The First Brands Group, manufacturer of auto parts, including Raybestos brakes and FRAM, filed for bankruptcy on September 29th. This bankruptcy is troubling in two ways. First, per the ZeroHedge chart below, the price of First Brands loans fell by 80% in a day. In other words, the loan market had no clue of financial […]
According to The Wall Street Journal, on an inflation-adjusted basis, technology companies have spent more in the last three years on data centers, chips, and energy than has been spent over the past forty years building out the nation’s interstate system. The massive amount of investments being put to work is stunning. But the Wall […]
The graph below, courtesy of the St. Louis Fed, charts the amount of money in the Fed’s overnight reverse repurchase agreement (ON RRP) facility. To understand why the current lack of a meaningful balance in the program could become concerning, let’s revisit the Fed’s response to the Pandemic. During the pandemic and global economic shutdown, […]
As we led in yesterday’s Commentary, AMD rose 25% on the news that OpenAI would purchase 10% of AMD. In exchange, OpenAI will become a significant customer of AMD. This symbiotic relationship is just one of many that OpenAI is forming with companies at the forefront of the AI revolution. The bullet points and graphic […]
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock opened up by nearly 35% on Monday morning, following reports that OpenAI is acquiring a 10% stake in AMD. As part of the agreement, AMD will supply OpenAI with 6 gigawatts of AMD’s Instinct GPUs. The deal is scheduled to start with a 1-gigawatt rollout in 2026.OpenAI will receive warrants […]
The following discussion is courtesy of Paul Mortimer Lee, as provided by Albert Edwards of Societe Generale. Paul makes an interesting case that PCE prices, the Fed’s primary gauge of inflation, are likely to decline. Supporting his view is a relatively wide and growing gap between the prices witnessed by the non-financial corporate business sector, […]
Eli Lilly and other US-based drug makers have led the market over the last few days. The reason appears to be Pfizer’s agreement with President Trump to sell its drugs through Medicaid at cheaper prices. It’s not just Pfizer; Eli Lilly is reportedly in active discussions with the administration to participate in a similar deal. […]
In Monday’s Commentary, we alerted readers that the dollar could be setting up for a reversal higher. Furthermore, we noted that if such a turn comes to fruition, some investors may encounter surprises. To wit: As such, investors should examine their portfolios for risks that have developed with the reversal of the previously overbought dollar, to […]
In a bold and unusual pivot, a traditional Japanese manufacturer of Kimonos is transitioning to a cryptocurrency treasury company. Marusho Hotta, which has been manufacturing kimonos since 1861, will rebrand as the Bitcoin Japan Corporation. The transformation stems from a June acquisition by Bakkt Holdings (BKKT), which took a controlling stake in the company to […]