So I decided to look at SPX like a giant American Corporation (let me call it “ACo”) with a market cap of US$33 trillion - genius, isn’t it?
2/n
At any one point, I can buy or sell ACo. Thereby the market offers me a price/share - currently US$ 4,410.
In return, I receive a value per share. Isn’t that how it works? Price is what I pay, value is what I get?
3/n
So I looked at the financials of ACo (SPX) and its FCF. Also, I know, I need to know the price of money.
After all, my alternative is to buy the US 10Y Treasury risk free - genius again!
4/n
Let me tell u: ACo is a wonderful company. I checked. It produces countless product & service we use daily.
iPhones or Software so I can do this; petroleum products; cars; food; banking, insurance, health care services; it even builds houses. I love that …!
5/n
It gets better. ACo achieves great margins, suggesting it has a moat. So wide that it returns 20cent for each $ of shareholder capital invested.
Ok, it does not mean mgmt returns it to me. They mostly keep it to expand the business & make more $, so they explained.
6/n
Anyway, after checking it all out I’m convinced ACo has wide moat around its economic castle which will allow it to defend its revenue growth, margins & cost for 30 years.
American Corporation is bad ass good. I’m trigger happy…! Check for yourself…!
7/n
In fact, for my DCF I will assume ACo will grow as fast as it did bw 2015-2019 while retaining 11% FCF to sales margin until 2030.
Let’s make America great again.
8/n
Ok, I think I’m better off to allow for margins to reduce a tiny bit after 2030.
I mean ACo will not invent a new iPhone each decade. Also, American presidents love to spend taxes. Then there is climate change. Re-building our energy system will squeeze margin a bit etc
9/n
Lastly, I have to consider the cost of capital of which the 10-Year Treasury is part. Not a big deal.
The yield is currently 3.5%. But hey, it once was as high as 16%. That seems silly to me. I just ignore that and assume 3.5% to keep it simple.
What is ACo worth now?
10/n
Well, now I am lost. Why is everyone and their brother buying when my DCF says this ShitCo is worth only 3,201/share?
Why is this stonk trading at US$4,140/share? What if the 10Y goes to 4% or ACo margins contract?
Here is my theory how the major incident - a so called blackout - occurred at 12:30 CET today in the power system of Spain & Portugal:
1/n
At the time of the incident, Spain and Portugal operated the grid at very high renewables share of about 66% - i.e solar (55%) and wind (11%; eolica)
2/n
While this isn’t unusual for Spain, it does mean that the grid operates with little inertia (resistance to change) during such time. The grid is therefore vulnerable to external effects…!
On this platform, certain perma bulls keep pushing a bullish crude narrative based on relative U.S. inventories—day after day, for three years now.
Their logic: Total U.S. crude inventories (including the SPR) are at 838 million barrels (orange line), 200 million barrels below the 10-year average → bullish!
Yet, inventories keep falling, and prices remain stuck in a range. Clearly, they are wrong.
1/9 @UrbanKaoboy @Iris62655179 @BrentRuditLeo
The problem with their logic?
a) The U.S. is no longer the marginal importer of crude oil—Asia is (or was).
b) U.S. inventories are artificially high on a 10-year average due to the shale boom, which took off in 2014. Shale growth and Covid distort the data, keeping inventories (ex SPR) elevated. So any 5- or 10-year comparison is meaningless—period.
2/n US Crude Oil Inventory ex SPR
Including SPRs, the picture looks more normalised - but not tight. But does the US really need 700mb of strategic reserves in 2025? I don't think so.
Yesterday, I shared a few thoughts that I’d like to expand on, especially given how volatile the current tariff landscape under this admin has become.
Navigating it isn’t just difficult—it’s nearly impossible to avoid missteps. Hopefully some traders will expand on my thoughts...
1/n
What do we know?
As at 23 March 2025, Comex copper price in New York is trading at 14% premium to LME in London. Buying a tonne of copper in NY costs $11,213 versus 9,842 in London, $1,371 per tonne more than in London.
2/n
Why is that? Because of tariff FEARS, not tariffs.
Traders are hedging future risk of potential tariffs on all forms of the raw material, such as cathodes, concentrates, ores, and even scrap. But there aren't such tariffs in place for copper yet (unlike alumnium).
The current Comex price action in the U.S. is basically a Trump tariff trade mirage and is otherwise as misleading of fundaments as the May 2024 price action of which I warned on multiple occasions.
1/n $/pound
In May 2024 however, U.S. price action was more in synch with London. But it didn't reflect weak Chinese housing & construction fundamentals which has been 15-30% of GLOBAL copper use for the past two decades. Today, U.S. prices trade as if borders close tomorrow.
2/n Comex - LME arb in $/t
Unlike May 2024, copper blue chips like $FCX, however, do not buy the rally. So at least it seems that the equity market understands the tariff aspect of the copper price mirage.
In this episode, we discuss China's 2nd of 5 economic paths it can follow.
This episode will also focus on Xi the leader. To understand Xi means to better understand China's economic path forward.
1/n #China
Can China replace malinvestment with more consumption?
Answer: Maybe a little bit & over a long time frame, but President Xi does not want to focus on this path. Instead, he wants to implement his socialist utopia.
2/n
Yes, China’s rising entrepreneurs were welcomed by the Communist Party for at least two decades. But all of that is in reverse.
Under Xi Jinping, China has moved full circle: from low growth & low freedom in the pre-reform era back towards something similar today.
In this episode, we discuss China's investment-led growth model & the first of 5 economic paths China can follow.
As you would expect, also this episode is full of Chinese characteristics!
1/n #China
Starting in 1990s, China’s economic engine has been fueled by capital investments.
Its central planning bureau defined GDP targets, picked winners and drove growth from debt-driven capital formations (green line).
2/n
Has any other nation tried this before, ever? Not to our knowledge.
We checked at ALL G20 economies and their respective growth models for past 70 years. 45% capital formation share is a unique experiment in economic history.