DHUnplugged #601 – Catching Up + Egging On

A week off and so much to catch up on. Need to know more about John's bday bash. Inflation much - yup we have a large segment to review - CPI and PPI out this week. New from the Mile-High-Club and Elon's latest craziness. PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts! Click HERE for Show Notes and Links DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter Warm Up - March - UP... First of the year - John Birthday Party (Had at "CLUB") - China clamping down, Inflation still rising and Congress get COVID - Stock Splits - More companies trying to play that game - latest Shopify and Gamestop - Elon Musk - On, Off The Board of Twitter in record time Market Update - SAME NEWS Yields - inversion across much of curve - Earnings season gets underway this week - Russia Defaults on Foreign Debt (some) - Oil sliding lower on massive release of SPR from several countries ---- NEWS: IEA to release 120 million barrels over 6 months - 30 Year Mortgage rate hits 5.25% Commentary: Surprising that Yields keep moving higher.  Yes, Fed and Inflation, bit weakness in markets not drawing in either. First part of April (quarterly rebalance) should have moved from stocks to bonds - but not good look for risk assets. JCD Birthday - Curry/Tina Dinner - So, listening to No Agenda from Sunday - you heard we had dinner. - If you listen, Adam's commentary on N/A went something like this: Well, we ended up in Ft Lauderdale and "since we had nothing better to do, we call up the Horowitz's"  (Time stamp - 12:51) - Went to club, I want to have a nice bottle of wine and we order a 2017 Silver Oak Cab (2) - We all eating and drinking - except Adam  - full bowl of conch chowder and full glass of wine not touched for entire evening Think 0.50% Hike is bad? - Sri Lanka's central bank doubled its key interest rates on Friday, raising each by an unprecedented 700 basis points to tame inflation that has soared due to crippling shortages of basic goods driven by a devastating economic crisis. - The heavily indebted country has little money left to pay for imports, meaning fuel, power, food and, increasingly, medicines are in short supply. Earnings Season Pre-Report - First up are the transports and the financials. (This week's highlights - Delta and JPM) - It looks as if the expectation is for airline losses to get better, although still showing losses. - Financial expectations are mixed, those with reliance on trading and fixed income issuance are expected to show a significant reduction (JPM MS, GS)  in earnings from a year ago. - Some of the consumer related names look to being faring better - according to analyst predictions. (BAC) Ukraine/Russia - Reports that Ukraine holding up pretty well, massive Russian Casualties - More reports that Russia looking to call back retired military to restock forces - Europe backed down from immediate block of Russian Oil - China not buying more oil - but not sanctioning either - Food costs up on Ukrainian Wheat and other export problems Russian Default - Russia has defaulted on its foreign debt because it offered bondholders payments in rubles, not dollars, credit ratings agency S&P has said. - Russia attempted to pay in rubles for two dollar-denominated bonds that matured on April 4, S&P said in a note on Friday. The agency said this amounted to a "selective default" because investors are unlikely to be able to convert the rubles into "dollars equivalent to the originally due amounts." - According to S&P, a selective default is declared when an entity has defaulted on a specific obligation but not its entire debt. China Supply Chain - Internal - Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Nio said on Saturday it has suspended production after the country's measures to contain the rec...