Margin Rich

A Green Island in a Sea of Red

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Margin Rich

Like many a speculator, I’ve dabbled in the juniors. Specifically, I’m referring to junior gold and silver explorers and miners. Before 2011 it was a successful endeavor, post 2011, not so much. One of the things I did before altogether stopping the placement of new capital in any juniors was to compile a list of what I deemed to be some of the top opportunities for when precious metals finally make their turn back to positive. For the record, I don’t know when that’s going to be. The gold price languished for 20 years in the 80’s and 90’s. Do I think we’re in that type of 20-year-bear? No, but I don’t have a clue as to when the ship will right itself.

I simply believe in the long-term thesis for holding gold, but more importantly, I believe in the cyclicality of the commodity markets and historical precedence. There are any number of arguments in favor of allocating capital into precious metals, but for most speculators, the current price action in gold and silver pretty much tells the entire story. A declining market is not exactly the best moment to deploy new capital into the most riskiest ventures of a loss-leading sector. Thusly, it’s been at least 2 years since I speculated with any capital in a junior.

Which brings me to the list. One of the companies I had kept a passive eye on was Duluth Minerals. If you’re unfamiliar with their story, they’re the proud majority-owners of some prime property through a joint venture in the Twin Metals complex in Minnesota. Their land package and joint venture partner was what first attracted me to them. Duluth possesses one of the most promising platinum group metals (“PGM”) resources outside of Africa or Russia. In fact in North America, there’s really only two primary PGM producers of consequence, and they are Stillwater Mining and North American Palladium. So access to a nice PGM resource in a jurisdiction like North America is coveted.

However, PGM’s won’t even be the primary metals mined at Twin Metals. It’s primarily a copper and nickel mine. The PGM’s are a just a very nice by-product. Hence Antofagasta’s interest and investment in Duluth. Just a little background on Antofagasta (“Anto”), they are one of the largest, pure copper players in the world. Based in Chile with 4 operating mines, 90% of the company’s revenues are derived from mining operations. In 2013, they generated approximately $6 billion in revenue which is in line with large US copper player Southern Copper (SCCO) but far below the diversified mining giants such as Vale (VALE), Rio Tinto (RIO), or Freeport-McMoRan (FCX).

Before getting to the point of this post, some additional background is in order. So we have a major copper player with concentrated interests in Chile attempting to diversify their portfolio with the Twin Metals joint venture. In 2010, Antofagasta partnered with Duluth and over the next few years provided approximately $220 million in funds in order for Duluth to develop the properties. Duluth completed a ton of drilling to really prove out the potential of Twin Metals. They contracted with Bechtel, one of the largest and most powerful privately owned corporations in the US, to assist with the planning for the build-out of a mine.

But by 2014, Duluth had not done enough to build investor sentiment behind their company and access to capital was drying up in light of overall commodity underperformance, let alone precious metals performance. The stock price was badly languishing. Duluth’s cash reserves were drying up fast, and in July, Anto neglected to capitalize on an additional financing round that would have increased their ownership stake in the mine and provide much needed capital for Duluth. Clearly, Anto saw the writing on the wall and knew a better opportunity would avail itself very shortly.

One month later in August of this year, Duluth released a highly detailed presser of its Pre-feasibility Study (“PFS”) for the Twin Metals. The PFS was essentially a disaster as expectations were way too large. The stock price, trading at $0.40 a share the day before the PFS release, dropped 25% down to $0.30 a share on the day of the release. I think too many speculators in Duluth thought an outlandish estimate of PGM production was going to be reported, and that was obviously foolish. I sincerely believe that speculators really thought Twin Metals could annually pump out 300k or 400k ounces of PGM’s along with a couple million ounces total of combined silver/gold output.

The numbers were very solid, though. Specifically, the report estimated a 30 year mine life with total estimated production of 5.8 billion pounds of copper, 1.2 billion pounds of nickel, 1.5 million ounces of platinum, 4.0 million ounces of palladium, 1.0 million ounces of gold, and 25.2 million ounces of silver. Annually, that breaks down to approximately 88,000 tonnes of copper, 18,000 tonnes of nickel, 50,000 ounces of platinum, 133,000 ounces of palladium, 33,000 ounces of gold, and 840,000 ounces of silver. At spot prices for each of these commodities as of August 20th, that would’ve resulted in approximately $612M in copper revenues, $340M in nickel revenues, $187M in total PGM revenues, and $59M in gold & silver revenues. All product sales would theoretically total about $1.2 billion at those prices if the August 20th spot prices were the average for an operating year.

Now I don’t know about you, but for the right price, that’s definitely a resource I’d like to have my hands on. And that’s exactly why Anto did not participate in the July scheduled financing. They figured why bother. They’d already funded over $200M in project development. Duluth management was floundering while swirling the drain of bad finance options. Why not strike at the opportune moment and simply own the entire asset versus partnering in a JV. Just 9 days ago, that’s precisely what happened. This chart, courtesy of Inka Kola News, tells the story via price action.

The PFS calculated a net present value of the Twin Metals project at $1.4 billion USD using an 8% discount rate. Anto already owned approximately 10% of Duluth. So Anto already invested approximately $220M into Twin Metals and only has to come up with roughly another $85M(including convertible debt and additional operating funds) to own the asset outright. That’s an absolute steal and congratulations to Anto’s management for deftly structuring the deal in obtaining the buy-in of Duluth’s board and of Wallbridge as well.

Now the reason this little sale is a green island in a sea of red is because I was able to perfectly time this trade. I watched the stock languish all year and when I saw that move two Friday’s ago, where Duluth dropped from 12 cents a share to 7 cents a share, I decided it was time to pull the trigger. I maintain a portfolio for my children’s future. It’s reserved for only the best businesses with the best long-term outlook that possess the best brands and continue to raise dividends decade after decade; names like Hershey and McDonalds. However, I thought why not buy a several-thousand block of shares as a little lottery ticket. At $0.07 a share, I simply thought the risk-reward was well justified for my wee ones in light of the quality of the underlying asset.

The wager paid off a lot faster than I expected. Waking up the following Monday morning and reading various headlines from various sites I frequent, I read that Duluth was selling itself to Anto. I immediately jumped over to Yahoo Finance to see this:

Well, hot damn! From a percentage gain standpoint, this is by far the most I’ve ever earned in a single trade for only holding a single trading day. I won’t annualize it as I’m sure I’ll probably never get this lucky again. Of course, the net income off the trade is minimal in light of the total amount of capital risked, but still it’s a nice little boost for the year to my children’s future. I haven’t actually realized the gain yet as I’m holding for a little currency translation to work in my favor first. Mistake? I don’t think so, as I think Canada will approve the sale of Duluth so I have the $0.38 locked in at today’s Loonie rates. The dollar looks set for a little breather and I suspect that just may translate into the higher liquidation price I’m reaching for.

Coming back to Anto and what the future holds for Twin Metals. They’ve admitted they have a long way to go, with their own projections putting production out to 2020 at the earliest and possibly even farther. The next step from the PFS is the Bankable Feasibility Report (“BFS”). It’s this report which will allow Anto to secure financing for the construction of the mine. Actually, they probably won’t even bother. Consider that the pre-fease reported mine construction expenses at $2.8 billion. We know that’s aggressive, so I think it’s safe to arbitrarily add another $400 million onto that total. Conservatively, building the mine is going to cost approximately $3.2 billion. But even with a staggering expense number like that, Anto should have no issues securing financing.

This is especially so if the cost of capital continues to stay cheap for players with access to the liquidity. Looking at free cash flow (“FCF”) for Anto, they’ve averaged $1.9 billion USD in FCF for the last 4 years. With that kind of cash generation, I don’t think they’re going to have a hard time obtaining financing at favorable rates. The money is not the issue. What’s more worrisome is of course receiving all the requisite permits to construct and operate the mine. The project is located in a state that calls itself “the land of a 1,000 lakes.” That’s a lot of water ways that can be affected. There will be a tremendous amount of pushback from environmentalists who will attempt to deter Anto. Just look at Pebble and the fight in Alaska. However, with a safe and environmentally friendly construction plan along with a superabundance of funds allocated to remediation of the lands, I feel confident Anto will pull it off. Just not without a fight. Although they do have this going for them:

When you have a day named after you in a state, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the state is going to be very cooperative in light of the economic benefits to be garnered.

Just remember, you had a chance to own a fractional share in a billion dollar mine for a little over a nickel a share. The junior space is beginning to heat up as quality assets are beginning to be circled. The sharks are starting to get restless as a vast majority of the juniors simply will not be able to obtain sustainable financing in light of their current share prices. We’re talking about companies that simply throw cash down a hole with zero immediate economic return and too much G&A digging into value creation. New Gold snatched up Bayfield to round out its Rainy River package. Nord Gold is positioning on Columbus. Romarco just received all of its final permitting and negotiated a $200M dollar debt package that will allow them to begin construction immediately on their Haile mine. How long before a bidding war starts on their potential 150k ounce per year mine?

There’s value to be had and money to be made in the junior space, but it’s highly dangerous and not worth the capital risk for the average investor. I’ve been fortunate on a few junior trades in this terrible gold market with Romarco, Lake Shore, and now Duluth. I could easily replace the word fortunate with lucky, however, I did my homework on those companies. I’ve also screwed the pooch in names like Aurcana, Kaminak, and McEwen Mining with poorly timed purchases. All companies that have very good potential if or when the precious metals resume a bull market.

Despite my luck in the Duluth trade, I am a strong proponent of buying the right stocks for long-term holdings. As I stated before, that means companies with mega-brands who produce enormous amounts of free cash flow and consistently raise their dividends. Buying these kinds of companies when they go on sale is essentially a sure-fire bet to building wealth, but a little flyer every now and then is worth the risk.

Sa-wing Batta!

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Margin Rich

If you played, coached, or spectated little league baseball or watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, then you’re familiar with the age-old, friendly taunt of “Hey batta batta batta batta, sa-wing battaaaa.” During early morning Halloween hours, the Bank of Japan(BOJ) provided the treat of all Halloween-day treats for speculators around the world. They announced additional quantitative easing that set the stock markets around the world on FIYA! BOJ Governor Kuroda went and grabbed the 50oz special big-boy bat and took a monster swing at deflationary forces.

(photo courtesy of Reuters)

What a miraculously well timed announcement on the heels of the Federal Reserve reiterating the completion of its own QE program. Of course, the Fed’s not really wrapping up just yet as it will continue to roll as opposed to liquidate the assets it has purchased over the last 5 years. The Nikkei’s intraday move was over 4%. Most of the major indexes around the world gained over a percent today thanks to the “good” news.

Japan’s central bank will be upping its bond asset purchases to $60B(all numbers in this post are in USD) a month or $730B annually. The US dollar amount will fluctuate as the Yen weakens against it, however the BOJ will keep steady at about $6.7 trillion yen a month. They claim that the move is temporary until inflation targets have been sufficiently met. Yeah, about that temporary thing? Along with the bond purchase announcement, the BOJ also stated that they’ll be buying up Japanese ETFs and REITs to the tune of almost $7 billion and $1 billion a year, respectively. That’s a lot of dough to be tossing around and my guess is that it’ll drive enough positive sentiment that from a political standpoint, nobody’s going to want to sign off on terminating the purchases. Imagine the negative perception along with a move down in animal spirits. As they say in Jersey, dey don’t want nuttin ta’doo wit dat.

Additionally, the BOJ coordinated the announcement with the Government Pension and Investment Fund of Japan (GPIF), the largest pension entity in the world, which 1 day earlier stated they would be upping their own stock purchase program. Specifically, the GPIF announced it was paring back its Japanese debt holdings from 60% of its portfolio to only 35%. An unheard of allocation choice for a pension entity considering the lack of conservatism. They might as well have said “we’re all in on stocks.” They’ll be doubling their equity exposure to 50% of the portfolio.

Rational economic thought behind these massive moves is how will the unintended consequences manifest themselves down the road? Kuroda, like all central bankers, assures the public that they can control the inflationary forces that they so desperately desire. Maybe for a little bit. Maybe forever. Recall Kyle Bass’s thesis as the BOJ is walking a fine line. At this point in the game, it’s hard not to believe that central bankers really do have everything under control. This is despite the fact that monetary and economic policies in the advanced economies have no parallels in history, and in the short-term, things seem to be working out brilliantly on a statistical basis. It is difficult not to observe all the activity while thinking that the unintended, and most probably, uncontrollable consequences will be the ultimate arbiters of the societal value behind these unprecedented steps taken by the central banks of the westernized nations.

In the meantime, enjoy the ride and the implacable rise in financial asset prices. Actually, in a November 2013 report, McKinsey stated the impact of ZIRP on asset prices is inconclusive. Specifically, they state, “…we find little evidence that ultra-low interest rate policies have boosted equity prices in the long term. In the United States, the evidence on whether action by the Federal Reserve has lifted the housing market is also unclear, because it is difficult to disaggregate the impact of these measures from other forces at work in the market.” That’s curious.

One would think logically that there would be a direct correlation between record low mortgage rates and new home purchases. Combine that with a ridiculously low WACC for the biggest financial players and Americans said hello to their new landlords, yield-starved institutional investors and astute corporate vultures. It would also be logical to assume that when an entity can borrow at 1% and buy back its own stock yielding 2.5%, that there would be positive arbitrage opportunities. The fact that those opportunities lead to reduced share counts, increase earnings, and thus drive up stock prices has no correlation to ultra-low interest rates.

D-short presents a perfect illustration of the “low-correlation” effects of ZIRP and QE on the stock market.

As I was saying, enjoy the ride. Buy every damn dip. Just buy and hold. Buy, buy, buy! In reality, I continue to think that raising cash levels due to a true lack of value across multiple sectors is prudent portfolio management. That doesn’t mean liquidate your portfolio. It just means that raising cash levels for potential bargains that avail themselves may prove more profitable than simply sitting in holdings that have already accumulated a very nice gain over the last few years. Look at the E&P’s off of oil’s slide. Myself, I don’t think we’re going to see an avalanche down to $30’s like we saw after the fall from the $150’s. Toe-dipping into the really well managed opportunities that possess prime shale or offshore acreage appears to be presenting quality value. Observe the P&C insurance players as well. They held up remarkably well in the most recent sell-off and continue to report tremendous profitability, however, in the face of a softening price cycle.

Just be careful. If you think momentum ignition and government intervention(jawbone or real) are fictional notions that don’t affect volatility, then have a look at this ZH chart.

Coming back to our little baseball reference, America was the 3rd and most valuable batter in this game of QE. Japan is hitting clean-up and protecting America’s own aggressive batting strategy. At some point, the 5th man in the lineup needs to show his power capabilities as well and drive in some runs. That 5th batter is Europe and Draghi is wielding the bat. If the game of central banks is to continue unimpeded, then he needs to put down the 36oz timber and go get his own corked 50oz bat to stave off deflationary forces in Europe. That damn German 3rd base coach keeps getting in the way though and giving the signal to sacrifice bunt.

Lastly, if you have kids, then take them to the wealthy neighborhoods to fill their bags full of candy. If you’re at home and not trick or treating, then give out the giant sized candy bars. You’ll be loved by the neighborhood children. If you’re in your 20’s and single, then go party it up with all the Halloween hotties(female or male) dressed to impress tonight…and be safe. Happy Halloween readers!

Some Musings About Q3

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Margin Rich

Musing 1. Why do new home sales data releases by HUD possess any significance?

Maybe so that the HFT houses have a headline for an algorithm to pump millions of unfilled bids into a market. It’s baffling. For me, the most important part of a release by HUD regarding new residential sales is the Explanatory Notes. In this section they tell you how wrong their data could be and they lay out all the statistical errors that could be occurring due to things such as “bias, variance from response, nonreporting, and undercoverage.” Reported numbers are consistently displayed with standard deviations of plus or minus percentages in the teens or twenties. For example, September’s results show a 0.2% (+/- 15.7%) above revised August new home sales.

That means the actual number may have been as low as -15.5% or as high at 15.9%. The dispersion is so wide as to render the results effectively meaningless, which is why there are always revisions. But why would revisions possess any more statistical relevance when weighed against the potential of HUD’s self-reported surveying errors? Observe the median sales price from August to September. It went from $275,600 at the end of the summer to $259,000 in the beginning of the fall. While the average price of a new home sale dropped from $348K to $313K. Drops of that magnitude have to make you question the credibility of the August new home sales pricing data. Did prices for a new residence actually drop that much in a single month or was it that the data was massaged to begin with? Not even the Census Bureau will provide a quality answer. I know the confidence level of the statistics is at least 90% but c’mon. Honestly.

Can you imagine if other industries were allowed to utilize such wide standard deviations in their statistical reporting. Take biotech. “Each participant that takes the pill in the study has approximately a 50% chance of increasing their lifespan by 12 more years…plus or minus 40%.” Or how about plane engine manufacturers. “We believe this critical engine component will operate in extreme conditions with a failure rate of 0.03% (+/-72.7%)” These are extreme, outlandish examples to be sure, but you hopefully get the point. Admittedly, my statistical skillset is decidedly above the average dolt off the street, but assuredly below regular practitioners such as finance & economics professionals or academics. The book is still open on whether or not to reject the null hypothesis that MarginRich is actually just one of the said dolts off the street.

Musing 2. What’s the big deal about oil reserves vs. oil resources?

This musing stems from an article I read at Bloomberg that was titled, We’re Sitting on 10 Billion Barrel of Oil! Ok, Two. The theme was expanded on at Zero Hedge that potentially the whole petroleum renaissance is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Now I enjoy Zero Hedge as much as the next bloke, but I wouldn’t expect them to so quickly jump on the extremist bandwagon when it comes to E&P’s sharing their opinions on resources.

The basic gist of the Bloomberg piece was that oil and gas companies are grossly irresponsible in reporting resource potential in their corporate presentations versus the actual reserves they are filing with the SEC. However, before they get into the meat and potatoes of the article they share a giant caveat about investors and the differences between reserves versus resources. The authors quote Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Resources, one of the largest players in Texas with significant rig counts in the Permian and Eagle Ford. Sheffield states that experienced investors know the difference between the two numbers. Specifically, “Shareholders understand. We’re owned 95 percent by institutions. Now the American public is going into the mutual funds (or ETFs), so they’re trusting what those institutions are doing in their homework.”

Precisely. Experienced and sophisticated investors know that resource potential is not the same as current, existing barrels of oil in ground. That doesn’t mean that through innovative techniques that a high percentage of those resources cannot be converted into reserves. Patience and demand are the keys to the development of refined exploration techniques that can continue to expand the US energy base. The article implies that the shale boom is potentially a large scandal waiting to blow-up with Enron-like repercussions. That is an epically gross exaggeration. E&P companies have time and again improved or grew reserves at rates consistent with estimates. Additionally, we’ve seen the oil and gas players consistently beat reserve estimates established by the EIA for various geographic areas.

Bloomberg provided a snapshot of companies to graphically show the disparity between the two numbers:

Any speculator in hard assets, knows what the steak and the sizzle are in natural resources. The reserves are the steak. The resources are the sizzle. It would help if more of the E&P players would utilize the P’s more in their presentations for the retail players who want to get in on the action. The P’s stand for proven, probable, and possible. Proven or 1P reserves have a high probability of being produced and you can count on the number. Then there is proven and probable, which is 2P; and then proven, probable, and possible is 3P. The higher the number of P, the less likely the company can produce the reserve. However, that doesn’t eliminate the current or future viability and economic potential of the resource. These P-designations, standard nomenclature in the industry, are easy to understand and not nearly utilized enough in company presentations. Oil and gas are no different than gold, silver, platinum, copper, or any other natural resource. All natural resource companies report reserves and resources and it’s up to the speculators to conduct their own due diligence.

Musing 3. There’s some serious Kool-Aid drinking at First Trust

First Trust is an investment advisory firm founded back in 1991. They’re fairly sizeable in that through their assortment of ETFs, mutual funds, and other various products; they’ve been able to garner $32 billion in assets under management. A hefty sum by any measure, but very small compared to the biggest players in the game.

The Monday Morning Outlook is a weekly little opinion piece that First Trust puts out that also includes a schedule of important economic releases for the week. Content is hit or miss with this shop, however, there was one piece from last month that struck me as an egregiously, cowardly article. You can have a read for yourself to see if I’m out of bounds in my assessment. I admit that based on my own opinions shared at this site, that I could be labeled a doom & gloomer, but I simply refuse to un-acknowledge the current and future distortions that have and will occur in asset markets around the world thanks to central bank interference.

The piece titled Why Do Stocks Keep Rising?, from September 8th, pumps First Trust’s fist in the air behind a sis-boom-bah of how the markets have continued their upward ascent despite the steady flow of negative-impact events over the last 5 years. They don’t understand how pessimism can remain so ingrained for certain pockets of investors under such conditions. I know it’s a quick 1-page offering that they throw up every Monday, but you can’t just break out the pom-poms and then stick your head in the sand without truly acknowledging the reasoning of the very parties you are criticizing. Amateur hour!

They don’t touch on how central banks have kept the cost of capital at virtually zero for longer than any period in history despite an “improving” economy and “improving” employment. They extol the virtues of the rising profits across industries but share nothing on top-lines and how that will affect profits going forward. Or how slashing SG&A and CapEx in combination with share repurchases has significantly affected stated earnings to the positive. Nor do they expound on how these behaviors are unsustainable. They fail to acknowledge that the current situation of central bank involvement in the developed nations has absolutely no precedent, and thus, no back-testable strategy for when the house of cards begins to wobble.

As an investment adviser it behooves them to cheerlead so as to grow assets under management higher and higher. That’s fine and they have a right to share a one-sided puff piece. They should just try not to be so damn cowardly the next time they want to cheerlead investing in a rising market right before a 7%(which I stated will not be the low) haircut commences.

Before signing off, I wanted to touch on the current action in the S&P 500. In my last article, I had stated that if the price action is simply a bounce within a larger correction that I thought the 1,950 area to be a solid resistance point before turning down again. Today’s close at 1,964 is still around 1,950, so we’re not quite out of the woods just yet. If we move onto sustained new highs then I will offer a mea-culpa, but I continue to think that caution is warranted. I’ll leave you with a chart shared by Lance Roberts at STA Wealth that displays the price action in the S&P 500 during the last two corrections that reached a depth of 10% or more.

The Correction and a Trade Update

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Margin Rich

We’ll begin with Alibaba. It’s funny; there was article after article talking about how the BABA IPO may top-tick the market and yet not really much chatter at all from the financial sources about how BABA actually did top-tick. Like literally to the day, if somehow you were unaware of that. Have a look:

You can literally find dozens of articles on the subject. Some were written before September 19th. Others were written just a handful of days afterwards. One even had the gall to act as if some specific blogger nailed the top. To his credit the blogger did nail it to the hour, but it wasn’t exactly going out on a serious limb. Here’s a listing to go back and peruse:

1. www.marketwatch.com/story/did-alibabas-ipo-signal-a-top-in-the-stock-market-2014-09-23
2. blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/09/12/alibabas-ipo-not-necessarily-a-sign-of-market-top
3. www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2014/09/25/first-take-did-alibaba-ipo-mark-market-top/16225725/
4. finance.yahoo.com/video/alibaba-not-top-market-trader-160000682.html – here’s Ponytail Najarian “Gartmaning” the call on the short-term top
5. finance.yahoo.com/blogs/talking-numbers/why-the-alibaba-ipo-may-mark-a-top-for-stocks-182746661.html
6. www.mercenarytrader.com/2014/09/the-alibaba-debut-bears-uncanny-similarity-to-a-year-2007-top
7. finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-blogger-nailed-top-211049421.html – and here’s the top calling blogger at Philosophical Economics who did actually call it a top

BABA’s IPO really was a bell at the short-term top, not the long-term. I strongly feel this move is simply a correction allowing for further upside for the equity markets, as I laid out with my “chop & drop” charts. The real question is whether we get a V-shaped correction into a breakout of new highs as the bull trend resumes or is there further downside action. It’s hard for speculators to let go of 2013.

You can see that despite all the fuss being made over the 200-day MA being passed on a daily chart, there’s virtually no chance of that happening on a weekly chart(which has more meaning). Additionally, one can see that the 50-day on a weekly presented a natural support area. Subsequent price action proves that out.

The sell-off reached extremes in so many names during the course of last week, that by Friday, we were due for an immediate bounce. This is perfectly normal behavior in a correction of over 10%. Yes, I say 10% because this one probably hasn’t reached its nadir yet. Using my drug-store technical analysis, the blue-line above represents a fairly basic resistance point for the S&P 500 to obtain in the bounce. Six months ago I shared my thoughts that in order for the S&P 500 to finally take a break, the market would need to see what I deemed to be all 3 legs of the “risk stool” to be kicked out. It started with biotech. Then moved on to small caps. Finally, high-yield fixed income sold off. Combine that with the liquidity vacuum of Alibaba in combination with some Ebola fears for the airlines, the darlings of hedge funds, and WHAMMY! The sell-off has greeted us in fine fashion to start the fall season.

The deflationary action in commodity prices, specifically oil, has compounded the speed of the move downward in equity markets. I think that will help to compound the fear a little longer, which is why I suspect we’ll see a bounce and resumption versus a V-shape move off the low. Fear has a predictive way of making people wait for a bounce and then selling off again at whatever profit can be garnered, further exacerbating the corrective action. About a week ago, SentimenTrader shared a chart displaying typical action in the VIX, “the fear gauge.” It showed price action over the last 20 years, anytime the VIX jumped 100% off its six-month low. The chart may be instructive because you can see that except for 1997 and 2006, there was always further to go before a bottom.

McClellan offered his opinion of the level of extremes based on his Summation Index. The oversold levels of the stock markets have already led to the beginning of a bounce, however it doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet. The same thing occurred back in 2011.

If you want to start nibbling at a wish list, then you can follow in the footsteps of many of the giants of finance. Even Uncle Warren said he was buying at these prices. As I’ve stated throughout this article, I don’t think this move is quite done yet and “discretion is the better part of valor.”

Let’s come back to JJG, the ETF holding corn, wheat, and soybeans. In an earlier post, I’d stated I would tell readers when I thought it was go-time on this commodity trade. Well that time is now. My go-to indicators are giving a buy signal. Yes, bumper crops are expected but as we know, supply and demand are not always the ultimate arbiters of value in futures pricing. Sentiment reached extremes and speculators are positioning accordingly. The price action may bounce around at bottom here for a bit, but the downside risk has been significantly reduced. Additionally, you’d hate yourself if you missed out on a coffee-style trade.

I also want to revisit my Delta Airlines short. That was liquidated for a profit, but it was a difficult one for me to stomach, as I irresponsibly held the position. It was a simple trade. I played some Calls on the Transports, and some Puts on Delta. You can debate the finer points of whether I was hedged or simply neutral. I didn’t run the trade through a monte carlo simulator while statistically evaluating the correlations, so forgive my lack of sophistication on this one. I made a move. It paid off, fortunately. The problem was that I profited much faster on the Transports and then closed the position leaving me unhedged in Delta. The unrealized loss in the position was quite extreme, but my analysis felt sound and the duration of the option gave my thesis plenty of time. That was very undisciplined and a trader should always mind their stops. Sometimes though, a human’s hunches get the best of them. I’m not different. This situation worked out.

Because along came Alibaba and Ebola and away we went with the downside move. I had stated that I thought $30 would be the profit point, and fortunately I was able to liquidate the holding for a tidy 50%. My analysis was sound, but I got lucky despite my lack of discipline in this particular trade. The total market catalysts really assisted the drive to profit, but I’ll take’em as they come.

Keep your eyes open and don’t get too jumpy on your shopping lists. If you have to buy, then ease into a position. That’s how the professionals allocate capital into holdings and you’d be wise to speculate in the same way when establishing a stake. Although I’ve called for a resumption of the downtrend to further lows, nobody should be surprised by a liquidity-backed V-shaped correction. Anything’s possible in today’s equity markets.

Fun With Employment Charts

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Margin Rich

Before we get to the employment chartporn, I want to share a quick note regarding my two previous posts and handicapping football games. I SUCK AT HANDICAPPING NCAA FOOTBALL THIS YEAR! College is usually my bread and butter but for some reason my radar for college handicapping has been turned off and my normally mediocre NFL radar has been fine-tuned into a well-oiled machine. Go figure. Either way, if any readers out there placed college football bets based on my picks, I hope you learned your lesson. As for the show of hubris behind my so-called college football handicapping ability, well you can be sure I learned my own lesson.

The BLS provided it’s September NFP update last Friday and the markets loved all of it. Not loving it so much now, but the overreaction was stunning last week. Unemployment fell below 6% which means America is fully employed! Hooray! Breakout the champagne because everyone that needs a job has a job in America. Hitting the 5% mark makes it true. Remember, when unemployment in the 5% range meant full employment? I think Lady Yellen’s memory is little bit fuzzy. According to a recent report at Bloomberg, “The labor market has yet to fully recover,” Fed Chair Janet Yellen said at a press conference after the FOMC meeting. “There are still too many people who want jobs but can’t find them.”

So everything is awesome, but not? Damn, and here I thought we were in full recovery mode. CPI inflation is tamed FOREVER! Monetary inflation is make-believe. And unemployment reached its magical number, so let the jacking up of rates begin already. Let’s taper the asset purchases by the Fed down to zero and feel some tightening; our economy’s ready!

Alright enough with the snark, if you haven’t already been charted out by the financial blogosphere and other various news sources then I’ll give you your fill. We’ll try to look at the perception and the reality. Bear in mind as you read these charts snipped from various other sites, that they’re all generated off of BLS data. You can go right to the BLS site yourself for verification. There you’ll find all the data tables needed to plug into Excel and create your own graphs. I readily admit that I’m way too lazy for that so enjoy your reblogged content.

The first chart, courtesy of Carpe Diem, shows the 12-month change in NFP over the last decade. Basically, it shows that annual job growth is at a new high since the last peak in 2006.

Of course, this bit of great news coincides with an all-time high in temp hirings. Because nothing says full employment like setting a new record for temporary hires who will soon be unemployed again. Chart is also courtesy of Carpe Diem via FRED.

So this chart obviously speaks to the quality of the jobs being created out there, but you can’t review a new post-recession low in unemployment without reviewing the labor participation rate and its new lows. The next several charts regarding labor participation are all courtesy of the financial conspiracy theorists’ home site, Zero Hedge.

Allow me a quick indulgence here to rant on Josh Brown, The Reformed Broker, as he so unaptly stated in his own post last Friday regarding the NFP, “Losers will crawl out of their coffins and crypts to whine about the labor force participation rate, but no one cares. Think tank economists want things to get worse so they have some firepower for Fox News and MSNBC tonight. The reality is, the economy is growing as expected – slowly but surely – and there’s nothing “wrong” with today’s release. ” What a load of sellout, dickbag nonsense.

I remember when this guy used to offer fairly witty insights into the markets despite his own less than savory pathway into the field of finance. Now he’s so impressed with himself that he has to avoid reality, Krugman-style. I get that he’s now an established best-selling author, Yahoo Finance contributing personality, sometimes TV commentator, and CEO of a wealth management firm, so he’s had to sacrifice some of his original personality for some wealth and fame. No begrudgements here. Many famous and wealthy can be labeled a “sellout” but usually the only people who use that title, do so out of envy and/or disgust at their own lack of success. I assure you that’s not the case here. I’m just appalled at the sack this guy has in calling fellow reporters, bloggers, and media commentators, a “loser” for referring to the facts regarding America’s employment situation. This clown fish has been officially un-favorited at the MarginRich blogroll, because all 8 of my followers are really going to care. Okay, enough about Josh Brown. Wait, one more burn, what’s with the Something About Mary hairstyle?

Anyways, the percentage of working age Americans in the workforce has reached a 36 year low…but America’s fully employed at 5.9%. Right. A fair percentage of the decline in US unemployment numbers are directly attributed to the decline in the labor participation rate. There are a record 93 million working-age Americans that are not in the labor force. These facts have been reported on ad nauseam, but let’s drill down on the participation rate to the year the Great Recession started.

Many of Josh Brown’s ilk as disregarders of the labor participation rate will simply attribute the declining rate entirely to retiring employees. As I shared almost a year ago, the Philly Fed already tried to officially go down that route but the information just doesn’t conveniently jive. Lo and behold, look what demographic group was the largest gainer of job additions in September.

What do you know? It was the boomers and people in retirement age. Are we to believe that the demographic group of 55 and older is the backbone of America’s economic and employment recovery? Lest one think that this is an aberration or a one-off event for the month of September, there’s a chart for that, too. This trend has really picked up speed since the Great Recession.

Sorry millennials. You’re $80-Gs in debt for an education that got you a temp job where you report to a manager, aged 55 – 69, who has just been newly hired. Life’s tough. The youngest boomers and gen x don’t exactly have it a whole lot easier, but at least they’re entrenched in their jobs held from the Great Recession, where they’re just forced to complete double the work for the promise of a raise that hasn’t materialized in 6 years.

Since America is fully employed now, there should be much more income available for consumption to really begin to juice the economy. Especially since the tapering is near completion and we’re on the doorstep of the ever-so-important holiday shopping season. Unfortunately, we’ve hit a little roadblock in that department too as wages have been stagnating for some time now. Have a look at whose wages are actually growing, courtesy of BofA.

Unfortunately, only the most educated are consistently seeing growth in income generation. However, this statistic rides shotgun with the fact that a college degree is continuing to lose its edge as a value-adding tool for a new entrant into the workforce. Additionally, most of the middle-class, the back bone of the consuming public, fall into the educational categories below Master’s degree. Thus, negative comps at Wal-Mart, McDonalds, etc.

Demand is declining as exhibited by declining top-line revenues. We’re seeing more and more negative YoY comparable sales numbers across multiple industries. Earnings growth going forward probably won’t be driven by consumption so much as by share repurchases. I don’t want to be the constant doom and gloomer in the corner of the room brooding by myself, but if everything is so damn rosy why doesn’t it feel that way to the average American? You can’t just read the beige books, NFP reports, ISM reports, PCE and CPI price indexes, and all the other governmental reports while continuing to turn a blind eye to the genuine outlook here in the US.

Couple all this information with current stock market behavior and there’s reason to maintain a cautious stance. Last month I reported on the divergences occurring within the equity markets, offering that it was a time to take caution and build cash levels. I hope readers listened. Oil is tanking and it will generate a lot of financial buzz as it allows investors a much better entry point for previously missed opportunities. It will also provide a pseudo-subsidy to the American consumer. However, as some very important countries in the world rely on a higher price of oil, I can see where geopolitical conflict intensifies with Middle-Eastern concerns as well as Russia.

The currency markets are creating set-ups to coincide with the previously described events and that may lead to additional downside action in equity markets but possibly upside action in the commodity markets(except oil), specifically the precious metals. Please observe the following chart, courtesy of Kimble.

The currencies are important to keep watch on as they can be leading indicators for other asset classes. I hope you’ve built some cash levels to take advantage of the opportunities being created in several asset categories, because if you think this current sell-off is THE BIG ONE, you’re mistaken. We may get a very scary drawdown, however markets of all shape and size will see new highs going into next year and investors will want to be positioned to take advantage of the major momentum in asset prices that builds up to a legitimate bear-change in trend.

Oil and gas have sold off indiscriminately. If you felt like you were left behind in those areas, then be keeping a close eye. I wouldn’t be in a rush to start grabbing shares though, as the oil price may ride lower and for a longer time period than you’d think likely. Additionally, rig counts will take time to level off so drillers could remain depressed as well. We’ll see a bounce in driller names, but we’ll probably also see a resumption of their downtrend. Cash, a watchlist, and patience are the best friends of the prudent investor shopping for value. In the meantime, if you’re looking for a job then stop reading this damn article and go hit the Manpower agency to get a temp job you can call your own.