Is Sam Bankman-Fried Another Bernie Madoff? Buyer Beware Or Rely On Government For Protection? (FTX Held Less Than $1bn In Liquid Assets Against $9bn In Liabilities)

Like the disastrous Bernie Madoff debacle where investors lost millions of dollars, Sam Bankman-Fried has apparently cost investors like Steph Curry, Shaq and Tom Brady considerable sums as well.

What do Bernie Madoff and Sam Bankman-Fried have in common? Greedy investors who apparently didn’t bother to monitor what was going on.

Yes, had they monitored FTX, Bankman-Fried’s company, they would have noticed that FTX held less than $1bn in liquid assets against $9bn in liabilities.

Generally, with buyer beware, the onus falls on investors to monitor what is going on. But The Fed’s completely dropped the ball on Bernie Madoff where investors didn’t seem at all curious about earning supercharged returns. The same is the case for FTX.

FTX had partnered with Ukraine to process donations to their war efforts within days of Joe Biden pledging billions of American taxpayer dollars to the country. Ukraine invested into FTX as the Biden administration funneled funds to the invaded nation, and FTX then made massive donations to Democrats in the US.

The SEC’s Gary Gensler blew it again. After his agency failed to warn investors about Terra and Celsius—whose collapses this spring sparked a trillion-dollar investor wipeout—the Securities and Exchange Commission chair allowed an even bigger debacle to unfold right under his nose. I’m talking, of course, about the revelation this week that the $30 billion FTX empire was a house of cards and that its golden boy founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is the crypto equivalent of Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes (Stanford University is where Holmes was an MBA student and Stanford Law School is where both SBF’s parents are professor).

To be fair, Gensler was not the only one suckered by SBF. Nearly everyone else fell for the narrative that SBF, with his cute afro and aw-shucks demeanor, was exactly the savior crypto needed to shake off its dodgy reputation and emerge as part of the mainstream financial system. The problem is that cop-on-the-beat Gensler not only failed to spot the crime—he appeared set to go along with a legislative strategy that would have given SBF a regulatory moat and made him king of the U.S. crypto market.

While it is easy to blame Gensler, the onus still falls on investors (and their managers) to MONITOR. Buyer beware.

What will happen to Sam? Likely nothing. He is a golden child of Democrats and was the second biggest donor to Biden and the Democrats after America-hating George Soros. Just like Biden’s son Hunter will never pay for his many inappropriate antics, I doubt that Merrick “Double Standard” Garland will do much to Sam.

Steph Curry, Shaq and Tom Brady should fire their investment advisors and possibly sue then for failure to monitor. No one noticed $1bn in assets against $9bn in liabilities??

Gary Genslar is more like Inspector Clouseau than a serious regulator.

Here is the SEC’s Gary Genslar interviewing Sam Bankman-Fried about FTX.

Maybe Sam’s Stanford law school professor parents didn’t tell him that it is against the law.

US Treasury Yield Curve Slips Into Darkness (Implied Yield On 3M T-Bills In 18 Months – 3M T-Bill Yield Inverts) Slippin’ Into Darkness

The US economy is Slippin’ Into Darkness.

The Fed’s favorite yield curve measure, the implied yield on 3-month T-Bills in 18 months less the 3-month T-bill yield has inverted. Note that this curve inverts prior to a recession.

The new face of reckless Fed policy and Federal spending. 19 straight months of negative REAL earnings growth as America re-elects the same irresponsible fools that are turning the US into Venezuela.

The Gap! US Mortgage Demand Crashes As Fed Tightens (Taylor Rule Estimate Now 13.85% Versus 4.00% Current Target Rate)

The October Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices came out yesterday and its a doozy.

The Net Percentage of Domestic Banks Reporting Stronger Demand for Mortgage Loans is sinking faster than Joe Biden’s oratory skills as The Fed tightens their monetary belts.

Jumbo mortgages, those that are greater than FHFA’s conforming loan limit, are tanking as well.

And today, the University of Michigan (BOOO!!) consumer survey for housing buying conditions fell to the lowest level in recorded history.

Given the latest inflation numbers (improving from disastrous, 8.2% YoY to really horrible, 7.70% YoY), and unemployment rate rising from 3.5% to 3.7%, we now see that Taylor Rule estimate for Fed Funds is now … 13.85%. The US is currently at 4.00%. THAT is a big gap!

Yes, The Fed will not be able to fill the gap between the Taylor Rule and the current Fed Funds Target Rate, without incredible damage being done.

Unfortunately, this is an ACTIVE FAILURE for The Fed which has left monetary stimulus too high for too long since late 2008.

On a personal note, I am glad the midterm elections are over. We saw John Fetterman arguing until he was blue in the face that he loved fracking and will continue to let Pennsylvania frack. Then PA governor-elect Josh Shapiro came out yesterday and said that PA will end all fracking. And we are to believe that Lt Gov Fetterman did not talk with PA Attorney General Shapiro about fracking? To quote Joe Biden, “C’mon man!”

Fed Is NOT Unwinding MBS, 30yr Mortgage Rate Falls To Under 7% (Will The Fed ACTUALLY Unwind Its Balance Sheet??)

Now that the midterm elections are over (except for counting of million of mail-in ballots, a massive moral hazard risk), President Biden has proclaimed that he isn’t changing any of his horrid policies. And apparently, neither is The Federal Reserve.

Despite the headlines that The Federal Reserve is rapidly downsizing its massive balance sheet of assets, The Fed is just letting their enormous holdings of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) run off. That is, just letting MBS mature. So, The Fed’s System Open Market Holdings of Agency MBS has barely declined.

Here is the table of MBS run-off. The mass of MBS doesn’t start to mature until … 2039. It is Treasuries that are maturing.

So, The Fed is raising its target rate rapidly, although that is likely to reverse course in the first half of 2022.

Meanwhile, mortgage applications fall to lowest level since 1997 with Fed tightening.

“So Mr Bond…let me tell you my plan for global domination.”

Double Whammy! Mortgage Holders Lose $1.3 Trillion in Equity in Q3 As Price Correction Continues (Nationally, Homes Shed 2.6% of Value Over Past Three Months As Treasury Yield Curve Remains DEEPLY Inverted)

Yes, this is an economic double whammy!

First, according to Black Knight, US home values declined -2.6% over the past three months.

Second, the US Treasury 10Y-2Y yield curve remains near 1980s low.

There is a third whammy, rising utility costs (highest in a decade).

Yes, its a double whammy!

Next US Inflation Report After Midterm Elections Likely To Remain High (Projection For Headline Inflation = 7.9%, Core Inflation = 6.5%) As Diesel Prices UP 102% Under Biden And Inflation UP 486%

The US midterm elections are Tuesday. I was denied an absentee ballot for some reason, but I will get my disabled body over to the local precinct to cast my ballot.

Fortunately for Democrats, the next inflation report is not due out until November 10th. Because the forecast for the next inflation report is ugly.

Headline CPI YoY = 7.9%

Core CPI YoY = 6.5%

These numbers are slightly lower than the last inflation report, but Americans are still suffering mightily under Biden’s Reign of Error.

Diesel fuel prices, the lifeline of the food industry, is up 102% under Biden’s mandates with the inventory of diesel fuel down 36%.

Inflation is relentless like Jason from Halloween.

Inflation is UP 486% under Inflation Joe, The Bully of DC.

I am going for a few Tequila shots on Wednesday.

US Mortgage Rate Hits 7.35% As Fed Combats Bidenflation (Mortgage Rates UP 155% Under Inflation Joe!)

The mortgage market is really hurting under the stewardship of “Inflation Joe” Biden.

Bankrate’s 30yr mortgage rate hit 7.35% yesterday, up 155% under Biden.

Here is a photo of Inflation Joe taking aim at the mortgage industry and housing market.

US Jobs: Private Payrolls Rise By 233k In October After Rising 319k In September (-27% MoM), Unemployment Rate Edges Up To 3.7% As Wage Growth Cools To 4.7% (Too Bad Inflation Is At 8.2%)

President Biden just lost one of his midterm election talking points. “The U-3 unemployment rate the lowest since (garbled) at 3.5%!” Because it now has risen in October to 3.7%.

Private payrolls added 233k jobs in October, which is a -27% decline from September’s revised private payroll figures.

The good news? Average hourly earnings growth is still positive, but fell to 3.7% YoY. But with inflation raging at 8.2% YoY, workers are getting clobbered by inflation.

Here is the rest of the story.

The Fed is now green-lighted to raise rates even higher.

Biden’s campaign promise was to unite rather than divide. But Biden has morphed into Gustaf Holst’s, Mars – Bringer of War! Both domestically and in the Ukraine.

Terminal Velocity? Bank of England Raises Rates By 75 Basis Points, Biggest Hike in 33 Years (Follows US Fed Is Tightening, But Fed Still Slow To Shrink Balance Sheet As M2 Money Growth Collapses)

The Bank of England followed the Fed’s 75 basis-point increase with an equivalent hike on Thursday, but strongly pushed back against market expectations for the scale of future increases, warning that following that path would induce a two-year recession. The pound fell 1.8% to $1.1183.

Stocks and bonds fell as Jerome Powell’s warning that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates more than previously anticipated sapped risk appetite. The dollar gained.

Futures on the S&P 500 fell 1% in the wake of Wednesday’s 2.5% drop. The selloff spread to Europe and Asia, where China’s affirmation of its Covid-Zero stance dashed hopes of a reopening. Lumen Technologies Inc., Peloton Interactive Inc., Moderna Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. tumbled in premarket trading, while Etsy Inc. and EBay Inc. rose.

So, the BofE, Fed and ECB are back to 2008/2009 era central bank rates.

But the US Fed is slow to shrink its enormous balance sheet.

What happened to terminal rates in the US?

And M2 Money velocity (GDP/M2) seems terminal.

Powell’d! S&P 500 Index Drops -2.35% On Failure Of Fed Pivot (“Very Premature To Be Thinking About Pausing)

Markets are getting stranger than the Paul Pelosi hammer attack.

The S&P 500 index tanked -2.35% after Powell and The Fed failed to pivot.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell opened a new phase in his campaign to regain control of inflation, saying US interest rates will go higher than previously projected, but the path may soon involve smaller hikes.

Addressing reporters Wednesday after the Fed raised rates by 75 basis points for the fourth time in a row, Powell said “incoming data since our last meeting suggests that ultimate level of interest rates will be higher than previously expected.”

Powell said is it would be appropriate to slow the pace of increases “as soon as the next meeting or the one after that. No decision has been made,” he said, while stressing that “we still have some ways” before rates were tight enough.

“It is very premature to be thinking about pausing,” he said.

Fed Funds Futures data point now to a June peak in the target rate of 5.055%, then a decline.