Finally, we are going to start selling some of the oil we’ve been hoarding in storage. This isn’t the 1970’s anymore, where we’re wholly dependent upon foreign crude to fulfill our needs. Thanks to fracking, we have oceans of crude, both realized and to explore. The President’s budget calls for a drawdown of half of the 688.1 million barrels of crude being kept in the SPR — staggered out over the next decade. At current prices, sales would raise $16b in revenues, hardly enough to fund anything serious — but a sign that we’re not pavement apes bitterly clinging onto crude that doesn’t need to be held in storage.
The Heritage Foundation, a right wing ‘think tank’, wants to sell it all over the next two years.
“The SPR has not served its purpose, as Presidents have used the SPR as a political tool or failed to release reserves in a timely and impactful manner. It is time for Congress to recognize it is not the government’s role to respond to high prices. Congress should therefore pull the plug and drain the SPR once and for all.”
You’d think WTI would plunge on the news, but no one really cares. Truly, this is a market that does as it likes.
Bitcoins, on the other hand, are higher by another 6%. Futures are indicating a pop of 45 at the open.
Nigel Farage was interviewed by Tucker Carlson this evening to discuss the suicide attack in Manchester that killed at least 19 and wounded dozens.
Farage told Carlson, “we have been lulled into a slight sense of complacency,” refraining, however, from jumping to conclusions as to who was responsible for the attack.
He noted that Britains shouldn’t put their guard down, post BREXIT, saying “we’ve convinced ourselves that we’re in a better place than the rest of Europe on this.”
Farage pointed out that the bombing was a ‘direct attack on children… marks a new low in all forms of terrorism.”
NBC news is confirming that the attack in Manchester was, in fact, a suicide bombing. I think anyone with an IQ over 80 already knew that, just like we knew it wasn’t an Irish lad pissed off at the Brits for greedily taking all of their lime deposits for themselves.
NBC News: Forensic evidence at the scene including a body found at the blast site indicates that this was a suicide attack #Manchester
At this point, does it really matter? The right will say ‘see Islamic terror’. The left will say stupid shit like this.
At some point we'll get smart and stop identifying terrorists and giving them and their sick causes the attention they seek. STOP! https://t.co/U3XO3mw07L
It is the responsibility of news organizations to report crime, in order to alert the public to a grave threat. By suggesting we should merely gloss over it and ignore the attacks is fucking stupidity. Then again, Joe Scarborough is one of the biggest assholes on planet earth, married into an evil family. I am not surprised.
Don’t expect markets to give two shits about terror attacks. Unless a nuclear device detonates inside of a major city, these attacks are viewed in a benign way. It’s the new part of life, in a multi-cultural, open borders, society. You racist fucks are just going to have to learn how to deal with dying gracefully, from shards of metal piercing through your arteries — leading to an agonizing demise.
The dip was brief and shallow. Here we are again, with the NASDAQ pressing gains above 6,100 — led by tech. There are some out there who are scared of valuations, people craven with suggestions that the ‘end is near’ because we’re so overvalued.
It is true, or FAKE NEWS?
I’ll delve into some of the valuation data in Exodus to illuminate the truth.
The current median PE for the market is 22x, down from 23x in 2015.
The median PE for tech is 28x, a 26% premium above the overall market PE. More or less, this has been the norm since the financial crisis ended in 2009.
The median PE for basic materials is trading at a premium to the overall market for the second year in a row. The only two times this has occurred, in recent years, was 2008 and 2010. Basic materials usually trade at a much lower PE.
Financials are trading at their lowest PEs since 2014, at 19.5x.
Healthcare PEs took off in 2011, and have been above 25x since 2012. The last time they were this high was 2005 (24X), just before a 5 year contraction period.
Bottom line: PEs have been elevated since 2011. Earnings growth have been matching the multiple expansions — creating very few outliers. While one could argue that tech trading at 28x is fucking ridiculous, it has been this way since 2011 — so why chimp out now? People are falling for the gambler’s fallacy or the ‘monte carlo fallacy’, whereby investors believe something must begin or end because of their perception of time. Both bull and bear markets do not have expirations dates and making decisions based off time is simply guess work. Based off present valuations, there isn’t a reason to be alarmed.
There are other reasons to be worried, more based in the earnings part of the PE, determinant upon whether the global economy can continue its measured pace without central bank stimulus.
I almost feel like any move in stocks is somewhat meaningless, compared to the absolute chicanery underway in the cryptocurrency world. I suppose the Wannacry hack added some fervor to the already hot crypto market. I want to be clear about how I feel about the faux currency market: I want it to work, in order to crush the heads of bankers. But color be skeptical that a cabal of warmongering devil worshippers are going to cede power to a bunch of autistic nerds ‘mining’ digital currencies from their shit-heap apartments, whilst playing minecraft, or whatever the fuck they do in their spare time.
Also, the idea that the crypto-currency market is free and without Wall Street’s influence is false. The venture capital-fags are more influential than Goldman and Morgan now and they’ve been all over this run — promoting Bitcoin and Ethereum ad nauseam.
So stocks are higher by 75, with decent pin action in oil, silver and gold. But look at this shit.
Cryptocurrency bonanza.
There are dozens of these video game currencies, totally made up nonsense that retards are piling into. Let’s be clear about this melt up higher. People are chasing performance and acquiring these digital assets to make money. Ethereum is the second largest digital currency in the world, with a market cap of $18b, about half of Bitcoin’s, and it has doubled since Friday — on no news.
This move has all of the hallmarks of a speculative bubble. While I may not know anything meaningful about this movement into cryptocurrencies, human behavior is a constant and I know markets. This too shall fall. When it does, the internet will be littered with faggots who took erroneous financial advice from pseudo-gurus on Reddit and other forums, trying to foment demand for their alternative investments.
This is an unregulated, wild west, market, which is being actively promoted by people who are trying to make a profitable transaction, out of cryptocurrencies and back into dollars.
What can go wrong?
NOTE: the sole way to play this in the ETF market is via GBTC, which is trading up 9% to new highs at $239.
Courtesy of Briefing.com, I give you today’s shuffling of the chairs on Wall Street.
Alcoa initiated with a Buy at Clarksons Platou (32.29)
Market Vectors Gaming & Casino ETF: Hearing Aegis Capital suggesting May GGR trends remaining above market expectations (39.00)
Papa John’s: Hearing favorable Q2 checks out of Longbow (78.18)
Blackstone upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup; tgt $40 (29.87)
Insulet resumed with a Overweight at Piper Jaffray (42.00)
Carvana initiated with a Buy at Craig Hallum; tgt $16 (11.40)
Nintendo indicated slightly weaker today following commentary out of Credit Suisse suggesting expected strength out of Switch and continued Mobile weakness (34.15)
Sun Communities upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill (84.90)
Plains GP upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James (28.23)
Plains All American upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James (27.83)
Natl Hlth Investors downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill (76.41)
Arista Networks downgrade details — to Neutral at DA Davidson; tgt $153 (144.07)
Verona Pharma initiated with a Buy at SunTrust; tgt $26 (13.52)
Synchronoss Tech downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse (13.54)
Applied Optoelectronics initiation details — Strong Buy at Needham; tgt $85 (63.54)
Finish Line upgraded to Buy at Monness Crespi & Hardt; tgt $17 (13.87)
Applied Optoelectronics initiated with a Strong Buy at Needham; tgt $85 (63.54)
The Medicines Co downgraded to Perform from Outperform at Oppenheimer (42.56)
Presbia target lowered to $12 from $14 at Rodman & Renshaw as the Pre-Market Approval (PMA) application to the FDA for co’s Flexivue Microlens for treatment of presbyopia approaches (2.77)
Sorrento Therapeutics target lowered to $20 at Rodman & Renshaw; Pipeline remains undervalued (1.57)
PennTex Midstream Partners, LP downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Citigroup (19.88)
Cone Midstream Partners upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup (21.61)
Dexcom resumed with a Overweight at Piper Jaffray (67.66)
Verona Pharma initiated with a Outperform at Wedbush ; tgt $25 (13.52)
Floor & Decor initiated with a Neutral at Goldman (37.05)
Ciena upgrade details — to Buy at Stifel; tgt raised to $28 (22.95)
Verona Pharma initiation details — Buy at Stifel; tgt $22 (13.52)
Toro upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Longbow (66.58)
Prestige Brands upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James (49.39)
Centene downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan (75.07)
Cree upgraded to Mkt Outperform from Mkt Perform at JMP Securities (23.09)
Motorola Solutions upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James (80.83)
Floor & Decor initiated with a Neutral at Piper Jaffray (37.05)
Zoe’s Kitchen downgraded to Neutral at Robert W. Baird; tgt lowered to $20 (18.18)
Arista Networks downgraded to Neutral from Buy at DA Davidson (144.07)
Qualcomm upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan (57.67)
Genesco upgraded to Buy from Neutral at B. Riley & Co. (45.05)
Uniti Group initiated with a Buy at Deutsche Bank; tgt $28 (24.10)
AutoZone target lowered to $753 at RBC Capital Mkts — Negative industry data points (673.65)
Apple target raised to $168 at RBC Capital Mkts — The Path to a Trillion Dollars – Yes, We Can (153.06)
Floor & Decor initiated with a Hold at Jefferies; tgt $38 (37.05)
Floor & Decor initiated with a Outperform at Credit Suisse; tgt $43 (37.05)
Ciena upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel (22.95)
Nutanix upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman (16.00)
Momenta Pharma downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays (15.55)
Mylan N.V. upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays (37.94)
Entegris added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman (23.35)
Floor & Decor initiated with a Overweight at Barclays; tgt $50 (37.05)
Verona Pharma initiated with a Buy at Stifel; tgt $22 (13.52)
Anyone of you nerds own bitcoins or any of the other ‘evil’ crypto-currencies? BTC is now bidding $2,084, up more than 4%. That’s fucking amazing. What’s even crazier is that I missed the entire run and I couldn’t care less. I had a woman tell me yesterday that she thought bitcoins were literally evil. To be agreeable and not unkind, I agreed. It made me feel good inside, casting aspersions that were based in irrational thought. Now I know how most of you feel when you shitpost here, pestering me with illogical phrases and ‘financial strategies.’
Why the fuck is it higher again? Answer me now, or forever hold your penis.
Moving on.
Following Trump’s orb fondling days in Saudi Arabia, WTI is higher by 1.3%, gold +0.33%, silver +1.6%, and even natural gas is higher — +1.79%. Once again, the euro is gaining vs the dollar, +0.3%. All of this is giving traderfags some confidence in stocks, with futures pointing up by 2 whole points.
Over in Europe, those bastards are losing money. The Germans are down 0.3%, Spaniards -0.26% and the meatballs from Rome are off by 1.19%.
On the banking side, the yield curve is flattening again — with the 2 yr up 1bps to 1.29% and the 10 yr flat at 2.249%. Ignore this all you want until the fucking thing is literally forecasting recession and then you’re crying in your shower — wishing you listened to my warnings.
While futures might be pointing higher, it sure does look like a whole lot of nothing out there. If anything, the run ups in commodities isn’t boosting stocks like you’d expect — lending to a fairly somber, anti-climatic mood.
Not only did last night’s speech silence most critics — in this region at least — but it made it very clear that Trump will do what he thinks is right, no matter how harshly he is made to look like he is contradicting himself back home.
What matters to this part of the world is that we feared a president who would seek to divide us, but got one who last night talked about unity and how standing together will ensure we do not fail. We feared a president we were led to believe hates our values and culture, but we got one who sipped our coffee, joined us in sword dancing and told us last night that the US is not here to impose its way of life, but to offer us a helping hand if we choose to take it.
We thought that when Trump said “America First,” he meant we would be neglected and left to our misery. But it is his predecessor Barack Obama who did that when he opted to lecture and profess instead of adhering to his own red line when Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against his own people.
Perhaps more astonishing is that at the center of this event stands US President Donald Trump, who over the course of last year, through his words and actions, came to be seen as the anti-Muslim election candidate. Who would have believed that his first overseas trip as president would be to the land of Islam’s holiest sites, addressing Muslim leaders about the need for unity and common cause?
Never has it been truer that power brings responsibility. Trump has come to realize that many of the foremost US priorities depend on the Muslim world: Fighting terrorism, containing Iran, enhancing regional stability and encouraging trade on terms favorable to everyone. As a businessman, he has an instinct for where his and US interests lie, so his first presidential travel brought him to Riyadh.
Just as remarkable has been the genuine and heartfelt grassroots response in Saudi Arabia to Trump and “brand America.” The cultural intersection between America and Arabia was beautifully broadcast as Saudis gathered for Harley Davidson motorcycle rallies and country music concerts, cheering when the American anthem played in the stadium. Trump and his Cabinet partaking in the traditional ardha dance along with the king is a sight that will be imprinted in the annals of US history for generations to come.
The fact that Trump made Riyadh his first stop abroad as president speaks volumes. A major impetus for this decision seems to have been the March visit to Washington by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Insiders viewed the trip as a success.
The deputy crown prince discussed not just enhancing counterterrorism and defense cooperation with the US, but significantly increasing Saudi investment in the country and paving the way for more American companies to do business in the Kingdom.
If there ever was a clear break from former President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy — which almost exclusively invested in the Iran nuclear deal and viewed Saudi Arabia with cordial yet cold detachment — this was it.
There is undoubtedly a positive message being sent when a US president chooses Saudi Arabia, the land of the Two Holy Mosques, as his first foreign destination. This positivity, shown by Donald Trump, deserves our sincere gratitude for choosing to endorse the moderate Islamic world.
Moderates in the Kingdom and worldwide have always wanted a serious partner to help reclaim the narrative from extremists, and a clear distinction between those who believe Islam is against terror and those who use it to justify terror. Some people with twisted minds have used our religion to create confusion and obscure its real message, which is peace for humanity.
This positive message from the US is an indication of the weight and prominence that Saudi Arabia is privileged to enjoy in the Islamic world. This is why I, as head of the Muslim World League and a proud Saudi citizen, salute Trump for this courageous and meaningful stance.
This visit will have a positive impact in that it is a slap in the face of those who want to sow the seeds of division and extremism. It is very important for the US to stand on the right side of history as we deal with the scourge of terrorism. It is infinitesimally more important for, and incumbent upon, the US to stand with moderate states.
Trump’s visit comes at a time of need to support efforts and emphasize common values between the US and the Islamic world. Our enemies, whose lifelong aim has been to create fitna (mischief), want nothing more than to drive a wedge between us. We must not allow them to.
I would like to reassure President Trump and the American people that there is absolutely no confusion in our ranks as Muslims that it is our bounden responsibility to stand up to terrorism, especially when we see it using our name. Also, we should all not lose sight of the fact that this terrible war has to be waged first with ideology rather than with military weapons.
I also take this opportunity to reassure everyone reading this that it is our duty as Muslims to respect the laws and constitutions of non-Muslim countries where we live. At the same time, we would like to praise the outstanding achievements of American Muslims who have proven to be ideal citizens and successful professionals in various fields, while also being devout and proud Muslims.
With such a positive attitude, and so long as he is eager to serve justice, we welcome President Trump’s initiatives with open arms and pray that our cooperation makes the relationship between Muslims and America great again.
Without question, the left will now pivot to neo-nationalists now — fomenting strife between Saudi Arabia and the United States — only because it’s politically expedient to do so. Truth is, they’re just racist against brown people.
When Theresa May called for early elections to prove that she had the will of the people behind her, I immediately felt she was being retarded, foolhardy and full of hubris. She had nothing to gain, other than by humiliating her opponents.
Apparently, the tide seems to be turning ahead of the June 8th elections. This is precisely the worst time for her party to lose momentum. One can only hope and pray for a liberal upset, in order to teach May some proper manners and decorum, when dealing with irrational people and exhibiting leadership.
A true leader, a strong leader, doesn’t constantly curry the favor of the people. He demands it.
As such, on the ghost of Winston Churchill, should the conservatives lose this election, she shall be drawn and quartered by her party and her head mounted on a pike by the BREXIT hating globalists in the UK.
The poll put the Conservatives on 43 percent, down 5 percentage points from a May 15 poll, with Labour at 34 percent, a reported rise of 5 points due to rounding. The research was conducted on May 19 and 20 after the release of the Conservative and Labour manifestos.
Although May’s center-right party remains well in front of their leftist rivals, several recent polls showing a narrowing gap suggest that expectations of a landslide victory for the Conservatives may need to be lowered.
May called the snap election to increase the 17-seat working majority she had in parliament and secure a public mandate for her negotiating strategy as Britain prepares to begin talks on leaving the European Union.
At the time the election was called, poll leads in excess of 20 percent had suggested she could deliver the largest Conservative victory since Margaret Thatcher won a 144-seat majority in 1983.
Monday’s Survation poll showed the Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) were unchanged at 8 percent and 4 percent respectively.
If the labourfags pull this off, I can’t even describe the pandemonium. Get long pounds and tear gas.
By the powers invested in me, I hereby pardon Frog from an unseemly execution. Since when do I ever listen to the will of “the people” inside of my kingdom? This is a god damned monarchy and I’ve never given any of you the credence to sway my opinions before; I certainly won’t be doing it now.
On the matter of Frog and whether or not she’s a paid shill.
I do not believe she gets paid to do trolling, but instead finds pleasure in it. She’s actually old school iBC, dating back to 2010. Although I have found specious ties between her and Shareblue (the online troll army), it’d be a stretch to consider her liberal advocacy to be disingenuous.
This matter is hereby closed. All complaints can be mailed to [email protected].
