Mind the gap:
Gold has hit fresh ATH despite a rise in US real yields. At current 2% 10y real rate, Gold at $2,300/oz is ~$270/oz expensive, Jefferies has calculated. There are fundamental reasons: Increased government spending & indications of a willingness to accept higher inflation Source: HolgerZ, Bloomberg
Oil-related stocks are cooking now!
Exxon $XOM, Conocophillips $COP, and Hess $HES have all formed Golden Crosses Source: Barchart
$GOOG Alphabet eyes HubSpot acquisition.
$HUBS has a $35B market cap. - Could be Google's largest deal ever. - Reuters reported talks with advisers. - Deal could boost CRM on Google Cloud. Here's a look at their latest quarter. Source: App Economy Insights
From a valuation standpoint, Alphabet is about 40% cheaper than it was the last time the stock was trading at these prices.
$GOOG 💸 Source: Trend Spider
Just as everyone forgot, banks continue to carry alarming amount of unrealized losses.
In Q4 2023, unrealized losses on investment securities for banks hit $478 BILLION. This compares to over $100 billion of unrealized GAINS seen in 2020 when the Fed started cutting interest rates. Meanwhile, the Bank Term Funding Program has officially expired. This was the emergency loan program established during the regional bank crisis. Who will step in now? Source: The Kobeissi Letter
Below the relative chart of oil ETF $USO vs. S&P 500 ETF $SPY and the relative chart of oil stocks XLE vs. S&P 500 ETF $SPY.
Both just hit a 4.month relative high Source: J-C Parets
So true...
Source: Sanu MB
NOTHING NEW FROM POWELL YESTERDAY...
Fed Chairman Powell reiterated the Federal Reserve's cautious stance on interest-rate cuts, stating that they would wait and observe before making any decisions. While Powell didn't introduce any significant changes, his comment provided relief to Wall Street by suggesting that recent inflation data hadn't substantially altered the overall economic outlook. He also reiterated the likelihood of rate reductions at some point during the year. “On inflation, it is too soon to say whether the recent readings represent more than just a bump,” Mr. Powell stated. “We do not expect that it will be appropriate to lower our policy hashtag#rate until we have greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably down toward 2 percent.” At the same time, he said that cuts to the benchmark federal funds rate are “likely to be appropriate at some point this year” as he does not believe “inflation is reversing higher.”
