1/25 The GraphCall Credit quality vs spread metric
Watching the consumer delinquencies rise is worrying but it is not per se at a very high record (although some adjustments in those calculations are coming and BNPL have data silo issues)....
Are the credit spreads reflecting that properly?
2/25
Those are the credit spreads
3/25
RATIONALE:
In other words if the consumer delinquencies are low but the credit spreads are low it sounds rather rational.
If the delinquencies are high but the credit spreads are ALSO high then there it also sounds rather rational
4/25
OVERSHOOTING HIGH:
If the delinquencies (a) are high but the credit spreads are tight (b), then it gives a high number.
It means irrationally bidding for garbage.
and that is a sell.
Because the (credit spreads are too tight vs credit quality)
5/25
OVERSHOOTING LOW:
If the delinquencies (a) are low but the credit spreads are very high (b);
It gives a low number and that’s a buy (spreads too wide vs credit quality)
6/25
RESULT EXPECTED?
7/25
ACTUAL RESULTS:
Alright so let’s see if this simple logical approach has any echo in past situations so we take the consumer delinquencies and we subtract the credit spread.
It worked 6 times out of 7.
8/25
The first instance (one red) fails miserably it indicates a high in Q3 1997, maybe that's why Druck got short too early?
9/25
The Bottom on Q4 2002 was quite good however (1 green)
10/25
The second peak (2 red) ?
11/25
Awesome Q2 2007. Works great.
12/25
Second Bottom? Q4 2008
13/25
Great
The bottom are in sync not delayed, it’s bottoming in Q4 2008
14/25
The intermediary bottom in 3 is Q4 2011
15/25
Works
16/25
The intermediary bottom 4 is in Q1 2016
17/25
Works
18/25
The next bottom 5 is Q2 2020
19/25
It is slightly late, by a few months
20/25
But where are we now?
We are in TOP 3 and reversion.
21/25
Interpretation:
The high points mean this: The credit quality is not great (relatively high deliquency) yet the markets overshoot in overbidding bad credit, mispricing bad credit.
22/25
If you pay too much for bad credit you will make losses. That’s the area in red
23/25
As the losses materialize people ask for more spread in relation to delinquencies which makes matter worse actually, they continue until they overshoot asking too much spread vs credit quality and then that’s your bottom . Green part
24/25
And we note that some bank like WFC reducing exposure on consumer lending, PNC reducing, USB selling and JPM freezing at telling you. They talking about spread compression at WFC to explain why they reduced the balances.
25/25
They simply say what is on the chart in red. We are not compensated for the quality. (what Gundlach also said). We have peaked in Q4 2024
Jamie Dimon sold his shares in Feb 2025. He knows one or two things about banking.
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1/9 Shares buy-back are contrarian indicators for the most part.
Bloomberg and other twitter accounts are trying to tell you that share buy-backs are great news for the stock market with a record high level.
2/9 So as a share of U.S. GDP, S&P-500 buybacks were roughly 0.95% in 2009 and 2.0% in 2010 and about ~3.4% in 2025 (using the 12-month Mar-2025 buyback total).
3/9 Companies stop buying back exactly when the stocks are cheap.
1/8 This chart circulated around is relatively easy to interpret.
Shanghai Gold Exchange, assayed, audited, secure, physical gold warrants volume.
2/8 (quick reminnder context)
YOU CAN SKIP THIS ONE IF YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT IT
The FX as reserves had three iterations, the post 1922 system with both GBP and USD politically forced as reserves with a bogus price convertibility (not at all a Gold standard, becausee a Gold standard implies letting the Gold flow and forbids using FX as reserves)
The Bretton Woods system post WWII which is a copy cat of the 1922 arrangement with again a bogus price convertibility but no Gold flow or convertibility just by everyday person.
The Bretton Woods II which severed any link to Gold and politically coerced the G-7 not to dump their exess USD trade surplus into Gold but forced them to do vendor financing and recycle those into UST.
3/8 Jacques Rueff explained how to get out of FX as reserves version II (Bretton Woods One)
1) not favor or sustain the deficit countries of the FX as reserves
✅ China is not increasing its balances despite its trade surplus 2) Elimination of the duplication of the credit structure.
✅ From various sources it seems that neither China nor Russia were too found about duplicationg via USD (FX as reserves) for another duplication that is RMB as reserves - hence gold warrants. 3) Prevent creditor countries to accept in settlement of their claims a purchasing power that the debtor countries have not lost.
✅ That's the Thread of China Banking News , Gold and Silver are asset that are not liabilities at the same time and this will boost consumption in china by transfer. x.com/GraphCall/stat…
1/10 Not entirely sure Dario interpreted correctly the elements he showed in his post imho. In fact the elements Dario showed indicate that supply is getting less tight versus demand or said otherwise demand is less raging versus supply. let's show that.
2/10 NVDA had a lot of deferred revenues versus recognition back in the end of 2023, in short every one is giving them their "money in advance" to reserve the chips. That's why you have the deferred revenues ("The reservation" like you would pay the restaurant before eating)
3/10 But one you ate at the restaurant the revenues are "recognized" the restaurant fullfilled its obligation that emerged as the clients paid the meal in advance. Big gap by the end of 2023. Everyone wants to pay in advance to go in the restaurant .
1/21 Preventing the Gold Flow to Enable FX as Reserves and the History of Monetary Central Planning Failures from 1873 Europe, 1898 India forced FX as reserves in 1922 to the Present Day.
The BIS is once again pleading to organize and centralize the Gold flow.
The Gold flow has always been the problem for adept monetary central planning, as the Gold flow is an enforced discipline against expansion of currency and trade deficit.
2/21 Monetary Central Planning started with the advent of the demonetization of Silver, argues Marc Flandreau in “The Glitter of Gold.”
Why the need to centralize what used to be impossible to control?
3/21 That is what Juglar wrote in 1888 about the Flow of Gold or the non-recycling of FX into the debtors’ sovereign debt, it forces a price discovery on interest rates.
1/24 BULL TRAP
2000 STIMMIE vs 2025 REVERSE STIMMIE
FIRST LET’S MAKE EVERYONE IS ON THE RIGHT PAGE HERE
Stimmie is money coming from the Gov going to consumers directly.
Reverse stimmie is money coming from consumers and going to the Gov.
2/24 One would have to suppose that both conditions can not have the same consequences, but should be suspected to have opposite consequences.
3/24 LET’S FIRST LOOK AT THE BEAR TRAP SEQUENCE OF 2020
(so we understand better the reverse situation)
This sequence was characterized by first
A plunge in velocity and deflationary impulse.
A response by money printing and Stimmie
A rise in savings rate and savings initially
1/5 Bloomberg is explaining what we explained before here
EVs are cheap in EMs and the cost of fuels is monstruous for EM households.
RESULT?
The switching is happening MUCH faster than forecasters (not this twitter account)
Policymakers are also likely to extend such incentives for purely macroeconomic reasons. In India and Pakistan, oil and gas account for as much as a third of the total import bill, compared to around 10% in the US and European Union.
We explained before that India had a notorious fiscal dominance problem because it had to subsidized the fuel. With the cost per mile 10X cheaper in India?
Demand for gasoline and diesel in India sustained?
😂
1/10th of Oil demand wiped off by 2030.... It will probably be larger.
2/5 But don't count on China to supress the cut throat cost plunge in Battery. It's not like Solar where everybody is losing money, BYD still makes money CATL is coming up with Sodium battery in mass production at 170 wh/ kilo with Nextra by year end. And 200 wh/ kolp in 2 years.
3/5 Why? Cut the legs on the Petrodollar not from the dollar side but unexpectedly from the Petro. 50% of world $Oil demand is coming from ground transportation.