Between 2:00 and 4:00 PM ET today, the S&P 500 erased ~$600 billion of market cap
To put this in perspective, the S&P 500 added ~$600 billion of market cap over the last week. The index was up for 10 straight days but erased 5 of those daily gains in 2 hours. The volatility index, $VIX, spiked ~10% in a matter of minutes. Source: The Kobeissi Letter
FedEx is not the market, but...
...has moved in perfect tandem with thee SPX for some time. Source: The Market Ear, Refinitiv
Steno Research -> Big miss from FedEx leading to a >10% nosedive in the stock price
FedEx is the economy and air freight was particularly disappointing here Given the strong correlation between FedEx and the cyclical economy, this speaks against expecting a strong comeback in 2024 Source: Steno Research, Macrobond, Bloomberg
investigative journalist Kit Klarenberg noticied that The Washington Post quietly deleted a prominent tab from its Masthead
What was a long featured "War in Ukraine" tab, which had been there from the start of the war going back to Feb. 2022 has disappeared... An Internet Archive search and review of all Washington Post frontpages shows the tab was there throughout all of 2022. It was also present through most of 2023, until very recently. Ironically just yesterday Ukraine's President Zelensky again complained that the world's focus has been taken off supporting his country's struggle due in large part to the events in Israel and Gaza. Source: www.zerohedge.com
MAP OF THE DAY: The number of ships that have diverted from the Red Sea and instead taken the 10/14-day longer route around Africa has risen to >100.
The map shows **container ships** declaring European ports as destination, with one only left in the Red Sea | Red Sea Source: Javier Blas
ALERT: Job openings are collapsing (but from a very high level)
Source: Game of Trades
Labor unions are pushing for big pay rise…
e.g Southwest Airlines pilot pay would increase 50pct under new labor contract. A wage-inflation spiral remains a threat (even if overall job creations are plunging) Source: CNBC
Longer-term US inflation expectations have fallen dramatically over the past two months, to close to the Fed's 2% target
Source: Bloomberg
