Month: March 2024

Bitcoin’s price pumped (up to almost $72,000) and dumped (back below $69,000) this morning after net BTC ETF inflows buoyed the cryptocurrency overnight and legals issues reigniting for Coinbase appeared to spoil the party…

Source: Bloomberg

Yesterday saw net inflows to BTC ETFs surge to their highest in two weeks (over $417mm)…

Source: Bloomberg

But this morning, Coinbase’s motion to drop the SEC’s case against the exchange was denied in court, allowing the regulator to proceed with its lawsuit.

As CoinTelegraph reports, a United States court has denied Coinbase’s motion to dismiss the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) case against the exchange.

The decision, made by U.S. District Judge Katherine Failla, allows the SEC to pursue its lawsuit against Coinbase, which alleges that the exchange operates as an unregistered exchange, broker, and clearing agency, according to March 27 court documents, that state:

“The Court finds the SEC has sufficiently pleaded that Coinbase operates as an exchange, as a broker, and as a clearing agency under the federal securities laws, and through its Staking Program engages in the unregistered offer and sale of securities.”

The SEC sued Coinbase in June 2023 alleging that the crypto exchange violated federal securities laws by listing 13 tokens it alleged were securities.

The firm was seeking an order to drop the case, questioning the SEC’s authority over crypto exchanges.

Coinbase did win a small victory as the judge dismissed the SEC’s claim that Coinbase acted as an unregistered broker via its wallet application.

Catastrophic supply chain snarls are materializing in the Mid-Atlantic area after a container ship rammed a 1.6-mile-long bridge at the Port of Baltimore, causing the bridge to collapse and paralyzing terminals along the port. 

Before we shed more color on the worsening supply chain issues, a new Wall Street Journal report cites people familiar with the investigation into the crash as saying contaminated fuel could’ve contributed to the container ship “Dali” losing power. 

According to a Coast Guard briefing report viewed by the WSJ, Dali’s lights began to flicker about an hour after the ship began steaming down the marine channel out of the Baltimore Inner Harbor.

Breakdown of the multiple power failures on the container ship ‘Dali’ that likely caused the impact with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore today.

[🎞️ Moshe Schwartz]pic.twitter.com/ST5iBXrjxF

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 26, 2024

“The vessel went dead, no steering power and no electronics,” said an officer aboard the ship. 

“One of the engines coughed and then stopped. The smell of burned fuel was everywhere in the engine room, and it was pitch black,” the officer said, adding that the vessel didn’t have time to drop anchors before hitting the bridge. Minutes before the crash, officers on the ship issued a mayday call to the Coast Guard. 

Fotis Pagoulatos, a naval architect in Athens, said contaminated fuel could seize up the ship’s main power generators and result in a complete blackout and loss of propulsion. 

During a press conference, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said an investigation is underway to review the vessel’s operations and safety logs and black box recorders to determine what happened in the moments leading up to Baltimore’s biggest industrial disaster in several generations. 

REPORT: There were no vehicles traveling on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it fell into the ocean thanks to heroic police officers who jumped into action.

It has now been confirmed that the only people on the bridge when it collapsed was a pothole repair crew.

A total of… pic.twitter.com/U6PZPO8SDG

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 26, 2024

Hours after the incident, the White House and federal government agencies quickly ruled out a cyber attack or industrial sabotage as the source of the ship’s power loss. With an investigation barely underway, it would seem too preliminary to rule out those things. It’s not yet illegal to have an open mind. 

Despite legacy media outlets won’t even entertain the slightest possibility of a cyber attack or industrial sabotage, some X users say they aren’t ruling anything out, considering NATO and Russia are on the brink of a major conflict, the Red Sea crisis continues, Hamas-Irasel war rages on, and Sino-US relations have yet to recover fully. 

We know that in a matter of seconds, the Dali and its all-Indian crew that rammed the bridge triggered an instant shutdown of the Port of Baltimore that could take weeks, if not months, to restore. 

“This is a shut down of a major port, and rebuilding will take a significant amount of time as it is over water,” Nada Sanders, a professor of supply-chain management at Northeastern University, told the WSJ in a separate note. 

Sanders said, “We will see the effects domestically and globally in terms of shortages and higher prices for the average consumer.” 

Bloomberg Economic Insights shows that the auto, energy, and food industries will be the most affected. Here’s an explanation of the disruption:  

• The wreckage from the Francis Scott Key Bridge essentially blocks incoming and outgoing traffic to the Port of Baltimore.
• According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the port ranked 17th in terms of total tonnage handled in 2021. We estimate it intermediates about 2%-3% of US imports.
•  By those metrics, the disruption to Port of Baltimore traffic would appear to have minimal impact on the broader US economy. But that most likely understates the full effect.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the Port of Baltimore handled about 3% of all East Coast and Gulf Coast imports in the year through Jan. 31. It’s a crucial terminal for European carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Volkswagen AG, and BMW.

It’s also the second-largest terminal for US coal exports, with a shutdown likely crimping shipments to India. And many more terminals will be shuttered… 

The 984-foot ship was hauling containers of Chinese-made furniture, appliances, plasticware, and construction machinery. 

Expect a localized shortage of these products?

US Customs and Border Protection provides a view into Dali’s cargo. 

Why didn’t the State of Maryland or Baltimore City install protective barriers against ship strikes on the Key Bridge? Were woke Democrats in Annapolis too concerned about DEI and burning the state into the ground with reckless spending than care about infrastructure? Yet another failure by Democrats who are asleep at the wheel.   

Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

What’s the best way to survive a financial crisis with your wealth intact? The answer may surprise you.

Many investors would say, “Sell everything, and wait until it’s over!” That’s almost never good advice.

In the first place, some assets perform well in crises, and you should hold onto those. Secondly, how do you know a crisis has actually started?

What seems like a crisis may just be a short-term bump in the road. And finally, how do you know when it’s over? There were numerous 20% stock rallies during the Great Depression even as stocks were grinding lower over a three-year crash.

I’ll tackle these specifics below, but I should point to an important aspect first: In any financial or market condition there are winners and losers. Diversification and timing are the keys to emerging as a winner.

Great Depression Made Fortunes

There are many famous examples of winning trades in recessions. Here are two of my favorites:

In the late 1920s, Joseph P. Kennedy (father of President John F. Kennedy), Big Mike Meehan and others formed stock manipulation rings. (This was before the passage of modern securities laws in 1933 and 1934 and before the creation of the SEC.)

They’d conspire to bid up the price of certain stocks, a process called a “ramp.” This would catch the attention of retail buyers who would pile in and drive the price to ridiculous valuations. The insiders would then dump their stock at a huge profit and the stock would crash, leaving the retail suckers with the losses.

Kennedy put some icing on the cake by correctly seeing that the stock market was in a bubble by 1929. He shorted stocks ahead of the crash and made another fortune when the crash came in October 1929.

That 1929 crash was just the beginning. Stocks didn’t hit bottom until July 1932 at which point they’d fallen over 80% from the 1929 highs. Kennedy lived through the Great Depression as one of the richest men in America and the Kennedy family fortune continues to this day.

Hyperinflation Can Be Great — if You Own Assets

The exact techniques Kennedy used are illegal today, but the economic dynamic continues in the form of stock market bubbles. Jeff Bezos is now dumping his Amazon stock as fast as possible. That’s not illegal, but maybe there’s a message there for everyday investors.

My other favorite example is Hugo Stinnes. He was a wealthy industrialist during the Weimar Republic in Germany in the early 1920s. He correctly saw that their currency, the Reichsmark, was vulnerable to hyperinflation.

He borrowed huge amounts in Reichsmarks, and purchased hard assets including coal, gold, cargo vessels and railroads.

When hyperinflation hit in 1922–1923, his hard assets reached astronomical values and his debts shrank to zero because they were denominated in Reichsmarks that ended up being swept down the sewers as litter.

Hugo Stinnes came through the Weimar hyperinflation as the richest man in Germany while most others were wiped out.

Timing Is Everything

The point of these stories and many others like it is you can make huge investment gains in recessions if you see the recession coming and make the right moves at the right time.

And not every stock falls in a recession or even a market crash. During the Great Depression, the best performing stock on the New York Stock Exchange was Homestake Mining. Even as stocks were falling 80%.

Homestake rallied because it was one of the largest gold mines in the world. The dollar price of gold rose 75% in 1933–1934 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt devalued the dollar from $20.67 per ounce of gold to $35.00 per ounce. Homestake produced gold and its stock price rose accordingly.

“Timing is everything” may be a cliche, but it’s true. Your approach to recession-related investing has to take into account the timing of the recession before, during and after.

This points to the key to recession-related investing. There are three distinct stages, and each stage has different profit dynamics. Stage 1 is the time period before the recession begins. This is your last chance to leave the theater before the fire starts.

Making Money in a Recession (One Stage at a Time)

During this stage, you should reduce equity exposure (while stocks are still near highs), increase your cash allocation (to weather the storm and reduce volatility) and increase your exposures to U.S. Treasury notes (that will rally in deflation without credit risk) and gold (your hedge against inflationary government remedies).

Setting up these trades is easy, but forecasting a recession is challenging. There are many reliable technical indicators that I cover including inverted yield curves, negative swap spreads, collateral shortages, tightening of credit standards by banks and reduced commercial lending.

These indicators are not typically covered by business media who tend to focus more on the unemployment rate (which is a lagging indicator) and the Federal Reserve, who are always the last to know.

It’s also frustrating to position yourself for a recession while the stock market is still rising and your friends and neighbors are bragging about their big gains. They won’t be bragging when the crash comes.

It’s precisely at this stage where patience is a virtue.

Stage 2

Stage 2 is when the recession has actually hit and you’re in the thick of it. If you made the right moves at Stage 1, then you’ll be doing fine. Your Treasury bonds will be rallying, your cash will be your dry powder for new investing at the lows and your reduced stock portfolio will not be wiping out your entire portfolio.

This is where careful stock picking comes in.

It’s entirely possible to make money in the stock market while the market as a whole is crashing. Holding index funds won’t help you, but active investing will. The key is to choose sectors that will do well even in a recessionary environment. I include defense stocks in this category.

The U.S. has depleted its arsenals by sending weapons to the losing effort in Ukraine. Those arsenals will have to be replenished with new purchases of artillery shells, armored vehicles, anti-missile batteries, cruise missiles and more.

In addition, new weapons systems including drones and AI-assisted robots will be in demand. The major players in the military-industrial complex as well as some new players with the latest technology will do well.

Other sectors that can perform well even in a recession are the oil and natural gas industry, the agricultural sector and mining.

Stage 3

This brings us to Stage 3 of the recession, which is the bottom just as stocks are about to begin a new bull market. This is where you can use your cash reserves to pick up bargains in beaten-down sectors such as Big Tech, consumer durables, consumer electronics, travel and entertainment, financials, fashion, luxury goods and sports.

This is also a good time to lighten up on your U.S. Treasury securities, since interest rates tend to rise in a growing economy and that will cause losses in bond prices.

For consumers with jobs and cash, recessions can actually be good times because prices are lower (or at least not rising as much), more goods are available and there tends to be more capacity at travel destinations, restaurants, performing arts venues and other attractions.

Of course, the opposite is true. For those who lose jobs or deplete savings, a recession represents hard times where many luxury or discretionary purchases and activities fall by the wayside.

The bottom line is there are opportunities to make money in recessions, but one must distinguish among the three stages and pursue different strategies in each stage.

Stage 1 is dominated by cash and Treasuries and dodging the recession bullet. Stage 2 is dominated by selective stock picking that spots the sectors that perform well in hard times. Stage 3 is bottom-fishing in stocks more broadly to prepare for the next rally. Gold has a role in all three stages.

The key is to stay diversified and be nimble!

Cocoa futures in New York reached a new record high this week, exceeding $10,000 per metric ton. Since the start of the year, prices have surged 150%. It smells like hyperinflation. 

At the start of February, candy producer Hershey Co’s CEO warned: “Historic cocoa prices are expected to limit earnings growth this year.”

Now, Wall Street analysts are downgrading the Hershey’s Kisses maker because record-high cocoa prices will spark diminishing consumer demand as retail prices of chocolate bars soar. 

BNP Paribas Exane’s Max Gumport wrote in a note to clients that his recommendation on Hershey was cut from “outperform” to “neutral” on the thesis that cocoa inflation is “Not So Transitory.” 

“The implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation is adding structural costs into the system,” Gumport said, adding, “A meaningful portion of the cocoa inflation we are currently seeing could well be structural” due to the EU regulation.” 

He said this is a “step change” in his view that the “vast majority” of the cocoa price surge was due to “temporary supply demand imbalance” from West Africa. 

The analysts reduced his 2025 adjusted earnings per share estimate for Hershey by 9% to $9.59 primarily because of the elevated prices that are set to stick around for years. This represents a Wall Street low, according to Bloomberg data, which has a consensus target for next year’s EPS of $10.19

Morgan Stanley recently downgraded Hershey to “underweight” from “equal-weight,” citing significant risks to Hershey’s mid-term outlook, including the “outsized” cocoa inflation. 

Bloomberg data shows there are 6 “buys,” 19 “holds,” and 1 “sell” on Hershey. 

Here are the latest analyst recommendations on the chocolate company. 

Higher bean prices are an ominous sign for shares of Hershey. 

Cocoa inflation is unwelcoming news for consumers ahead of Easter weekend. Bloomberg data provides a supply chain analysis of which companies sell the most Hershey products. 

All of a sudden, the rise in cocoa prices looks less transitory. It will only feed into long-lasting food inflation that will pressure consumer pocketbooks. 

Authored by Matthew Lysiak via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Arizona’s city of Tucson may be only days away from a crisis as millions of dollars in federal funds, which had been used to finance programs to house and assist illegal immigrants, are set to expire on April 1, potentially leading to their release en masse in the streets of Arizona’s border communities.

Tucson City Manager Michael Ortega said that the loss of federal funding, which amounts to more than $1 million dollars a week, would be “catastrophic” for the city.

“Keeping a hundred folks off the street is different than a thousand folks everyday,” Mr. Ortega told 13 News. “So I am sounding the alarm.”

More than 1,000 illegal immigrants are processed by Border Patrol before being brought into the city daily. And without the influx of federal dollars, it could, in short time, overwhelm the city, according to Mr. Dahl.

“We’ve never seen the number of people coming in now that we are currently seeing,” Mr. Dahl said. “In the past, we were seeing ten people a day being dropped off and it didn’t really have too much of an impact. But now, we are talking about hundreds every day and there is simply no place in our budgets for this to continue.”

Mr. Dahl said that regardless of the outcome, the city will continue working with non-profit groups set up to assist illegal immigrants. Further, he proposed that Border Patrol could take illegal immigrants to Sky Harbor airport in nearby Phoenix, Arizona, which “is better equipped to deal with the situation.”

However, residents are concerned that the drop in funding could result in thousands of illegal immigrants being released onto the Tucson streets. And with crime and homelessness already high, this would likely cripple the city.

Data released from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) shows that in December, agents were involved in a record 87,330 encounters with illegal immigrants in Arizona’s Yuma and Tucson sectors, which are right on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The new all-time high eclipses the previous high, recorded just one month earlier in November 2023, when CBP agents reported 70,796 encounters. The new data also is the continuation of a troubling trend, marking the seventh consecutive month the state has set a monthly record.

A border patrol source previously told The Epoch Times that agents believe at least some of the increase can be attributed to an upgrade in security over recent months at popular illegal crossings along the Texas border, resulting in some smugglers opting to reroute to southeastern Arizona, where they expect to be met with less resistance.

“These smugglers are very savvy when it comes to American media and they are aware of the message Texas has been sending that they don’t want them coming through their state,” said the agent, who has worked in the field for over a decade, primarily in the southeast region of Arizona.

“It appears, at least in some instances, they are detouring a few hours and crossing where they know they won’t have to encounter any resistance.

“Right now, that place is Arizona, especially the Tucson sector,” he added.

Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb told The Epoch Times that the crisis confronting Tucson is of the government’s own creation and that even if a path is found to extend federal funding, that it will only serve as a temporary fix that fails to address the core problem.

“All this funding was only hiding the fact that this government’s policies are completely disastrous and serves to keep people from realizing that this is a deeply serious issue,” Mr. Lamb said. “We have homeless vets on the streets of Tucson in desperate need of help, and instead of helping our own, we are supporting thousands of new people every day who broke our laws.”

Mr. Lamb says in his role as sheriff, where he is tasked with enforcing existing law, his hands are tied. However, securing the border has become one of the main platforms, and reasons, for his current run for the U.S. Senate.

“We need to un-elect these people in office,” Mr. Lamb said. “We didn’t have these issues when Trump was president. People are coming here because the government keeps providing incentives in terms of free housing and other things.

“American families work hard only to see their taxes go to people who broke the law and entered the country illegally. That’s not compassionate; that is reckless.”

Having tumbled to its lowest against the dollar since 1990, Japanese officials started to show signs of panic overnight about the yen’s post-rate-hike weakness… and of course, blamed “speculators”.

Source: Bloomberg

The yen dipped to 151.97 versus the dollar early on Wednesday in Tokyo, before recovering after comments from Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, and his top currency official Masato Kanda indicating that Japan was ready to act.

Source: Bloomberg

The officials spoke after an emergency joint meeting of the MOF, BOJ and FSA.

“We are watching market moves with a high sense of urgency,” Suzuki said.

“We will take bold measures against excessive moves without ruling out any options.”

Kanda later emerged from a meeting with officials at the central bank and the finance regulator and said speculative moves in markets wouldn’t be tolerated. 

“I do not consider a 4% move in a span of 2 weeks a mild move.”

Clearly the jawboning is not working as the market is calling Japanese officials’ bluff. 

In fact, policymakers are running out of choices short of purchasing the currency to prop it up after the Bank of Japan’s first interest rate hike since 2007 failed to change its trajectory.

“Given recent history, a breach of 152 could instigate intervention,” said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Sydney.

“The break of the previous high has accelerated the move,” he said, referring to the dollar-yen.

Catril is correct as Suzuki’s reference to bold action is generally interpreted to mean direct intervention in the currency market as yen weakened to a level that prompted Japan to wade into markets in October 2022.

Authorities in Tokyo spent ¥9.2 trillion ($60.6 billion) in 2022 to prop up the yen on three occasions, each time insisting that they were not protecting any specific currency level.

The timing for a large intervention would likely be dramatic given that hedge funds and asset managers combined held a near-record level of bearish positions against Japan’s currency last week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission going back to 2006.

Still, for now, it’s “all mouth and no trousers” as one London trader said, with everyone eyeing a break of 152.

Finally, there is China.

As The Asia Times reports, many analysts think the PBOC may be finally losing tolerance with Japan allowing the yen exchange rate to drop so far with little blowback in Washington – particularly as China struggles to keep economic growth as close to its 5% target as possible.

It’s still unclear if the drop in the Chinese exchange rate that began Friday is the start of a trend that would surely rock global markets or just a fluke. But the correlation with the Japanese yen’s decline is hard to ignore.

Are the beggar-thy-neighbor currency strategies of the past returning to China’s $18 trillion economy? Is this why Japan has been all talk?

Authored by Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

At last week’s FOMC meeting, Jerome Powell said, “We think financial conditions are weighing on the economy.”

His comments seem sensible, given the following:

• The Fed is reducing its balance sheet (QT).
• The Fed Funds rate is at its highest level in over 15 years.
• Mortgage rates are about 7%, 3-4% above pre-pandemic levels.
• Credit card interest rates are 20% or more.
• Auto loans range between 7% and 10%
• Consumer loan growth, excluding the pandemic, is down to levels last seen over ten years ago.
• Outstanding Commercial & Industrial (C&I) loans are declining.

Powell’s statement indicates that financial conditions are tight. However, they are easy based on the Fed’s definition of financial conditions. If Powell doesn’t appreciate the difference between financial and borrowing conditions, we must assume most investors do not either.

As we will explain, there is a big difference between financial and borrowing conditions. Equally worth considering is that the current combination of easy financial conditions and tight borrowing conditions makes monetary policy difficult for the Fed to balance.  

What Are Financial Conditions?

The St. Louis Federal Reserve defines financial conditions as follows:

“Measures of equity prices (also commonly referred to as stock prices), the strength of the U.S. dollar, market volatility, credit spreads, long-term interest rates, and other variables.”

Financial conditions tend to be easy when investors are optimistic and speculative. Let’s look at the four critical measures in the St. Louis Fed definition to understand why financial conditions are easy today.

Equity Prices: The S&P 500 is up 38% since 2023 and 10% through the first three months of 2024.

U.S. Dollar: The dollar index has been relatively flat since 2023 and the year to date.

Market Volatility: The VIX volatility index has been hovering between 12 and 15 this year. That is about one standard deviation below the average VIX reading of 19.32 over the last 35 years.

Credit Spreads: The BBB investment grade yield is only 1% above a comparable maturity Treasury. Such is the tightest spread since the 1990s.

Long-Term Interest Rates: Long-term interest rates have been significantly higher than average over the past few years and at levels last seen before the financial crisis in 2008. However, they are about 1% lower than their peak last year.

Equity prices, market volatility, and credit spreads point to very easy financial conditions, and we might also characterize their levels as speculative.

The dollar has had little effect on financial conditions as it has been relatively stable.

Long-term interest rates point to tighter financial conditions, albeit easing over the past six months.

The bottom line is that financial conditions are easy in large part because robust sentiment in the equity and credit markets more than offsets higher interest rates.

As shown below, our proprietary SimpleVisor Sentiment indicator is at its maximum level, and the CNN Fear & Greed Index is closing in on extreme greed.

What Are Borrowing Conditions?

Unlike financial conditions, borrowing conditions are far from easy. The two graphs below highlight the financial stress on consumer and corporate borrowers.

Credit card interest rates are over 20% and about 5% above the highest in the past 24 years. Mortgage and auto loan interest rates are up to levels not seen in at least fifteen years.

The following graph shows that 90-day commercial paper loans and yields on BBB-rated corporate bonds are at their highest levels since the financial crisis.

What Can And Can’t The Fed Manage?

The Fed plays a crucial role in directing financial and borrowing conditions. At times, like today, financial and borrowing conditions can be at odds with each other, which makes the Fed’s job of managing monetary policy more difficult.

The market’s perception of the Fed’s stance, hawkish or dovish, and more importantly, forecasts of how they may change policy can heavily impact market sentiment and financial conditions.

For instance, a strong correlation exists between QE and higher stock returns, lower volatility, and tighter credit spreads. The relationship occurs in part due to the psychology of investors. However, it’s also a function of the liquidity the Fed creates when conducting QE. For similar reasons, lower rates are thought to be beneficial for markets.

The Fed has a heavier hand in determining borrowing conditions. By managing its Fed Funds rate, the Fed sets the tone for long-term interest rates and significantly influences shorter-term rates. Further, QE and QT can add or subtract liquidity from the markets, directly affecting the supply and demand of liquidity available to all markets.

Powell’s Predicament

Financial conditions have eased considerably as investors priced out the odds of rate increases and have started pricing in rate cuts. The combination of lower interest rates and possibly less QT, coupled with robust economic growth, is the goldilocks scenario driving investors’ sentiment higher. This occurs despite extremely tight borrowing conditions and a hawkish monetary policy.

Currently, the Fed does not want financial conditions to ease further as the wealth effect of strong markets can have an inflationary impulse. They could hike rates or even talk of increasing rates to weigh on financial conditions. However, with tight borrowing conditions and the potential that the lag effect of prior rate hikes will ultimately cause a recession, they appear to be in no man’s land.   

As we share below, on a real basis, the Fed’s policy stance is the tightest it has been in fifteen years.  

Another Fed Predicament Coming Soon

Sentiment and liquidity drive markets in the short run. Both have supported higher stock prices and mania-like trading in AI stocks and cryptocurrencies.

However, that could be changing. As we note in Liquidity Problems, excess liquidity is rapidly draining from the financial system. The Fed knows the situation and may be called upon to deal with a liquidity shortfall. QT reductions and/or lower rates would ease liquidity concerns. But, doing so, especially if the economy stays robust and market sentiment is strong, would risk further easing of financial conditions, which in turn may keep inflation sticky at current levels. 

Summary

The Goldilocks economy, coupled with the end of the rate hiking cycle, has investors giddy, which eases financial conditions. Ironically, while some of the easiest financial conditions in the last ten years have existed, borrowing conditions remain very tight. 

The Fed must balance these two conditions, which is difficult as they can counteract each other. Threading the eye of this needle may prove problematic given that inflation remains too high and, more recently, is showing some signs of being sticky. 

US equity futures rebounded from yesterday’s 3:30pm pension-selling inspired airpocket, and are higher along with European markets, even as Goldman anticipates continued month-end turbulence due to a sizable $32 billion in quarter-end selling, the largest since June 2023 (more details here for premium subs). As of 8:10am ET, S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% while Nasdaq 100 contracts add 0.5%, while European stocks were little changed near Tuesday’s record closing high. As JPM notes, the S&P is on a 3-day losing streak which appears to be mostly month-end/quarter-end related given the trading patterns. SPX -0.73% over those three days.Bond yields are up 1bps across the curve, but USD is flat while the yen bounced from a 34-year low on speculation that Japanese officials may be preparing to intervene to support the currency; commodities are for sale across all 3 complexes with the notable exceptions gold and natgas. Keep an eye on oil prices which could push past near-term expectations as Russia looks to cut production. The major macro events are Waller’s speech (6pm ET) and the 7Y bond auction; yesterday’s 5Y was digested well

In premarket trading, all Mag7 names are higher as are Semis and Large-cap Healthcare. Merck shares jumped 4.8% after Winrevair, a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension, which is a rare and dangerous form of high blood pressure, won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. Merck also rose after its Winrevair drug won US approval. Shares in Trump Media & Technology were set to extend gains following its debut as a public company. Here are the other notable premarket movers:

• Forge Global (FRGE US) shares fall 12% after the private securities marketplace operator reported total revenue for the fourth quarter that missed the average analyst estimate.
• GameStop (GME US) shares slide 19% after reporting adjusted earnings per share and net sales for the fourth quarter that missed the average analyst estimates. The stock had gained about 18% in the two trading sessions before the earnings report.
• NCino (NCNO US) shares are up 14% after the cloud banking software company gave a forecast for adjusted earnings that was stronger than expected. Analysts were positive about the company’s results and outlook.
• Nuvation Bio (NUVB US) shares jump 13% after the biotechnology company was upgraded to buy from hold at Jefferies after the acquisition of AnHeart Therapeutics.
• One Group Hospitality (STKS US) shares are up 12% after the company said late Tuesday that it’s buying Safflower Holdings, the owner of Benihana, in a deal valued at $365m.
• Robinhood (HOOD US) shares rise 7.1%. The company, best known for offering commission-free trading, said it is rolling out a credit card to US consumers as pushes beyond trading.
• Trump Media (DJT US) shares jump 14%, putting its stock on track to extend gains after rallying 16% in its first trading day as a public company.
• Western Digital (WDC US) shares tick 1.5% higher as the computer hardware and storage company is started with an outperform rating and $80 price target at Evercore ISI, which sees strong potential.

As we first reported last night, with stocks set to cap another strong quarter, pension funds are likely to sell an estimated $32 billion in equities to rebalance their positions, according to Goldman.

While projections on pension flows vary widely on Wall Street, it could heap extra pressure on markets when trading volumes are thin around Easter. After the S&P 500 soared about 26% since late October, traders have flagged concern that positioning is stretched and stocks are more vulnerable to short-term profit taking.

Officials from Japan’s Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Japan and Financial Services Agency met to discuss markets in their first three-way meeting since late May. After the talks, Japan’s top currency official Masato Kanda pledged to take appropriate action against excessive swings, saying he sees speculative moves behind the yen’s plunge. The yen strengthened 0.3%.

“The BOJ’s finger will be on the trigger for FX intervention,” said David Forrester, Singapore-based senior FX strategist at Credit Agricole.

Elsewhere, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with a group of American business executives in Beijing as China seeks to restore confidence in the economy and keep relations with the US on a stable footing. Meanwhile, as much as 2.5 million tons of coal and hundreds of car shipments are threatened with disruption after the sudden collapse of the Baltimore Bridge clogged the supply chains around the port.

Stocks have had a strong start to the year, with major benchmarks scaling record levels. The S&P 500 is set for its fifth month of straight gains, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index of shares closed within a whisker of its all-time high. Still, moves this week have been muted ahead of Friday’s release of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.

“I’m still rather positive on equity markets, as long as nothing changes in the broader picture, one can just go with the flow,” Francois Rimeu, a strategist at La Francaise Asset Management in Paris, said. He sees a possibility the rally can broaden toward other parts of the market, such as European or mid-cap shares, given “extreme” valuation gaps among technology and US stocks.

European stocks were little changed near Tuesday’s record closing high. Retail shares are the best performers as clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz jumped as much as 14% after its profit beat estimates thanks to cost cuts, while payments firm Adyen NV got a boost from a broker upgrade.  Euro-area data showed an improvement in economic confidence, supporting expectations that the region can soon move beyond its recent weakness.

Earlier in the session, Asian stocks traded mixed after the subdued handover from Wall St heading into quarter-end and Easter. ASX 200 was underpinned by strength in the top-weighted financials and consumer-related sectors, while data also provided a tailwind after an improved leading index and softer-than-expected monthly CPI. Nikkei 225 outperformed as the yen fell to a 33-year low amid dovish-leaning BoJ comments. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. declined amid a slew of earnings and weakness in tech with Alibaba pressured after it withdrew its Cainiao IPO application, while the mainland failed to benefit from the PBoC’s firm liquidity operation and improved Industrial Profits.

In FX, the yen rebounded after slumping to the weakest level in about 34 years, while the krona fell against the euro after the Riksbank opened the door to a rate cut as soon as May.  The USDJPY fell 0.3% to ~151.10 after hitting its highest since 1990 earlier on Wednesday after Japan’s top currency official pledged to take appropriate action against excessive moves in the foreign-exchange market as the MOF stepped closer to intervention with its strongest warning yet as the yen slid to the weakest level in about 34 years against the dollar.

• USD/JPY rose as much as 0.3% to 151.97, the highest level in about 34 years, then fell 0.3% back to 151.15 as the BOJ stepped closer to potential currency intervention
• EUR/SEK rose 0.3% to 11.5111 before paring the advance to trade 0.1% higher at 11.4809, while USD/SEK steadied at 10.5964; The Riksbank signaled a potential pivot to policy easing within the next quarter

In rates, treasuries were little changed after trading in a narrow range through Asia session and European morning, leaving yields within 1bp of Tuesday’s closing levels. Treasury 10-year yields around 4.235%, slightly cheaper on the day with bunds and gilts outperforming in the sector by 3bp and 1bp; curve spreads also within 1bp of Tuesday’s close. Core European rates outperform as bunds rise after Spanish harmonized and core inflation rose less than expected in March. German 10-year yields fall 2bps to 2.33%. With no data scheduled, US session focal points are 7-year note auction and comments from Fed’s Waller after the close.  The week’s auction cycle concludes with $43b 7-year note sale at 1pm New York time; Tuesday’s 5-year note stopped through by 1bp.

In commodities, oil prices pared a decline, with WTI falling as much as 1% before rebounding to trade near $81.2. Spot gold rises 0.6%.

In crypto, Bitcoin has been relatively contained and holds around the $70k mark, with Ethereum also holding at key levels around $3.6k.

Looking at today’s calendar, the US economic data slate is empty for the session; Fed members scheduled to speak include Waller at 6pm.

Market Snapshot

• S&P 500 futures up 0.3% to 5,281.75
• STOXX Europe 600 little changed at 511.13
• MXAP little changed at 176.77
• MXAPJ down 0.4% to 534.12
• Nikkei up 0.9% to 40,762.73
• Topix up 0.7% to 2,799.28
• Hang Seng Index down 1.4% to 16,392.84
• Shanghai Composite down 1.3% to 2,993.14
• Sensex up 0.9% to 73,101.01
• Australia S&P/ASX 200 up 0.5% to 7,819.61
• Kospi little changed at 2,755.11
• German 10Y yield little changed at 2.34%
• Euro little changed at $1.0826
• Brent Futures down 0.8% to $85.58/bbl
• Gold spot up 0.0% to $2,179.23
• US Dollar Index little changed at 104.39

Top Overnight News

• The decadeslong push by American companies into China is stalling. American firms in China are being squeezed by escalating geopolitical tensions, tit-for-tat measures on trade and exports, and China’s drive for self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, the Chinese market is becoming less attractive. The country’s economic growth fell to its slowest rate in decades last year; consumers there are spending less, especially on foreign brands; and its once-unstoppable export machine is faltering. WSJ
• China’s President Xi Jinping met US chief executives including Chubb’s Evan Greenberg and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon on Wednesday as American business leaders sought to mend ties frayed by geopolitical and trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. FT
• China’s industrial profits jumped at the start of this year, with foreign-owned and private groups reporting the largest increases. Industrial profits rose by 10.2% year on year for January-February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday. Profits at foreign-owned business surged 31.2% and climbed 12.7% at private companies. State-owned enterprises saw profits edge up just 0.5%. FT
• The yen pared gains as Japan’s top currency official said the government can’t tolerate speculative moves in the FX market and is prepared to use any option to restore calm, in line with earlier comments from the finance minister. Masato Kanda spoke after a joint meeting of the MOF, BOJ and FSA. Earlier, the yen had slid to its lowest against the dollar since 1990. BBG
• The BOE is probing how badly funding for UK businesses would be hit by the reversal of a long-running private equity boom, officials said, as they escalated warnings about leverage, transparency and valuations in private markets. FT
• Asset managers kept unwinding bullish Treasury futures bets ahead of the Fed’s recent meeting, a defensive move that sent net long positions for “real money” investors such as pension funds and insurance companies to an eight-month low. The move also signaled some may have been paring back on basis trades. BBG
• The Baltimore bridge collapse may cause months of disruptions, block the export of as much as 2.5 million tons of coal, and speed up a shift of cargo to the West Coast. Search operations were halted as six people are presumed dead. BBG
• The artificial-intelligence boom is sending Silicon Valley’s talent wars to new extremes. Tech companies are serving up million-dollar-a-year compensation packages, accelerated stock-vesting schedules and offers to poach entire engineering teams to draw people with expertise and experience in the kind of generative AI that is powering ChatGPT and other humanlike bots. They are competing against each other and against startups vying to be the next big thing to unseat the giants. WSJ
• UBS and Apollo reached a deal for the carve-out of Credit Suisse’s securitized products business after renegotiating key parts of the accord. Apollo will purchase $8 billion in senior secured financing facilities. BBG

A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk

APAC stocks traded mixed after the subdued handover from Wall St heading into quarter-end and Easter. ASX 200 was underpinned by strength in the top-weighted financials and consumer-related sectors, while data also provided a tailwind after an improved leading index and softer-than-expected monthly CPI. Nikkei 225 outperformed as the yen fell to a 33-year low amid dovish-leaning BoJ comments. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp. declined amid a slew of earnings and weakness in tech with Alibaba pressured after it withdrew its Cainiao IPO application, while the mainland failed to benefit from the PBoC’s firm liquidity operation and improved Industrial Profits.

Top Asian News

• PBoC Governor Pan said bilateral currency swaps help enhance financial safety nets and that China is willing to deepen financial cooperation with other countries, according to Reuters.
• USTR office said the US mission to WTO received a consultation request from China regarding parts of the Inflation Reduction Act and the US is reviewing the request, according to Reuters.
• US President Biden’s administration is pursuing TikTok with the FTC investigating the Co. over allegedly faulty privacy and data security practices, according to POLITICO.
• Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin says China has been taking a hard hit as a major trade country; says China has a lot of policy space to shore up the economy; government debt level remains relatively low.

An uninspiring session thus far in Europe, Stoxx600 (+0.1%), bourses within tight ranges and sentiment mixed in relatively light newsflow. European sectors are mixed with little theme or bias; Retail is the clear outperformer after H&M’s (+12%) earnings and Energy lags amid the slide in crude oil prices. US Equity Futures (ES +0.4%, NQ +0.4%, RTY +0.1%) are trading on a firmer footing, attempting to make back the losses seen in the prior session.

Top European news

• Riksbank maintains its Rate at 4.00% as expected; “It is likely that the policy rate can be cut in May or June if inflation prospects remain favourable”.
• ECB’s Kazaks said inflation is slowing and the first rate cut is nearing, while he doesn’t object to the market view of a June rate cut and said they will lower rates cautiously step by step and must see how the economy reacts to policy easing.
• ECB’s Cipollone says uncertainty around inflation is decreasing. Increasingly confident that inflation will converge to 2% by mid-2025. The current economic environment allows for a recovery in real wages in the short term that will not fuel inflation. “The improving inflation outlook, continued strong transmission and further moderation in inflation all create scope for more confidence that we can dial back restriction”. “We are coming closer to the point when we will have the confidence to act”. Says so far from neutral rate that there is room to adjust
• Germany economic institutes expect German GDP to grow 0.1% in 2024 (prev. 1.3% in Autumn forecast). Expects German inflation at 2.3% in 2024 and 1.8% in 2025. Unemployment rate seen at 5.8% in 2024 and 5.5% in 2025.

FX

• USD is steady vs. peers with DXY in a narrow 104.21-42 range. Upside sees the 25th March high at 104.47. Downside sees yesterday’s low at 104.01; all eyes will be on Fed’s Waller at 22:00 GMT / 18:00 ET.
• EUR is flat with a lack of fresh catalysts. Currently trading in close proximity to 200 and 50DMAs at 1.0836 and 1.0838 respectively.
• JPY is now firmer vs. the USD after USD/JPY printed a fresh 33yr high overnight. JPY gained strength after news that Japan’s BoJ, MoF and FSA to hold a meeting, though subsequent comments from Japan’s Top Diplomacy Kanda echoed recent jawboning. These remarks failed to spark any real move in USD/JPY, which remains at troughs around 151.10.
• AUD hampered by softer yuan, iron ore prices and inflation data overnight. AUD/USD has been as low as 0.6512 but holding above last week’s trough at 0.6503.
• SEK is a touch softer vs. the EUR but stopping just shy of the 11.50 mark. Riksbank expectedly left rates unchanged and guidance is pointing towards a H1 cut.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0946 vs exp. 7.2250 (prev. 7.0943).

Fixed Income

• USTs are slightly softer and holds around the 110-19 mark; direction today will be guided by Fed’s Waller (Hawk), who in his February remarks foreshadowed the general tone of Powell’s speeches thereafter.
• Bund price action has been relatively contained; Spanish Flash CPI showed the core continuing to moderate, resulting in a slight move higher from 133.02 to a peak of 133.11. This move quickly faded and Bunds now reside just above 132.90 into supply.
• Gilts are unchanged with fresh catalysts sparse so far and price action generally dictated by EGBs; currently around 99.50.
• Italy sells EUR 8.25bln vs exp. EUR 7-8.25bln 3.35% 2029, 3.85% 2029, 3.85% 2034 and EUR 1.5bln vs exp. EUR 1-1.5bln 2031 CCTeu; no move in BTPs.

Commodities

• Downbeat trade across the crude complex following the large surprise build in Private Inventories; Brent May fluctuates around USD 85.50/bbl in a USD 85.28-85.87/bbl parameter.
• Uneventful trade across precious metals following Tuesday’s volatility which saw spot gold briefly test USD 2,200/oz to the upside.
• Base metals are modestly lower across the board in what is seemingly a weakness stemming from the downbeat sentiment seen across Chinese markets overnight.
• JPMorgan says without counter-measures the Russian decision to cut oil production could lift Brent to USD 90/bbl in April, mid-90s in May and near USD 100/bbl by September

Geopolitics: Middle East

• At least seven people were killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon, according to two security sources cited by Reuters.
• “Israel Broadcasting Corporation: Hostage exchange negotiations continue despite Hamas’ ‘negative’ response”

Geopolitics: Other

• China State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson said some individuals in the US have ulterior motives and are continuously fabricating so-called “timelines” and hyping up the mainland’s “military threat” which is creating an atmosphere of war across the Taiwan Straits, while the spokesperson urged the US to stop fanning the flames and take concrete actions in adhering to the one-China principle, according to Global Times

US Event Calendar

• 07:00: March MBA Mortgage Applications, prior -1.6%
• 10:00: Revisions: Wholesale sales, inventories

Central Bank Speakers

• 18:00: Fed’s Waller Speaks on Economic Outlook

DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap

As we continue to draw closer to the Easter holiday, it remained quiet in markets yesterday other than for a sizeable late sell-off in US equities which came a bit out of the blue. Markets have been a bit thin this week so that might have contributed as we await the main event at 12.30pm London time on Friday when I’ll be driving through the French countryside, and you may be having a well-deserved piece of Easter chocolate! That will, of course, be the much anticipated core PCE print.

Perhaps the most exciting thing in the last 24 hours has been the Yen hitting 34-year lows of 151.97 overnight before rallying a touch to 151.75 as I type. The move came on the back of dovish remarks by the BoJ board member Naoki Tamura that the central bank must proceed slowly and steadily towards normalising its ultra-loose policy. However, the prospect of intervention in the currency market has increased after Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki commented that the government “will take bold action” to slow the currency’s drop if needed. The Nikkei is +1.44% as I type and bucking the trend in Asia as we’ll see below.

Indeed, equities closed out weak last night with the S&P 500 -0.28% lower yesterday, following in the footsteps of Monday’s -0.31% loss, with the Nasdaq (-0.42%) slightly underperforming. The S&P 500 had looked set for a very narrow but positive trading range, but then sold off by nearly half a percent in the final 30 minutes of the session, seemingly driven by quarter-end positioning.

Nvidia, the standout stock of the past year, led this late correction, falling from near flat on the day an hour before close to -2.57% at the close. That still leaves its shares up a more than heathy +86.9% YTD. There were also other contrasting moves within the Magnificent Seven (-0.52% overall). Apple fell early on following the news that iPhone shipments into China fell 33% year-on-year in February, but recovered during the session, ending the day as a modest underperformer (-0.67%). On the other hand, Tesla, which has so far trailed behind in 2024 (-28.5% YTD), was among the strongest performers in the S&P 500, rising +2.92% after new developments in the delivery of its self-driving assistance system. S&P (+0.37%) and Nasdaq (+0.38%) futures are back higher this morning.

Earlier on, equities had closed on the firmer side in Europe, with the STOXX 600 gaining +0.24% and the German Dax +0.67%, the latter supported by a moderate improvement in the GfK consumer confidence index from -29.0 to -27.4 (vs -28.0 expected). See Robin Winkler’s recent blog here on the green shoots we’re seeing in German data of late.

Government bonds have had a more difficult quarter but lacked a bit of direction yesterday. Yields rose a bit after decent durable goods data but fell back to broadly flat after a decent 5yr auction. $67bn was issued 1.0bps below the pre-sale yield, so it was a fairly solid auction, even as the indirect bidder share fell to 70.5%. The auctions for this week are far from over, as we have the US 2yr FRN ($28bn) and 7yr Notes ($43bn) auctions coming up later today. 10yr yields eventually fell -1.3bps on the day. 2yr Treasuries outperformed, with yields down -3.3bps. Markets slightly dialled back expectations of Fed cuts, trimming rate cut bets for 2024 by -1.4bps to 78bps.

The US data was mixed. As mentioned above, durable goods orders came in above expectations, up 1.4% (vs 1.0% expected), with core capital goods orders up +0.7% (vs. +0.1% expected). On the other hand, we saw some softer house price data, with the FHFA (-0.1% vs 0.3% expected) and the Case-Shiller 20-City (+0.14% vs +0.20% expected) house price indices for January seeing their weakest monthly prints since summer 2022 and early 2023, respectively. There were also mostly weaker signals in the survey releases. The Philadelphia Fed non-manufacturing activity index fell from -8.8 to -18 and the Richmond Fed’s manufacturing index fell to -11 (vs no change at -5 expected). The headline US Conference Board consumer confidence print for March declined to 104.7 (vs 107.0 expected). More encouragingly, the details of the print saw a rise in the jobs component, as the share of respondents saying jobs are plentiful rose to 43.1% (vs 42.8% prior), the highest level since July. This highlights a still tight labour market for now, which if maintained may weigh on the Fed’s decision to cut rates later this year.

Sticking with the US cycle, overnight Peter Sidorov published a report dissecting the recent resilience of economic activity to tight bank credit conditions. He sees a number of the tailwinds that supported this resilience last year as fading in 2024, leaving risks of a cyclical downturn in play. By contrast, he sees European growth as on track for a gradual cyclical upswing. See the note here for more.

Yesterday in Europe, we heard from the ECB’s Muller, one of the known hawks, who remarked that we are now “closer to [the] point where [the] ECB can start cutting rates.” Notably, Muller stated that “data may confirm inflation trend for ECB’s June meeting”, the first time he has explicitly commented on the June timing for the ECB’s potential next move. For more detail on the next step for the ECB, see the latest note from our European Economics team on the ECB policy path here. Off the back of this, markets increased their expectations of rate cuts, with the expected probability of a 25bps cut by the June meeting rising from 87% to 94% over the day. This sent both 2yr and 10yr bund yields down -1.1bps and -2.2bps, respectively. 10yr BTPs outperformed (-4.3bps) but OATs saw a more modest rally (-1.5bps) amid news that France’s budget deficit was larger than expected in 2023.

This morning in Asia, outside of the Japan move we discussed earlier, equity markets are mostly trading lower with the Hang Seng (-0.63%), CSI (-0.46%), Shanghai Composite (-0.52%) and the KOSPI (-0.17%) all on the weaker side.

Early-morning data showed that Australia’s inflation remained at +3.4% y/y in February for the third straight month against analyst expectations for a +3.5% gain. However, trimmed mean rose to 3.9% from 3.8% which is the first increase since last April and will be a bit uncomfortable for the RBA.

Elsewhere, China’s combined industrial profit for January and February rose sharply, advancing +10.2% y/y mainly because of a weaker base for comparison from last year.

Now to the day ahead. In terms of data releases, we have the Eurozone March services, industrial and economic confidence and the France March consumer confidence. We will hear from the Fed’s Waller and the ECB’s Cipollone. Lastly, we have the US 2yr FRN ($28bn, reopening) and 7yr Notes ($43bn) auctions.

Just four days after she was hired — and before she even started — former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was fired by NBC News on Tuesday as the network bent to the wishes of its on-air “talent” who protested her hiring during their programs.  

McDaniel was poised to become a talking head providing insights on politics heading into November’s general election. News of McDaniel’s hiring broke on Friday, immediately igniting a firestorm among leftists inside and outside of NBC’s walls. 

In the few days that followed, a parade of hosts — including Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough and Joy Reid, dedicated portions of their shows to raking their bosses over the coals for hiring McDaniel. Rachel Maddow was among the most melodramatically warped, saying that having McDaniel on the payroll was “inexplicable” because she “hasn’t just attacked us as journalists, but…is part of an ongoing project to get rid of our system of government.” 

Maddow laying out the case against Ronna McDaniel pic.twitter.com/WBKchchxnT

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 26, 2024

On Tuesday, NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde waved the surrender flag in a memo to staff:

“No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned. Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal.

After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor. I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down.”

McDaniel, who oversaw seven years of Republican electoral underperformance before resigning in February,  was hired by NBC News editorial chief Rebecca Blumenstein. “They thought this would bring in more conservative viewers and give a conservative point of view,” a source at NBC tells the New York Post. “It is misguided given that no wing of the conservative movement claims Ronna any longer! Don’t understand how no one realized that.”

NBC’s fiasco was indeed multi-faceted. Aside from choosing a non-conservative to appeal to conservatives, the move precipitated a spectacle of hypocrisy, as Maddow and others who relentlessly promoted the Russiagate hoax and cheer on efforts to remove Trump from 2024 ballots assailed McDaniel for being dishonest and supposedly undermining democracy. 

On his nightly show System Update, Glenn Greenwald found the whole thing darkly amusing: 

At least this gave us the priceless spectacle of Chuck Todd lamenting that NBC would lend its sacred “credibility” to someone like Ronna McDaniel.@GGreenwald: “Every poll shows that there are few institutions held in lower esteem than large media corporations like NBC… They… https://t.co/AFM68VZfCM pic.twitter.com/w96MXdA9j6

— System Update (@SystemUpdate_) March 26, 2024

As much as NBC would like to think this whole clusterf*** is behind them, McDaniel, who is Mitt Romney’s niece, is reportedly looking for an attorney, presumably to help her shake some money out of the peacock’s feathers. 

Meanwhile, Conde told employees that he and the network are committed having “diverse viewpoints” and will “redouble our efforts to seek voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum.” In other words, get ready for NBC to prop up a purported “conservative” who gets a stamp of approval from the likes of Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid.