Recent selloffs in the Nasdaq, SPAC's, and other speculative tickers may not mean so much by themselves. Selloffs happen. But mixed with the fed signalling its intention to end many of the Q/E programs legislated in response to the economic shutdowns, you're left to wonder if this could be a signal of something more than just simple profit taking.
FT, "Federal Reserve to close most Covid crisis emergency facilities", MARCH 8 2021
For a world in the middle of a global pandemic, Wall Street had a Parade in 2020, raising more money in the equity markets than in any other year besides 2007, if you can believe that. Merger's and acquisitions also saw increased activity in the second half of 2020, up 88% compared to first half, and totaling 3.6tn for the year, surprising many experts..
“If you told me we would have a pandemic and that global M&A would still be flattish compared to last year, I would have been astonished.”
--Peter Orszag, chief executive of Lazard’s financial advisory business
“I think that when I look back, I don’t think I could have ever imagined any acquisitions happening this year“
--Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, Financial Times, December.31st
At one point last year, follow-on offerings were even outperforming the Nasdaq by almost 40% POST offering..
"Yet while the staggering amount of follow-on offerings is not news, the performance of companies selling their stock is nothing short of shocking, because whereas in a normal world the association dilution with new equity sales would in theory result in depressed stock prices, the reality of the past few months has been anything but. ...stocks sold in 2020 secondary offerings closed on Tuesday 39% above their offering price on average. That’s outpacing the year’s 28% gain in the Nasdaq Composite Index, a 40% outperformance."
So you're left to wonder: how much longer can this continue?
Bank Appetite for Bonds Fueled by Capital Holiday, March.3rd, 2020
"However, banks are a key source of demand for Treasurys and if the exemption ends, big banks will likely significantly reduce their buying just as issuance grows in support of the government’s growing spending plans, according to Blake Gwinn, head of U.S. rates strategy at NatWest Markets.
“Banks have absorbed more than their ‘fair share’ of increased Treasury supply the last year, which has inarguably helped to keep yields in check,” he said."
March 9, 2021, 7:00 AM Banks Press Fed to Preserve $600 Billion in Balance-Sheet Leeway
Analysts have also said recent bouts of wild trading in the $21 trillion Treasury market could be tied to concerns that banks will be forced to hold less government debt, even selling some of their holdings.
“We estimate the potential for about $200 billion in Treasury selling, with the potential for it to be even larger,” said BMO Capital Markets strategist Dan Krieter. He added that the outlook remains “extremely uncertain” because it’s not clear what banks’ capital demands will be going forward.
According to Bloomberg, the D's are calling for an end to SLR forbearance measures, while the R's are pressuring for an extension
"The lobbying has put the Fed at the center of a political firestorm, one of its first tests in the Biden era of seeking to support a fragile economy while fending off attacks from Democrat lawmakers who oppose any backpedaling on regulations adopted after the 2008 financial crisis. Progressive Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown have already fired a warning shot about doing the banks’ bidding.
Meanwhile, Republicans repeatedly pressed Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at recent congressional hearings with industry-encouraged requests to grant an extension. Powell responded that the Fed hasn’t decided what to do, and the regulator has continued to decline to comment on its plans."
Delete