Thursday, September 24, 2009
LOOKING TOPPY
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Exhaustion
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
AUTUMN EQUINOX
tendency to make major tops or bottoms on this day, as Paul Macrae
Montgomery points out in a special study edition of Universal Economics
newsletter entitled, "A Date Which Will in Infamy." While it is a bit of
hyperbole to equate Sept. 22 with FDR's characterization of the Dec. 7,
1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the number of huge reversals that took
place on or about that date is stunning.
Montgomery recalls living through the October "massacres" of 1978 and
1979, the crash of 1987, the mini-crash of 1989, the 1997 Asian collapse
and the Long-Term Capital Markets plunges, which started to cascade
downward in late September. And while gold bullion topped in January
1980, gold stocks made their highs on Sept. 22 of that year, he adds.
That date also saw the peak in many oil stocks.
Why the apparent coincidence of these market upheavals beginning around
Sept. 22? Montgomery posits a possible link to the Autumnal Equinox,
which takes place Tuesday afternoon in the Northern Hemisphere. And he
also observes an increasing incidence of market reversals around the
time of Vernal Equinox in the Spring.
This year's Autumnal Equinox comes after a historic six-month rally in
stocks and a persistent, if much less dramatic, drop in the dollar, he
says. Traders should be alert for reversals in stocks, currencies and
gold for possible reversals, Montgomery advises. Long-term position
accounts shouldn't act without corroboration from other models, he adds.
Correlations are not causality, of course. Montgomery contends that the
typical explanations for market swings, such as the Lehman collapse or
Russia's debt crisis, are ex post facto. He asserts that certain cycles
tend to recur because of the human nervous system.
"At certain predictable times, subtle neurologic extremes are going to
occur, and these extremes are going to prompt behavior aimed at
ameliorating the attendant perturbation," he writes. Those reactions
supply the fundamental events, such as wars, political upheavals or
devaluations, that become the fundamental events to explain the market
swings, he concludes.
Whether you believe such alternative explanations for market actions is
beside the point. The notion of perfectly rational and efficient markets
has taken a huge, if not fatal, blow by the events of the past two
years. That so many wild things happen on this date is reason enough to
take note.
Ahoy there are ICEBERGS AHEAD
2009-09-22 12:32:26.35 GMT
By Chris Bourke and Simon Packard
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Most U.K. commercial property loans are now
in default after values slumped in the past two years, according to CB
Richard Ellis Group Inc., the world's largest real estate broker.
About 200 billion pounds ($327 billion) is needed to refinance
existing loans secured against 450 billion pounds of properties during
the next five to seven years, though only about half that amount is
available, the company estimates.
"Almost every senior, and every junior, loan is in technical
default," Robin Hubbard, a director of CBRE's real estate finance group,
said at a press conference today in London.
"There's limited financing available for new loans or refinancing other
people's loans."
Investors borrowed 360 billion pounds to buy stores, offices and
warehouses in Britain using about 90 billion pounds of their own cash,
according to Los Angeles-based CBRE. They now owe more than the
properties are worth after the global financial crisis ended the
market's five-year boom.
Average property values have fallen 44 percent since mid- 2007,
according to Investment Property Databank Ltd.
Banks are choosing to extend most of the 45 billion pounds of
commercial real estate loans due to mature this year, though only for
short periods, Hubbard said. This is only deferring the defaults, he
said.
The biggest challenge facing owners of U.K. commercial properties
is the leasing market, which "could be the straw that breaks the camel's
back," Hubbard said. The recession and rising unemployment are leading
to more vacancies and fewer tenants.
"Nobody's going to throw money in to get things back, unless it's
for new, nice, prime kit," Hubbard said. "There's only so much magic
dust you can sprinkle on the rubbish stuff."
For Related News and Information:
For more U.K. real estate news: TNI UKECO REL <GO> CMBS loan reports:
LRP <GO> Real estate resources: RE <GO> Top Bloomberg News bond stories:
TOPH <GO> Top Bloomberg News real estate stories: TOPR <GO> Stories on
banking: NI BNK <GO>
--Editors: Anne Pollak, Ross Larsen
To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Bourke in London at +44-20-7073-3808 or cbourke4@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alan Mirabella at 1-212-617-4149 or amirabella@bloomberg.net.


















