Venezuela bonds are tumbling after the WSJ reported that the US government was considering a ban on trading in the country’s debt. PDVSA’s 12.75% 2022s were trading at 44.75 this morning,down from around 45.65 at Tuesday’s close and two points weaker than levels seen earlier in the week, according to MarketAxess. Bond traders also sold PDVSA’s 6% 2026s, which had fallen about a point to 30.00. On Tuesday evening, the WSJ reported that the U.S. government is considering “restricting trades in Venezuelan debt as it seeks to punish President Nicolás Maduro for undermining the country’s democracy” and that ...
Ok, well just when it looked like the last vestiges of the risk-off move had been summarily vanquished and relegated to the dustbin of post-crisis market history with Tuesday’s rally, the jitters are back, and thanks in no small part to Donald Trump’s rambling rally in Phoenix. Earlier this week we noted that for a fleeting moment, the S&P had gone negative for the quarter and we’ve also observed a number of other warning signs that the tide may be turning including the Nasdaq falling for three straight sessions twice this month and the steady deterioration in market breadth. As things stand now, the dip-buyers need to get back on t...
Once upon a time about a decade ago, some hedge managers went to the bank and tried to withdraw funds sufficient to cover redemptions and learned to their clients’ and their dismay that that would be somewhat problematic. Those attempted transactions soon turned into the proverbial sweater with the protruding strand of wool that, pulled on, unraveled. It has taken all this time to investigate what exactly happened, and why it was that nobody saw it coming. In fact, even in 2007 we still hadn’t arrived at completely clear answers for the dot com bust at the turn of the millennium. Many comparisons are made between those two crashes. And ...
MKM Partners was upbeat on two Chinese e-commerce companies today, upgrading JD.com (JD) to Buy from Neutral and raising its price target on Alibaba (BABA) to $220 from $177. JD A BUY: JD.com shares have retreated due to worries about the company’s margins and competition, according to MKM analyst Rob Sanderson. However, the Chinese e-commerce market is large enough to support two strong players, and JD should benefit from strong consumption trends and the robust growth of e-commerce in China, he stated. Although JD.com has historically had low margins, its gross margins are starting to rebound, enabling it to begin to reach “s...
Below is a chart of the historical market caps for Alibaba (the Chinese version of Amazon) and Amazon.com (AMZN). As shown, Alibaba (BABA) actually had a higher market cap than Amazon.com for quite some time just after BABA IPOed back in late 2014. Once AMZN’s market cap crossed above BABA’s in mid-2015, however, AMZN opened up a wide lead for a two-year period. BABA has been on an absolute tear lately, though, and its market cap has ballooned from $220 billion up to $447 billion since the start of the year. While AMZN’s market cap has risen more than $100 billion this year as well, BABA has pulled to within $14 billion of AMZN at this ...
Following my previous article — Peak Demand? No, A New Gasoline Demand Record— I received some interesting feedback from readers. It quickly became apparent that some didn’t understand that the current discussions around “peak oil demand” are quite different than the “peak oil” arguments that were popular a few years ago. Some interpreted my headline to mean that peak oil is a myth and that oil supplies will simply continue to grow. Actually, I was addressing the irrational exuberance around the near-term peak oil demand argument, which is something entirely different. So let’s review. Almost from the beginning of the U.S. oi...
More of Trump’s comments are moving the markets today but these only seem to matter for a single day. Chris Temple and I look at the more significant long term drivers for this slow growth economy, the Fed, ECB and BOJ policies. The markets are not believing the Fed will continue to tighten its balance sheet and raise rates. Right or wrong this is a disconnect currently. (Audio length 00:14:17)...
GBP/USD Daily Chart Technical Outlook: Last week we highlighted that ‘GBP/USD has been trading within the confines of an ascending pitchfork formation dating back to last year with an outside-day reversal at the highs shifting our focus lower earlier this month. Prices broke below slope support today with the decline now testing the 61.8% retracement at 1.2850.’ Prices sat on that level into the close of the week with a break yesterday now targeting more significant structural support at the December high / lower parallel at 1.2760/75– a level of interest for possible exhaustion. A break below this threshold would risk a dr...
Shares of Bitcoin miner and cybersecurity developer MGT Capital (MGTI) are higher after the firm announced that it completed its $2.4M financing to expand its Bitcoin mining operations. MCAFEE CONNECTION: In November of 2016, the company announced that John McAfee, the colorful founder of software company McAfee Associates was appointed CEO. McAfee, who had previously served as the company’s executive chairman, said, “The advancements in personal and enterprise technologies have exposed us to a greater number of cybersecurity threats than ever before.” According to a statement from the firm, MGT with the help of McAfee has m...