CHINA ENTERS A MOST EGREGIOUS BEAR MARKET

China dropped by another 3.5% tonight, putting it down 20% from recent highs. Their stock exchange, however, is utterly meaningless to world markets. But it’s a side effect of the core issues, which is capital flight, currency devaluation, and a drawing down of their currency reserves. Bear in mind, according to McKinsey, the Chinese household and corporate debt are the most leveraged in the world.

Let’s face it, the world is awash in debt. It will take a miracle to have this all end well.

Crude is down by 3% and Dow futures are at session lows, -182.

Shares of Freeport McMoran are down 91% over the past 5 years, off by 38% this year. The recent drop has pushed the companies debt/eq level above 3–putting fear into the minds of investors, considering FCX has over $20 billion in debt. Their copper mines are the envy of the world, yet no one gives a shit about copper anymore. This has conjured up chatter that the company may opt to put some of their assets up for sale.

According to a recent Deutsche Bank analysis of the companies balance sheet, they should  turn a profit again in 2017–providing the price of copper doesn’t tank further.

The only problem with selling assets is the entire sector is in turmoil. FCX was the elite of the group, with crown jewel properties. It’s sort of like trying to find buying for mortgage backed paper in 2009. Who wanted to buy it then? No one. But, after the dust settled, the people who stepped up and bought the good mortgage paper, for pennies on the dollar, made an absolute fortune.

The stock has been in the penalty box for some time now. But things have accelerated to the downside, in a big way, these past two weeks, which is now affecting some of their debt–especially paper that is maturing in 2018.

Their $20 billion in debt is staggered out for the next couple of decades.

When President, Donald J. Trump might just try to park the USS Reagan in the port of Beijing. Once again, Trump took to populism and attacked China for “stealing American jobs” and for “trading unfairly.” Because of this, he intends to slap the shit out of them with trade tariffs, in order to ‘even the playing field’ and to punish them for killing dogs and eating them.

People love when Trump attacks China, not because they eat dogs or steal American jobs or roll over protesters with Russian made tanks; but because Americans hate the game of baccarat and will not tolerate it any longer in our mafia owned casinos.

Chinese markets aren’t really crashing tonight, just an ordinary -1.54%. Oil is practically up, down 1.67%. But NASDAQ futures are meeting its maker, down 50 points in despondent thinly traded pajama laden pin action.

During tonight’s debate, GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump, said he’d slap the shit out of China and Japan for making fools of us in trade.

It’s like Fred got all down and out over his ETSY/TWTR positions and just wanted to go back in time and relive his go-go golden days, when investors were fucking morons and unprofitable social media plays were all the rage.

Leading a small group of corrupt and idiot investors, including Morgan Stanley, Andreesen Horowitz and Spark Capital, Fred is trying to make Foursquare great again (extra Trump).

Foursquare, which makes apps that helps users find restaurants and stores and “check” into them, also raised $45 million in funding, Glueck said in a blog post on Medium.

This series E funding round was led by Union Square Ventures with participation from Morgan Stanley, as well as previous investors including DFJ Growth, Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital.

The company expects this latest funding will aid its plans to fill 30 new positions in sales, engineering and other functions, according to Glueck’s blog post.

Foursquare planned a funding round in December, between $20 million and $40 million with one new investor, valuing the company at $250 million.

Does anyone actually use Foursquare anymore? Fuck that shit. I don’t want to be the “Mayor” of anything, let alone some restaurant. This company is worth exactly zero. Hopefully Fred & Co. can sucker Marissa Mayer from Yahoo to buy this heaping pile of waste, once again. Either way, this is a major “down round” for the happening social media app of 2007.

I can’t wait until it IPOs.

Last year was an awful year for many of you favorite billionaire hedge fund managers. With markets down the drain in 2016, let’s have a glance at some of the largest holdings at some of these prestigious denizens of capital management.

Pershing Sq.

VRX -12%
APD -9%
CP -16%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -11.1%

Greenlight Capital

AAPL -5.3%
GM -11%
KORS -10%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -11%

Appaloosa Management

GM -11%
HCA -4%
DAL -11%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -10.6%

Trian

MDLZ -7.3%
PEP -4%
SYY -1%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -9.98%

Valueact

MSFT -4.3%
VRX -12%
HAL -7%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -7.3%

Paulson

AGN -4.7%
VRX -12%
TWC -2%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -12%

Icahn

IEP -5.1%
AAPL -5.3%
CVI -7.6%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -12.3%

Baker Brothers

INCY -26%
SGEN -17%
ALXN -13%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -18.7%

Baupost

LNG -12%
VSAT +0.8%
AA -26%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -10.2%

Thirdpoint

BAX -7.5%
AMGN -5.5%
AGN -4.7%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -7.3%

Tiger Global

NFLX -7%
JD -13%
FLT -16%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -12.6%

Citadel

LRCX -9.3%
EW -2.7%
APC -28%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -13%

Jana

QCOM -4.5%
CAG -5%
WBA -3.7%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -7.5%

Eminence

ADSK -14%
GMCR +0.5%
G -6.4%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -10.4%

Glenview

MON -6%
TMO -4.3%
HUM -6.6%

Ballpark overall fund performance: -9.9%

Most of these funds got smoked the fuck out in their 2nd and third tier positions. I didn’t bother listing them, since there is a remote possibility they pared them down and/or sold them out before they collapsed.

Hopefully, for the sake of the accredited investors in these funds, their managers hedged.

Data provided by Exodus

Hello there fine gents,

Early this morning, Lord Norman Lamont had a word, or two, regarding the obliqueness of the Janet Yellen Federal Reserve. Our good Sir offered his two cents, as well as the final say, on the eventual outcome of the ridiculous Yellen ‘dot plot.’

There is nothing else to be discussed on this matter. It is now closed. EXCHEQUER NORMAN LAMONT has said what needed to be said on the matter, so consider it a moot topic henceforth.

Good day.

In theory, we should run higher for the next two weeks. But I didn’t like today’s action, with regards to the breadth. Just 73% of stocks were up and the bulls lost some of their mojo towards the close, ceding almost 100 Dow points to late day margin call sellers.

Either way, I’m in it to win it for at least another 10 trading days. I will start to unwind my SPY position next week, so I have a vested interest in seeing the market rally.

To accomplish that end, without question, we need to see crude run like a crazy machete wielding mad man in the middle of the desert. If not, then we’ll give back today’s marginal gains and resume the death march towards elysium.

The perversion of honor and dignity is an ongoing process on Wall Street, where talking heads constantly switch sides in order to create the illusion of being right. McClellan has been in the bear camp for some time now; but everyone changes and it is time for everyone to buy stocks again.

BEHOLD.

All of the bulls are out in force today, rolling over the bears with spiked wheels. Tony Dwyer is out talking mad shit today, crazy stuff like the market will rise by 14% in 2016, despite the fact that the world is ending. Hello?

Botton line: this is how the rally extends. The Wall Street apparatus is working with the media to promote stocks and get this market going again. Gains are extending and breadth is up to 78%, a great sign for a continuation of the rally.