U.S. stock futures tumbling from three-pronged attack

marketwatch.com ^ | January 24, 2014 | Barbara Kollmeyer

[John W]

MADRID (MarketWatch) — Wall Street was set to open with stinging losses on Friday, with investors set to pick up selling where they left off in a bruising session a day earlier. Worries about China, Latin America and company earnings ganged up on investors and sent futures tumbling.

[proxy_user]

What? The stock market goes down? Who knew?

[scooby321]

add the death of the Mall Anchor Stores closings. Well????

[Mouton]

I guess you can only pump so much gas into a baloon till it bursts. I wonder what his excellency will say about that given it is on his watch? I’d love to see that thing crack a few thousand points just before his SOU address just to see him squirm a tad as his tower of babel collapses right before his eyes. Maybe we could get a chorus of “you Lie” as he states all is well.

[carlo3b]

Add the pending default in China’s largest bank, on Jan 31.. Kaboom!

[maine yankee]

What would really help set it off would be a MSM story about the gold we refuse to return to Germany.

Also an announcement by a leading politician that we will not bail out the health insurance companies.

[struggle]

I got out of the market yesterday and it may have been the perfect timing.

[proxy_user]

My dividends are still coming in every month. It’s a quarter of my income.

[PGalt]

Hey, where’s the PPT? Get some paper & ink over to Fedzilla pronto.

[Wyatt's Torch]

ZeroHedge: Emerging Market CDS Blow Out

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/24/2014 07:44 -0500

The last time markets scrambled for protection against sovereign defaults was over European country collapse in the summer of 2012 around the time Mario Draghi introduced a non-existent measure to allow Europe’s nations to engage in zero reforms while their bond yields plunged. This time it is the emerging markets.

- Argentina +139bps at 2562.07bps, hit highest since Sept.
- Venezuela +81bps at 1398.19bps, highest since 2010
- Turkey +11.6bps at 276.7bps, highest since June 2012
- South Africa +10bps at 236bps, highest since Sept.

Of course, CDS aren’t telling us anything (capital-controlled) FX hasn’t already made quite clear.

Source: BBG

[Mouton]

Yes, those would be great. Unfortunately I expect nothing from the media. The employment report yesterday is a good example. 330000+ new claims for unemployment cited as a sign that job growth is doing fine as it shows a progression of hiring. No mention that the labor utilitzation rate is at a 40 year low and the real unemployment rate is approaching 20% or more. Oh, they did add the number is below the numbers losing their jobs before the recession, in other words, during Bush’s term.

[wny]

but, but, but......there’s a recovery!

[Wyatt's Torch]

This Is The Best Explanation We’ve Seen Of Why Emerging Markets Are Getting Slammed
Joe Weisenthal

Markets are getting slammed today, and the pain is particularly acute in the emerging markets space.

What’s going on?

Citigroup currency specialist Steven Englander attributes the move to a sudden turn among major world central banks that policy is likely to be tighter sooner than expected.

ld have been that the MPC would find a way of backing away from any suggestion that 7.0% would open a debate on tightening. Now that is less clear.

EM currencies are feeling the pain but the driver is investor fear of a sudden lurch to hawkishness among G10 central banks. Consider the list below of G10 drivers of liquidity concerns:

1) Market worried about Fed tightening and Fed forward guidance
2) Strong UK data and BoE hawkish tilt
3) BoJ member talking about no additional easing and ultimate QE exit
4) SNB macroprudential move on housing

In a recent set of visits to Asia and Switzerland, I was struck by the extent to which investors saw a backing up of US rates, and potentially earlier-than-signaled Fed rate hike as the major risk on the horizon, far more than with respect to a China slowdown or credit crunch. The more concerned among investors saw US rates backing up and even an early policy rate hike as driven by strong US growth or alternatively a sudden realization that there was not nearly as much excess capacity as had been thought. The more moderately concerned saw markets challenging the Fed on its forward guidance, with the outcome to be data determined. There were very few who saw any sort of downside risk to rates or the US economy. Among Asia clients by far the biggest risk they saw was a pullback in global liquidity which would tighten liquidity conditions in EM. Now combine that with the ambiguity coming out of the BoE on future monetary policy and the comments that leave open the options on monetary policy as the 7.0% unemployment target is approached. Even a month ago the overwhelming view would have been that the MPC would find a way of backing away from any suggestion that 7.0% would open a debate on tightening. Now that is less clear.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/steven-englander-on-emerging-market-selloff-2014-1#ixzz2rK1Lq58z

[tbpiper]

Me and I made money on it.

[Varsity Flight]

“This time it is the emerging markets”

Emerging market shutdown.
And will be many more markets to the bone, before this is over.

[Wyatt's Torch]

Could you tell me why the Emerging Market Currency chart was removed? Thanks.

[jdsteel]

As the EU bonds look to be (once again) a reasonable alternative to U.S. debt investors will demand a better rate from U.S. debt. This happens no matter what the Fed does, as the market sets the rate for long debt. The Fed only sets the rate for short debt. As our exploding debt shows no sign of stopping there is now a good reason for bond buyers to want a better return. THAT is driving the market down.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Or a sudden outbreak of common sense.

[Obadiah]

Shifted my assets to an unusually (for me) defensive position about two weeks ago. Initially thought I jumped the gun, but may have been Providential leading. We'll see.