The Kobeissi Letter Profile picture
Jan 27 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

Jan 26
Let us get this straight:

DeepSeek was built in UNDER 2 months for less than $10 million and it's now #1 on the App Store.

On top of this, it was built with outdated chips and small team of <200 people.

Meanwhile, the US is pouring $500 BILLION into AI.

How is the Nasdaq not in trouble here?Image
As of November 2024, it is estimated that OpenAI has roughly 4,500 employees.

DeepSeek was able to build something nearly as advanced as OpenAI, which has 22 TIMES more employees.

How is this possible?

Follow us @KobeissiLetter for real time analysis as this develops.
Read 4 tweets
Jan 25
Lower rates AND lower inflation?

President Trump just "demanded" that rates are CUT and said lower oil prices would fix inflation.

We spent hours researching this and it would take a MASSIVE drop in oil prices to get 2% inflation.

Is it possible? Here's the math.

(a thread)
This week, President Trump claimed to have a solution to the Fed's 3+ year battle against inflation.

He demanded the OPEC lower oil prices and the world drop interest rates.

President Trump has also insisted that the US produces more crude oil throughout his campaign. Image
So, is this mathematically possible?

At a high level, there certainly is a strong correlation between CPI inflation and oil prices, as seen below.

Oil prices, categorized as "energy" in CPI, make up ~8% of the index.

Energy costs also flow into other components like Food. Image
Read 14 tweets
Jan 24
Has a new era begun?

Investors are currently PILING into US stocks at rates rarely ever seen before.

Retail investors ALONE bought $7.8 billion worth of US equities over the last WEEK, the most since November 2023.

Investors have never been so optimistic.

(a thread) Image
The S&P 500 has risen ~5% over the last 7 days and hit an all-time high for the first time this year.

This comes after back-to-back annual losses in the "Santa Claus" rally for the 3rd time in history.

Recent buying is +2.3 standard deviations above the last 12-month average. Image
Meanwhile, foreign investors are rotating into US stocks at record levels.

These investors purchased a record $76.5 billion in US equities over the last 3 months.

This surpassed the previous high seen in 2021 by ~$25 billion. Image
Read 13 tweets
Jan 23
Crypto investors just made history:

Exactly 16 years ago, Bitcoin was launched as the first digital currency in the world.

Today, President Trump officially signed the first pro-crypto Executive Orders in US history.

What does it all mean? Let us explain.

(a thread)
Just hours ago, the below Executive Order was signed by President Trump.

This includes a variety pro-crypto measures all aimed as "strengthening American leadership in digital financial technology."

The long awaited national crypto reserve was a part of this Executive Order. Image
First, it establishes the "Working Group on Digital Asset Markets" led by @DavidSacks.

Not only does it include the Secretary of the Treasury, but it also includes the Chairman of the SEC and CFTC.

Just days ago, the SEC Chairman was Gary Gensler.

Talk about a change. Image
Read 12 tweets
Jan 23
The Fed's worst nightmare just got worse:

ALL 3 major metrics of inflation in the US are rising and rate HIKES recently became more likely.

Meanwhile, President Trump just said that he will "DEMAND that interest rates drop immediately."

What will the Fed do now?

(a thread)
It is clear that inflation is HOT, even with the unexpected drop in Core CPI, to 3.2%.

1-month annualized core PCE inflation is at 3.5%+ and and core CPI is 120 basis points above the Fed's target.

1-month, 3-month, and 6-month annualized core PCE inflation are rising. Image
When the Fed "pivoted" in Sept 2024, they noted that the labor market was weakening.

They felt inflation was falling to 2% and the labor market needed support.

Instead, inflation is now rising and the December jobs report CRUSHED expectations.

Unemployment is down to 4.1%. Image
Read 12 tweets
Jan 22
Tariffs are coming:

President Trump is set to place tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada by as soon as February 1st.

Estimates show that Trump's tariffs could generate up to $3.3 TRILLION in revenue over the next 10 years.

What does this mean for markets?

(a thread)
President Trump said that 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on China are likely by Feb 1st.

Trump has considered tariffs of 60%+ on some Chinese products.

A universal 20% tariff would generate ~$300 BILLION per year, per the Tax Foundation.

Who pays for this? Image
At a high level, these costs are passed on to consumers in at least SOME capacity.

Here's the estimated drop in household income by income group.

The bottom 20% can see ~4.2% less in after-tax income per year.

ALL income groups would see lower after tax income on average. Image
Read 13 tweets

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