Trump is Crushing the Skulls of His Enemies in FL, NC and IL; Trails by 3% in OH

Trump’s unstoppable violent route to power looks to steam roll through another set of meaningless states tomorrow, with bountiful gains in Florida, North Carolina and Illinois. He is, however, down by 3% to Governor Kasich in the fat mouthed state of Ohio, who has  incidentally reduced his campaign into an open, naked, scheme to steal the nomination from Trump– in a brokered checkered pants republican convention.

Although the bible declares stealing as a very bad sin, the often religiously embellished Kasich seems to have no problem, whatsoever, snatching victory away from Trump and the millions of his supporters through a most heinous and nefarious scandal that is guaranteed to permit H. Clinton unimpeded victory during the general elections.

There is nothing wrong with hating Trump and suggesting his policies are the sandbox of idiots. However, when you headline a story, that is without merit: ‘VIOLENT ROUTE TO POWER’– you’re crossing the fucking line. This, especially since CNBC is supposed to represent the business class, leaving the politics for their harebrained friendos at MSNBC, is affront to all that is fair and balanced (no Fox news).

Let’s not mince words. Titles like that invoke Nazism, Pol Pot and motherfucking Stalin. Do not play coy and act like you weren’t chuckling like little school girls, CNBC, after posting that title. Nothing gets past Le Fly, fuckheads.

You’d think Trump had an army of fucking brownshirts out there killing his competitors and lighting fire to government buildings.

We have all the reasons to trade lower. Oil is off by 3%– but stocks are trading up anyway. This is the inverse action to what we’ve seen for the better part of two years. All rallies used to be faded. Now all slumps are bought and markets melt up with energetic momentum.

Extremely bullish. Nothing can go wrong, until it does. Sentiment is bridled to perversion, at the vanguard of it are the greediest people alive.

Fuck this shit. I’m happy in cash and TLT.

Bear pornographer, David Stockman, lays out the bear agenda, rather abruptly, before an awe shocked Bloomberg hostess, followed up by some other Bloomberg man-co anchor wearing lipstick and talking in very loud and incorrigible tones. If you’re curious to learn what life is like being an ardent and dedicated bear, look no further than this video.

Clearly, David Stockman is a man with exceedingly poor dental hygiene and doesn’t bother to take a handkerchief to his greasy eye glasses. There is nothing at all noteworthy about Mr. Stockman’s ursine dissertation, other than his extreme belligerence for hearing arguments to the contrary.

The Devil Dog/Zerohedged crowd cannot and will not be negotiated with. It’s zero dark thirty all day every day for these folks. Eventually, one day, the world will end for them, which will be a custom tailored apocalypse onto itself. I imagine this eventuality might be greeted with a faint smile, as their ephemeral existence is met with an everlasting rest– the ultimate elixir for all things good and pervasively living.

BEHOLD:

In an otherwise uneventful morning, oil is certainly exacting punishment to the faithful residents of this obstreperous trade. WTI is off by more than 4% and crude stocks are being smashed into little pieces, much to the chagrin to all of those who were hopeful for a continuation of the brainless surge we’ve recently been entreated to.

Harrowing losses are presently menacing longs in the ‘oil patch’ today.

Overall, markets lack energy (extra Jeb!) and are mired in a slothful, rudderless condition, whereby investors are reticent to bet big ahead of the Fed and afraid to sell for fear of missing out on strong seasonal trends.

Markets have a weak bias to it, bucking the recent upward surge in equities. This is a week that is besieged by the Federal Reserve, with market participants hoping and praying to hear dovish news. The most recent data indicates a Fed hike is unlikely to occur until June. This eventuality is not being taken seriously. Once the moment of truth arrives, markets will likely throw a tantrum and run prices lower. For now, however, the indices rudely beat short sellers into submission.

Crude is off by 3.2%, contributing to a general malaise in equity prices.

Bonds are higher by 0.6% and gold stocks are lower. It is a rudderless tape, thus far, with nothing noteworthy to discuss.

Starwood had agreed to a buyout from Marriott for $72, until the Chinese entered the fray this weekend with a superior offer. Anbang Insurance Group is one of China’s largest insurance companies and they don’t give a shit about Marriot’s plans for Starwood. They are leading a group of savage investors to acquire it and kick Marriott to the side.

The proposal is $76 in cash for all of the company’s outstanding shares, Starwood said in a statement on Monday. That values Stamford, Connecticut-based Starwood at about $12.9 billion, based on its estimate of 170 million shares.

While Starwood didn’t identify the bidder in its statement, Marriott said Anbang led the group’s offer in a separate announcement in which it confirmed its plan to buy Starwood.

Starwood “will carefully consider the outcome of its discussions with the consortium in order to determine the course of action that is in the best interest of Starwood and its stockholders,” the hotel operator said. Starwood said it still supports Marriott’s offer.

Under both offers, Starwood shareholders would also get Interval Leisure Group stock from a previously announced spin off of vacation ownership business, Vistana Signature Experiences, and subsequent merger with ILG.

Marriott’s offer for Starwood valued the company at $72.08 per share when it was made. Starwood would have to pay Marriott a $400 million termination fee in cash if it decided to enter into another deal or changes or withdraw its recommendation to its stockholders to vote in favor of the Marriott deal.

This should be interesting.

This is an interesting premium deal, enacting by a shitty private equity firm. Apollo Global is buying TFM for as 24% premium to Friday’s close. The supermarket industry has been racked with underperformance. Perhaps the morons at Apollo feel they can lose a little bit of money on this deal, as opposed to gargantuan losses.

Nevertheless, it might put a bid under other grocers, like WFM and SFM.

Apollo Global Management LLC agreed to buy grocer The Fresh Market Inc. for about $1.4 billion in cash in the buyout firm’s third announced acquisition of more than $1 billion since the start of February.

Shareholders will receive $28.50 a share in a tender offer, the companies said in a statement Monday. The price is 24 percent above Fresh Market’s closing level on Friday.

Fresh Market’s board conducted an “open and thorough review” of strategic alternatives before agreeing to the sale, according to the statement. Still, the Greensboro, North Carolina-based company can solicit better offers for 21 days after signing a definitive deal, the companies said.

Shares of TFM are down 45% over the past year.

I haven’t the slightest idea of how their medicine works. In my head, this company is smoking joints all day, discussing the virtues of cannabis. In reality, they’re probably smoking joints and also developing some kick ass treatments.

At any rate, this stock is up 126% in the pre-market, making it must-read news for today’s session. Whether this creates a halo-effect around biotech remains to be seen. But this data looks incredible.

“The results of this Epidiolex pivotal trial are important and exciting as they represent the first placebo-controlled evidence to support the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical cannabidiol in children with Dravet syndrome, one of the most severe and difficult-to-treat types of epilepsy,” said Orrin Devinsky, M.D., of New York University Langone Medical Center’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. “These data demonstrate that Epidiolex delivers clinically important reductions in seizure frequency together with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile, providing the epilepsy community with the prospect of an appropriately standardized and tested pharmaceutical formulation of cannabidiol being made available by prescription in the future.”

“The positive outcome of this Phase 3 trial is a significant milestone in the development of Epidiolex as a potential new treatment for patients suffering from Dravet syndrome. We are excited about the potential for Epidiolex to become the first FDA approved treatment option specifically for Dravet syndrome patients and their families,” stated Justin Gover, GW’s Chief Executive Officer. “In light of this positive data, we will now request a pre-NDA meeting with the FDA to discuss our proposed regulatory submission. We also look forward with excitement to the upcoming results from the two Phase 3 trials in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and the second pivotal trial in Dravet syndrome.”

“Dravet syndrome is one of the most catastrophic types of epilepsy in children and safe and effective treatments are desperately needed. We are thrilled to learn of these positive results, which bring much needed hope to the children and families who have been living with these debilitating seizures,” said Mary Anne Meskis, Executive Director of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation.

• In this study, Epidiolex achieved the primary endpoint of a significant reduction in convulsive seizures assessed over the entire treatment period compared with placebo (p=0.01).
• Co will now request a pre-NDA meeting with the FDA to discuss its proposed regulatory submission.
• In this study, patients taking Epidiolex achieved a median reduction in monthly convulsive seizures of 39 percent compared with a reduction on placebo of 13 percent, which was highly statistically significant (p=0.01). Results from secondary efficacy endpoints reinforced the overall effectiveness observed with Epidiolex.
• Epidiolex was generally well tolerated in this study.
• The most common adverse events (occurring in greater than 10 percent of Epidiolex-treated patients) were: somnolence, diarrhea, decreased appetite, fatigue, pyrexia, vomiting, lethargy, upper respiratory tract infection and convulsion.
  • Of those patients on Epidiolex that reported an adverse event, 84 percent reported it to be mild or moderate. Ten patients on Epidiolex experienced a serious adverse event compared with three patients on placebo.
  • Eight patients on Epidiolex discontinued treatment due to adverse events compared with one patient on placebo.
• The first Phase 3 trial is a placebo-controlled trial of Epidiolex (at a dose of 20 mg/kg) over a 14-week treatment period and has randomized 171 patients.
  • This trial is expected to report top-line results in the second quarter of 2016.
• The second placebo-controlled trial has randomized a total of 225 patients and is expected to report top-line results mid-2016.

The big lie, or the narrative that is being promoted by China and their apologists, is that the Chinese economy is slowing because it is transitioning away from slave factories to a decadent American styled consumption based economy. This, of course, is complete horseshit, as the farmers in the countryside make like $6 per day, unable to afford anything for sale inside of the luxury outposts being built across the country.

This is disastrous news of the first magnitude. It debunks all theories that state the Chinese economy isn’t slipping into a well greased hell hole.

Markets probably won’t reel from this news because we’re in bull mode. But it should dive lower, if the news were truly ingested for what it is: toxic for growth and equity valuations.

Kiss the 6.5% Chinese GDP numbers goodbye.