2 parte
Let's be very clear. There are some very positive signs in the economy. Revenue growth seems to be picking up. There are some anecdotal signs that employment might be starting to rise, although it has not shown up as yet in the data. Housing is still relatively strong, and consumer spending is growing.
Further, I am not complaining about the stimulus driven recovery. Recovery is a good thing. If any of the Democratic presidential hopefuls were currently president and actually pursued the policies they espouse, we really would be experiencing the worst economy since the Hoover administration. Without the combined and powerful stimulus of the Bush tax cuts, federal deficits and Fed engineered lower rates, it is difficult to imagine anything but a severe post bubble and post 9/11 recession.
(The best thing the Republicans have going for them is Howard Dean, who increasingly reminds me of Michael Dukakis, another very liberal Northeastern state governor who came from nowhere to win the Democratic nomination only to go down in flames in the general election. This country might be ready by election time for another centrist Democrat like Lieberman, but a far left Democrat, which Dean clearly is, is not in the cards.)
The point that I am trying to make with the litany of data I provided is that this economy cannot withstand higher interest rates. Do you think home sales, mortgage refinancing and consumer spending, not to mention auto financing and other debt-driven consumption, is ready for higher rates?
This economy is vulnerable in a way that no 6% growth economy in my memory has ever been. If the Fed actually raised interest rates by 1.75% within the next 14 months, pushing mortgages close to 8%, increasing financing costs, impacting home sales and home values, how long would it be before we were staring at a recession and another serious stock market correction?
Further, interest rate increases are dis-inflationary at best, and in this environment, could actually foster deflation. Go back to Parry's statement above, and compare it with scores of other recent Fed speeches and releases. They are worried about the "surprise" of deflation. They see the softness and vulnerability. This is not a Fed that will raise rates until reflation in incomes, pricing power and business investment has demonstrated an ability to sustain themselves in spite of rate increases.
Contradictions: The Fed vs. the Bond Market
Yet, the bond market is pricing in such rates. What are these guys reading (or smoking)? Are you and I, dear reader, the only ones who can understand the clear language of the Fed? Or are we gullible little fish who cannot see through the lies?
And now we come to Bianco's insight. He points to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the culprits for the contradiction between Fed talk and market rates.
Ginnie Mae (the Government National Mortgage Association) is totally owned by the US government and run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Its debt is truly government guaranteed.
Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Association) are private companies. Their debt is not explicitly guaranteed by the government. They do have a $2 billion line of credit with the Treasury which they could use in a liquidity crisis.
But the market treats their debt as if it is guaranteed by the US government. That means Fannie and Freddie can borrow money at much lower rates than can, say, J.P. Morgan or Citibank. I suppose you can argue that is a benefit to consumers, as it does mean that home mortgage rates can be lower as well.
But what Fannie and Freddie have become are Government Sponsored Hedge Funds. Management has taken advantage of their "special" relationship and uses it to increase private profits for shareholders and large salaries, options and bonuses for management.
Essentially, they lend long and borrow short. Since short term rates are lower than long term rates, they pocket the difference. They increase their profits by the use of very large amounts of leverage.
This is known as a "carry trade," and is a regular practice of hedge funds and other investment companies. There is nothing wrong with this. Some of my favorite funds practice this type of investing. Properly practiced, it can produce some steady, if not spectacular, profits.
What Fannie and Freddie do is what good hedge funds should do. They go into the futures market to hedge their interest rate directional risk. You see, if short term rates were to rise above the average rates they have lent to their long term mortgage buyers, they could find themselves in the position of losing money. Lots of money. So they hedge.
They do this in the Eurodollar futures markets. They use swaps or options on swaps called swaptions. (Swaptions are options contracts which, in return for a one-off premium payment, give you the right to enter into a swap agreement at the option expiration.) Again, nothing wrong with this.
Bianco notes the problem lies in that they need over a Trillion Dollars (that's with a "T") of these derivatives. In order to get a trillion dollars to line up on the other side of the trade (to take the risk from Fannie and Freddie), they have to pay a premium. Apparently it may be a big premium.
Bianco argued at lunch, in the shadow of the Chicago futures markets, that it is not the expectations of bond traders for actual rate increases, but the massive need for Fannie and Freddie to hedge its portfolio that drives the Eurodollar rates.
Why do Fannie and Freddie need such high-powered hedge exposure? Because if they acted like Ginnie Mae, their profits would be much less, stock price growth would be lower and management would not get the fancy pay packages and option incentives.
Do I think Fannie and Freddie are at risk today because of this? No, I am not saying that, and neither is Bianco. But there is a limit.
Frank Raines wants to grow his firm (Fannie) 15-20% a year. Where are they going to find more credit worthy risk takers/speculators on the other side of the swaps trade?
Let's be very clear. They could not do this if the market did not price their debt as if it were backed by the US government. The "spread" would not be there. Otherwise, Citigroup and Morgan and other investment banks would be significant competitors.
As long as the market sees that level of risk, the game can continue. But what if they simply try to get too big? How long can you grow a finite market 20% compound a year? What if there is a hiccup? How quickly would the risk premium for the Eurodollar rise? Not very long. The technical term is a "jiffy," which is the name of an actual unit of time which is 1/100 of a second. (The things you learn as you read. Thanks, Art.)
First, if there were a problem, the US Treasury would step in within the next jiffy to provide whatever cash was needed. No administration, Democrat or Republican, will let the US mortgage market and home values crash due to a "liquidity event" at Fannie or Freddie. Think the Savings and Loan crisis was big? It would be a picnic compared to a major problem with Fannie and Freddie. The implicit guarantee the markets perceive is actually quite real. These firms are too big and too important to fail. The ultimate insurance tab, however, is picked up by the US taxpayer.
For every $100 billion their "hedge book" increases, the costs for acquiring the hedge is evidently rising. What is the point when we get to "too much?" I don't know, and neither does anyone else. We may be a long way from there, or maybe not.
The point is that a private company seeking private gains should not be putting the entire US mortgage market and the US taxpayer at risk, even if they think the risk is small.
The management of these firms is comprised of very smart men and women, and I am sure they employ some of the smartest PhDs anywhere to run their hedge book. But so did Long Term Capital Management.
Where's the Market Discipline?
The problem with Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) was that there were no market restraints or market discipline on the firm. Greed drove all those investment banks to lend LTCM money in the lust for commissions, and LTCM refused to show any of the firms their "hedge book." You can bet if the investment banks had seen their total exposure, they would have reined the Nobel Prize management team in, in very short order.
But who is looking over Fannie's shoulder? "Don't micro-manage us," say Raines. Translation: don't mess up our gravy train.
Everyone seems to acknowledge that federal oversight is weak. There is now a bill in Congress to move the oversight to the Treasury Department, but Fannie and Freddie lobbyists have so watered down the bill that it is worse than the current situation. If oversight goes to the Treasury under the current guidelines, that increases the implicit government guarantee and US taxpayer exposure. But if creates no real controls.
If Fannie and Freddie want the advantage of an all but explicit government guarantee, they should open their hedge book to complete scrutiny and be subject to leverage curbs. At a minimum, they should be made to shorten their duration risk exposure (another risk which I will not take the space to go into, but which is real enough).
Yes, under such a situation they will not make as much profit as they do today. But so what? Why should a small group place the rest of us with a large risk, even if it is thought to be remote?
We would scream if a Morgan or a Citigroup or some other private firm would be allowed to put US taxpayers at risk for private gain. What is the difference with Fannie or Freddie?
Alan Greenspan argues, and I think rightly, that the Fed should manage not for the more likely of problems, but for the possible problems which would cause the most harm. It is better to tolerate some problems than to experience a problem which could lead to disaster.
The mortgage debt market is now larger than the government debt market. One can make an argument it is the most significant piece of the US economy. Why take any risk at all?
Yet, if Bianco is right, the bond market sees more than a little risk, and that is why interest rate futures are priced so high in the face of the Fed telling us rates are going nowhere. If there were no risk to this trade, there would not be such high risk premiums.
Congress needs to shorten the leash on Fannie and Freddie. Public or private. In or out. But not both. Perhaps Fannie and Freddie are right. Maybe the risk is low. But so was the risk to Long Term Capital. It is a risk that US tax-payers should not take, are not paid to take, yet Congress has let the lobbyists convince them otherwise.
More Contradictions.
How can we once again be in Bubble valuations? Amazon at a P/E 0f 151, Priceline at 220 and the list goes on and on. Caroline Baum points out the China has lost 10,000,000 manufacturing jobs in the last few years due to productivity increases. Who do the Chinese politicians blame? Who is their currency scapegoat? Our politicians on both sides of the aisle pander to our nationalistic tendencies, as do politicians world-wide. Do we really want China to risk major turmoil and a reactionary return to a nationalistic world. Think Germany in 1932.
What of the clear contradiction between the argument for free trade and the seeming arrival of protectionist sentiment upon every shore throughout the world?
Enough. There are just too many, and it is time to go home.
Let me suggest that the hedge funds and major traders who read me might go to Greg Weldon's web site mentioned above and contact him directly. He has a rather pricey (several thousand a year) service in addition to his less expensive retail letters. I am sure he will send you a few weeks' samples. They are worth every penny if you are "working the markets."
If you would like to meet in New Orleans October 29-31, please let my office know. If you have already written about getting together, you should have been contacted by now. Have yourself a great week.
Your almost ready to finish his book analyst,
John Mauldin
johnmauldin@investorsinsight.com
Copyright 2003 John Mauldin. All Rights Reserved
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John Mauldin is president of Millennium Wave Advisors, LLC, a registered investment advisor. All material presented herein is believed to be reliable but we cannot attest to its accuracy. Investment recommendations may change and readers are urged to check with their investment counselors before making any investment decisions. Opinions expressed in these reports may change without prior notice. John Mauldin and/or the staff at Millennium Wave Advisors, LLC may or may not have investments in any funds cited above.
-- Posted Sunday, October 19 2003
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