http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-11/feds-other-assets-hit-all-time-high-205-billion
Fed's "Other Assets" Hit All TIme High Of $205 BIllion
Those looking for info on the Fed's now weely non-sterilized MBS purchases in the weekly H.4.1 update will be disappointed. The reason why the MBS line in the Fed's balance sheet will not move higher for a while is because, unlike TSYs, the settlement period for mortgage debt is usually many weeks and will months for all purchases already completed to appear in the "stock" total. One number, however, which may be of interest is the Fed's "Other Assets" because in the week ended October 10, this number hit an all time high of $205 billion and rising at an exponential phase.
Presenting Fed's Other Assets (2ry axis) together with total factors supplying reserves.
For those asking what "Other Assets" are, here is the official definition.
This item includes other Federal Reserve assets and non-float-related as-of adjustments. In addition to the as-of adjustments, there are many components in this category, including the following major items:Assets denominated in foreign currencies: Foreign currencies are revalued to reflect movements in market exchange rates each day. If, in the revaluation, the value of the currency increases, then other Federal Reserve assets increase. On the other side of the balance sheet, "Other liabilities and capital" increase because the increase in value of the currency becomes earnings, which are reflected in the earnings category within the capital account. Other liabilities and capital decline in value as the earnings are removed from this category and the U.S. Treasury's general account increases because the funds are remitted to this account at the Reserve Banks.Since 1963, the Federal Reserve has occasionally agreed to warehouse foreign currency for the Treasury. In such transactions, the Federal Reserve takes the foreign currency from the Treasury in return for dollars provided to the Treasury. The Federal Reserve makes a spot purchase of the currency and protects the value of those currencies purchased by simultaneously selling the same amount of currencies forward at the same price to the Treasury.When the Federal Reserve warehouses foreign currencies for the Treasury, both "other Federal Reserve assets" and "U.S. Treasury, general account" increase in value at the time of the spot transaction. Both accounts decline when the forward transaction is completed or when currencies are withdrawn from the warehousing arrangement prior to maturity.Premiums paid on securities bought: This release reports Federal Reserve holdings of securities at face value, not necessarily at market value. If the Federal Reserve pays more than the face value for securities it purchased, the premiums over the face value are amortized as the securities mature. Part of the premium is transferred daily to the earnings category as a "negative earning." As the premium in "Other Federal Reserve assets" is reduced, a simultaneous balancing reduction is made in "Other liabilities and capital." Securities purchased at a premium over face value are accounted for in this way because, at maturity, the Federal Reserve Banks receive only the face amount of the securities, not the amount actually paid.The premiums paid on securities bought under repurchase agreements, though, are not amortized. These premiums are, in effect, returned to the Federal Reserve Banks when the securities are repurchased by the dealer, since the negotiated price in the original transaction reflects the premiums.Accrued interest and other accounts receivable: This item represents the daily accumulation of interest earned on U.S. government securities--other than bills--owned by the Federal Reserve or held under repurchase agreements, on loans to depository institutions, and on foreign currency investments. Interest is accrued daily.Reserve Bank premises and operating equipment less allowances for depreciation: This item states the value, at initial cost, of the land and buildings of the Reserve Banks and branches less an allowance for depreciation on buildings, including building-related machinery and equipmentNo, it is not merely accrued interest as can be clearly seen hereespecially with the annual remittance of all accrued treasury interest. And yes, foreign currency transactions on behalf of the Treasury certainly do play a large role here. And of course, POMO.
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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-11/goldmans-cohn-feds-one-way-con
Goldman's Cohn On The Fed's One Way Con
While stating the somewhat obvious - that the Fed's actions will cause 'pain' when they (try to) stop QE - when it comes from a high-ranking officer of the establishment elite (as opposed to a tin-foil-hat-wearing, BLS-exposing, HFT-undermining, fringe blog) such as Goldman Sachs' President Gary Cohn, perhaps more mainstream will begin to question the path we are on. Cohn's interview on Bloomberg TV ranged from his reading habits (Greg Smith's tell-all) to the world's central bank printfest and how "we will have to go through the pains of stopping QE" and from his views of the election status quo to the global economic malaise, he does so well on the reality front - until he shovels undying praise on Mario Draghi's back for his "spectacular job" - though admits he has not solved Europe's real problems.
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On Federal Reserve stimulus:
"I worry about everything. My job is to worry. It's something that you have to worry about. The Fed has pretty good information what's going on in the economy. They've got pretty information what's going on with employment. We know that the Fed wants to create job growth. We know the Fed wants to create asset appreciation. I understand what they are trying to do, whether I agree with it or disagree with it. I understand what they are trying to do and I will tell you this is going to be difficult to stop or to exit. There will be an end of quantitative easing. We will have to go through the pains of stopping quantitative easing.""I don't know if I disagree or agree. Right now based upon our economic cycle I understand what the fed is doing I understand what the ECB is doing I understand what the bank of England is doing and I understand what the bank of Japan is doing.Unfortunately they are all kind of doing the same thing so it has less impact than it might if the others were on the sideline. But I understand in this globalized economy where we've got free movement of currency, where we've got free movement of risk assets and everything is relatively fungible that the Fed is trying to do what they think is in the best interest of the U.S. economy."On the importance of November's election:"We will see what happens about the election. I don't know more than anybody else does…It looks like to me the Republicans will maintain the House, it looks like to me the Democrats will retain the Senate. And I don't know what's going on in the presidential race and I think all of us are operating under those assumptions, but I can guarantee you this: we've got other plans with other assumptions if the world were to change."On the global economy:"The global economy is in a tough place, and the reason it's in a tough place is that we're in a unique period of history where all of the major global players in the economy are going through a relatively tough period of time. If you look at what's going on in the euro zone and what's going on in the United States, you look at what's going on here in Japan, and you even look at what's going on in China today, you've got a lot of anxiety in the system to where were going and how we're going to get the global economy growing. The world that we live in today also has a linkage between all of these major economies around the world and what we're really looking for is one of these countries, or some of these countries to show some leadership in growing their economy where other economies can grow with them at the same time. At this point we're really lacking some leadership."On whether Goldman Sachs is at a funding disadvantage compared to the bigger banks:"There's this common view that we're at a funding disadvantage because of the deposits. We have a fairly large deposit network right now, close to $60 billion of deposits out there. The reality is that you can only use deposits for a very specific part of your business. There's a couple rules called 23A and 23B that do not allow you to take retail deposits and move them into your investment banking business. So our investment banking business is on equal footing with everyone else's investment banking business when it comes to financing that business. For the businesses where you can use deposit funding, they clearly have an advantage, but their books are so much bigger to our books relative to their advantage. We don't need more deposit funds to fund our business, in fact, of the $60B in deposits we have today we don't even have use for that entire $60B in deposits."On whether he still believes that Europe needs a Lehman-type moment:"I still really do believe it needs a moment. Remember this is politics, this is economics, this is balance of payments, there are a lot of factors at play here. I'm not sure if Spain's going to be one of those moments, I'm not sure that Greece still might not be one of those moments. I'm not sure what the moment will be, but I do believe there's going to be a moment where everyone takes a deep breath and says we've got to fix this situation."On Draghi:"I think Mario Draghi has done a spectacular job he really has. Since Mario Draghi took office as the head of the ECB, he came in and showed really leadership, lowered interest rates has done out and done all of the other things that you would want a dynamic central bank leader to do. He has removed a lot of the risk off the table, but he hasn't dealt with and he can't deal with the real long term problem of Europe which is economic growth."
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US Retail Investors Throw Up On Bernanke's Invitation To Buy Stocks
Another week, another retail outflow from domestic equity mutual funds - but this time it's different. Now 11 weeks-in-a-row of outflows have led to this week's highest outflow since August 2011 - just as stocks hit multi-year highs. It seems no matter how much Bernanke says 'come on in, the water is fine', the newly-smart money (or fooled one too many times perhaps - is it any wonder when only yesterday CNBC was discussing Selling AAPL Puts as a viable strategy?) of the retail investor is smelling sharks and fading the strength. With $250bn in outflows since the start of 2011, and $50bn alone in the last 11 weeks (as the market inexorably rises on Johnny-5's instruction), we can't help but think this week's $10.6bn outflow is redemptions at the end of Q3 - not exactly what the performance-chasing, money-on-the-sideline-hoping, recovery-is-around-the-corner-believing long-only commission-taking 'managers' wanted to see.
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