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despite threats of a black Monday fueled
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by fear-mongering headlines the S&P 500
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surged yesterday from the session lows
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to the highs it climbed over 6% one of
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the most significant single day gains in
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its history comparable to those seen in
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2020 during the COVID crisis or back in
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2008 during the great financial crisis
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but there's more we were promised
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darkness yet volatility plummeted the
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VIX index as you can see dropped nearly
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50% falling from the 60 level down to
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the 38 to 40 range however those weren't
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the most attention-grabbing facts for me
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what stood out was this first mid
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session yesterday Donald Trump announced
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an additional 50 percentage point
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increase in tariffs on China in response
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to hikes by the Chinese government the
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S&P 500 initially reacted with about a
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2% drop but then recovered closed near
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its highs and is climbing again today
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what does this suggest perhaps tariff
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headlines have already inflicted their
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maximum damage maybe they can't hurt
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much more but there's an even more
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significant development in my opinion
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the yield on the 10-year US Treasury
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bond we saw the 10-year yield break
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below that crucial 4.1% support level
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last Friday only to reclaim it yesterday
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so what comes next to answer this let's
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first examine the dominant narrative and
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compare it to reality what is the
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dominant narrative it's that the US and
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global economies have roughly a 60%
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probability of entering a recession
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that's the prevailing story look at
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Larry Frink CEO of Black Rockck someone
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with deep financial market knowledge he
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mentions that when meeting with CEOs
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most believe the US economy is likely
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already in recession that's the dominant
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narrative what about the stock market
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narrative that we have officially
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entered a bare market that's the story
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being told all right and where else does
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this narrative lead as you know in
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recent days we've heard the US commerce
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secretary and other administration
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officials insist that Trump will not
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negotiate naturally this generates
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okay before contrasting this narrative
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with reality I'd like you to consider
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this feels like a crash prefabricated by
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Donald Trump to force the Chinese to
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negotiate it's a way of telling them
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he'll halt their exports and isn't
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afraid of a market crash or even a
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recession it's a massive bluff plain and
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simple all right let's fit the dominant
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narrative into this framework larry
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Frink and many CEOs claim the economy is
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in recession is there data to support
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this well I don't see any signs that the
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US economy has entered a recession none
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for example if you look at the Baltic
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Dry Index which measures the cost of
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transporting dry bulk goods by sea you
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can see on the chart that it rose in
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recent weeks you might argue well it
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rose recently because more goods were
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shipped out of fear of tariffs i accept
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that and now it's falling fine but
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notice it remains clearly above the 2020
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lows when supply chains were paralyzed
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see it's practically at similar levels
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to 1 2 or 3 months ago before this
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escalation countering this dominant
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narrative we also have the behavior of
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the 10-year US Treasury yield as you can
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4.1% it looks like a false breakdown to
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the downside what does this indicate i
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believe many people capitulated sold
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treasuries the support broke stops were
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triggered more selling occurred and now
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it has recovered above that level
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therefore I don't see signs of the
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global or US economy entering recession
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so in my opinion the dominant narrative
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isn't accurate okay next point the
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dominant narrative says we are
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officially in a bare market well what
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typically happens after a bare market is
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declared i can tell you that one year
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later the S&P 500 has historically
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recovered at least 20% with only three
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exceptions since the end of World War II
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1973 1987 and 2008 therefore the
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probabilities favor stocks rising even
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after an official bare market
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declaration it's not unusual especially
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in this case because this market decline
4:53
this feeling of a sharp drop seems to be
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a crash prefabricated by Donald Trump
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not driven by the natural business cycle
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all right consequently I believe it's
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most likely that within a month 3 months
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6 months and a year from now the S&P 500
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will be above current levels next issue
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regarding the narrative Trump seems
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intent on imposing during this
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prefabricated crisis when US
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administration officials appear they all
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say "No no the president won't
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negotiate." Well that's false he is
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already negotiating look specifically at
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this tweet from the US Treasury
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Secretary a highlevel Japanese
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government delegation is heading to the
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US to negotiate the European Union under
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Fondonder Lion has already capitulated
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offering zero tariffs the amusing part
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is the Spanish government claiming here
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that EU revenue from US tariffs will
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fund sectors in crisis but my goodness
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if tariffs are going to zero where will
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the money come from see this is a
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fabricated narrative everyone is trying
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to profit from okay the UK is
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negotiating india and Vietnam have
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indicated they will lower barriers but
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what catches my attention most is China
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in yesterday's tweet where friend Trump
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tells the Chinese he'll increase tariffs
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by 50 percentage points on April 9th
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unless they back down and reduce the
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retaliatory tariffs they imposed on the
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US he also says that if they don't back
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down negotiations are over if
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negotiations are over why are you
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negotiating all right so what about the
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S&P 500 now the question we're all
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asking is have we seen the worst has a
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bottom been formed i'll tell you what I
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really think which is consistent with
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what I've been saying we are in a moment
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of very high volatility around 40%
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there's a tremendous amount of noise
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okay this market environment is only
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suitable for highly skilled intraday
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speculators claiming a bottom has formed
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nobody knows for sure the key isn't
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whether a bottom is in the key is how I
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react to the S&P 500's movements
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considering the damage inflicted on the
7:17
indices even if it's from a
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prefabricated crash typically indices
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mark a low during peak fear then bounce
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move sideways and develop a
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consolidation pattern the duration of
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which often corresponds to the extent of
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the damage caused however the feeling
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now is that the worst might actually be
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behind us for one simple reason when the
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US specifically Donald Trump yesterday
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announced the potential tariff hike of
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50 percentage points on China the S&P
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500 reacted with gains okay therefore
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I'm inclined to think that we have
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likely seen the lows now you might ask
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is there a bottoming pattern i repeat
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what I said when I considered the bottom
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5,500 there is no bottoming pattern yet
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okay the most probable scenario is a
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sideways movement next point the 10-year
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US Treasury yield the yield settling
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above 4.1% makes it very difficult for a
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recession to take hold is that clear
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finally we've seen the strong rally of
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the Swiss Frank against the dollar euro
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and pound stall and begin to correct
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this leads me to believe that a bottom
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is likely forming around this area but I
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repeat there is no confirmed bottoming