Tag: BAX

Still not buying anything

Despite having over a 70% cash position at present, I still remain highly skeptical of the marketplace. Although I am happy to see things dive down another 4% on the major indicies (2% on the TSX), the root causes of this mayhem have not been addressed at all yet. I still highly suspect there is more to come. There will continue to be gut-wrenching rallies up and crashes down and today is an example of a crash down. The next two hours of trading can change everything, but the mid-term trend is clearly down. Although mathematically volatility is “up and down”, it strongly correlates with a down market when buying volatility futures!

However, when looking at the numbers, today’s dump feels less liquidity-inspired than the previous dump (where everything was getting thrown out the window if there was a bid). I do notice that certain fixed income products have been able to outperform (by falling less) and also Canada has fallen less unless if you are invested in the natural resource sector (commodities have been hammered). Typical defensive issues (e.g. consumer staples) have also fallen less than commodity-linked products.

My entire premise for this market drop is a combination of a grave concern on a macroeconomic scale (i.e. a pending devaluation of the US dollar) with a deleveraging of portfolios – you can only borrow at 1-2% and purchase income-oriented securities for so long before the capital value of such income-oriented securities suddenly take a plunge and then you have to deal with the margin call of the decade to truly pay for it.

While we are on the topic of interest rates, Canadian short term implied rates have also projected a chance of a rate cut by years’ end:

Month / Strike Bid Price Ask Price Settl. Price Net Change Vol.
+ 11 SE 98.780 98.785 98.755 0.025 5322
+ 11 OC 0.000 0.000 98.725 0.000 0
+ 11 NO 0.000 0.000 98.805 0.000 0
+ 11 DE 99.020 99.030 98.910 0.110 16290
+ 12 MR 99.120 99.130 99.000 0.120 21771
+ 12 JN 99.150 99.160 99.010 0.140 11273
+ 12 SE 99.140 99.150 98.980 0.170 4853
+ 12 DE 99.130 99.140 98.950 0.190 2782

A December BAX rate of 99.02 corresponds to a rate of 0.98%, which should be compared to a 1.18% rate for 3-month Bankers’ Acceptances – the markets are predicting a higher chance of a rate cut than not.

Bank of Canada to cut interest rates?

I notice that December BAX futures are pricing in a rate decrease by the Bank of Canada to 0.5 to 0.75%:

Month / Strike Bid Price Ask Price Settl. Price Net Change Vol.
+ 11 AU 0.000 0.000 98.880 0.000 0
+ 11 SE 98.890 98.895 98.895 0.000 23059
+ 11 OC 0.000 0.000 98.865 0.000 0
+ 11 DE 99.140 99.150 99.150 0.000 50455
+ 12 MR 99.140 99.160 99.170 -0.020 32592
+ 12 JN 99.140 99.150 99.170 -0.030 17723
+ 12 SE 99.110 99.120 99.140 -0.040 6277
+ 12 DE 99.050 99.070 99.090 -0.020 1582

Indeed, the only people making any money out of the marketplace right now are those that have been holding onto long-term government bonds, an instrument that almost everybody stated couldn’t go lower in yield.

Government Bond yields have dropped significantly

The one impact of the US debt ceiling extension has been that government bond yields have dropped significantly over the past week. For instance, the 10-year Canadian government bond benchmark has lost about 25 basis points which is a huge drop:

10-year bond yields are now lower now than they have been since January 2009 (the depths of the financial crisis). The bond markets are highly pessimistic about any form of economic recovery and are trading as such.

Short term rates are no longer pricing in a sure chance of a rate increase – BAX futures are as follows:

Month / Strike Bid Price Ask Price Settl. Price Net Change Vol.
+ 11 AU 0.000 0.000 98.670 0.000 0
+ 11 SE 98.685 98.690 98.685 0.000 23202
+ 11 OC 0.000 0.000 98.655 0.000 0
+ 11 DE 98.660 98.670 98.660 0.010 42832
+ 12 MR 98.630 98.640 98.610 0.020 35992
+ 12 JN 98.590 98.610 98.560 0.040 16408
+ 12 SE 98.550 98.570 98.510 0.050 7649
+ 12 DE 98.500 98.510 98.450 0.060 2729

The December BAX Futures are at 98.66 (1.34%) compared to 98.46 (1.54%) when the Bank of Canada made its last pronouncement on short term rates.  It no longer appears that short term rates will be rising at all.  Three month corporate paper is still at 1.17%.  If there is any hint of economic recovery, it is not seen in the bond market.

Bank of Canada keeping rates steady

The Bank of Canada has kept the target overnight interest rate steady at 1%. This surprised nearly nobody. Their statement is relatively unchanged from the prior one.

The chart to keep looking at is not the BAX futures, but rather the 10-year benchmark government bond yield:

With the yield spread from short-term rates to the 10-year at about 205 basis points, the bank is unlikely to lift rates anytime soon.

BAX futures are as follows:

Month / Strike Bid Price Ask Price Settl. Price Net Change Vol.
+ 11 JN 98.695 98.705 98.695 0.005 12727
+ 11 JL 0.000 0.000 98.630 0.000 0
+ 11 AU 0.000 0.000 98.615 0.000 0
+ 11 SE 98.630 98.640 98.630 0.000 31347
+ 11 DE 98.500 98.510 98.480 0.020 37387
+ 12 MR 98.350 98.360 98.310 0.040 24564
+ 12 JN 98.200 98.210 98.140 0.060 13081
+ 12 SE 98.040 98.050 97.970 0.070 3855
+ 12 DE 97.870 97.890 97.790 0.090 809

The market has priced in a rate hike by year’s end, but I do not think this projection will come to fruition – come December, the 98.5 price will be likely around 98.7 – a thin value bet could be placed here.

Canadian Interest Rate Futures

Examining the short-term interest rate expectations of the futures market:

Month / Strike Bid Price Ask Price Settl. Price Net Change Vol.
+ 11 AL 0.000 0.000 98.710 0.000 0
+ 11 MA 0.000 0.000 98.640 0.000 0
+ 11 JN 98.660 98.665 98.670 -0.005 17877
+ 11 SE 98.490 98.500 98.500 0.000 25173
+ 11 DE 98.310 98.320 98.310 0.000 32785
+ 12 MR 98.130 98.140 98.140 0.000 15601
+ 12 JN 97.950 97.970 97.960 -0.010 4616
+ 12 SE 97.770 97.790 97.790 0.000 945
+ 12 DE 0.000 97.640 97.610 -0.030 648

The Japanese earthquake and general instability in the marketplace has driven the June futures up from 98.545 on March 1st to 98.66 today – which is pricing in a small chance that the Bank of Canada will increase interest rates on their May 31 interest rate announcement. It is far more likely that the short term rate will be 1%.

The futures still anticipate that the year-end short-term rate will be 1.5%, so it will be interesting to see if this comes to fruition. With reports of food inflation rising (primarily due to commodity price increases), the Bank may have to make an undesirable decision to raise interest rates to stem inflation, which would have an adverse effect on the economy and stock markets.

I stated earlier I do not expect the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates until 10-year government bonds go above 3.5%, and they are presently at 3.19%:

Notably, the Canadian 10-year bond is trading at a yield of 10bps less than the US 10-year note.