Tag: finance

Jesus fucking Christ how cucked can this country get? Listen to me, the CEO of Under Armour made a proper and polite statement about the President of the United States, someone he wished to influence in order to help his company flourish, as opposed to deriding him and getting nothing but anguish out of the relationship.

Here were Kevin Plank’s god awful comments, ‘praising Trump.’

The result? Fucking lunacy. Leftards have boycotted the brand, calling on Stephen Curry to pull out of his very lucrative deal with them (~$4m per annum).

After hearing Plank make comments that didn’t include calling Trump a fascist rapist orange pig, which would’ve been welcomed and regaled by all on the left as appropriate comments from the ‘resistance’, Curry spent a whole day trying to hash out what in the actual fuck was going on at UA, calling Trump an ‘ass’ in the process.

“I spent all day yesterday on the phone,” Curry said, “with countless people at Under Armour, countless people in Kevin Plank’s camp, my team, trying to understand what was going on and where everybody stood on the issue. Based off the release that KP sent out this morning, and what he told me last night, that’s the Under Armour that I know. That’s the brand I know he’s built and one that, as of Wednesday afternoon, is something that I’m standing on.”

Fast forward to do, Sam Poser from Susquehanna is downgrading $UAA now, following the stock already declining by half over the past six months — because MUH ‘praising Trump.’ One of the major set backs from the company, according to Poser, were the prospects of a burgeoning ‘urban brand’ — due to Trump’s popularity amongst black people.

Plank’s pro-Trump commentary makes it “nearly impossible to effectively build a cool urban lifestyle brand in the foreseeable future,” Poser said in a report. He also cut his stock-price target to $14 from $24, putting him at the low end of Wall Street peers.

“At this point we don’t believe Under Armour is in danger of losing Steph Curry,” Poser said. “However, it simply cannot be good for business if the face of Under Armour spoke out so pointedly against the CEO’s comments. Other Under Armour brand athletes such as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Misty Copeland have also spoken out against Mr. Plank’s comments.”

Poser compared the incident to a gaffe by Lululemon Athletica Inc. in 2013.

In responding to concerns about yoga-pant pilling, founder Chip Wilson said the problem was the bodies of some customers. “Some women’s bodies just actually don’t work,” he said on Bloomberg Television. “It’s about the rubbing through the thighs.”

That incident led to a “strike” by some Lululemon customers, Poser said. And the stock price went from $68 to $46 in a few months.

In other words, Poser is comparing Plank merely suggesting that Trump is an asset to America because of his business acumen, to the retarded CEO of $LULU casting out a large part of his customer base by fat shaming them.

Are you enjoying this new perverted version of America and democracy?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Sam Poser, was in fact, a disgusting fat man, with the likeness of a middle earth monster.

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After making the critical mistake of praising Trump publicly as a “pro-business president” and a “real asset for the country”, the CEO of Under Armour, and his shareholders for that matter, can’t seem to catch a break.  It all started last week when Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank visited with CNBC and made the mistake of saying the following:

“To have such a pro-business president is something that is a real asset for the country. People can really grab that opportunity. He wants to build things. He wants to make bold decisions and be really decisive.”

After reporting abysmal quarterly earnings late in January, Plank’s pro-Trump comments pushed the stock to fresh multi-year lows on February 7th.

Of course, it didn’t take long for Under Armour’s signed athletes to blast Plank’s comments with Steph Curry saying that his statement was true “if you remove the ‘et’ from asset.”  Meanwhile, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Misty Copeland also spoke out against Plank’s misguided praise.

Now, Susquehanna’s equity analyst covering Under Armour, Sam Poser, has decided to downgrade the stock in light of the CEO’s positive Trump one-liner, saying that now it’s “nearly impossible to effectively build a cool urban lifestyle brand in the foreseeable future.”  Per Bloomberg:

“At this point we don’t believe Under Armour is in danger of losing Steph Curry,” Poser said. “However, it simply cannot be good for business if the face of Under Armour spoke out so pointedly against the CEO’s comments. Other Under Armour brand athletes such as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Misty Copeland have also spoken out against Mr. Plank’s comments.”

Meanwhile, Poser also slashed his price target on Under Armour from $24 per share to $14, implying that the cost of praising Trump is roughly $4.5 billion.

Finally, as if the situation weren’t bizarre enough already, Plank was forced to take out a full-page ad in the Baltimore Sun today walking back his previous praise of Trump.  Per The Hill:

“In a business television interview last week, I answered a question with a choice of words that did not accurately reflect my intent,” the ad, addressed to Baltimore, reads. “I want to clarify to our hometown exactly the values for which Under Armour and I stand.”

 

While the letter never directly mentions Trump, it says the company stands for equal rights, praises immigration as a “source of strength, diversity and innovation,” and comes out against Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees.

 

“I personally believe that immigration is the foundation of our country’s exceptionalism,” Plank wrote.

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank prints full-page ad in today’s Baltimore Sun to clarify POTUS comments; doesn’t mention Trump by name http://pic.twitter.com/TWk40PydRg

— Sara Germano (@germanotes) February 15, 2017

We sincerely look forward to waking up from this bizarre dream soon…

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Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of OpenTheBooks.com, has just written an eye-opening piece over at Forbes detailing indefensible, yet entirely legal, conflicts of interest in Oregon. 

Here are a few excerpts from his piece, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown And AG Ellen Rosenblum Blaze The Oregon Trail Of Political Patronage:

As the state contemplates an income tax hike, Oregon’s elites line their pockets with taxpayer money.

In 2016, as politicians across America were fleeing voter wrath, Oregon’s governor and attorney general were blazing an unlikely trail – accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from businesses with state contracts.

 

Since 1940, at the federal level, individuals and entities negotiating or working under federal contracts are prohibited from giving political cash to candidates, parties or committees. In Oregon, however, this political patronage is perfectly legal, at least for now.

 

Our analysis at American Transparency (OpenTheBooks.com) found 207 state contractors gave $805,876 in campaign cash to Governor Kate Brown ($518,203) and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum ($287,673) since 2012. These businesses hold lifetime state contracts worth at least $2.6 billion. State contractor donations to the governor and attorney general represent 57 percent of current cash on hand in their campaign committees.

Here’s just one example (for many more, read the entire article)

We found 41 law firms holding state contracts with a lifetime value of nearly $50 million who gave political donations to Rosenblum ($196,093 in donations) and Brown ($89,958 in donations) since 2012. Oregon outsources legal work to these firms despite Rosenblum’s Department of Justice employing up to 1,228 staffers at an annual taxpayer cost of $74 million. Why put state employees to work when you can outsource it to potential donors? By comparison, the Attorneys General of Illinois and New York have 875 and 1,685 employees respectively.

 

Even in Illinois, where the number one manufactured product is corruption, it is illegal for state vendors with contracts over $50,000 to give campaign donations to statewide office holders. The 2011 Illinois law barred this “pay to play” practice in which contractors give campaign donations to powerful statewide office holders.

 

Methodology/Disclaimer:

 

Upper-bound contractual payment limits are not actual billings or state payments. To the extent that the information contains government errors, our report will reproduce those errors. No quid pro quo or illegal activity by any elected official, company or individual referenced in this editorial is implied or intended. All state contract information referenced was produced via the Oregon Open Records law by the State of Oregon. Kate Brown was elected Oregon Secretary of State (top auditor) in 2008 and assumed to Governor in February 2015. Ellen Rosenblum was appointed Attorney General in June 2012 and twice won reelection.

Read the entire article here.

Open the Books is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization focused on providing transparency in government. I’m honored to have them as a Liberty Blitzkrieg partner since 2015.

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The much anticipated meeting between President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu did not provide significant insight into the new administration’s policies vis-a-vis Israel and the middle east. While Trump expressed optimism in a “great peace deal”, he urged his Israeli colleague to “hold back on the settlements a little bit”, and while reiterating his support for a move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, he was non-committal: “we’ll see what happens.”

Trump called on the Israeli Prime Minister to make compromises in order to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, including holding off on the construction of new settlements. “The United States will encourage a peace and really a great peace deal” between Israel and the Palestinians, but they have to negotiate it themselves, Trump said. “Both sides will have to make compromises.”

Asked whether he preferred a one-state or a two-state solution, Trump said, “I’m happy with the one they like the best,” referring to Israelis and the Palestinians. Israel had two prerequisites for any peace settlement, Netanyahu said. “First, the Palestinians must recognize the Jewish state, they must stop calling for Israel’s destruction… Second, Israel must retain security control over all of the area west of the Jordan River.”

Unless those conditions are met, Palestine will become “another failed state, another Islamist dictatorship that will not work for peace, but work to destroy us,” Netanyahu said.

Tump said “I want the Israeli people to know that the US stands with Israel in the struggle against terrorism” and added “Israel has no better ally than the US,” Netanyahu said, “and the US has no better ally than Israel.” The Israeli PM praised Trump’s commitment to resist “slander and boycotts” of his country in international bodies. The Prime Minister said that both Israel and the US are under attack “by one malevolent force – radical Islamic terrorism.”

When asked about the peace process with the Palestinians, Trump told Netanyahu “I’d like to see you hold off on settlements for a little bit.”

Predicably, Trump dodged the question about the implications the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn might have for reviewing the Iran nuclear deal, calling Flynn a “wonderful man… treated very unfairly by the media.”

Asked what compromises the two sides might have to make, Trump said the Israelis “will have to show some flexibility” and signal they want to make a deal, while “Palestinians have to give up some of the hate they’ve been taught from a very young age.” 

Iranian ballistic missiles are inscribed with “Israel must be destroyed” in Hebrew, Netanyahu said, adding he welcomed the Trump administration’s determination to make Iran pay for “fomenting terrorism” in the Middle East. He accused Iran of wanting to have a nuclear arsenal, “a hundred bombs,” and intercontinental missiles that could reach the US.

Trump also said he will do whatever he can “to prevent Iran from ever — and I mean ever — developing nuclear weapons.”

Asked about the reported uptick in anti-Semitism and xenophobia following his election, Trump said he would do everything in his power to unify the country, and that the next 3-4 or 8 years would see “a lot of love.”

“There is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump,” Netanyahu said, concluding the press conference.

Some in the media pointed out that Trump only took questions from “friendly” outlets, like Townhall and the Christian Broadcasting Network while avoided reporters like CNN’s Jim Acosta who shouted questions about his campaign’s contact with Russia as he left the room.

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Just about 6 months from when the BC government introduced its 15% property tax for foreign buyers of homes in Vancouver, the verdict is out: The new tax has had significant impact on not only home prices in greater Vancouver; but has also resulted in a significant decline in the number of foreign buyers in that hot housing market.

IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION

The new tax took effect on all transactions taking place from Aug 2, 2016 onwards. By October 28th, the government had reported receiving what one might term instant gratification. 

According to provincial statistics, foreign purchase accounted for around 13.2% of the regions total home buying activity prior to August 2. Between Aug 2 and end of September, non-Canadian citizens closed just 1.3% of property transactions. A remarkable decline by all accounts!

There was additional impact too, other than just volume declines. Statistics show that Vancouver experienced a significant home value decline too, largely attributable to the new tax. By late September, the average price of a detached home in Greater Vancouver stood at $1.53 million, which was a sharp (16%) decline from the all-time highs recorded in January last year. A silver lining in the clouds was that the prices were still higher (9%) by September 2015 standards.

Analysts at BMO provided statistical data to confirm that the 15% tax did in fact have the effect that the BC government was looking for. In a snapshot daily commentary dated January 24th, 2017, the firm used graphs that showed an interesting comparison between prices in the nation’s three hot housing markets – Vancouver, Toronto and Victoria, the latter 2 of which have no foreign buyer’s tax.

 The chart clearly show where the home prices in Vancouver start diverging sharply from the other two markets – about a month prior to when the new tax took hold; and continues to steadily drop thereafter. Meanwhile, housing prices in both Toronto and Victoria have continued to move higher, prompting some market watchers to conclude that Vancouver’s loss is gain for the other two markets as money changes jurisdictions to find a new home.

As if confirming BMOs assessment, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s (REBGVs) MLS Home Price Index for December 2016 seems to tell the same story. Prices for residential homes of all types declined by around 1.2% in December, clocking a 2.2% decline over a 6-month period. This compares to a 17.8% increase over the full year (2016).

NO OTHER INFLUENCES

The statistics presented by BMO were offered as evidence that it was the BC government’s 15% foreign home buyer’s tax that has driven down home prices in Vancouver; and that no other factors influenced the housing price decline. 

The implication is that the Federal governments new mortgage rules, that took effect in October 2016, did not have a major influence in cooling Vancouver property prices. Under the new Federal rules, stricter affordability tests are being carried out to ascertain whether homebuyers can afford to carry their mortgages without undue stress.

BMOs assessment of no other influence may in fact be correct, as the federal government itself estimates that, as a result of the new mortgage rules, home sales may fall roughly 8%. This decline in sales would hardly be unprecedented, since home sales had previously declined by over 20% back in 2010, and recouped their momentum a few years later.

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Following Betsy DeVos’ narrow confirmation, it seems Andrew Puzder may not be so lucky.

The President’s pick for labor secretary faces a Republican revolt as CNN reports a number of top Senate Republicans have urged Trump to withdraw the Carl’s Jr. CEO’s nomination.

EXCLUSIVE: Top Senate Rs have urged the WH to withdraw Puzder nomination. There are 4 firm no votes and up to 12, source says. Next on CNN

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 15, 2017

As CNN reports,

Top Senate Republicans have urged the White House to withdraw the Andrew Puzder nomination for labor secretary, a senior GOP source said, adding there are four firm Republican no votes and possibly up to 12.

 

Puzder needs at least 50 votes to pass with the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Mike Pence, and Republicans only hold control of 52 seats.

 

Puzder, the CEO of the company that owns the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. fast food chains, has faced fierce opposition mostly from Democrats in part related to his position on labor issues as well as the fact that he employed an undocumented housekeeper.

This would inject yet more turmoil into a tempestuous first few weeks for Trump’s tenure as Republicans can lose 2 Republican votes and still secure a nominee, as they did with DeVos, but 4 is a dagger, as Democrats have solidified in opposition.

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With a Russian ship sailing in very close proximity to the primary east coast submarine base, and tensions between the US – and perhaps the Trump administration – and Russia, once again rising it seems like an odd moment to organize a meeting between the top US military general and his Russian counterpart on Thursday in Azerbaijan, the first such meeting between the two since military cooperation between the two nations was suspended in 2014 following the hostilities in Ukraine.

U.S. Marine Corps General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Joseph Dunford will meet with the head of the Russian army’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov on Thursday in Azerbaijan, Dunford’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford

“The military leaders will discuss a variety of issues including the current state of U.S.-Russian military relations and the importance of consistent and clear military-to-military communication to prevent miscalculation and potential crises,” the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Accompanying Dunfort will be Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who will also meet his Russian counterpart on Thursday, as the Trump administration evaluates the future direction of US-Russian relations.

Tillerson departed Wednesday for a G-20 ministerial meeting in Bonn, Germany, his inaugural international trip as the United States’ top diplomat. He’ll be joined in Bonn by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and representatives from the world’s other major economies.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that Tillerson and Lavrov will meet on the sidelines of the conference on Thursday. It will be their first such meeting since Tillerson took office. Tillerson’s trip comes as the Trump administration is seeking to reassure skittish allies in Europe the US has their backs, all while exploring new areas for cooperation with Russia as advocated by President Donald Trump.

At the same time, European diplomats are watching the new US officials all the more closely after Trump’s disparagement of NATO and questions about the utility of sanctions. Similarly, Western military officials are closely following Defense Secretary James Mattis’ participation in the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels and Munich Security Conference this week as well. As CNN adds, it remains to be seen whether the Cabinet secretaries will outline any specific shifts in US positions both on European issues as well as the Middle East.

It’s still unclear exactly how the new administration will go about changing course in Syria, and whether doing so will involve additional cooperation with Russia — which provides military support to the Assad regime.

As Tillerson’s plane was taking off in Washington, the Pentagon announced the meeting between Dunford and his Russian counterpart Valeriy Gerasimov, set to take place tomorrow in Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, in a sign that Trump’s pro-Russia stance is moderating, the president’s envoys have been expressing positions more keeping with previous US policies. While the Trump administration’s response to the recent violence in Ukraine has, so far, been muted, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, indicated the US would maintain sanctions on Russia for annexing Crimea in 2014. She condemned what she called the “Russian occupation” of the Ukrainian territory, giving some reassurance to US allies in the region. The sentiment was echoed by Sean Spicer yesterday who said Trump hopes Russia will “return” Crimea to Ukraine.

The Russian Embassy in Washington made it clear this would not happen in a tweet Tuesday afternoon: “We will continue to patiently explain to the new US administration why Crimea is Russia.”

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From the latest “Trader’s Notes”, authored by Richard Breslow, a former FX trader and fund manager who writes for Bloomberg

This was supposed to be the year traders were going to be hamstrung by political risk. When the late 2016 trends faltered in the new year, this was a common explanation for why. That theme has been swept away. Investors insist on living only in the here and now. After all, the bullets aren’t flying where they care.

How many times have you been asked how much of all this geopolitical risk is priced in? The simple answer is, not at all.

For every well publicized lottery ticket being bought on German yields collapsing after the French election, there are other traders buying euro upside believing the National Front can’t possibly get through the second round. And lottery tickets aren’t hedges. They don’t protect the mass of stacked trades being built up. At best they may provide a modest pricing buffer as everyone heads for the same exit

U.S. equities are so bid that on days when futures are down a point or two before the cash open, I’m asked what the problem is. But it’s not just the S&P 500 and Dow being fueled by tax cut and deregulation hopes. It’s everywhere.

Remember how we worried about emerging markets in a strong dollar, rising interest rate and growing protectionism environment? No need to worry. Or at least not to have played from the long side. Change the story line to reflation reflecting strong growth, and you have an MSCI emerging markets currency index on an absolute tear. Not to mention the emerging market equity index soaring.

Far more importantly, the Bloomberg Barclays EM credit spread index continues to narrow at a breathtaking rate. “Give me yield, I’ve got payroll to make.” Now more than ever, it’s “Damn the torpedoes”

If there’s one financial-crisis legacy that has in no way abated, it’s the insatiable desire to chase yield whatever the risk. After all, the models have learned to believe that the central banks won’t ever let financial conditions get out of control. I make the money, you manage the risk.

President Trump giving Taiwan back to the Chinese didn’t eliminate every other bilateral line in the sand between the two countries. Suddenly it’s great to be situated between Russia and NATO?

Traders of other people’s money continue to resolutely compartmentalize what they perceive as economic issues from political ones. It’s a counterintuitive, yet predictable, strategy in what was supposed to be the year of political risk.

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