The bursting of the bond bubble has begun.
As I’ve outlined previously the primary concern for Central Banks is the bond bubble. CNBC and other financial media focus on stocks because the asset class is more volatile and so makes for better content, but the foundation of the financial system is bonds. And bonds are THE focus for Central Banks.
2016 has thus far been a year characterized by remarkable bouts of harrowing volatility as the ongoing devaluation of the yuan, plunging crude prices, and geopolitical uncertainty wreak havoc on fragile, inflated markets.
With asset prices still sitting near nosebleed levels after seven years of bubble blowing by a global cabal of overzealous central planners with delusions of Keynesian grandeur, some fear a dramatic unwind is in the cards and that this one will be the big one, so to speak.
It was less than a day ago when Gartman, in his latest appearance on the nepotism-challenged CNBC, said that not only is the bottom for oil not in yet, but that a selling "panic" could push it down as low as $15: after all with Standard Chartered coming out with a $10 forecast, it was suddenly cool to have dire predictions about the black gold's downside risk.
This is what he said:
Last April, the financial markets cheered the biggest restructuring in GE's history when the oligopoly announced the dramatic shrinkage of GE Capital but more importantly, GE announced the largest, at the time, stock buyback in history, repurchasing some $50B in shares.