Market Lab Report (MLR) - Evergrande; Two types of deflation; Negative yielding bonds; Ethics | Stock market timing reports

Market Lab Report / Dr. K's Crypto-Corner

by Dr. Chris Kacher

The Metaversal Evolution Will Not Be Centralized™

Evergrande

The sharp correction came largely in consequence of China's real estate Evergrande fiasco. Their markets are bouncing as the Chinese government has stated they would pay back local bond holders, but foreign bond holders may not get paid back. There could be a knock-on effect as counterparty risk exists not just with Evergrande but with other real estate companies as China's real estate bubble continues to expand.

History however suggests that markets will slow creep higher from here as the QE bubble remains intact regardless of what central bankers wish to claim with respect to the possibility of tapering later this year. C19 restrictions continue to cripple economic recovery. As one of many examples, supply chains are in disarray due to restrictive rules brought about by C19. Watch once restrictions begin to lift potentially later this year as more get vaccinated. The Fed will take a more hawkish approach wrt tapering especially due to strongly accelerating inflation. Major averages in the U.S. may then have their standard 20% corrections which have run like clockwork since 2010 whenever the Fed tried to taper or QE was removed with the only exception being the C19 black swan in early 2020. In each case, the Fed always stepped in and relaunched or accelerated QE to save the markets. The bullish effect for stocks, bitcoin, real estate, and hard assets has been massive driving populism to record highs.

Two Types of Deflation

Due to QE and recent events, we are seeing both the deleterious type of deflation along with inflation. Deflation can be caused by reduction of currency/coin from the system such as in the case of Ethereum, especially as ETH 2.0 gets underway next year, or from lack of buying due to HODLing from fear such as during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The latter has led to increased money printing which has then led to raging inflation. This has been observed numerous times throughout history.

Fueling the situation, C19 has turned into a raging endemic. It is a politicized pandemic that won't go away as higher order effects take hold. Such effects include spiking social unrest, loss of livelihoods, an indirectly related loss of health, soaring domestic violence, and record rates of depression and suicides.

There has also been a further breakdown of the supply chain as items in major countries including the US and UK are running scarce. In consequence, hoarding is coming back as memories of early 2020 return. Record numbers of cargo ships off key ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach in California are at a standstill due to pandemic restrictions, labor shortages, and record-high prices for shipping containers.

QE is no match for C19 as the funds cannot be spent to improve the supply chain issues due to restrictions brought on by C19. Nevertheless, QE remains the last straw which has turned the bond market into a mess in a world that is drowning in debt. Indeed, after 13 years of QE, we are finally seeing inflation rear up in a manner that is outside even the control of the manipulated CPI.

Spiking Inflation

As one of many examples showing spiking inflation, according to annual Zillow rent index which mines data on over 100 million housing units and is updated monthly, rental inflation has shot up from 1.5% to 6% over the last year and is showing no signs of slowing its rate of ascent. Contrarily, the CPI Rent Index shows the reverse of 4% down to below 2% inflation, thus more evidence that the CPI is not a real measure of inflation while the Zillow rent index is considered an extremely bonified data source.

In addition to the above, the New York Fed has admitted that they now see inflation at 5.2% in a year and 4% in three years. Food, education, and healthcare which have been rising much faster than the CPI will rise even faster. And consumers expectations for how much prices will rise over the short and medium term are the highest they've been since the New York Fed launched this survey in 2013.

Negative Yielding Bonds + Evergrande Redux

Negative yielding bonds now stand at over $18 trillion. In other words, you pay for the privilege to loan your money out. The C19 pandemic fueled much of the global $40 trillion fiscal/monetary stimulus of 2020-2021 which pushed bond yields even lower and bitcoin much higher. Meanwhile, property has been a massively growing bubble in China for years. Real estate comprises 28% of China's economy. While Evergrande only carries $300 billion in debt they cant repay, the financial contagion across other companies could be virulent. As a result, the real estate Evergrande bomb in China could be $XXX trillion in fiscal/monetary stimulus for bailouts galore as China is levered to the hilt and Evergrande is one major domino to fall.

If so, it would have a profound effect on China's economy. As some remember, the fall of Lehman sparked the financial collapse of 2008. Of course, China will just print their way out of this mess to avoid catastrophe. They already started printing billions to deal with Evergrande. Local investors have been paid back, but foreign investors are not being bailed out, at least for now. There is a major knock on effect by all who own the debt across various companies. In other words, the counter party risk is significant. As one example, major shareholders just pledged $1 B to the ailing property company Guangzhou R&F Properties Co that was affected by the Evergrande fiasco and has been part of the real estate bubble in China.

Bitcoin was created to prevent financial crises such as what occurred in 2008 and now Evergrande. It addresses much of this as the perfect inflation hedge that cannot be inflated away and is currently undergoing a supply crunch as its adoption across governments, institutions, companies, and individuals accelerates.

As an sidebar of note, QE has pushed the wealth gap to record levels. Those at the top nail the top. Dallas Fed President Kaplan who trades S&P futures among others at the top took advantage when major markets were at their tops, knowing markets would crack. He will not be indicted for insider trading. It calls into question the lack of consistency when it comes to ethics and the rule of law.