Every time there’s a critical problem in the banking system due to banker malfeasance, the Fed steps in to paper it over and reward the criminals.

That’s why we focus on the Fed more than anything else. Regular review of the banking indicators was useful once upon a time. The Fed has rendered them irrelevant. But I promised to keep an eye on them, and it has been 5 months since we last looked. That’s enough time that, if anything material has changed, we need to know about it. So herein is a review, our first since last December.

In this report, I highlight the charts. Because there are so many, I’ve attempted to minimize the verbiage. I talk too much. The charts really speak for themselves.

The bottom line is that the system remains extremely vulnerable to a decline in Treasury prices that is  coming in xxx (subscribers only). Likewise, the return of optimism in commercial real estate is problematic. The banks are taking no precautions. There’s no sign of recognition of the looming losses.

It means that the entire banking system could be destabilized in xxxxx (subscribers only). The Fed will have to act, massively. History shows that the Fed won’t act in time to prevent a breach of the system. History also shows that the Fed has the power to ultimately make its actions give the appearance of stabilization, leading to the return of animal spirits.

But I don’t know if it will work yet again, and we can at least expect a significant break first. So here’s what I would do (subscribers only).

Now here’s a review of the banking indicator charts.

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FREE REPORT – Proof of How QE Works – Fed to Primary Dealers, to Markets, To Money

The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC) is a gang of Primary Dealers and other big investment firms that tells the US Treasury once each quarter how much paper it will need to issue, and when. It provides an estimate of issuance by date and type for the current quarter and the next one. It does so every February, May, August, and November, near the beginning of the month.

The TBAC just issued its reports for the current quarter last week. The report confirms what we expect, a massive supply increase coming. We know exactly when it’s coming, and have a pretty good idea of when it should start to cause problems for the stock and bond markets. With that knowledge, we can now prepare for action to take advantage.

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We have finally seen the effects of the bond market crisis in dealer inventories, and it isn’t pretty.

Dealer inventories have plunged by $166.6 billion since February 24. This is not simply repricing of the inventory. This is active, aggressive liquidation. We have reason to believe that it is forced liquidation. We know that because we know the degree to which this inventory was bought and carried with insane levels of leverage.

One chart in the report shows the scale of the drop, and relates it to the direction of Treasury securities prices.

Another shows total dealer Treasury collateral repo versus the yield on the 10 year note on an inverted scale. That shows the direction of Treasury prices relative to their total repo borrowings against their Treasury holdings.

Another chart shows all Primary Dealer net borrowings, which is the net of their repo and other financing from their reverse repo and margin lending operations. That’s plotted versus their total Treasury holdings. This chart is interesting because it shows the total amount of leverage employed against the only the safest collateral held.

Then there’s the mother of all charts. The chart shows a four year history of the direction of Treasury prices, overlaid with total dealer fixed income positions, and net dealer borrowings used to finance those positions. At the bottom is the ratio of the net debt financing to the total fixed income portfolio value.

The correlation between all 4 series is clear. The past is prologue. The implications are horrifying.

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FREE REPORT – Proof of How QE Works – Fed to Primary Dealers, to Markets, To Money

On February 23, the US Treasury pumped $55 billion in cash into the accounts of Primary Dealers, banks, money market funds, and other institutions who had held the T-bills that were expiring that day. These redemptions began the US Treasury’s series of massive, twice weekly paydowns of the US government’s short term debt.

The purpose of the paydowns was twofold. First, the Treasury is required by the current budget law to whittle down its cash from a peak of $1.8 trillion last year, to $133 billion by August.  Treasury Minister Janet opted to start the process by paying down existing short term debt.

That accomplished the second goal, which was to force holders of the expiring paper to buy longer term debt. Despite their protestations that all is well, economic policy makers know that the crash in Treasury note and bond prices is causing a crisis in the Primary Dealer system.

Minister Janet works very closely with Lord Jaysus of the Fed, of course. They expected that the T-bill paydowns would help to reverse the decline in the prices of Treasury notes and bonds by forcing cash into the accounts of dealers and investors. It didn’t work. At least not to the extent that they needed. The full report is reserved for subscribers. 

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Non-subscribers, there’s more for you too! So read on!