Business

For equity market-neutral funds, there is a phrase more chilling than "worst since Lehman" and that is the quant meltdown in "August 2007" that put many funds out of business. While the mainstream media remains focused elsewhere, the last two weeks have seen equity market-neutral funds 'crash' - and today it has gotten much worse - as momentum factors diverge and memories of the 2007 bloodbath come back as this forced unwind drives the current ramp.

For the second time in four months, S&P has downgraded Saudi Arabia. 

In late October, the ratings agency flagged sharply lower oil prices and the attendant fiscal deficit (16% in 2015) on the way to cutting the kingdom to A+ outlook negative. 

At the time, S&P projected the deficit would amount to 10% of GDP in 2016. That turned out to be optimistic as the shortfall is now projected to be around 13% and that's assuming crude doesn't fall below $30 and stay there. 

It was already a torrid day for commodity currencies, among which the MXN, or Mexican Peso, which were surging on today's latest crude short squeeze and then as if pulling a PBOC with just one intention - to crush the shorts - the Mexican Central Bank or Banxico, dealt a crushing blow on anyone short the MXN when it announced an unexpected 50 bps rate hike in the overnight rate to 3.75%.

From the central bank: "The target for the overnight interbank funding rate is increased by 50 basis points."

So let's get this straight. Russia and OPEC 'agree' to consider (not actually act upon) "freezing" production levels (at current record high levels) and the market plunges amid disappointment over no cuts. And today WTI spikes and erases all those losses as Iran supports the "freeze" plan but will not cut its own production plans...

As Reuters reports,

Tepper did it again.

Recall that exactly one year ago, we wrote about David Tepper's latest TV appearance on BBG TV, when we reported that "David Tepper Dumps 40% Of US Equity Exposure Despite Claiming "Stocks Inexpensive" in which we said the following: