The Kobeissi Letter Profile picture
Jan 27, 2025 13 tweets 5 min read Read on X
The decline is accelerating:

Nasdaq 100 futures are now down -330 POINTS since the market opened just hours ago as DeepSeek takes #1 on the App Store.

This is how you know DeepSeek has become a major threat to US large cap tech.

The stock market does not lie.

(a thread) Image
For some background, DeepSeek is a Chinese AI startup that appears to have spawned out of nowhere.

It competes with ChatGPT and cost less than $10 million to develop.

It was developed with chips that are considered to be FAR less advanced than those used by US AI companies. Image
Users have run multiple benchmarks between DeepSeek and ChatGPT.

In many categories, DeepSeek is actually outperforming ChatGPT.

For a product that was developed in a matter of months, this is incredible.

Is large cap tech in the US losing its dominance? Image
To put this into perspective, OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, has raised $17.9 BILLION in capital over 10 rounds.

The company was valued at ~$157 BILLION in October 2024.

OpenAI has ~22 TIMES more employees than DeepSeek.

This is why markets have been blindsided. Image
As seen below, DeepSeek is now a top performer in AIME, MATH-500, and GPQA benchmarks.

ChatGPT still excels in coding benchmarks, but the gap is narrowing.

The speed at which DeepSeek was developed has proven that US AI dominance is at risk. Image
On top of this, DeepSeek has become the #1 downloaded free app on the App Store.

Users are reporting that API experience is user-friendly, rate limits are not an issue, and it is likely to be integrated in agentic AI.

Agentic AI is what Nvidia said is the next big thing. Image
It gets even better; DeepSeek is ~96% CHEAPER than ChatGPT.

- Cost of OpenAI o1: $60.00 per 1M output tokens

- Cost of DeepSeek R1: $2.19 per 1M output tokens

DeepSeek R1 is 100% Opensource and a fraction of the cost of ChatGPT. Image
Needless to say, investors in large-cap US tech are worried.

The Magnificent 7 stocks are trading ~2 standard deviations above levels seen in 2001 compared to global equities.

Much of the bull market over the last 2 years has been on the basis of AI hardware and software. Image
On Friday, we posted the below alert for our premium members.

We took shorts as the S&P 500 hit 6122 and called for a sharp reversal.

Now, those shorts are up nearly +70 POINTS in hours.

This market is incredible.

Access our alerts at the link below:

thekobeissiletter.com/subscribeImage
This explains the severe underperformance seen in Nasdaq futures at the open just 2 hours ago.

The Nasdaq is currently down DOUBLE as much as the S&P 500.

US equity markets are on track to erase over $1 trillion of market cap during Monday's session. Image
This all comes as the Magnificent 7 now reflects a record 34% of the S&P 500.

These companies have added $5 TRILLION in market value since the beginning of last year.

These 5 stocks are worth now nearly as much as China and Hong Kong's stock markets COMBINED. Image
On top of the threat to US tech dominance, we are seeing trade wars escalate with new tariffs beginning.

As volatility spikes, we are trading the swings in the market.

Subscribe now at the link below to access our premium analysis and alerts:

thekobeissiletter.com/subscribe
This all comes after President Trump announced The Stargate Project, a $500 BILLION investment in AI in the US.

If DeepSeek is able to develop AI at less than 1% of the cost, is $500 billion even needed?

Follow us @KobeissiLetter for real time analysis as this develops. Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with The Kobeissi Letter

The Kobeissi Letter Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @KobeissiLetter

Apr 20
It's official:

The world is now experiencing its biggest energy crisis in history, with 600 MILLION barrels of lost oil supply.

US gas prices are up +47% since December and inflation is nearing 4% in a similar path to the 1970s.

What happens next? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
Today marks day 51 of the Iran War.

With ~600 million barrels of lost oil supply, ~$50 billion ​worth of oil has been removed from the global market.

This is the same amount of fuel it takes to run the world's international shipping industry for 4 months.

Truly unprecedented. Image
And, the US actually has it good.

Jet fuel prices in Europe surged over +100% amid the Iran War's disruption.

New data shows Europe has just 6 weeks worth of jet fuel remailing with many flights set to be cancelled.

Europe is urging people to work from home to conserve fuel. Image
Read 12 tweets
Mar 19
Global oil markets are out of control:

As the Iran War closes week 3, US oil prices are trading at $97/barrel, up +76% since December.

Meanwhile, physical oil prices in Oman are up to a RECORD $167/barrel, a +72% PREMIUM.

What is happening? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
This chart compares Brent (global oil) to WTI Crude (US oil).

When the Iran War began on February 28th, US oil prices surged toward $120/barrel while Brent lagged, trading at a ~20% discount to WTI Crude.

However, just two weeks later, and Brent hit a +15% premium to US oil. Image
In fact, Brent's premium over WTI Crude is trading at its widest margin in 11+ years.

And, it gets worse. Oman's oil prices are at $167, Dubai's at $137, and Brent at $113, while WTI Crude sits at $97, per Zerohedge.

Never have we seen such a massive divergence, but why? Image
Read 12 tweets
Feb 28
The Strait of Hormuz situation:

Reuters is now reporting that Iran is notifying vessels that it is CLOSING the Strait of Hormuz.

If officially closed, 20+ MILLION barrels of oil PER DAY will be impacted, or 20% of global supply.

What's next? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
The Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran, connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

This body of water controls ~20% of the world’s petroleum liquids consumption.

In other words, ONE FIFTH of global oil consumption flows through here EVERY DAY. Image
After US strikes on Iran last night, ships in the Strait of Hormuz are now receiving warnings.

As of 12:30 PM ET, the US has recommended ships avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

In their 2025 analysis, JP Morgan described this as their worst case scenario in an Israel-Iran war. Image
Read 13 tweets
Feb 20
It's official:

In one of the most anticipated rulings in decades, the US Supreme Court has ruled President Trump's "emergency" tariffs ILLEGAL.

This exposes the Trump Admin to a potential $175+ BILLION in "tariff refunds."

What happens next? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
After 5+ months, the Supreme Court's ruling was released.

The Court ruled IEEPA does NOT authorize the President to impose tariffs.

IEEPA is the law Trump used to impose tariffs, which gives him "special economic powers" during a national emergency involving foreign threats. Image
The market's initial reaction has been positive, but not that strong.

The S&P 500 rose nearly +1% and silver prices are up +5%, but that's a fairly muted reaction to such a big ruling.

But, why?

As we explain below: there is much more to this ruling than the headline. Image
Read 13 tweets
Feb 5
What is happening in crypto?

Since October 10th, crypto markets are now down -50%, erasing $2.2 TRILLION worth of market cap.

Bitcoin has officially erased ALL of its post-election rally, now down -10% since Trump's election.

Why is it crashing? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
As of 8:00 AM ET today, Bitcoin has officially erased its post-election rally.

Yet, over the last 60 days, the fundamental picture for crypto is actually vastly unchanged.

This is why many investors are confused.

Why is crypto crashing if the fundamental picture is unchanged? Image
The answer to this question requires going back to October 10th.

The most recent TOP in crypto came on October 6th, just 4 days before the -$19.5 billion record liquidation.

Something structural appears to have shifted on October 10th.

And, markets never truly recovered. Image
Read 12 tweets
Jan 20
This is unprecedented:

If President Trump acquires Greenland and "controls" Venezuela, the US would gain control of 1.2 MILLION square miles of land.

This is ~42% larger than the Louisiana Purchase, the largest US acquisition ever.

What's next? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
It was an incredibly busy weekend.

On Saturday, Trump announced new 10% tariffs on eight European countries amid his push for Greenland.

Trump says these tariffs rise to 25% on June 1st.

They will remain until a deal is reached for "complete and total purchase of Greenland.” Image
The result was a series of escalations on the trade front and the EU threatening to retaliate.

Now, the EU Parliament is looking to end the 2025 US-EU trade deal.

Trump proceeded to double down, saying US acquiring Greenland is "imperative for national and world security." Image
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(