“Coal is in Terminal Decline,” Endures its Largest Consumption Drop Ever

I recall about a decade ago, ‘clean coal’ was all the rage, as men with the black lung shoveled their way onto the CNBC to dicuss their revolutionary “green” coal that was going to change the world. Now we can see, all of that shit was a lie.

Global use of the most polluting fuel fell 2.3 percent to 4.6 percent in the first nine months of 2015 from the same period last year, according to a report released Monday by the environmental group Greenpeace. That’s a decline of as much as 180 million tons of standard coal, 40 million tons more than Japan used in the same period.

“These trends show that the so-called global coal boom in the first decade of the 21st century was a mirage,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, Greenpeace’s coal and energy campaigner.

China Declining

In China, responsible for about half of global coal demand, use in the power sector fell more than 4 percent in the first three quarters and imports declined 31 percent, according to the report. Since the end of 2013, the country’s electricity consumption growth has largely been covered by new renewable energy plants.

“The coal industry likes to point to China adding a new coal-fired power plant every week as evidence that coal demand will pick up in the future, but the reality on the ground is rather different,” according to the report. “Capacity utilization of the plants has been plummeting. China is now adding one idle coal-fired power plant per week.”

U.S. Electricity

The share of coal used to generate electricity in the U.S. will fall to 36 percent this year from 50 percent a decade ago. More than 200 coal-fired power plants, with total capacity of 83 gigawatts, have been scheduled for retirement, including 13 gigawatts expected to retire this year.

Coal consumption in the 28-nation European Union was flat in the first nine months, after declining a record 6.5 percent in 2014, according to Greenpeace.

In India, domestic coal production has been on the rise, with sales by Coal India increasing 7 percent in the first nine months, and consumption increasing about 5 percent. India’s efforts to promote renewable energy is also eating into demand for coal, and stockpiles in the country have increased sharply.

“Coal is in terminal decline, and those countries investing in coal for export markets are making reckless decisions,” Myllyvirta said.

With ACI on the verge of bankruptcy and BTU highly distressed, I say “good riddance” to this arcane industry, one that selfishly enslaves the morons from W. Virginia and stymies human innovation. These coal men, these relics from antiquity, should all perish under the fires of their own making.

The last thing that I care about is saving the world from global warming. Fuck the planet and everyone on it. However, I am sick and tired of seeing coal mines and people go into them. On the teevee, we get to see Iron Man and his kickass energy sources, revolutionary stuff that powers robots to destroy villains. Once I turn off the teevee, I see my fucking utility bill that derives from the usage of Victorian era technology.

What’s up with that?

Pray pardon as I get my calash and horses ready to deliver bankruptcy notices to all of the luddite coal men in the Appalachia.

Many years ago, Goldman Ball Sachs coined the acronym BRIC, as a cool and new way to promote wanton investment into the world’s shittiest markets: Brazil (I spell it with a Z, fuckers), Russia, India, and China. They had the media sucking their dicks because of it, with James Cramer touting BRIC almost every night on his clown show, featured on CNBC.

Well, all bad ideas, eventually, die. And so does the BRIC’s of shit. Goldman is merging their BRIC fund with their emerging market fund, effectively shutting it, the fuck, down.

Fourteen years after former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill coined the acronym that ushered in an unprecedented investment boom, the biggest emerging markets are now sputtering. Russia and Brazil have fallen into recessions. China, long an engine of the world’s growth, is poised for its weakest expansion since 1990.

The downfall of the BRIC fund, which had lost 88 percent of its assets since a 2010 peak, also underscores how the strategy of bundling disparate countries into a single investment theme is losing its appeal among investors.

“The promise of BRIC’s rapid and sustainable growth has been challenged very much for the last five years or so,” said Jorge Mariscal, the chief investment officer of emerging markets at UBS Wealth Management, which oversees about $1 trillion. “The BRIC concept was popular. But nothing is eternal.”

What does it all mean? Well, for one it means the Wall Street marketing apparatus is no longer actively promoting the investment in BRIC, because they’ve lost their dirty fucking shirts in it and have abandoned their BRIC profit centres. Also, it’s an acknowledgement of something almost everyone already knew: the BRIC nations are scandalous bastards, undeserving of hard western currency.

Lastly, it might mean the bottom is in for BRIC, since despondency usually correlates with overly depressed prices. Bear in mind, sometimes prices are down for a reason and cheap prices could always get cheaper.

About 4 years ago I became obsessed with classical music. Many of my long term readers probably noticed an uptick of classical music pieces being used here, references to certain composers and orchestras. When I get interested in something, anything, I tend to overdo it and get immersed in it.

At any rate, I discovered Philip Glass’s music and was immediately sold. If you’re listening to Glass, you either think he’s a complete moron, or a genius.

This documentary about him is more than just the music. It highlights his struggles, the journey from NYC taxi cab driver to a world renowned composer.

I enjoyed it a great deal and I hope you do too.

We were supposed to close down 1,000 points; but the market traded up a little.

It was a fucked week for commodities, REITs, utilities and good for banks, hospitals and semis. It’s rather fitting to see the best sector (REITs) and the safest (UTES) get ravaged this week, as the destructive forces of this insidious tape moves from one area of the market to the next–leveling everything in its wake.

Social media had a good week too, buoyed by AWAY and FB.

My SHAK position disappointed me today, closed down a point. I honestly believed those numbers warranted a much higher price today. You get what you get and you don’t bitch about the outcome. Some of you need to good old fashioned Irish discipline.

I was flat for the day, but up more than 10% since last month’s lows. My largest position is COST, by a factor of 2, followed by SHAK, CNC, PAH, AAPL and JAZZ.

For those of you on the fence about joining Exodus, just know that my portfolio is listed there with real time alerts for my buys/sales. My brain is superior to everyone that you follow on Twitter and talk to in real life. iBankCoin is an imperial power amidst a sea of rabble rousing catamites. See to your sins, repent, and join us in our never ending quest to complete the Orbital Space Cannon (OSC), which will be used for offensive purposes only.

UPDATE: Like our Facebook page, else feel my wrath.

I don’t even know what to say anymore. I guess higher rates will make CHK go away, finally, and pave the way for a better CHK. And, higher rates will help my mother save for retirement, since she hates stocks and loves CDs. Aside from that, raising rates is like sticking your face into the blades of a blender, on purpose. Sure, you’ll come out alive and in one piece; but you’ll be ugly as fuck.

Investors are suffering through the worst commodity collapse in a generation. Bulls can blame the cooling economy in China, the world’s largest consumer of metals, grains and energy. The nation’s slowest pace of the growth in two decades is stamping out demand and leaving the world oversupplied with everything from aluminum to wheat. The prospect that U.S. borrowing costs will rise for the first time nine years is compounding concern that raw-material users will slow or abandon plans for expansion, eroding consumption.

“It’s all about the jobs report and the outlook for the Fed liftoff,” James Cordier, founder of Optionsellers.com in Tampa, Florida, said in a telephone interview. “The quantitative easing in the U.S. that began almost a decade ago boosted commodities, mainly because of the weaker dollar. The infrastructure spending in China has changed dramatically. Both of those are now behind us.”

I guess you cannot have the market you want; but, instead, you get the market you are given.

I just need you to think this through, just for a second.

Rates are at zero percent and possibly going up by 25bps in a month. Because of that, people are selling their REITs and Utilities today, like rabid fucking dogs, because that 4% yield is gonna see some competition soon?

For fucks sake, TLT is down less than 2% today. In classic Wall Street fashion, everyone is getting so dramatic over the specter of slightly higher rates. Let me remind you: America has $20 trillion in debt. Don’t worry, the Fed isn’t going to raise rates to 5% and bankrupt the country.

I don’t own any REITs or Utes and I probably won’t buy any on this dip either. I do recall, however, REITs getting slammed to hell a few months back on the same concerns, only to come crawling right back to new highs, months later.

For now, the trade is short commodities, long banks. The yield curve will widen. Banks will rape people on credit card rates; and the market will accept the idea that rates can rise a little at the same time as Apple can still sell iPhones and people can still watch Netflix and take medicine and buy cars.

For fucks sake, I am surrounded by morons.

You do realize the fuckery that this market thrusts upon you, yes? It literally wants to make you a bad person, rooting for your neighbors to lose their jobs, pray that the minimum wage isn’t raised, and hope for loopholes to be created so that corporations can avoid paying U.S. taxes.

Fuck what the market is saying today, down 30 NASDAQS and looking ominous. Two hundred and seventy one thousand jobs were created last month. The unemployment rate is at 5%. Raw commodity prices are dropping. The dollar is rising, effectively increasing the buying power for all Americans and making our real estate super attractive to foreign buyers.

Regional banks are soaring. My largest bank holding is SBNY.

I’m bullish on these numbers and couldn’t care less if the Fed hiked in December, all things considered. It affects me not. Moreover, I can’t think of a better scenario for the U.S. consumer than a booming jobs market, heading into the holiday season.

Stocks should be bought.

Fuckery at its finest. Citi now joins a chorus of Fed hike cheerleaders, in what could only be described as “well, shit, that didn’t work, so let’s try this.”

“The growing size of household holdings of interest-bearing assets has reached the point where the ‘permanent’ income gained from sustained higher interest rates has a material impact on expenditures,” Lee asserted. “Consequently, if interest rates rise by one percentage point, this could boost the household income by $170 billion (i.e., $256.2 billion to $85.4 billion) and consumption by 1 percent.”

In other words, this analyst no longer believes in the ‘wealth effect’ of higher stock prices, which was crammed down our throats for the past 5 years. Now, he believes higher rates will enable old fuckers with CDs to save more; hence, they’ll be able to buy more wheeled chairs, for cash, money.

Yellen must have a fucking hard on after reading these numbers.

October Nonfarm Payrolls 271K vs 181K consensus; Prior revised to 137K from 142K

October Hourly Earnings +0.4% vs +0.2% Briefing.com consensus; Prior 0.0%

The unemployment rate is at 5%.

These are the best numbers of 2015, which is sure to cause investors to believe the Fed will hike rates in December. The dollar is spiking hard, up 1.25% v the euro. Futures aren’t really moving too much, which is suspect as fuck.

UPDATE: The market is pricing in a 74% chance of a Dec rate hike.

It appears the bullshit payment traansaction company is going to have its first down round. But don’t worry about their awesome VC investors. They’ll be taken care of.

The investors, including the private equity firm Rizvi Traverse and an arm of JPMorgan Chase, will benefit from a provision they negotiated that is known as a ratchet. Increasingly common in startup financings, ratchets are promises that investors will be issued additional shares if the company’s IPO prices at a disappointing value.

In Square’s case, investors bought $150 million of stock last year at a price of $15.46 per share, giving the company a reported valuation of $6 billion. What the numbers didn’t show was that investors had secured provisions to significantly limit their risk of losing money.

Now, if the IPO doesn’t translate to 20% gains for these late-stage investors, Square has promised to issue them enough additional shares to create that return, the filing shows.

The provision is buried in a single paragraph deep into the IPO prospectus. If the IPO prices below $18.56 per share, the ratchet will be triggered, the filing says.

The fuck? It must be good to be a banker.

It looks like Square’s IPO filing places the proposed valuation at around $4.1 billion, well under the private value of $6 billion. Dollars to donuts says it trades even lower once public.