2024 is shaping up to be a big year for privately-held companies, with over 1,200 unicorns globally, up from just 590 in 2021!
(A "unicorn" refers to privately held companies valued at over one billion dollars). Leading the charge is ByteDance (TikTok's parent) at a whopping $220B 💰, followed by SpaceX 🚀 at $180B and OpenAI 🤖 at $100B. Noticeably, the US and China lead the world in both the number of unicorns and their combined market value. Source: Genuine impact
There have been many definitions of fiscal dominance over the years, but one that explains it well comes from Daniel J. Ford:
"Fiscal dominance is an economic condition that occurs when a country’s debt and deficit levels are sufficiently high that monetary policy ceases to be an effective tool for controlling inflation. In fact, persistently high interest rates in an environment of perpetually large deficits actually risk exacerbating inflation". Another definition: "Fiscal dominance occurs when fiscal deficits become as significant as, or more important than, private sector lending and monetary policy in driving economic activity". Source: Lyn Alden
It’s Shorts Weather
A basket of 50 heavily-shorted stocks tracked by Goldman Sachs with market caps of at least $1 billion apiece is down 3.2% on the day as of 1:30 p.m. ET, undoing what had been a very strong start to the year. source : gs, bloomberg
French OAT 10-year just hit 3,40% while OAT-Bund spread is now at 86bps…
What is the pain threshold for ecb to step in?
🚨 "Klarnageddon": Consumer credit card debt just plunged the most since covid; these prints are usually negative just ahead or inside of deep recessions.
🔈 According to the Fed's latest consumer credit data, in November consumer credit across US households tumbled by $7.5 billion to $5.102 trillion, a 1.8% annual rate of contraction and usually something one only sees in the middle of recessions (or worse). ❗ While non-revolving debt (i.e. student and auto loans) rose modestly, it was revolving, or credit card debt, that cratered by a whopping $13.8 billion the biggest drop since the covid crash shut down the economy and the prospect of future income for millions of Americans (hence the collapse in spending). ⚠️ It is not clear what sparked this sudden reversal in the favorite American pastime - i.e., to buy stuff one can't afford and hope to pay it back some time in the future for a modest 29.95% APR - but we know what didn't: falling rates... because they didn't. ❗ Three months after the Fed cut rates, taking them 100 bps below where they were in September, the average interest on credit card accounts across the US banking system as tracked by the Fed is at 22.8%, the second highest reading on record and a drop of 57bps from the highest rating on record taken in Q3 2024... Source: Bloomberg, www.zerohedge.com
Dollar's Share Of Global Reserves Hits 30-Year-Low As CentralBanks Pile Into Gold
Source: Wolfstreet.com
🚨 BREAKING >>> Denmark Says It’s Open To Conversations With Trump — But Greenland Won’t Become A US State
👉 A Danish foreign minister said Wednesday Denmark is “open to a dialogue with the Americans on how we can cooperate, possibly even more closely than we already do, to ensure that American ambitions are fulfilled,” multiple outlets reported, just one day after President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out using military force to gain control of Greenland. 👉 Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters the United States and NATO had “legitimate” interests in the region, saying “in conjunction with the melting of the Arctic and new shipping lanes opening up, we are unfortunately also seeing an increase in great power rivalry.” 👉 Greenland is part of Denmark, has representatives in the Danish parliament and its foreign relations are controlled by Denmark, though there has been a growing push for full independence in recent years. 👉 Løkke Rasmussen also noted “Greenland has its own ambitions” and said “if they materialize, Greenland will become independent, though hardly with an ambition to become a federal state in the United States,” Politico reported. 👉 The comments from the Danish diplomat followed a Tuesday press conference from Trump in which he said, “We need Greenland for national security purposes” and would not commit to not using military force to acquire it or the Panama Canal. 👉 Trump also questioned whether Denmark has a right to Greenland on Tuesday, saying, “nobody even knows if they have any right, title or interest.” ⚡ The most important category in the chart below is „Other“. It’s mainly rare earths. Trump probably seeks to solve some strategic problems for the US. Source: Michael A. Arouet on X, Forbes
BREAKING: The EU ”won’t tolerate" a takeover of Greenland by the US.
France says Europe is a strong continent and won’t be intimidated. It’s warning Trump against threatening the bloc's "sovereign borders" Source: Telegraph, Visegrád 24
