My Thoughts on the Next 24 Hours...

These are very interesting times... At this point in time, after passing up some deals which could have saved AIG, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw at least part if not all of AIG being bought at bargain basement prices by one of its major competitors. I think it will be tough for them to find financing any other way, especially after the recent downgrades. However, I haven't been following the industry too carefully, so it would be tough for me to speculate on an appropriate suitor (list could include ING, Allianz, AXA, etc...). Nonetheless, I am rather glad I haven't taken on any new long positions in the sector recently. Something else we should all be paying close attention to is the effect these failures have on the CDS market, this could open up a whole new bag of worms. I recently read an article which stated that PIMCO alone currently guarantees USD760mn of AIG debt.

As for the Fed, I would be surprised, but not shocked, if we saw the Fed move 50bps today, however they will almost certainly switch to an easing bias in the statement and very likely modify and extend some of the current lending schemes (i.e. changes to the discount window and/or TAF, accepting more assets as collateral, possibly even allowing the Fed funds rate to trade well below target over the next couple of weeks, etc...). I don't really believe a rate cut would be the right course of action, liquidity is the issue not price. However, psychologically it may help the market. All in all the Fed's announcement will likely bring some calm to the market, which could easily be undone by an AIG collapse. We will all get a much better idea within the next 24 hours, as it has been reported an AIG deal would need to be completed by Wednesday. Currently, I am staying on the sidelines, but monitoring the situation closely. Finally, I did notice that the financial sector ultrashort ETF is trading nowhere near its July highs, which I found somewhat interesting. I am not very familiar with this fund, so if anyone has some insight on this please feel free to email me.

As an aside, and as I mentioned was a possibility in my previous post, China has begun easing monetary policy. This could be an important factor once the market does start recovering. Many of China's issues were self-inflicted and reversing policy could have a big impact as investors (eventually) become a bit less risk adverse.

UltraShort Financials ProShares (AMEX:SKF)

Source: Bloomberg

Fed Cuts 75bp

As we expected the Fed cut the fed funds rate by 75bps, and made an equivalent move in the discount rate. What is interesting is that the Fed had two dissenters to the vote, Governor Plosser from Philly and Governor Fisher from Dallas, both wanted a smaller cut. Plosser is a well known hawk on the FOMC, so this was not surprising. However, this combined with a stronger inflation message, could imply the end of strong rates cuts. Keep in mind, the market responded very favorably to the move, despite at one point having priced in a 100% chance of a 100bp cut (the GS and LEH news did help). This also supports the possibility that we could be near the end end of the rate cuts or at least at a point where we see a significant reduction in its magnitude (ie 25bps). Of course the Fed's future reaction will be very reactionary to market news and data.

Investment Idea: We continue to believe home builders may soon become a good play and should be payed close attention to. We will be looking at the ETF 'ITB'

The Week Ahead: Fed Cuts and Bank Failures

Despite the news from Bear Stearns and a weak retail sales report, the Dow actually ended the week up 0.48%. Nonetheless, there isn’t much else to boast about; the NASDAQ ended unchanged while the S&P500 lost 0.40%. However, the CPI release surprised the market by coming in well below expectations and showing no increase for either the core or headline indices. This development was mostly sidelined by the problems at Bear.

But looking forward; this week it’s all about the Fed. Despite the encouraging CPI report the Fed will not view one month’s data as the beginning of a trend; they will remain very vigilant over inflation. However, the news from Bear Stearns and growing trouble in the financial sector will cause the Fed to cut rates by 75bps. We do not believe the Fed will move a total of 100bps given their current concerns over inflation. If the Fed was to move a total of 50bps verses 75bps and the market reacted adversely it would potentially open the window for an additional inter-meeting rate cut, which the Fed would like to avoid. As we have said before we feel one of the best indicators for the Fed’s move is what the market is currently pricing in. The Fed typically does not disappoint the market. (For a more detailed analysis on Fed cuts and inflation please look at our posts from March 11^th titled “Inflation, Inflation, Inflation” & February 27^th titled “Fed Cuts & Inflation”)

Effective Fed Funds rate pre-March 2008, implied Fed Funds rate post, as of March 14th.

Monday March 17th:
8:30AM: Empire State Manufacturing Survey (Risk: Neutral) The Bloomberg consensus survey indicates the market is currently expecting a reading of -6.3, this would be an improvement from last’s month unexpected drop to -11.7, but still in negative territory. This survey is one of the first indicators monthly indicators released covering the manufacturing sector and thus it is used as a tool to help forecast the overall ISM number. A negative reading of this survey combined with negative readings from the Philly Fed and the Chicago-NAPM can indicate a slowdown in the ISM.

9:15AM: Industrial Production (Risk: Downside) The Bloomberg consensus survey indicates the market is currently expecting a reading of -0.1% on production and a 81.3% capacity utilization rate, compared to 0.1% and 81.5% on production and capacity utilization, respectively. The recent slowdown observed in manufacturing could adversely impact production.

Tuesday March 18th: Fed Day!
8:30AM: Housing Starts (Risk: Downside)- According to Bloomberg.com the market is currently expecting housing starts to total 0.99mn. Permits continue to decline, inventories continue rising, we just don’t see much upside potential for this indicator. (For more information please read our post on the Housing Crisis from March 5^th titled ‘How will it end?’)

8:30AM: Producer Price Index (Risk: Neutral/Slight Upside)- According to Bloomberg.com the market is currently expecting PPI and Core PPI to increase 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively.

2:15PM: Fed Announcement (Risk: Neutral/Slight Upside)- We expect the Fed will cut rates by 75bps and continue to hold a negative bias. We expect the Fed will indicate that they will continue monitoring inflation, and that downside risks to growth still exist and will continue to affect employment. They may also mention in more detail their concerns about the financial sector after the Bear Stearns bailout and surprise rate cut on Sunday.

Wednesday March 19th:
None

Thursday March 20th:
8:30AM: Jobless Claims (Risk: Neutral)- According to the consensus survey Jobless Claims are expected to come in at 360K, still above our 350K threshold.

10:00AM: Leading Indicators (Risk: Neutral)- Bloomberg.com currently states a market consensus of +0.3% M/M change for the leading indicators.

10:00AM: Philly Fed Survey (Risk: Neutral)- Bloomberg.com indicates the market is expecting a reading -20.0 verse -24.0 last month. As with the Empire Survey being released earlier in the week, the Philly Fed will be the second release to address the health of the US manufacturing sector.

Friday March 21st:
Market Closed (Good Friday)

Investment Idea:

Please look at the posting from March 9^th. Also, we have begun looking at long dated Citigroup calls as a possible investment idea. At the same time, we are very concerned about Lehman Brothers and expect to see its shares catch a strong bid.