en una entrevista publicada por el diario El País la semana pasada. Los bancos que no pueden cubrir sus costos de capital no son viables, lo que hace inevitable la consolidación de la industria, dijo.
El dilema al que se enfrenta Europa es que los reguladores quieren resolver el problema "demasiado grandes para quebrar" - y tomarse la venganza por la crisis financiera - reduciendo el tamaño de los bancos. Al mismo tiempo, necesita que los bancos sean más activos que nunca para ayudar a reanimar la economía.
Una caída en la capitalización de mercado inhibe la eficacia de la banca en el servicio de los deseos de los bancos centrales. En un discurso el jueves, Hyun Song Shin, jefe de investigación del Banco de Pagos Internacionales, dijo que si bien la función de la industria financiera en la macroeconomía no se entiende bien, es evidente que el sector juega un papel importante:
"Tener bancos sólidamente capitalizados es vital para la transmisión de la política monetaria. En este sentido, la capitalización bancaria debería ser una preocupación clave para los bancos centrales en el cumplimiento de su mandato de política monetaria, así como para su mandato de estabilidad financiera."
La creciente preocupación del regulador es razonable, aunque tardía. No hay duda de que la crisis financiera expuso la necesidad de regulaciones más estrictas y unos ratios de capital más altos, y que algunas actividades comerciales tenían un riesgo excesivo con pocos beneficios para la economía en general. Pero las políticas monetarias no convencionales y las nuevas reglas destruyen la capacidad de los bancos para llevar a cabo su función básica de recepción de depósitos y financiación de la actividad comercial. Ahora que los responsables de finanzas consideran lo que debe ser un banco sano, ahora es un buen momento para que los reguladores hagan una pausa y reflexionen sobre qué tipo de industria quieren y necesitan en el futuro."
Fuentes: Mark Gilbert, Bloomberg
Oil Surges As Dollar Tumbles To June Lows; Financial Conditions "Easiest" Since Last Summer
Submitted by Tyler D.
04/19/2016 10:43 -0400
Whether or not there was a secret "Shanghai Accord" to push the dollar lower, the outcome has been clear: moments ago, the USD as measured by the Bloomberg Dollar spot index just dropped to the lowest level since June 22, long before the Fed commenced its rate hikes, indicating that the market is, at least for now, convinced that the Fed is "one and done" and that Eric Rosengren's warning that rate hikes will accelerate from here is nothing but a hollow threat.
This was perhaps to be expected: just one month ago Goldman was pounding the table on how there was "no central bank conspiracy" to push the dollar lower, and how clients should keep buying the USD because "Goldman is right, and the market is wrong."
Once again, Goldman was wrong and the market is right. It also suggests that Goldman was wrong about the "central bank conspiracy."
And as has been the case over the past year, a weaker dollar means stronger oil, and sure enough moments ago WTI spiked to new post-Doha highs, above $41/barrel even as production continues unabated and as Kuwait is slowly resolving its supply cut as a result of this weekend's oil worker strike.
But the most important outcome of the collapsing dollar is that as Goldman writes, this time correctly, the company's own Financial Conditions Index "is now at the easiest level since August 2015, when China devalued the CNY. Each of the key components—long rates, the dollar, equity prices, and credit spreads—has retraced most or all of its prior deterioration."
Following Monday’s equity and credit rally, we estimate that our GS Financial Conditions Index (GSFCI) is now at the easiest level since August 2015. Exhibit 1 shows that the index has eased 115bp since the January 20 peak. Each of the key components—long rates, the dollar, equity prices, and credit spreads—has retraced most or all of the prior deterioration.
To Goldman the easier conditions arising from the weaker dollar "equates to an underlying growth pace of about 2¾%. With an FCI impulse of about zero in the second half of 2016 and +¼pp in 2017, this simple calculation would imply growth in the 2¾%-3% range in coming quarters, well above our current 2-2¼% forecast."
Maybe Goldman will be correct about this, but where it certainly remains wrong is in its forecast for three more rate hikes in 2016. This is what it said:
Although the risks to our three-hike forecast in 2016 are clearly on the downside, we expect the FOMC to tighten monetary policy by significantly more than discounted in the bond market. All else equal, this should lead to a renewed tightening of the FCI if we are right about the Fed. Nevertheless, we think financial conditions have turned from a significant downside risk to our growth forecast in early 2016 to a moderate upside risk at present.
What does the market think? That Goldman is dead wrong. As the following table shows,the probability of a rate hike at the June meeting is only 17.6% and barely rises to above 50% by the December meeting. In other words, the market is saying just one more rate hike by the Fed in 2016, most likely at the December meeting.
El indicador del miedo de las Bolsas emergentes se estrecha vs. mercados desarrollados
Martes, 19 de Abril del 2016 - 21:25:00
El diferencial del índice de volatilidad del Chicago Board Options Exchange frente a una medida similar para las acciones de Estados Unidos se encontraba mostraba la lectura más baja en casi tres meses.
Esto sugiere que la repetida afirmación de la Reserva Federal de su política acomodaticia está calmando a los inversores en acciones de mercados emergentes más que a los de renta variable de Estados Unidos.
El indicador del miedo de las acciones de los mercados en desarrollo también extendió su retroceso desde un máximo de cinco meses en febrero del 43 por ciento, cayendo al nivel más bajo de este año.
Two Key Soros PMs Depart Over "Disagreement About Direction Of Global Markets"
Submitted by Tyler D.
04/19/2016 - 11:18
In late January, when George Soros was interviewed in Davos, he revealed what may have been his most bearish outlook yet. That may have cost the aging billionaire. According to Bloomberg, two of the key portfolio managers working at Soros' family office, David Rogers and Joshua Donfeld, are leaving the firm over disagreements with its new chief investment officer about the direction of global markets, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Stocks Soar As Corporations Are Defaulting On Their Debts Like It's 2008 All Over Again
04/19/2016 11:55 -0400
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
The Dow closed above 18,000 on Monday for the first time since July. Isn’t that great news? I truly wish that it was. If the Dow actually reflected economic reality, I could stop writing about “economic collapse” and start blogging about cats or football. Unfortunately, the stock market and the economy are moving in two completely different directions right now. Even as stock prices soar, big corporations are defaulting on their debts at a level that we have not seen since the last financial crisis.
[ZH: As we wodnered previously,if at that moment when total 2016 to date defaults surpass 2009 (in roughly 2-3 months), whether the so called "market" will also hit fresh all time highs.
In fact, this wave of debt defaults have become so dramatic that even USA Today is reporting on it…
Get ready to step over some landmines, investors. The number of companies defaulting on their debt is hitting levels not seen since the financial crisis, and it’s not just a problem for bondholders.
So far this year, 46 companies have defaulted on their debt, the highest level since 2009, according to S&P Ratings Services. Five companies defaulted this week, based on the latest data available from S&P Ratings Services. That includes New Jersey-based specialty chemical company Vertellus Specialties and Ohio-based iron ore producer Cliffs Natural. Of the world’s defaults this year, 37 are of companies based in the U.S.
Meanwhile, coal producer Peabody Energy (BTU) and surfwear seller Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) this week filed plans for bankruptcy protection.
Shares of Peabody have dropped 97% over the past year to $2 a share and Pacific Sunwear stock is off 98% to 4 cents a share.
A lot of big companies in this country have fallen on hard times, and it looks like bankruptcy attorneys are going to be absolutely swamped with work for the foreseeable future.
So why are stock prices soaring right now? After all, it doesn’t seem to make any sense whatsoever.
And it isn’t just a few bad apples that we are talking about. All across the spectrum, corporate revenues and corporate earnings are down. At this point, earnings for companies on the S&P 500 have plunged a total of 18.5 percent from their peak in late 2014, and it is being projected that corporate earnings overall will be down 8.5 percent for the first quarter of 2016 compared to one year ago.
As earnings decline, a lot of big companies are getting into trouble with debt, and we have already seen a very large number of corporate debt downgrades. In recent interviews, I have been bringing up the fact that the average rating on U.S. corporate debt has now fallen to “BB”, which is already lower than it was at any point during the last financial crisis.
A lot of people don’t seem to believe me when I share that fact, but it is absolutely true.
One of the big reasons why corporate debt is being downgraded is because a lot of these big companies have been going into enormous amounts of debt in order to buy back their own stock. The following comes from Wolf Richter…
Downgrades ascribed to “shareholder compensation,” as Moody’s calls share buybacks and dividends, have been soaring, according to John Lonski, Chief Economist at Moody’s Capital Markets Research. The moving 12-month sum of Moody’s credit rating downgrades of US companies, jumped from 32 in March 2015, to 48 in December 2015, and to 61 in March 2016, nearly doubling within a year.
The last time the number of downgrades attributed to financial engineering reached 61 was in early 2007. It would hit its peak of 79 in mid- 2007, a few months before the beginning of the Great Recession in Q4 2007. At the time, stocks were on the verge of commencing their epic crash.
When corporations go into the market and buy back their own stock, they are slowly cannibalizing themselves. But we have seen these stock buybacks soar to record levels for a couple of reasons. Number one, big investors want to see stock prices go up, and so big investors tend to really like these stock buybacks and will generally support corporate executives that wish to engage in doing this. Number two, if you are a greedy corporate executive that is heavily compensated by stock options, you very much want to see the stock price go up as well.
So the name of the game is greed, and stock buybacks have been fueling much of the rise in U.S. stock prices that we have been seeing recently.
However, the truth is that nothing in the financial world lasts forever, and this irrational bubble will ultimately come to an end as well.
Earlier today, I am across an article that included a comment from Michael Hartnett of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He believes that there are a lot of parallels between what is happening today and the period of time that immediately preceded the bursting of the dotcom bubble…
Back then, as could be the case today, a bull market & a US-led economic recovery was rudely interrupted by a crisis in Emerging Markets. The crisis threatened to hurt Main Street via Wall Street (the Nasdaq fell 33% between Jul-Oct 1998, when [Long-Term Capital Management] went under). Policy makers panicked and monetary policy was eased (with hindsight unnecessarily). Fresh liquidity combined with apocalyptic investor sentiment very quickly morphed into a violent but narrow equity bull market/bubble in 1998/99, one which ultimately took valuations & interest rates sharply higher to levels that eventually caused a “pop”.
Like Hartnett, I definitely believe that a major “pop” is on the way, although I would like for it to be delayed for as long as possible.
Someday we will look back on these times with utter amazement. It has been absolutely incredible how the financial markets have been able to defy economic reality for so long.
But they can’t do it forever, and according to a brand new CNN survey Americans are becoming increasingly pessimistic about where the real economy is heading…
In a new CNNMoney/E*Trade survey of Americans who have at least $10,000 in an online trading account, over half (52%) gave the U.S. economy as a “C” grade. Another 15% rated the economy a “D” or “F.”
This gloom persists despite the fact that the stock market is on the upswing again. The Dow topped 18,000 Monday for the first time since July 2015.
If some Americans think that the U.S. economy deserves a “D” or an “F” grade right now, just wait until they see what is in our immediate future.
Personally, I give our economy an “A” for being able to maintain our unsustainable debt-fueled standard of living for as long as it has. Somehow we have managed to consume far more than we produce for decades, and the largest debt bubble in the history of the planet just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
Of course we are very much living on borrowed time at this point, but I truly hope that the bubble economy can keep going for at least a little while longer, because nobody should want to see what is coming afterwards.
Última edición por
Fenix el Mar Abr 19, 2016 8:13 pm, editado 1 vez en total