To The Moon

News and my muse - Banking contagion, narratives, layoffs, RoboTaxi & AI

• Avoid venture debt and have multi partners for key functions like banking. 

• <Market Watch> The U.S. banking system’s market value of assets is $2 trillion lower than suggested by their book value of assets, accounting for loan portfolios held to maturity.

• <CNBC> A coalition of midsize U.S. banks, Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America (MBCA), has asked regulators to extend FDIC insurance to all deposits for the next two years

• <Reuters> S&P cuts First Republic deeper into junk, says $30 billion infusion may not solve problems

• There are risks-reward for businesses and innovations. These need to be managed over a timeline, with a plan towards profitability. I prefer to invest after business has a moat and achieve profitability.

• Companies can become too big to fail or too big to save. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall.

• In lieu of the various banking contagion in the US & Europe, do consider Singapore for your off-shore banking needs. Here are some of our top local banks that include DBS, UOB & OCBC 

• The intent drives the narratives but is it so hard to have a realistic or objective view of things? A regime that is disconnected from the ground will be dismantled eventually. Do not throw away votes for such matters. “FED'S POWELL & U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY YELLEN: THE U.S. BANKING SYSTEM'S CAPITAL AND LIQUIDITY POSITIONS ARE ROBUST, AND THE U.S. FINANCIAL SYSTEM IS RESILIENT - JOINT STATEMENT”

• <office finder> Office vacancy is expected to reach 18% by 2030

• <CNBC> Amazon to lay off 9,000 more workers in addition to earlier cuts

• <Barron’s> Moody’s Loves Tesla’s Finances. It Finally Upped Its Debt from Junk.

• Do not fight the Fed. What the market wants may not be what the market needs.

  All we ask is for the Fed to do its job, and take down inflation while balancing unemployment.

• Demand seeks out the supply. The price is the end result.

• Baidu offers RoboTaxi in major China cities - why is this a major disruptor of many industries?

• If the Fed is caught in 2 minds, it would be worse as neither the inflation nor unemployment would be adequately addressed. When we cannot choose a greater good, we should consider a lesser evil. 

• <WSJ> Anxiety Hits $8 Trillion Mortgage-Debt Market

  MBS, like all long-term bonds, are vulnerable to rising interest rates, which pushed their prices down last year and saddled banks such as SVB with unrealized losses

• <CNBC> Walmart is laying off hundreds of employees at e-commerce fulfillment centers across the country. The big-box giant joins a growing list of retailers, including Amazon and Target, that are cutting costs.

Looks like a return to more inflation and potentially more interest rate hikes.

• China is still a work in progress but is one of the global players in the market.

  We can be optimistic about the future. The main concerns are geopolitical and declining population growth.

• <investing> "JPMorgan's Dimon Tells CNBC Headwinds Will Likely Push US into a Recession in 6-9 Months" Dimon argued that the Fed "waited too long & did too little" as inflation surged to a four-decade high & that they are now "clearly catching up."

• At some point, the efforts need to turn into results. There needs to be a defined time and space. Without which, procrastination is possible.

• What can you achieve when you ask with fixed answers in mind? We should not conclude before reviewing all data objectively. 

• What are the other banks that are collapsing under our nose? This banking collapse could be global due to the inflation and the resulting interest rates. 

• <Fortune> U.S. banks’ assets have lost 10% of their value over the past year alone.

  Additionally, of the $17 trillion in total U.S. bank deposits, nearly $7 trillion are currently not insured by the FDIC, according to that paper.

• Solutions such as AI can be integrated into our daily lives, making it an aid, not a threat. Human + AI Symbiosis is a mutually beneficial relationship between humans + AI.

• <Reuters> HOUSTON, March 20 (Reuters) U.S. crude exports to Europe have hit a record 2.1 million barrels per day on average so far this month, spurred by wide discounts to the global benchmark and weaker oil demand by U.S. refineries.

• <Freightwaves> More than 455 truck drivers who hauled freight under the banner of Flagship Transport LLC lost their jobs Tuesday after not being paid for weeks.

• Banking monitoring needs to be extended to real estate. We should add real estate refinancing, default, and revaluation into our radar.

@TigerStars

$ProShares Short Real Estate(REK)$