Business

Via Dana Lyons' Tumblr,

The broadest U.S. stock index has reached an area of significant potential resistance.

The main catalyst that pushed the price of oil from a 13 year low in early February, when crude briefly traded in the mid-$20 to well over 50% higher less than one month later in one of the world's most furious short squeezes, was the recurring infatuation with the fabricated narrative that OPEC would if not cut production then, then at least freeze it.

We mocked this, as recently as one month ago, when we wrote "About That "Oil Freeze": Russian Crude Production Sets New Post-Soviet Record In February" an article which was self-explanatory:

Donald Trump “has a good brain and he’s said a lot of things,” which is why he often “speaks with himself” when he needs advice.

Be that as it may, Trump has apparently chosen to give his “good brain” a well deserved break when it comes to investing the portion of his net worth that isn’t tied up real estate because according to FEC filings, he has some $121 million stashed away in nearly two dozen funds run by a variety of asset managers including John Paulson and BlackRock.

The problem: they’re performing horribly.

After posting the smallest possible rebound in the past week, moments ago Baker Hughes reported that in the holiday shortened week (in which there was some extrapolation) the decline in US oil rigs has resumed, and as of this moment there were only 372 oil rigs operating in the US, down 15 weekly and the biggest drop in the past moth, to the lowest number in recent history.

Authored by James Montier & Philip Pilkington via GMO,

Executive Summary