BoA says "say goodbye to the 'equity shrinkage' bull case since the early 00s":
"a confluence of factors systematically reduced available public equity year after year – more buybacks, longer private incubations, more takeprivates, low rates, ample liquidity, etc. "Today, an issuance deluge may be imminent: the three largest private companies represent >$2tn (though market cap included on indices may initially be lower flow, low-float stocks based on rules/proposals from index providers such as Nasdaq and Russell) Source: Neil Sethi
Gold is now America's biggest export, and has been for the last 5 months.
In March, U.S. gold exports were 1.7x larger than oil, 2x larger than pharma, and 2.5x larger than aircraft engines. Most of it is flowing through Switzerland and then straight into China. This is historically abnormal. The U.S. doesn't export gold at this scale under normal conditions. What's driving it: geopolitical tension, inflation hedging, and growing signals that gold is quietly becoming a settlement mechanism in U.S.-China trade flows. The world's reserve currency country is shipping its oldest store of value to its biggest rival at a record pace. That's worth paying attention to. Source: Bloomberg, FRED
In Germany, deeply negative energy prices due to solar glut are forcing a rethink of the energy transition
Economy Minister called to end subsidies for excess renewable electricity after costs ran into the tens of millions last weekend alone. Source: Bloomberg, HolgerZ
We might soon have several $5T+ market cap companies...
Note how Alphabet is closing in on Nvidia in the battle for the world's most valuable company Source: companiesmarketcap.com
Hedge funds are offloading Magnificent 7 stocks at an UNPRECEDENTED pace:
Hedge fund net exposure to the Mag 7 is down to ~17% of total North American net exposure, near the lowest in 3 years. At the same time, the top-most purchased stocks by retail investors last week were Alphabet, $GOOGL, at +$273 million, Micron, $MU, at +$243 million, and Tesla, $TSLA, at +$234 million. This was followed by Meta, $META, at +$210 million and Intel, $INTC, at +$197 million. This means hedge funds are effectively offloading Mag 7 exposure directly to retail buyers. Wall Street is dumping tech stocks to retail. Source: Global Markets Investor, Morgan Stanley
US continues to drain SPR to export oil to Asia
SPR down 5.22MM last week (-22MM last month) US oil exports 4.75MM last week Source: www.zerohedge.com
Wall Street projects hyperscalers’ free cash flow to fall by over 70% from its peak by the end of 2026, even as earnings keep climbing
Source: Christophe Barraud, Bloomberg
🔥Silver and gold prices are surging:
Silver and gold are up +4.5% and +1.0% on Thursday, on track for the 3rd consecutive day of gains. Silver is now up +10% and gold is up +4.0% over the last 2 trading sessions. Following the recent pullback, investors are returning to gold and silver, with many viewing this dip as a buying opportunity. Furthermore, global growth concerns, central bank demand, and a macro environment increasingly favoring hard assets continue to support prices, reinforcing the broader bullish backdrop. At the same time, decades of underinvestment and constrained supply growth have created a structurally higher price environment for precious metals. Is another leg of the precious metals bull run now unfolding? Source: Global Markets Investor
