Syz the moment

The US is down 14% versus the average country that's up 3.7%. Germany $EWG is outperforming the US by 25 percentage points.🚨 Source: Bespoke

State-backed funds have been pulling back from investing in the funds of US-headquartered private capital firms in recent weeks, according to seven private equity executives with knowledge of the matter. The moves come in response to pressure from the Chinese government, three of the people said. Some of the Chinese funds are also seeking to be excluded from private equity investments in US companies, even if those investments are made by buyout groups based elsewhere, some of the executives added. The change in approach to the US comes as China has borne the brunt of US tariffs announced in the past three weeks that threaten to significantly curtail trade between the world’s two biggest economies. Source: FT

58 firms have 300 or more CFA Charterholders. They are domiciled in 11 countries (alphabetical order): Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA. These 58 firms still employ a combined quarter of all CFA Charterholders. RBC moved from third place to first place, trading places with UBS which last year had been boosted into the top spot as a result of the CS merger. JPMorgan remains #2, Bank of America #4 and Morgan Stanley #5. Goldman Sachs displaced Ernst & Young in the top 10. TD vaulted over HSBC to take the sixth spot while Blackrock snatched eighth place from Citi. A fun fact: over 1 in 10 of these 58 firms are led by CFA Charterholders. A total of 14,807 candidates passed the Level III exam during the February and August 2024 exam windows. Over the last 12 months the number of CFA Charterholders for the first time climbed over 200,000. Relatedly, the total number employed at these top firms rose by 5% (from 41,805 to 44,158). Source: Rob Langrick, CFA, CIPM

Both banks say Amazon $AMZN AWS has hit pause on some colocation leasing deals—mainly international. Cowen notes hyperscale demand is cooling a bit, especially in Europe, with Amazon slightly pulling back on U.S. colocation activity too. Wells Fargo heard from multiple sources that AWS is stepping back from ongoing leasing talks, mirroring what’s been seen from Microsoft lately. Source: Wall St Engine

Source: Michael Saylor on X

China’s hitting back at Trump’s 145% tariffs by choking off exports of rare earths — the weird metals your car, wind turbine, and fighter jet desperately need. That includes stuff like dysprosium and terbium which power the super-strong magnets in EV motors and defense tech. China’s latest export controls on rare earth minerals could cause shutdowns in automotive production, with stockpiles of essential magnets set to run out within months if Beijing fully chokes off exports. Beijing expanded its export restrictions to seven rare earth elements and magnets vital for electric vehicles, wind turbines and fighter jets in early April in retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs of 145 per cent on China. Government officials, traders and auto executives said that, with inventories estimated to last between three and six months, companies would be racing to stockpile more material and find alternative supplies to avoid major disruption. Jan Giese, a metals trader at Frankfurt-based Tradium, warned that customers had been caught off guard and most car groups and their suppliers appear to be holding only two to three months’ worth of magnets. “If we don’t see magnet deliveries to the EU or Japan in that time or at least close to that, then I think we will see genuine problems in the automotive supply chain,” said Giese. Source: FT

🔴 $DIA is down 8% 🔴 $SPY 500 is down 10.1% 🔴 $QQQ is down 15.6% 🔴 $IWM 2000 is down 15.7% 🟢 $VIX is up 70.9% Source: Bloomberg

In April, 1-year inflation expectations surged by 1.7 percentage points to 6.7%, the highest level since November 1981 (h/t @KobeissiLetter), Augur infinity