The extraordinary increase (as a percentage move) in the 10
Year T Note yield shows the artificiality and the fragility of market values,
everything being propped up by the Federal Reserve in the absence of any sound
fiscal policy. The recent Fed minutes
merely hinted at the possibility of reducing asset purchases before the end of
this year, and bond investors were left without their bungee cord:
Bill Gross, the "bond king," persuasively writes about the problem in his January letter, a long discourse on why "helicopter money" rained
down by the Fed to save the financial system has to end badly in some way.
The artificiality of it all hasn't escaped the notice of
corporations, many of which have loaded up their balance sheets with cheap
debt, while holding mounds of cash, even to the point of paying massive
dividends to their shareholders with borrowed funds. The poster child for this is Costco which
paid its shareholders $3 billion and borrowing the funds to do it. Of course that was before the laughable fiscal
cliff deal, which raised taxes on dividends to 20% from its present 15% but
only for high income taxpayers. They
were talking about taxing dividends as regular income which must have freaked
out the five largest shareholders who are corporate officers or directors,
their take on the special dividend with borrowed funds being almost $12
million. What a country! Borrow the
money to pay your top people a huge bonus that is taxed at only 15%. It truly is the microcosm for the contrived
and completely unpredictable financial landscape of today.
A few days ago Barry Ritholz suggested a positive way of using today's manipulated market -- that is to upgrade and repair our aging infrastructure. Many of our roads are atrociously maintained and bridges are
crumbling, not to mention aging water systems, power plants, and a railroad
transportation system which is truly 3rd world quality. As Ritholz says: At some point in the future, your kids are going to ask — “Wait, you
could have upgraded _______ and it only would have cost you 2.5% in borrowing
costs?!?”
Isn't that where we should be putting borrowed money to work, creating jobs?
