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Wall Street Turns “Paranoid” As Long Tech Becomes The “Most Crowded Trade” Of All Time

Wall Street Turns “Paranoid” As Long Tech Becomes The “Most Crowded Trade” Of All Time

Tyler Durden

Tue, 09/15/2020 – 11:09

For all the rhetoric about Fed this, and stimulus that, the simple fact is that 2020 has been a year of two trades: long tech, which is up 25% YTD, or long everything else which is still down for the year.

The fact that long tech is the only performing trade this year has not been lost on Wall Street, and according to the latest Fund Manager Survey which polled 224 panelists worth some $646 billion in AUM, and who according to BofA Chief Investment Officer Michael Hartnett, have become “paranoid tech”; indeed, when asked what they think is the most “crowded trade”, 80% – an all time high consensus – said “long tech”…

…  with fund managers declaring that the “tech bubble” is now the second biggest tail risk…

… after COVID-19 “second wave.”

And while the FMS poll is about as credible as any run off the mill Trump vs Biden poll, with Wall Street pros frequently responding in a way that indicates severe schizophrenia, Hartnett observes that – while one wouldn’t know it looking at tech stock prices – fund managers are rotating, with tech, healthcare and large cap longs trimmed, coupled with flows into small caps and value. Which of course makes absolutely no sense judging by the continued surge in tech and the absolutely relentless mauling of anything value.

A somewhat more accurate representation is that the FMS asset allocation remains “stubbornly” skewed toward healthcare, US, tech, cash, short energy, UK, banks compared to long term history.

While we have repeatedly mocked the relevance of such monthly Wall Street polls, in which the respondents say what they expect to say instead of the truth, it is perhaps worth noting what according to BofA are the contrarian trades, for the simple reason that in a world where the Fed is encouraging catastrophic groupthink and frankly idiocy, they simply won’t work:

“Contrarian trades”: relative to history (Z-score) and Sept FMS flows UK, energy, banks most contrarian longs (trigger is 10Y UST yield>1%); US tech, healthcare, discretionary most contrarian shorts (trigger is vaccine).

TL/DR? Just keep buying tech, forcing those who still believe such a thing as a market still exists to close their shorts and when it all comes crashing down, just beg the Fed for another bailout in the name of fighting inequality, racism, climate change or something other social justice cause.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/32yKSB2 Tyler Durden

Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Shares First Photo Since Alleged Poisoning

Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Shares First Photo Since Alleged Poisoning

Tyler Durden

Tue, 09/15/2020 – 10:55

Novichok poisoning apparently has its perks.

Days after saying he would soon return to Russia as he prepares to leave the Charite hospital in Berlin, where he has been treated for more than a week, Russian opposition candidate Alexei Navalny posted a photo to his Instagram depicting him flanked by his winsome family, decked out in nursing scrubs and face masks.

Moscow has insisted in recent days that it has “nothing to hide” when it comes to the latest ‘alleged poisoning’ involving the notorious opposition politician.  Moscow has vehemently denied any role in the attack, and even offered to send investigators to Berlin to examine Navalny and insist in the investigation.

Yet, the accolades rolled in.

Journalists had previously pointed out that Navalny’s investigative journalism has brought him into conflict with a range of oligarchs, any one of whom could have organized the attack.

While Germany insists that a military lab found traces of Novichok, a deadly nerve agent, on Navalny, Russian doctors said no such evidence turned up in their exam. They have also insisted that these findings have been “independently corroborated” by Sweden and France.

In his Instagram post, Navalny revealed that he can breath again.

“I still can’t do many things, but yesterday I could breathe by myself the whole day,” Navalny said. “I did not use any outside help, not even the simplest valve in my throat. I liked it a lot.”

Navalny was reportedly poisoned last month, when he collapsed inside a private plane ferrying him from Siberia back to Moscow. He was treated at a hospital in Siberia before being air-lifted to Germany.

During regional elections held over the weekend, Russia’s ruling party suffered a handful of setbacks in city council votes, though they also won several landslide victories, as NBC News reported.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/35JMzOp Tyler Durden

House Moderates Hammer Out $1.52 Trillion Bipartisan Compromise For Pandemic Relief

House Moderates Hammer Out $1.52 Trillion Bipartisan Compromise For Pandemic Relief

Tyler Durden

Tue, 09/15/2020 – 10:40

A bipartisan group of 50 House lawmakers will release a $1.52 trillion pandemic stimulus proposal, in the hopes of breaking a months-long deadlock over the next round of relief, according to Bloomberg.

The Problem Solvers Caucus, which has negotiated for weeks with the knowledge of the White House and party leadership will announce detail their plan in an 11 a.m. news conference. Notably, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hinted at the discussions last month – noting that the White House could accept a $1.5 trillion deal.

The caucus proposal offers key compromises on the two thorniest issues in the stalled talks between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration. On aid to state and local governments, the group is backing about $500 billion, splitting the difference between the $915 billion sought by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the $150 billion put forward by the White House. –Bloomberg

The group is proposing a $450 per week unemployment insurance extension for eight weeks, which would then convert to a formula to cap payments at 100% of wages or $600 per week, whichever is lower. Democrats have lobbied for $600 per week, while the White House has sought $300 per week – arguing that more money would discourage people from seeking work.

What’s more, a $1,200 direct stimulus payment is included in the new proposal – along with a $500 per child benefit.

The “March to Common Ground” framework, led by Caucus co-chairs Tom Reed, a New York Republican and Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, also contains money for Covid-19 testing, schools and childcare, small business relief. It would also link relief to economic metrics, reducing aid if the pandemic abates or extending it if it worsens. –Bloomberg

The new plan comes as negotiations between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows broke down on August 7 – with Democrats insisting on a $2.2 trillion package, and the White House looking to cap it at $1.1 trillion.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/3iBG6Za Tyler Durden

Viral Videos Show Georgia Deputies Beating a Passenger for Not Having a Driver’s License

Roderick Walker

Viral videos from over the weekend captured Georgia deputies using force on a passenger after he told them that he didn’t have identification on him.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Roderick Walker and his girlfriend were passengers in an SUV. The incident began when Clayton County deputies stopped the vehicle because of a broken tail light. Shean Williams, Walker’s attorney, told the paper that when deputies asked Walker for his driver’s license, he informed the officers that he didn’t have his identification and didn’t need one since he wasn’t driving the vehicle.

Williams said the deputies told Walker to exit the vehicle and says that they used excessive force while arresting him.

Separate videos from various angles show one deputy striking Walker while he’s pinned to the ground. A woman screams in distress in the background.

Sheriff Victor Hill gave a statement about the incident on Saturday, saying that the unnamed deputy who struck Walker was placed on administrative leave without pay pending an internal investigation. In a follow-up statement on Sunday, Hill announced that the still-unnamed deputy had been terminated “for excessive use of force” and that the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office would take over the investigation.

Walker was charged and arrested for obstructing law enforcement officers and battery. Because Walker has a felony probation warrant in another Georgia county, his lawyers must resolve separate legal issues before they can secure his release, per Hill’s Sunday statement.

Gerald A. Griggs, another attorney representing Walker, tweeted in support of his release over the weekend, arguing on Monday morning that the traffic stop charges against Walker, which are unrelated to his prior warrant, should be dropped.

Law enforcement in Clayton County recently faced scrutiny for another incident where an officer pulled a gun on five teenagers while bystanders spoke out.

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Court OKs Deportation of Hundreds of Thousands of Immigrants, Another Says Homeland Security’s Head Might Have No Legal Authority

admphotostwo715320

Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf is likely illegitimate, a federal court says. That means some of the Trump-era asylum rules Wolf presided over are on hold, too.

The appointment of former Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan “was invalid under the agency’s applicable order of succession, and so he lacked the authority to amend the order of succession to ensure Wolf’s installation as Acting Secretary,” wrote Judge Paula Xinis in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland’s opinion, issued Friday (a day after President Donald Trump formally nominated Wolf—who has been acting DHS secretary since November—as the agency’s official head).

“Because Wolf filled the role of Acting Secretary without authority, he promulgated the challenged [asylum] rules also ‘in excess of…authority,’ and not ‘in accordance with the law,'” Xinis continued.

The lawsuit was brought by Casa de Maryland Inc. (CASA), the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), and three other nonprofit groups, and it challenges 18 DHS rules “that overhaul the criteria for issuing work authorization to asylum applicants,” notes the court’s opinion. “Plaintiffs mount a full-throated attack on the challenged agency rules, invoking the Administrative Procedure Act (‘APA’), the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (‘FVRA’), and the Homeland Security Act (‘HSA’).”

The court concluded that “preliminary injunctive relief” was warranted for both CASA and ASAP (but not the other plaintiffs), temporarily blocking “enforcement of the following rule changes against CASA and ASAP’s members”: 

The Timeline Repeal Rule, 85 Fed. Reg. at 37,545 (printing parts of the regulations to be codified at 8 C.F.R. § 208.7(a)(1)); –

The 365-day waiting period, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,626-28 (referenced throughout and as codified at 8 C.F.R. § 208.3(c)(3); § 208.7(a)(1)(ii), (a)(1)(iii)(E), and (b)(1)(i); and 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(c)(8)); –

Removal of “deemed-complete” rule, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,626 (codified at 8 C.F.R. § 208.3); –

The discretionary review rule, providing that agency is no longer required to issue EADs to eligible asylees, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,628 (changes reflected at 8 C.F.R. § 274a.13(a)(1)); –

The one-year filing bar, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,626 (codified at 8 C.F.R. § 208.7(a)(1)(iii)(F)); and –

The rule requiring submission of biometric information as part of EAD applications, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,626 (codified at 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.7(a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(iv)(E),

It’s a limited reprieve for now, but positive news nonetheless.

Another federal court ruling regarding immigration isn’t so heartening. This one from Monday says the Trump administration can force out hundreds of thousands of immigrants who reside legally in the U.S. under what’s referred to as “temporary protected status.”

Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to vacate a 2018 district court ruling that preliminarily blocked enforcement of the administration’s order, which end the protected status program for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

In finding “that the Trump administration acted within its authority in terminating legal protections” for these immigrants, the court “effectively strips legal immigration status from some 400,000 people, rendering them deportable if they do not voluntarily leave the country,” The New York Times reports.

FREE MARKETS

Congress is out of touch on tech companies. “While Democratic and Republican officials have been criticizing the conduct of U.S. ‘Big Tech’ companies, a growing disconnect separates those crusading politicians from the way a lot of consumers are feeling,” writes Art Raymond at Utah’s Deseret News, in a look at consumer polling and political posturing around tech products. “It turns out, a close look at the attitudes of the average Jills and Joes who use the tech products and platforms every day reveals that, frankly, they really don’t care that much.”

FREE MINDS

Trump is fearmongering about Iran again. “According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader [Qassem] Soleimani,” the president—who has lately been talking up his supposed anti-war bona fides—tweeted late last night. “Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!”

QUICK HITS

• Pennsylvania “Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic restrictions that required people to stay at home, placed size limits on gatherings and ordered ‘non-life-sustaining’ businesses to shut down are unconstitutional,” held U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV in a Monday ruling.

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that it’s OK for Florida to make people convicted of felonies who have served their sentences pay off all court debt before they regain the right to vote.

• Ruling parties use the instruments of power to ensure their dominance, example 8 billion:

• A new lawsuit alleges a range of abuses against immigrant detainees at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia. You can read all the allegations here.

• Who had “agreeing with Chuck Schumer on something” on their 2020 bingo card?

• All the clap emojis:

• Another good piece on the controversy surrounding the movie Cuties:

from Latest – Reason.com https://ift.tt/3bYRhsq
via IFTTT

Court OKs Deportation of Hundreds of Thousands of Immigrants, Another Says Homeland Security’s Head Might Have No Legal Authority

admphotostwo715320

Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf is likely illegitimate, a federal court says. That means some of the Trump-era asylum rules Wolf presided over are on hold, too.

The appointment of former Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan “was invalid under the agency’s applicable order of succession, and so he lacked the authority to amend the order of succession to ensure Wolf’s installation as Acting Secretary,” wrote Judge Paula Xinis in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland’s opinion, issued Friday (a day after President Donald Trump formally nominated Wolf—who has been acting DHS secretary since November—as the agency’s official head).

“Because Wolf filled the role of Acting Secretary without authority, he promulgated the challenged [asylum] rules also ‘in excess of…authority,’ and not ‘in accordance with the law,'” Xinis continued.

The lawsuit was brought by Casa de Maryland Inc. (CASA), the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), and three other nonprofit groups, and it challenges 18 DHS rules “that overhaul the criteria for issuing work authorization to asylum applicants,” notes the court’s opinion. “Plaintiffs mount a full-throated attack on the challenged agency rules, invoking the Administrative Procedure Act (‘APA’), the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (‘FVRA’), and the Homeland Security Act (‘HSA’).”

The court concluded that “preliminary injunctive relief” was warranted for both CASA and ASAP (but not the other plaintiffs), temporarily blocking “enforcement of the following rule changes against CASA and ASAP’s members”: 

The Timeline Repeal Rule, 85 Fed. Reg. at 37,545 (printing parts of the regulations to be codified at 8 C.F.R. § 208.7(a)(1)); –

The 365-day waiting period, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,626-28 (referenced throughout and as codified at 8 C.F.R. § 208.3(c)(3); § 208.7(a)(1)(ii), (a)(1)(iii)(E), and (b)(1)(i); and 8 C.F.R. § 274a.12(c)(8)); –

Removal of “deemed-complete” rule, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,626 (codified at 8 C.F.R. § 208.3); –

The discretionary review rule, providing that agency is no longer required to issue EADs to eligible asylees, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,628 (changes reflected at 8 C.F.R. § 274a.13(a)(1)); –

The one-year filing bar, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,626 (codified at 8 C.F.R. § 208.7(a)(1)(iii)(F)); and –

The rule requiring submission of biometric information as part of EAD applications, 85 Fed. Reg. at 38,626 (codified at 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.7(a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(iv)(E),

It’s a limited reprieve for now, but positive news nonetheless.

Another federal court ruling regarding immigration isn’t so heartening. This one from Monday says the Trump administration can force out hundreds of thousands of immigrants who reside legally in the U.S. under what’s referred to as “temporary protected status.”

Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to vacate a 2018 district court ruling that preliminarily blocked enforcement of the administration’s order, which end the protected status program for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

In finding “that the Trump administration acted within its authority in terminating legal protections” for these immigrants, the court “effectively strips legal immigration status from some 400,000 people, rendering them deportable if they do not voluntarily leave the country,” The New York Times reports.

FREE MARKETS

Congress is out of touch on tech companies. “While Democratic and Republican officials have been criticizing the conduct of U.S. ‘Big Tech’ companies, a growing disconnect separates those crusading politicians from the way a lot of consumers are feeling,” writes Art Raymond at Utah’s Deseret News, in a look at consumer polling and political posturing around tech products. “It turns out, a close look at the attitudes of the average Jills and Joes who use the tech products and platforms every day reveals that, frankly, they really don’t care that much.”

FREE MINDS

Trump is fearmongering about Iran again. “According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader [Qassem] Soleimani,” the president—who has lately been talking up his supposed anti-war bona fides—tweeted late last night. “Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!”

QUICK HITS

• Pennsylvania “Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic restrictions that required people to stay at home, placed size limits on gatherings and ordered ‘non-life-sustaining’ businesses to shut down are unconstitutional,” held U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV in a Monday ruling.

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that it’s OK for Florida to make people convicted of felonies who have served their sentences pay off all court debt before they regain the right to vote.

• Ruling parties use the instruments of power to ensure their dominance, example 8 billion:

• A new lawsuit alleges a range of abuses against immigrant detainees at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia. You can read all the allegations here.

• Who had “agreeing with Chuck Schumer on something” on their 2020 bingo card?

• All the clap emojis:

• Another good piece on the controversy surrounding the movie Cuties:

from Latest – Reason.com https://ift.tt/3bYRhsq
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