When Wells Fargo reported its Q4 earnings last week, the one topic analysts and investors wanted much more clarity on, was the bank's exposure to oil and gas loans, and much more color on its energy book over concerns that Wells, like most of its peers, was underestimating the severity of the upcoming shale default wave.
Credit markets have been warning of a looming crisis for months...
And as the cost of protecting against credit collapse has soared so the cost of protecting against equity downside (VIX) has started to awaken:
However, as we detailed previously, more than a few market participants have turned to deep out-of-the-money options to protect themselves against drastic downside (pushing the skew - the relative cost of crisis protection over 'normal' protection - to record highs).
Exceprted from Doug Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin,
A few dots are starting to be connected now that we have exposed the debacle of The Fed's decision to allow banks to mark-to-unicorn their energy loans. "Something" was wrong in recent weeks as the TED-Spread surged (implying rising counterparty uncertainty among banks) and then the last week - since The Fed's alleged meeting with banks - has seen financial credit and stocks crash.
Back in August, we explained why the great petrodollar unwind could be $2.5 trillion larger than anyone thinks.
China’s effort to “control” the glidepath for the yuan devaluation led to a dramatic decline of Beijing’s FX reserves and pushed reserve liquidation to the front of the market’s collective consciousness.