Chinks In The Fed’s Armor? Try Gaping Holes!

It’s Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM EST – just after Janet Yellen’s prepared remarks were released, ahead of her 10:00 AM EST “Humphrey-Hawkins” semi-annual Congressional testimony.  They haven’t yet been published on Zero Hedge, although they’ve certainly been disseminated – and gold’s initial reaction was to modestly rise; which is a very good sign, as such appearances have been “key Cartel attack events” for as long as I can remember.  Of course, the day’s young yet – so don’t be surprised if the Cartel attacks in the coming hours, trying to convince the world the Fed is in control, financial markets are undervalued, and Precious Metals’ year-starting surge was just a “flash in the pan.”  Obviously, the “Yellen Reversal” didn’t occur; but equally obviously, the report was “incrementally dovish”; as it better have been, given global financial markets are on the verge of all-out implosion.  I’ll get to the actual statement momentarily, but first let’s look at what has occurred in the past 48 hours.

On Monday and Tuesday, the Japanese stock market imploded by 8%; global banking equities plunged even more precipitously; crude oil crashed below $27.50/bbl; the U.S. dollar fell nearly 3%; and high-yield bonds plunged, whilst credit default swap rates of all kinds surged.  Most importantly, the “next Lehman Brothers” – times ten – Deutschebank, fell as much as 13%, to a new all-time low. Copper is again on the verge of breaking below $2/lb; the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield plunged to 1.7%, not far from its all-time low of 1.5%; and generally speaking, market volatility has surged to ominously dangerous levels.  Cumulatively, global equities are officially in a bear market; and despite tens of trillions of newly minted debt, worldwide equity capitalization is $6 trillion lower than at the 2008 top.  Even the propaganda was muted amidst the carnage – with JP Morgan forecasting a dramatic expansion of European NIRP; the Australian Treasury Secretary all but admitting last month’s “strong” jobs report was fraudulent; and former (by two months) Minnesota Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota loudly reiterating his call for NIRP here in the States!

Frankly, the only “positive” news was relentless, maniacal U.S. PPT and Cartel activity –desperately attempting to put lipstick on a giant, snorting pig ahead of Yellen’s testimony this morning.  I don’t usually do this, but I want you to see how desperate the PPT was to rescue equities ahead of Yellen testimony – via prototypical “dead ringer” and “hail mary” algorithms”; as well as the Cartel’s desperation to prevent gold and silver from taking out the key psychological levels of $1,200/oz and $15.50/oz, respectively – via equally prototypical “Cartel Herald” algorithms, as aggressively and often as necessary.  Still, both metals have recaptured their 200 DMAs of $1,131/oz and $15.12/oz, respectively – and given the “chinks in the armor” exposed by Whirlybird Janet’s speech today; amidst an environment of surging worldwide physical demand; it’s going to be quite the chore for the Cartel to turn such support into resistance.

Oh, and one more piece of – LOL – “positive news” to discuss, validating exactly what I wrote in yesterday’s “Deutschebank on the verge of taking down the entire global monetary system.” I.e…

“From my experience, all that remains of DB’s final death throes – and potentially, the entire global monetary system – are the mysteriously floated “rumors” that all’s well; followed by vicious stock rallies, which ultimately crash back to Earth, just as oil last month’s “rumors” of Middle Eastern war and Saudi production cuts.”

Well, we got the first such pathetic “rumor” today – enabling the stock of DB, and the entire, collapsing global banking sector – to generated a likely fleeting dead-cat bounce.  When – double LOL – a “German newspaper” suggested the ECB might expand QE to monetize European bank stocks.  Yeah, that’ll work; just as it has for the Bank of Japan, which has bought up more than half the ETF’s on the Nikkei Exchange – and went to negative interest rates, to boot – only to watch the Yen surge, the Nikkei plunge, and Japan’s credibility implode to levels not seen in decades.

In Deutschebank’s particular case, talk about throwing good money (or should I say, cancerous toilet paper) after bad!  Let alone, when combined with the other “rumor” floated today – that DB is considering the repurchase of some of its own bonds.  Yes, another brilliant move!  I mean, what could be dumber than using up its liquidity amidst a cascading liquidity crisis?  And if the goal was to inspire “confidence” – such a moronic move, in my view, will have as much “positive” impact on sentiment as the Fed raising interest rates into an expanding global Depression!

As for Whirlybird Janet’s comments; frankly, I’m having difficult avoiding laughter, watching her desperately attempt to purport “confidence” amidst the rapidly expanding carnage – in espousing pure, unadulterated LIES like “ongoing employment gains and faster wage growth should support the growth of real incomes, and therefore consumer spending – and global economic growth should pick up over time, supported by highly accommodative monetary policies abroad.”  Honestly, such blatantly self-serving propaganda holds about the same credibility as Kevin Bacon’s character in Animal House, shouting “all’s well!”

That said, the “chinks” in Yellen’s armor – or more aptly put, gaping holes – were evident for the entire world to see, when she uber-dovishly followed up the aforementioned lies with “financial conditions in the United States have recently become less supportive of growth, with declines in broad measures of equity prices, higher borrowing rates for riskier borrowers, and a further appreciation of the dollar.  In the fourth quarter of last year, growth in the gross domestic product is reported to have slowed more sharply, to an annual rate of just 3/4 percent; again, growth was held back by weak net exports as well as by a negative contribution from inventory investment.”

In other words, NIRP and QE4 are coming to America – far sooner than nearly anyone can yet imagine. Frankly, I’d be shocked if the global carnage doesn’t re-commence the second the PPT’s Humphrey-Hawkins accommodation scheme ends; as all Janet Yellen revealed – in her unique version of “Fedspeak” – is that the world’s most powerful printing press is being dusted off, refurbished, and turbo-charged as we speak.

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