18 years in Wall Street, left after finding out it was all horseshit. Founder/ Master and Commander: iBankCoin, finance news and commentary from the future.
Interest rates are steady, dollar is weak, futures are +250 off their lows, and WTI and gold are higher. This has all of the trappings of a short squeeze. Pessimism was running high last night, after China ‘retaliated’ against US tariffs by targeting a whole $3b in industry. Meanwhile, Trump has replaced McMaster with an absolute devil of a person, John ‘Neocon’ Bolton. Trump supporters will say ‘Trump doesn’t listen to his advisors anyway”, in a serious way as if having a dictatorship is a good thing.
Moving on, I’m expecting markets to gyrate today, but ultimately prevail on the upside. Keep your eyes on crude, for it holds the secrets of the illuminati and what those fucking bastards are up to. Right now it smells of Iran.
Here’s a detailed look at China’s retaliatory tariffs (fruits, nuts, wine, steel).
And here are some other morning headlines.
Supervalu, grocery peers on watch amid reports that Target (TGT) & Kroger (KR) are said to be in talks to merge (14.76)
Related: SFM, WMT, AMZN, NGVC, UNFI, WMK
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic says inflation trending toward 2% target; says Fed ‘at or near’ goals; further rate hikes needed
GSV Capital prices $40 mln in aggregate principal amount of 4.75% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023
Micron target raised to $100 at Rosenblatt following earnings, matching Street high
GoDaddy initiated with a Buy at Goldman; tgt $81
Wix.com initiated with a Neutral at Goldman; tgt $93
Occidental Petro upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank
Cisco Systems added to Conviction Buy List at Goldman
Wynn Resorts announces issuance and sale of 5.3 mln shares of common stock; Stephen Wynn’s sale of 8.0 mln shares of common stock
REMINDER: This is not a trade war. This is not a trade war. This is not a trade war. This is not a trade war. This is not a trade war. This is not a trade war. This is not a trade war. This is not a trade war. This is not a trade war.
In retaliation against Trump’s steel tariffs and the $60 billion in levies affixed to IP technology, China targeted 128 US products with taxes for a grand total of $3b.
REMINDER: We hold all the cards. We hold all the cards. We hold all the cards. We hold all the cards. We hold all the cards. We hold all the cards. We hold all the cards. We hold all the cards. We hold all the cards. We hold all the cards.
The Chinese-US trade deficit came in at a record last year — upwards of $375 billion — up 8% during Trump’s first year in office. Overall, US deficits rose to a 9 year high of $566 billion, in a transfer of wealth for the ages. While China might pretend to have muscles in this ‘trade war’ against the US, they have the most to lose. The US dollar is still currency reserve and because they’re totally dependent on US markets to keep their factories running and pitched forks at bay, they must maintain their large treasury holdings and bid for the dollar, whenever it should fall.
In other words, we have China by the short hairs. There is literally nothing they can do other than posture. Should they truly engage in a tit for tat trade war with man child Trump, they might see their fixed economy unglued, leading to a repatriation and currency crisis, redux 2016, which would cause their economy and debt burdens to bubble to the surface and completely wreck their piece of shit economy.
Dow futures are -150, Nasdaq -56. Gold and WTI are very strong and Bitcoins are being ransacked.
Any support I’ve shown for Trump has gone out the window this evening. And no, I am not being melodramatic. I am a simple man with modest needs. One of them is for my country to stop fighting unnecessary wars. When you wake up and realize that we’re the bad guys and that the media propaganda is there to make you docile, you will see that nothing else matters but human life. Forget about healthcare, transgender bathrooms, abortion, tax cuts — everything is secondary to the life expectancy of the men and women who serve in our military — our sons and daughters, or neighbors.
In an unbelievable move, Trump has replaced Gen. McMaster with the very worst person living in America, John Neocon Scum Bolton.
What is the math on this?
Bolton was part of a neocon cabal, spearheaded by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), founded by Bill Kristol, whose lineage is Trotskyite through and through. His Father, Irving, and men like Albert Wohlstetter and Zbig Brzezinski had an idea that America should export democracy throughout the world, just like Trotsky wanted to export communism. Bill organized a group in 1997, led by Robert Kagan, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Elliot Abrams, Bruce Jackson, and John Bolton — just to name a few.
Any of those names familiar?
Those were the fuckers who called for regime change in Iraq, the people who advised Bush the Idiot on war strategy and have ben Never Trumpers — very vocal Never Trumpers for day 1.
Here’s Bill Kristol crying on Morning Joe over the specter of Trump ascending to the Presidency.
Here’s Bolton, Trump’s new National Security Advisor, saying America should decertify the Iran deal.
He’s a war hawk and wants regime change everywhere. His recommendations will be most aggressive in almost every area of foreign policy. He is an extremist and I’ve got to believe Trump is compromised in some way to let a fox like Bolton into the hen house.
The statements from leaders like @realDonaldTrump, @EmmanuelMacron, and Chancellor Merkel make it clear that the West is united in condemning #Russia and in taking strong measures in response to their use of a chemical weapon to poison a Russian double agent in Britain.
This is getting little play, for now, but I am sure once media picks up on this little video tidbit they’ll play it on loop.
BREAKING: Chinese ambassador Cui Tiankai on Trump’s China#tariff:”We don’t want to have a trade war with the US or anybody else but we are not afraid of it. If somebody imposed a trade war on us we will fight.” pic.twitter.com/VvFPGn1tpc
With regard to the tariffs Trump is imposing on China, Wilbur Ross said he expects the great wall’d dog eating nation to retaliate, but only after they see the details. The plan here is simple: reduce the trade deficit by $100 billion.
Markets are panicking for one reason: US companies do more business overseas than here. Therefore, they have more to lose when China is hurt than when America is hurt. In a way, these global giants are like Benedict Arnolds, but it really isn’t there fault. Their shareholders demanded profits and returns and they did their job, within the boundaries of the law. The blame rests solely on our elected officials who sold us out for profit, failed to protect US industry in exchange for cheap shit in Target, which has contributed to a ruinous balance sheet amidst the lower, middle, and upper middle classes
On March 19th, 2018 I closed out my downside hedges in LABD and SOXS. That was the exact intermediate low before the bounce, a play that I made with space alien magician like precision. Over the subsequent few days, I dabbled in a little of this and a little of that — angling sideways into FRANKENFOOD plays that caught the appetite of Wall Street for sudden few hours. I watched 50% gains in AMTX quickly turn near break even. Although the stock is up today, it’s not even close to where it was when I was boasting about my brilliance here on the blog a few days ago.
In addition to AMTX, I bought some AMRS, EVGN, GEVO, and YTEN to bulk up on this bio-ag trade. To date, none of those stocks have made any real gains.
Then I posited myself in at a 33% angle, long JNUG — chuckling at you misers for not getting in at the same time that I was long. Even though gold is strong today, the miners are down and my JNUG position is barely above basis.
Feeling emboldened by my capacity to compile data and predict the future, I barreled into TQQQ and LABU at 90% angles, keen on cashing in as the market propelled higher. Both ETFs are levered and both ETFs are entreating me to disastrous pin action today.
Lastly, because I was at the apex of my trade, the very top of my station, I got bold and tumbled into DSX, PUMP, and CCIH, with greed writ large on my mind.
All of these trades have left me in a precarious position. I realize with the Dow off by 700, my losses of ~2% aren’t so grim — but it’s also important to acknowledge that I am, in fact, long a variety of clown stocks that are designed to lose vast sums of money. They are like XIVs and TVIXs disguised as companies, niche “opportunities” with little to no decorum.
On the panic side of things, LIBOR is on an unbelievable winning streak. NOT GOOD! SAD!
Steel stocks have been obliterated. I’m sure it’s a temporary phenomenon. We can destroy China and be perfectly insulated from the whole ordeal, right?
Powell the lawyer was unimpressive during yesterday’s testimony. Stocks sold off hard and the people should know why equities are tumbling. It isn’t because President Trump is threatening to knock out Joe Biden or because he’s defending US industry thru fair tariffs on a very evil China. No, all of that would be fake news.
Markets are cascading lower, a culmination of bad feelings and an acrimonious appetite for a candid hatred against our new Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell.
What a stupid fucking name that is, after all — Jerome. Never trust a man with a name like that, especially if he’s an attorney.
Everything is lower, except REITs and Utes, naturally. There is a special outcome for the greatest sectors lying in wake, preparing to ambush overzealous dip buyers, so be careful out there. I wouldn’t want to see anything happen to you.
Chinese stocks are also bearing a horrible brunt, with dozens down sharply, enduring Trump as we endure them.
Bonds are instigating higher, as the insinuation of Powell’s failure spreads across Wall Street. Under Yellen, we cheered her shortcomings and even cared for her well being. But not with Powell. No one likes him, especially since he doesn’t know anything about economics — being a lawyer and all.
As for me, I still have hope and, for now, am holding onto dear life.
The social justice crusade of Susan Diane Wojcicki continues — this time targeting evil gun owners.
In spite of guns being legal in America, providing you have a license, Youtube is banning all videos that show rural fuckheads firing their guns. Understand something redneck hillbilly bastards, your days are numbered and the coastal elite are coming for you. We will strip you of your guns, pistol whip your faces off, and then imprison you for life.
YouTube will ban videos that promote or link to websites selling firearms and accessories, including bump stocks, which allow a semi-automatic rifle to fire faster. Additionally, YouTube said it will prohibit videos with instructions on how to assemble firearms. The video site, owned by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, has faced intense criticism for hosting videos about guns, bombs and other deadly weapons.
For many gun-rights supporters, YouTube has been a haven. A current search on the site for “how to build a gun” yields 25 million results, though that includes items such as toys. At least one producer of gun videos saw its page suspended on Tuesday. Another channel opted to move its videos to an adult-content site, saying that will offer more freedom than YouTube.
“We routinely make updates and adjustments to our enforcement guidelines across all of our policies,” a YouTube spokeswoman said in a statement. “While we’ve long prohibited the sale of firearms, we recently notified creators of updates we will be making around content promoting the sale or manufacture of firearms and their accessories.”
YouTube has placed greater restrictions on content several times in the past year, responding to a series of issues with inappropriate and offensive videos. Most of those changes involved pulling ads from categories of videos. Google is more reluctant to remove entire videos from YouTube, but has been willing to do so with terrorism-related content.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry lobbying group, called YouTube’s new policy “worrisome.”
“We suspect it will be interpreted to block much more content than the stated goal of firearms and certain accessory sales,” the foundation said in a statement. “We see the real potential for the blocking of educational content that serves instructional, skill-building and even safety purposes. Much like Facebook, YouTube now acts as a virtual public square. The exercise of what amounts to censorship, then, can legitimately be viewed as the stifling of commercial free speech.”
The new YouTube policies will be enforced starting in April, but at least two video bloggers have already been affected. Spike’s Tactical, a firearms company, said in a post on Facebook that it was suspended from YouTube due to “repeated or severe violations” of the video platform’s guidelines.
“Well, since we’ve melted some snowflakes on YouTube and got banned, might as well set IG and FB on fire!,” Spike’s wrote on Facebook, where it has over 111,000 followers, referring to the social network and its Instagram app. A YouTube spokeswoman said the channel has been reinstated after it was mistakenly removed.
InRange TV, another channel devoted to firearms, wrote on its Facebook page that it would begin uploading videos to PornHub, an adult content website.
“YouTube’s newly released released vague and one-sided firearms policy makes it abundantly clear that YouTube cannot be counted upon to be a safe harbor for a wide variety of views and subject matter,” InRange TV wrote. “PornHub has a history of being a proactive voice in the online community, as well as operating a resilient and robust video streaming platform.” PornHub didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the matter.
Youtube feels it has a responsibility to the public to restrict information from appearing on its network because said information could be used for malevolent purposes. This is a very slippery slope, but I am sure Susan Wojcicki is smart enough and good enough to be America’s Mother, protecting her children from the evils of the world that infiltrate us via gun videos.
I had a late start today, as the schools around here had a delayed open and then I had to go walk my new dog — something that I enjoy doing very much because she’s psychotic and tries to eat all other dogs and she charges towards every single car that is driving on the street. It makes for a most enjoyable morning saunter.
Markets are off sharply and the news headlines are suggesting it has something ado with Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods, something to the tune of $50 billion. You do realize how ridiculous that sounds, right? China pisses and defecates on $50b.
Truth be told, markets haven’t been the same since XIV blew up. When history is written and some historian digs into the annals of time to understand where it all went wrong — he will come upon this blog and learn that people did not read the prospectus and were, therefore, unprepared for the catastrophic losses to come.
FB is flat after the CEO sucked media cock last night, begging for forgiveness. Pardon me for being the only one who doesn’t give a shit about this topic — but I’ve known FB has been selling data for a decade.
Cryptos are getting lit up, WTI is off by 1% and gold is strong.
In my tactical portfolio, I am making strident gains in AMTX — as the frankenfood craze takes hold of Wall Street. Not much else going on, frankly. I am not disturbed by this pullback at all.
LATE IN THE DAY I PURCHASED SHARES OF CCIH, BASED SOLELY UPON THE RECOMMENDATION OF A MAN WHO WILL REMAIN ANONYMOUS UNTIL I AM ABLE TO SELL IT FOR EXTREME PROFIT DURING TOMORROW’S SESSION. WHILE THIS MIGHT SOUND BOLD TO SOME OF YOU ABSOLUTE ASSHOLES, JUST KNOW THAT THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. SHARES OF CCIH ARE SIMPLY HEADING HIGHER, IN SPITE OF YOU ILL WISHES AND UNPARDONABLE CONTEMPT FOR YOURS TRULY.
SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR I’VE BEEN WHIPPING YOU IN THE FACE, ALMOST ON A DAILY BASIS, WITH MY STOCK WINS AND I RARELY HEAR ANY ACRIMONIOUS TURPITUDE COMING FROM THE GALLOWS OF THE PEANUT’D GALLERY ANYMORE.
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MARBLES, OR DID SOMEONE CUT YOUR FINGERS OFF?
NEVERTHELESS, AND I’LL MAKE THIS AS SUCCINCT AS POSSIBLE: LET THIS POST SERVE AS A BRAND OF VOODOO MAGICK, AS THEY LIKE TO SAY IN SHITHOLE COUNTRIES SOUTH OF THE BORDER. CCIH IS GOING HIGHER AND I WILL SELL IT AND I WILL ENJOY TELLING YOU ABOUT IT TOMORROW.
