Just Another Manic Monday – Retail Edition

Good morning! 

Japan had a huge GDP beat (+1.2% for the Q, 4.8% annualized)) and they leaked it early (to oil executives!) but, strangely, deflation is accelerating at the same time.  That’s great news for stimulus watchers as the government can continue to pump money into the economy, even while it’s growing and, of course, the carry trade can continue.

Despite the robust third-quarter report, Japanese officials said they were still concerned about the economy’s strength going forward, and didn’t intend to pull back plans for further spending to ensure continued growth.

“There is no change in the severe condition of the country’s economy,” Naoto Kan, the deputy prime minister, told reporters after the report’s release. “We are concerned about whether the economy falls into a deflationary situation,” he added.

The domestic demand deflator — a measure of changes in prices of goods and services, excluding exports and imports — plunged 2.6%, the fastest pace since 1958. It was the third straight quarter of falling prices.

Another sign of concern in the report: The contribution of private consumer spending to growth slipped in the third quarter, suggesting measures to convert Japan from export-led growth to domestic-demand-led growth were facing limits. In the third quarter, private consumer spending, rose 0.7%, compared with a revised 1% climb in the second quarter.

It’s all stimulus but there’s no sign stimulus is stopping so party on markets.  Japan also got a huge benefit from the Chinese auto sales – more stimulus!  The Nikkei itself isn’t thrilled and is up just 0.25%, barely hitting Friday’s high on a stick-save into the close but that didn’t stopping the futures from jumping up more than half a point and gold from hitting $1,130.  I sent out an Alert to memers at 2:24 this morning saying:

“Once the Nikkei closes (2am EST) the Hang Seng will have an hour to themselves and that should top out our futures (the Hang Seng is up at 22,900 (+1.5%).  The shorting move on gold futures is to short them as they cross below $1,130 with zero tolerance for holding gold above that line.  The same can be done with the S&P futures at 1,100, the Dow at 10,316 and the Nas at 1,800 and you can even use the 2 out of 4 rule to short one of the laggards only AFTER two others break down to be a little safer.  We have Retail Sales at 8:30, which should be the next big…