Money debasement
Source: CNBC
Where did all the stocks go?
Since the late 1990s, the number of US publicly traded companies has plunged from just over 8K in 1996 to about 4.6K in 2022. (It’s bounced back a bit more recently.) Source: Quartr
Asset managers and leveraged funds remain very, very long US equities
Source: Bloomberg
European banks are apparently doing brilliant business in Russia…
In 2023, they paid 4 times more taxes to the Russian state than they did before the war in Ukraine... According to the FT, Deutsche Bank has increased its profits in Russia from €26mln before the war to €40mln in 2023, while Commerzbank has more than tripled its profits to €51mln. The German state holds a 15.8% stake in Commerzbank. Italian and Austrian banks are doing a killing as well… Western lenders have benefited from the imposition of sanctions on most of the Russian financial sector, which has denied access to the Swift international interbank payment system. That made international banks a financial lifeline between Moscow and the West. Source: FT, HolgerZ
Chinese stocks catching a very strong bid Monday.
The most-followed China stock index globally (MSCI China) is set to enter a bull market (note though it’s still a long way back to the top) Source: David Ingles, Bloomberg
Intervention? At 9:30 PM ET, the Japanese Yen weakened to 160 against the US Dollar for the first time since 1990.
Exactly 2.5 hours after the headlines came out, the ratio just crashed from 160.20 to 156.50. That's a ~2.5% swing in one of the biggest currencies in the world in a matter of minutes. Clearly, something is happening here and it comes just days after the Bank of Japan left rates unchanged. Did someone just intervene? Source: The Kobeissi Letter
The bonds market's inflation expectations just hit new 52-week highs.
Commodities are following the trend. Source: J-C Parets
Treasury bond issuance in 2024 is expected to hit $1.9 TRILLION.
Surpassing levels seen even during the 2008 financial crisis and 2x 2023 levels. Source: Game of Trades
