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David Fuller and Eoin Treacy's Comment of the Day
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Email of the day on batteries and the challenge of commodity supply

Congrats on your opinion on a larger correction and acting on it with put purchases.

Last week Double Line presentation  had a chart that showed the performance of equity and the different credit subclasses, Ags., EM, HY, ClOs and so forth. Showed  the large move by equities compare to credit over the same time period. It made me wonder how much further the equity correction can go.

You often follow interesting companies, you mention EQNR from Norway. have you ever looked a Freyr. It is also Norwegian and is involved in batteries. During  the last days because of a report on its possible growth it had a huge move , but during this correction it may be a good opportunity, let me have your thoughts. Based on your comments  how much the market has already priced in the EVs maybe it is not a good idea.

The move on copper is not a good signal  

Trust all is well for you  and your family



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UK's Biggest Tax Cuts Since 1972 Trigger Crash in Pound, Bonds

This article from Bloomberg may be of interest to subscriber's. 

Liz Truss’s new British government delivered the most sweeping tax cuts since 1972, slashing levies on rich households and companies in a bid to boost economic growth in a move that triggered a massive market selloff in UK assets.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng announced a series of tax cuts and regulatory reforms that will cost £161 billion over the next five years. That fanned concerns about inflation, already near a 40-year high, and about a spiraling government debt burden. 

The pound crashed below $1.11 for the first time since 1985, sliding 2% in addition to declines earlier in the week. Borrowing costs on five-year government bonds jumped the most for a single day on record as traders dumped UK assets.

“It is extremely unusual for a developed market currency to weaken at the same time as yields are rising sharply,” said George Saravelos, global head of foreign exchange research at Deutsche Bank AG. He warned the UK currency is “in danger” and suggested markets were treating it like a developing economy. 

The package was more ambitious than expected, with a big giveaway for the UK’s wealthiest households and plans to tear up planning rules and reform financial regulations. 

Kwarteng scrapped the 45% additional rate of income tax, paid by only the richest earners, leaving the top rate at 40%, and cut the basic rate from 20% to 19%. He paid only lip service to concerns about rising public debt, reiterating a pledge to “reduce debt as a percentage of GDP over the medium term.”

The Conservative administration hopes its program of lower taxes and deregulation will turbo-charge the economy, staving off a recession that the Bank of England says has already begun and shaking the UK out of a decade of weak growth.

 



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Brookfield plans 12-16 gigawatts of India renewables over next decade

This article from the Economic Times may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:

Brookfield is looking to multiply its current 4 GW renewable portfolio by 3 to four times in India within the next decade in generation as well as help corporates make the transition to decarbonise and invest in building large scale supply chain in the country, said a top executive.

The renewables current assets under management is approximately $1 billion.

Earlier this year, Brookfield Asset Management announced that it raised a record $15 billion for its inaugural Global Transition Fund. This marks the world's largest private fund dedicated to the net zero transition, signaling that investors are still committed to establishing cleaner portfolios. Brookfield is the single largest sponsor of the fund having deployed $2 billion itself.

Brookfield deals with state utilities but sees incremental green power demand coming from corporates who are increasingly becoming bulk consumers. For example, as part of its road map to achieve 100 per cent dependence on renewable energy by 2025. Amazon on Wednesday announced its first utility-scale projects in India — three solar farms located in Rajasthan. These include a 210-megawatt (Mw) project to be developed by India-based developer ReNew Power, a 100 Mw project to be developed by local  developer Amp Energy India, and a 110 Mw project to be developed by Brookfield Renewable Partners.



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Email of the day on elevated valuations:

on today's video you highlighted the virtues of the NOBL Dividend Aristocrat index, but on closer inspection the yield on this is just 2%. A year ago, that was 4x the yield on short term treasuries in the US, but with 1 and 2- year treasuries yielding 4% now, double that of NOBL, there seems to be far less support from those seeking out yield.
The TINA approach is fast coming to an end. With that in mind, and with the Sterling continuing to take strain, what investment vehicles are available to us in the UK to invest in 3M, 1Y an 2Y US Treasury paper?



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Unspoken Rules



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Beyond Meat COO Arrested for Biting Man's Nose After College Football Game

This article may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section: 

His arrest is the latest blow to the plant-based protein company, which last month slashed its revenue outlook for the year and said it would cut 4% of its workforce.



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Email of the day on global property prices

In the Big Picture Roundup, you shared this wonderful chart.

The problem is that the way that you shared it, means that we could not see the date axis.

It would be great if you could share a better version of this chart e.g., on Comment of the Day

Thank you in advance



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Thoughts from the Road

Thanks to a subscriber for this report from Mike Wilson at Morgan Stanley. Here is a section: 

After the discussion around earnings trajectory for the S&P 500, the focus then typically turned to how to trade it. Here, we have some sympathy for the view that markets may potentially hold up very tactically until the EPS cuts actually happen. As already noted, conference season is upon us and investors are ready for some bad news at least with regard to how 3Q is progressing. However, the degree of that deterioration is more debated now given the recently announced $500 billion student debt forgiveness and extended moratorium on loan payments until December, combined with the energy subsidy announced this past week in the UK to help consumers through the winter. Both of these are rather large fiscal stimulus packages that could keep the "tone" of company commentary less bearish than feared, and potentially delay the eventual cuts. Nonetheless, we have high conviction that EPS cuts will play out in earnest over the next 2-3 months, and as a reminder from our note last week, mid-September through October is a particularly challenging seasonal period for EPS revisions.



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Email of the day on the S&P 500

Thanks for another very informative comment of the day. do you expect the SP500 to test the lows of 2020? I would very much like to hear your views on this. Thanks in advance. Best rgds.



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Lululemon stock soars as earnings show company's customers are still visiting its stores in droves and paying full price

This article from MarketWatch may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:  

"New guest acquisition remains strong, with transactions by first-time guests increasing over 20% in (the) quarter," McDonald told analysts on the company's earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript.

"Transactions by existing guests increased in the high teens. Traffic across channels remains robust, with store traffic up over 30%, and e-commerce traffic increasing over 40%. And importantly, we are not creating this traffic through markdowns or price promotions. Lululemon remains predominantly a full-price business, and we have not changed our promotional cadence or markdown strategy and we have no plans to do so."

Still, inventories rose 85% to $1.5 billion at quarter-end, up from $800 million in the year-earlier period. "The company believes its inventories are well positioned to support its expected revenue growth in the third quarter," it said in its earnings release.

An inability to clear inventories to make way for fresher products and steep declines in traffic to stores has plagued most other clothing retailers this earnings season.



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