The shocking move by the SNB to remove the Euro/CHF peg resulted in seismic moves across all currency markets. Not only has the Swiss Central Bank taken a massive hit to its reputation (having assured markets only days earlier as to the viability of the peg) but we believe that this is the first chink in the armor of all Central Banks. If one believes (as we do) that the value of precious metals are partially a reflection of the markets belief in the credibility of Central Bankers, the significant rise in the price of gold is telling. If you thought Janet telegraphed her moves prior to this SNB action, one will have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not know the next Fed move. In our opinion however, a surprise move by the Fed will not  ultimately be the death blow to Central Banker credibility but rather a collective realization that the efficacy of Central Bank policy has limits and  that those limits were breached many QEs ago. Perhaps the greatest implications one can draw from this surprise move however is that finally a Central Bank has the fortitude to stand up and say: ” We know that these monetary science experiments have consequences and we are not fully sure what those consequences will be, to continue to backstop any currency with ones own sovereign balance sheet is foolish, we were wrong and we are stopping”. Let the currency wars rage on: Buy Stuff

The Beverly Hillbillies was probably the original reality TV show. Much like the Kardashians, the Clampetts had very little discernible talent, other than the ability to extract crude oil via an errant shotgun blast.  Clearly the shale revolution that we have seen over the past several years has produced many Clampetts in places like North Dakota, Central Pennsylvania, Middle Texas, etc.. What we find most interesting about the explosion in domestic shale production is that this growth was fueled both by a mixture of technology as well as  cheap credit. There is little doubt that the exploitation of previously untapped reserves will go down as a game changer in  terms of domestic oil production and consumption. What is most interesting is that this unbridled growth was clearly aided and abetted by a capital market that was more than willing and able to fund all phases  of production and distribution (drilling, lease purchases, tankage, storage, processing, pipelines, etc..). While this is not interesting in and of itself ( capital markets always chase what is hot), we wonder if the price deck involved in such lending took into account the self-policing nature of markets. Did anyone think that domestic production increases on the scale that we have seen over the past 5 years would not have any effect on the global price of crude oil? Well as one would expect, markets are finally waking up to the possibility of a market in oversupply, particularly in the absence of any OPEC action. One can anticipate, as in all markets, that marginally high cost production will be shut in and that( in the absence of any demand shock) prices will settle in at levels which balance global supply and demand. So this is nothing more than free markets doing what they do. Thus one can discount the following:  fall is further evidence of end of the Commodity Super-cycle (never really existed), Black Swan event (hardly), China -driven demand destruction (not borne out by statistics).

As we all know in war there are rarely clear winners and losers. We have had the war on drugs, the war on terror, and now we have the war on ones one currency. The massive step up in BOJ policy, clearly designed to drive down the value of the Yen, was the right combination of surprise and heft. The question one has to ask is: if driving down the value of ones one currency is an effective monetary policy, then Venezuela should be knocking the cover off the ball. One also has to wonder whether this was  also  a clear shot across the bow of China, Germany, South Korea and others. If the BOJ wants to import inflation, then such a strategy can be effective, but is this really the “good” inflation that all Central Bankers so desperately seek. What is even more interesting about the market response(surprise surprise stocks rallied) was that there was so little concern about why a Central Bank would feel the need to so deeply immerse itself in the middle of their own domestic capital markets (stocks, bonds, reits,and currencies). Get ready for the criticism of Mr Draghi this week, as it would appear that whatever he does  will pale in comparison to the  monetary carpet bombing that just took place. The most egregious outcome however of this latest monetary science experiment is the sudden universal dislike for all things tangible. We are at complete odds to understand why the greatest brunt of the collateral damage associated with these currency wars would be that which is not a fiat currency. Don’t believe the deflation hype: BUY STUFF.

The more we distance ourselves from the events of 2008 it has begun to feel like we survived the war (08/09) but have been completely at odds with how to survive the peace (QE ad infinitum). Maybe the reality is that the peace is not as peaceful as one might imagine. As everyone is well aware, our basic premise is that the creation of liquidity on a world wide basis by Central Banks would ultimately feed through to a devaluation of all currencies and a concurrent appreciation in the value of hard assets. Where has this thesis faltered, and ultimately will our thesis prove correct with only the path proving too difficult to assess? In other words, will we get there, but via a path that no one recognizes or anticipates. In a world of unproven Central Bank experiments, one might surmise that the way forward will look highly unlike anything we have witnessed before. We do know that the markets have once again become fixated with deflation, and as such the re-pricing of hard assets has re-commenced. In fact, it seems like there is no one that is even suggesting that we do not see deflation or at the very least dis-inflation.