The Kobeissi Letter Profile picture
Apr 3 14 tweets 6 min read Read on X
It's official:

After "Liberation Day," the Russell 2000 has closed in BEAR market territory for the first time since 2022.

Over the last 24 hours, S&P 500 stocks have erased -$120 billion PER HOUR for a total of -$2.9 trillion.

What's next? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
The last 24 hours:

On April 2nd, we saw stocks rally into the market's close as investors anticipated lighter tariff announcements.

After the 10% baseline tariff was announced, stocks rallied.

However, stocks collapsed minutes later as more reciprocal tariffs were read off. Image
Beginning at 11:00 AM ET today, the S&P 500 started to rebound, rising from 5415 toward 5500.

However, the rally was sold after a key headline emerged.

President Trump comments on the stock market's reaction and says "it's going very well" and the "market is going to boom." Image
Since March 6th, President Trump has been saying that he is "not watching the stock market."

On March 10th, he told Fox News the "market is not down much" and "you can't really watch it."

Today, President Trump reiterated that same message

Markets have made a key realization. Image
Trump is doing exactly what he has been saying he will do since March 6th.

He is prioritizing what he believes will be "long-term gain" for "short-term pain."

Today's selloff is the first time markets have begun to price-in this mindset.

It's no longer viewed as "posturing." Image
Heading into the announcement yesterday, the Volatility Index, $VIX, dropped sharply.

We viewed this as a complete misread by the market.

In fact, we have been SELLING all rallies on the notion that Trump was no longer "posturing."

Even today's $VIX reaction is underwhelming. Image
That's when we posted the below alert premium subscribers prior to the close yesterday.

We took shorts at 5650 and outlined EXACTLY that, the market misread Trump.

These puts are now up +600% and we have secured profits.

Subscribe at the link below:

thekobeissiletter.com/subscribeImage
What's even more incredible is the S&P 500 is down just -7.3% YTD.

However, sentiment is as if we are down 30%+.

Why is this the case?

Because the Magnificent 7 index, which capital is highly concentrated in, is down -25% from its high.

The Mag7 is in a bear market. Image
The share of investors expressing bearish sentiment in the AAII survey hit 61.9%, the most since March 2009.

This is also the 3rd-highest reading since the survey began in 1987.

AAII Bearish Sentiment has been above 55.0% for 6 weeks, the longest stretch since the 1990s. Image
And, the bond market is the most telling part:

Even as inflation forecasts have risen to 5%+ due to tariffs, interest rates are crashing.

Bond markets are pricing in a >50% chance of a recession hitting the US.

Oil prices also collapsed as much as -8% today on the news. Image
On March 6th, we posted the below alert for our premium members as we began building a position in $TLT.

We called for the 10-year note yield to drop below 4.00% which just happened.

Bond positions are up SHARPLY.

Subscribe below to access our alerts:

thekobeissiletter.com/subscribeImage
Furthermore, the market's reaction today was bad, but not terrible.

Markets still seem to have some belief that tariffs will NOT be long-lived.

If markets bought Trump's narrative that tariffs will be long-lived, the S&P 500 would be down 10%+ today.

The $VIX would be at 70+. Image
On the consumer front, already inflation-exhausted consumers will NOT welcome more price increases.

Also, US households held a record 29% of financial assets in stocks at the end of 2024.

These households are now feeling the pain of lower asset prices and prolonged inflation. Image
More uncertainty is the only certainty for investors.

For now, the selloff has been "orderly" without clear signs of capitulation.

The "V-shaped" recovery many are hoping for is becoming less likely.

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

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More from @KobeissiLetter

Apr 5
The hedge fund MASS exodus:

On Thursday ALONE, hedge funds sold $40 BILLION of stocks in their largest daily selling spree since 2010.

Short sales exceeded longs by 3 TIMES, with North American stocks accounting for 75% of volume.

Is "capitulation" near?

(a thread) Image
While hedge funds ran to the exit, retail investors bought like never before.

According to JP Morgan, retail investors bought $4.7 billion of stocks on Thursday.

This is the largest daily purchase by retail investors since 2015.

Positioning has rarely been this polarized. Image
Then, on Friday, between 9:30 AM ET and 12:00 PM ET, retail investors sold $1.5 BILLION of equities.

This was the largest sale over a 2.5 hour period in history.

Retail has been adamantly buying the dip since 2022, appears but it appears this trend might be rapidly shifting. Image
Read 14 tweets
Apr 4
It's official:

The Nasdaq 100 is in a bear market following a -6% drop today, the largest drop since March 2020.

US stocks have now erased a massive -$11 TRILLION since February 19th with recession odds ABOVE 60%.

What does it all mean? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
As of today's close, we now have multiple major market indices in bear market territory, including:

1. Nasdaq 100
2. Russell 2000
3. Nikkei 225
4. Magnificent 7

The S&P 500 fell over 10% in 2 days for the 7th time in history.

This was last seen in 2020, 2008, and 1997.
President Trump's reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday were historic.

The effective US tariff rate is now above 25% for the first time since ~1900.

We are ABOVE levels seen in the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of the 1930s.

If these tariffs persist, a recession is impossible to avoid. Image
Read 13 tweets
Apr 4
The "World War 3" of Trade Wars Has Begun:

Americans are waking up to the first MAJOR tariff retaliation against President Trump.

China has announced 34% tariffs on ALL US goods with the S&P 500's 2-day losses now at -$3.5 TRILLION.

Here's what just happened.

(a thread) Image
This was the move that we all knew was coming, but wanted to pretend it wasn't.

China has announced that ALL US imports will be subject to this 34% tariff.

And, they added 11 American companies to their list of "unreliable entities" and 16 to their "export control" list. Image
Furthermore, China announced NEW rare earth metal controls:

They are imposing export controls on samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium.

As President Trump has made clear, he wants more US access to rare earth metals.

This was personal.
Read 16 tweets
Apr 3
We just witnessed history:

After "Liberation Day" tariffs, the weighted-average US tariff rate has jumped to a whopping 29%.

Not even the Smoot-Hawley Act during the 1930s Great Depression saw tariff rates this high.

Are you ready for what's next?

(a thread) Image
If it wasn't already clear to you, it should be clear now:

Markets are bracing for a recession.

This morning, oil prices are down nearly -7% as investors price-in a collapse in global demand.

If these tariffs are implemented long-term, we could see oil prices fall 40%+. Image
If the average tariff rate remains at 29%, inflation is expected to rise to ~5.0%-5.5%.

UBS also agrees with this estimate as price increases will be at least partially passed on to consumers.

Canada is the only other country that is expected to see inflation rise by 2%+. Image
Read 11 tweets
Apr 2
"Reciprocal tariffs" are officially HERE:

President Trump just announced tariffs on 185 countries AT ONCE, one of the largest tariffs in US history.

S&P 500 futures erased -$2 TRILLION of market cap in under 15 minutes.

What just happened? Let us explain.

(a thread) Image
The announcement began with a WSJ report that a 10% baseline tariff would be imposed by the US.

While this was true, markets took it as ALL reciprocal tariffs were 10%.

However, this quickly changed as President Trump began outlining many other tariffs, well above 10%. Image
At 4:26 PM ET, President Trump picked up the below poster on stage at his announcement.

Before he picked up this poster, futures were up +2%.

By 4:42 PM ET, futures had fallen -4% from their high as Trump listed new tariffs name by name.

This was truly insane to watch. Image
Read 16 tweets
Apr 2
BREAKING: The White House publishes an even larger list of US tariffs than initially shown at the "Make America Wealth Again Event."

We have included the full list in the thread below with ALL countries worldwide being tariffed. Image
List 2 of "US Reciprocal Tariffs." Image
List 3 of "US Reciprocal Tariffs." Image
Read 4 tweets

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