Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad
Finance
(1)

Tom Guttenberger

View as an RSS Feed
View Tom Guttenberger's Comments BY TICKER:
Latest  |  Highest rated
  • Exxon's (XOM -0.4%) arrival as a tentative partner gives InterOil's (IOC +6.9%) Elk/Antelope resource a blue chip "stamp of approval," Raymond James writes, but "the market's enthusiasm will be tempered by the fact that a deal has yet to be finalized." Still unknown: how much of the resource will be monetized; the timing of a final deal; and "most importantly," the purchase price. [View news story]
    One of those supposed frauds, going wayy back too I think in 2009 plenty of whistle blowers. Shareholders Unite scores again here.
    May 24 09:51 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Serious overcapacity in China's steel industry is unlikely to ease in 2013, which could continue to hamper steel prices (SLX), analysts say at Platts Steel Market Europe conference. China is set to produce ~750M metric tons of crude steel in 2013 while capacity will rise to 950M, putting heavy pressure on steel prices in Europe and in the world steel industry as a whole. [View news story]
    You raise steel production capacity by mining and burning a lot of coal. I guess we will have to wait for the next contradictory headline in the morning, so a rally in this commodity can be sufficiently muted.

    Yawn.
    May 23 06:05 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Agency MBS fail to bounce from the "massive liquidation" following Bernanke's testimony yesterday, according to CIBC's Tom Tucci. Suggestions of a tapering of Fed purchases sent Fannie Mae MBS with 3% coupons to their lowest levels of the year. "Right now it seems the only source of demand is the Fed," says BAML's Brad Scott. Unsurprisingly, pure agency mREITs like AGNC and ARR hit 52-week lows today. Annaly (NLY) - now diversified into the commercial space with the CXS purchase - outperforms[View news story]
    Probably when it gets delisted lol.
    May 23 06:00 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Agency MBS fail to bounce from the "massive liquidation" following Bernanke's testimony yesterday, according to CIBC's Tom Tucci. Suggestions of a tapering of Fed purchases sent Fannie Mae MBS with 3% coupons to their lowest levels of the year. "Right now it seems the only source of demand is the Fed," says BAML's Brad Scott. Unsurprisingly, pure agency mREITs like AGNC and ARR hit 52-week lows today. Annaly (NLY) - now diversified into the commercial space with the CXS purchase - outperforms[View news story]
    This is interesting for a few reasons -- without readily available price info I am left to speculate. If the spread of MBS is rising relative to treasuries, this is not only indicative of future fed involvement, but of the status of loan quality and of future yield assumptions. If your pool of loans is expected to be of higher credit risk, MBS would command a higher spread, but also if the security imputation yield is lower (implying lower long term yields in the future). The latter feature results in a higher yield spread given that a portion of the cash flow is impulse-path dependent, and yield needs to compensate for the chances of this future step-down in cash flow for the investor.

    The rise in yields is not particularly surprising to me, in that I noted these distortions in one of my 3 articles in the last 8 months. The amazing part, I think, is that this is all cocurrent to the circumstances, in which Europe faced a mini meltdown and Japan a veritable one increasing the favoritism for US denominated assets. Where even though external biases are aiding money flow into the US, you see the fed still acting, and interest rates STILL rising. To me this speaks to a risk preference shift to equities and blunt xenophobia of other credit and currency markets in general. I don't know. This has certainly been quite a rally.
    May 23 05:44 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Central Bankers' Day [View article]
    JGB volatility seems miniscule compared to movements of the underlying, seems like there must have been some sort of arb there. CHF falling against any of the major floating currencies is tough for me to fathom -- most of their central bank assets are in foriegn currency and gold, and their trade/growth stats are much better than virtually any in the EZ.
    May 22 01:02 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Consumer prices rise 2.4% in China during April, up from 2.1% in March and slightly above economists' estimates. Producer prices fell 2.6% during the month, a steeper decline than expected. [View news story]
    Who cares though right?

    I'm sure some official just picked this number out of the air, you think?
    May 8 10:27 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR): FQ2 EPS of $0.93 beats by $0.20. Revenue of $1.00B (+14% Y/Y) in-line. Shares halted AH on news of a 5-year agreement with Starbucks. (PR[View news story]
    Yawn. Some static-removed instrument moving for absolutely no reason again. Difference was you could get a 50% value change for some half-news item on GMCR in the motive days.
    May 8 10:23 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Magic Trees: The Performance Of Equities Vs. Commodities [View article]
    I would layoff all of my workers, close up shop, sit on my reserves, and pay down my debt with cash on hand before I sold a 2016 barrel of oil for $85.

    It doesn't make any sense, Brendan. Why would you engineer a cash flow when you can (in)directly impact its price with your own actions???

    Further, it doesn't even happen to much of an extent -- just look at how tepid the volume and open interest is in these contracts. This is an illustration of market maker and HFT interests -- concentrating volumes to near-dated deliveries.
    May 8 01:52 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Magic Trees: The Performance Of Equities Vs. Commodities [View article]
    Maybe I'm NOT the only person mystified by 2016ish WTI futures trading around $85.

    Then again, when (as an example) the airlines go bust at the hands of "evil speculators" option/warrant holders will be glad they repaid that money as (investor-friendly) dividends rather than insurance for their future. Compensation is time sensitive after all.

    Hedging demand even at these prices is non-existent; seems like no one has forgotten about looming government put options.
    May 7 11:23 PM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Why A Stock Market Bubble Is Forming Right Now [View article]
    I think velocity is declining structurally so strongly because of how the money is distributed. The savers/high earners find themselves in a situation where their habits leave themselves holding a larger denomination of these assets. Ironically these same habits slow down the total turnover of money by definition.

    I think spending among the tiers of the population remains about the same, in all likelihood. You just see an "asset-purpose" switch, where more money is counted in a particular category. Obvious when money is put forth as a housing down-payment it still was an asset, but just not counted into the velocity measure.

    Or if the person is invested in a fixed-income product, this doesn't count as M2 either. So when the risk/return on bonds is razor sharp (I mean that in all senses), the attractiveness of cash increases as well.

    Then you also have an increase in dividend yields which I hypothesize also slow velocity. Rather than re-investing into jobs, R&D, etc., companies pay back shareholders. The shareholders love it, but even if the money is re-invested, this type of churn can't act positively on a companies bottom line, without increasing credit that is.
    This all on top of the aforementioned. Keep an eye on M2, and just realize the economy seems pretty well engineered to post 2-3% growth FOR NOW.
    May 6 08:34 PM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Why A Stock Market Bubble Is Forming Right Now [View article]
    I will stay tuned. I have some formed notions around this topic, but it is good to see other insights. It is a great topic.
    May 3 11:36 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Why A Stock Market Bubble Is Forming Right Now [View article]
    You basically created the inverse of M2 monetary velocity with your metric. This is definitely interesting study in that it isn't clear why or how this could actually affect the market and valuations.

    Mid-90s an abberation caused by securization and credit-based transaction affecting GDP positively and disproportionately to whatever sort of base or liquidity measure. How this metric has grown to the status that it has is a little bit baffling, but consider:
    1. Securitization has shrunk since peaking in ~08.
    2. Passive, slow-velocity money (deposits) have grown at a great rate.
    3. The US has a perfectly and hugely systemic trade deficit and that perennially eats at the denominator in your metric.
    4. The greatest consumer credit growth category (student loans) is easily manifested into liquidity, and this expansion at rates as market-disadvantageous as they are, actually might have a drag on real GDP at a certain point, disregarding the non-findings of Reinhoff-Roheim or whoever that over-simplified and apparently miscalculated study was authored by. My point - rates matter more than confluence of variables.
    May 3 11:01 AM | 1 Like Like |Link to Comment
  • Is it all about China? General Motors (GM +3.6%) trades higher after the impact of China on the automaker's Q1 results starts to get fully digested. Barclays notes China accounted for $0.40 of the $0.58 profit GM put in during Q1, while Detroit Free Press reporter Nathan Bomey tabuluated GM sold more cars in China than Europe, South America, India, Canada, and Mexico combined. [View news story]
    American companies selling to China getting excellent pop off their consumer and upward guidance. Chinese companies selling to the same consumer will have their P/E ratios just logarithmically converge to 0.
    May 3 09:56 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Carhops, Coneys, And Healthcare: Why I'm Short Sonic Drive-Ins, Part I [View article]
    Taste, nutrition, cost, considered, it really must be among the worst food you could buy lol.
    May 3 09:48 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
  • Carhops, Coneys, And Healthcare: Why I'm Short Sonic Drive-Ins, Part I [View article]
    Great article, I'll check for part 2. Completely anecdotal -- in maybe 2006/2007 my friends and I were clamoring for a Sonic in Michigan, in part due to all of the advertising (must have been purchased nationally or regionally). After getting what we wished and going a few times, it completely lost its luster and we stopped.
    May 1 10:58 AM | Likes Like |Link to Comment
COMMENTS STATS
693 Comments
401 Likes