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

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More from @KobeissiLetter

Jun 25
What just happened?

In just 27 minutes, the Nasdaq 100 just fell -1,000 points and the S&P 500 erased -$1 TRILLION without any major headlines.

The Nasdaq opened +1% higher then fell -3% between 9:30 AM and 9:57 AM ET.

What does it all mean? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
Take a look at the chart below.

At 8:30 AM ET, PCE inflation came in at 4.1%, which was followed by the Apple price hike news.

At 9:30 AM ET, the Nasdaq 100 was up nearly +1%, then fell -3.5% before 10 AM ET on minimal news.

Dip buyers are now attempting to form a bottom. Image
First, PCE inflation is now officially up to 4.1%, the highest since April 2023.

Inflation is more than double the Fed's 2.0% target, and PCE is the Fed's preferred metric.

But, this news did NOT drive markets lower today.

In fact, futures were higher after the data. Image
Read 13 tweets
Jun 5
What just happened?

The S&P 500 just erased nearly -$2 TRILLION of market cap just hours after 3rd strongest US jobs report in 18 months.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is officially down over -50% from its record high in October 2025.

What's happening? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
Just 3 days ago, the S&P 500 hit its highest level on record as AI stocks skyrocketed.

Today, the S&P 500 posted its largest drop since October 2025.

Meanwhile, the biggest news of the day was the 3rd strongest jobs report in 18 months.

This has left many investors confused. Image
In fact, even President Trump commented on the decline after the jobs report.

Trump said “stocks should go up, not down” after today’s jobs report.

However, when you look beneath the surface, it's fairly clear that stock do NOT want a strong labor market over the near-term. Image
Read 12 tweets
May 19
Bond markets are flashing red.

Today, the US 30Y Note Yield officially hit its highest level since July 2007, at 5.19%.

This will soon become Americans’ biggest problem, yet the vast majority do not even know it is happening.

What is happening? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
First, it is truly incredible how quickly we ended up in this situation.

Prior to the Iran War, yields were finally dropping after years of persistent inflation.

The 10Y Note Yield was down to 3.92%. 80 days later, it is up +75 basis points.

That is a MASSIVE move in yields. Image
In the early days of the Iran War, US Treasury Yields moved higher, but the move was largely contained.

Consensus was that the Iran War would be brief and the Strait of Hormuz would not remained closed.

Today, both Iran and the US have closed Hormuz and traffic remains near 0. Image
Read 12 tweets
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

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