Morgan's call on a 7s-10s DV01 flattner by Jim Caron

Here is a very good article from Zero Hedge for those of you that follow and trade the interest rates markets. FYI, I think that this 7s 10s flattener is a good relative trade idea since its better than going direct short on the 10s , but Caron's reason of trade ( economic growth ) vs Bill Gross's claim ( lack of Fed buying at the end of QE2) is completly INSANEEEEE. Anyways, here is the article...

It has not been Jim Caron's decade. The Morgan Stanley rates strategist, riding on the coattails of the always wrong Morgan Stanley economics team led by David Greenlaw, has been wrong in his annual rates call year after year after year. Which is unfortunate because while unable to see the forest for the trees, Caron does have a better grasp of rates than most other Wall Street penguins. That said, just like everyone else in the status quo, Caron has just come out with another short duration call (i.e. sell bonds), probably the 6th time in a row he has done that in the past 3 years. Perhaps 7th time will be the charm. Amusingly, Caron, terrified to be seen in the same camp as Bill Gross who is short bonds on fears that there will be nobody available to step in an buy the 80% of gross issuance that has been monetized by the Fed to date, make this very loud caveat on his short bond call: "To be sure, our shift toward short from neutral duration has nothing to do with the end of QE2 and related concerns that there will be a lack of demand to buy US Treasuries once the Fed stops buying them. As we have stated many times in the past, the outlook for the economy will be the main driver of yields, not the end of QE2." No, instead Caron believes that the sell off in bonds will be due to the same bullish economic growth call that he has been predicting over... and over... and over... and over... etc. More interesting is how he suggests the trade is implemented: in MS' view the best way to be bearish on rates is with a DV01 neutral 7s-10s flattener: "we continue to recommend being short 5s on the 2s5s10s fly. In line with the butterfly, and in order to express a more robust short duration position, we recommend a curve flattener on the UST 7s10s curve: · Sell $133.7mm OTR 7y Notes; · Buy $100mm OTR 10y Notes." Perhaps those who want to be short bonds, but for the right reason, that predicted by Zero Hedge and then Bill Gross, this may be one of the better ways to put the trade on.

And the best way to express a bearish stance in the rates complex according to Caron:

Since April, the belly of the curve has richened significantly as rates have marched lower (Exhibit 1). We continue to recommend being short the belly vs. the wings, as previously discussed short 5s on the 2s5s10s fly (see “Fade the Recent Outperformance of  the Belly,” US Interest Rate Strategist, June 9, 2011). In line with the butterfly, and in order to express a more robust short duration position, we recommend a curve flattener on the UST 7s10s curve:

· Sell $133.7mm OTR 7y Notes

· Buy $100mm OTR 10y Notes

Both the 7s10s curve flattener and the butterfly allow the investor to play for a reversion in the richness of the belly. Rather than going outright short we suggest initiating these relative value trades, which capture some duration exposure and some relative  value exposure between different points on the curve.

We argue that growth expectations have not been downgraded to the extent that rates in the 5-10y sector have fallen with survey consensus at 3.35% for 2H11. In our view, the rates market is pricing levels of US growth that are inconsistent with surveyed forecasts (see “Reducing Duration Exposure from Neutral to Underweight” in this publication).

This past week, price action in the market has reflected uncertainty as, for example, the 7y point increased 12bp on Tuesday only to decrease by 14bp on Wednesday returning to similar levels. We expect the market to remain range-bound in the near term; however, we see fair value of the 10y note at about 3.10% with a 25bp standard deviation (Exhibit 2). With the 10y dipping to the low 2.90’s, we see an opportunity to fade this extreme.