Mirrors

[tradingadvan]

“Mirror, mirror on the wall; who’s the most rigged of them all?†The mirror in this fairy tale of “free markets†responds “Boxing. No wait, I’m changing my answer: global equity markets.â€

Monday’s market action was a mirror image of Friday’s – the same but backward. As you know by now, Friday levitated much higher on no volume but somehow, magically, exploded even higher in the final minutes. Hopium was in the air. The market expected a bailout of Spain and went crazy into the close.

Stop and think about that. Would you put billions of dollars at risk in the closing minutes of a Friday with an impending bailout – or no bailout – of a major country on the line? You wouldn’t and neither would Fraud Street, unless it knew the outcome…unless it was rigged.

Once Fraud Street asked the mirror what the Spain bailout outcome would be and those “special banksters†got their answer – “It’s a done deal†– they drove the market much higher.

This morning, however, there was no add-on buying frenzy. Fraud Street got nervous. In its best imitation of Gordon Gekko who said “Sell it all. What the hell, so we only make ten million,†the banksters today sold Friday’s ramp-job and surely pocketed 10-times Gekko’s quote. After all, they happened to buy at just the right time – like ol’ Gordon happened to often do himself.

In addition to the simple lack of add-on and all-out buying this morning, we read the following during the trade day from Reuters:

European finance officials have discussed as a worst-case scenario limiting the size of withdrawals from ATM machines, imposing border checks and introducing capital controls in at least Greece should Athens decide to leave the euro.

EU officials have told Reuters the ideas are part of a range of contingency plans. They emphasized that the discussions were merely about being prepared for any eventuality rather than planning for something they expect to happen - no one Reuters has spoken to expects Greece to leave the single currency area.

Belgium's finance minister, Steve Vanackere, said at the end of May that it was a basic function of each euro zone member state to be prepared for problems. These discussions appear to be in that vein.

But with increased political uncertainty in Greece following the inconclusive election on May 6 and ahead of a second election on June 17, there is now an increased need to have contingencies in place, the EU sources said.

The discussions have taken place in conference calls over the past six weeks, as concerns have grown that a radical-left coalition, SYRIZA, may win the second election, increasing the risk that Greece could renege on its EU/IMF bailout and therefore move closer to abandoning the currency.

No decisions have been taken on the calls, but members of the Eurogroup Working Group, which consists of euro zone deputy finance ministers and heads of treasury departments, have discussed the options in some detail, the sources said.

As well as limiting cash withdrawals and imposing capital controls, they have discussed the possibility of suspending the Schengen agreement, which allows for visa-free travel among 26 countries, including most of the European Union.

It must take phrases like “worst case scenario†or “impending doom†to bring a reality check. Could it be that finally there’s not enough hopium left in the pipe?

Then again, Backstop-Ben will soon be looking into the mirror without asking a question. Rather, he’ll point to his reflection and say “Now it’s all up to you big guy.â€


Trade well and follow the tred, not the so-called “experts.â€

_________
Larry Levin
President & Founder - TradingAdvantage

 

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