Global Market Comments
October 8, 2018
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(THE MARKET OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD, or GET ME OFF THIS ROLLER COASTER),
(THE INCREDIBLE FUTURE OF THE AUTOMOBILE),
(TSLA), (GM), (F), (TM)
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It was the kind of dinner invitation I couldn’t turn down. What I learned was amazing.
I usually prefer to spend my evenings at home catching up on my research, calling customers, and plotting my next great Trade Alert.
So, it takes a lot to get me out of my cozy digs, especially given the recent incredible sunsets we have been getting.
Attending would be senior executives from Tesla (TSLA), General Motors (GM), and engineering professor from the University of California at Berkeley, and the California Air Resources Board.
With US car stocks going ballistic lately, I thought the event would be timely.
The dinner was hosted by a retired billionaire from Microsoft at the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco.
The topic for discussion would be the very long-term future of the car industry.
I get invited to these things because the guests want to know how their views would fit in within a long-term global geopolitical/economic context, my own particular specialty.
I didn’t want to cramp anyone’s style so I kept my notebook under the table and scribbled away blindly, and illegibly. There’s no particular story line here.
I’ll just give you my random thoughts.
(GM) launched its second-generation Chevy Volt in 2015, and the customer response has been fantastic. The company is building a new $400 million battery plant on the east coast to help meet demand.
Some 60% of the buyers are coming from other automakers. It is fast becoming the new face of Chevy, like the Corvette Stingray and Camaro of years past.
The future is in a 200-mile range $30,000 car, and the Volt is that car, followed by the recently launched all electric Bolt.
Customers want to get away from oil and will only buy the products that accomplish that, be they hybrids or all electric.
He also mentioned that GM is launching an electric bike, which is already widespread in Europe. Not a big needle mover there.
The Tesla guy then proceeded to jump all over him, saying the Volt was “green washing” as usual, since it represents only a tiny fraction of the company’s sales.
GM had a vested interest in promoting the internal combustion engine, in which it had made a century long investment.
Its real focus can be seen in the giant new Suburban factory it was now building in Texas.
Mr. Tesla had driven from the south Bay with his S-1 entirely on autopilot.
The hardware has already been pre-installed in every S-1 produced since 2014, and all that is needed to make them self-driving is to execute a wireless overnight software upgrade.
What is truly amazing is that each car will have a learning program unique to the vehicle. If it misses a hard turn the first time, it will remember that turn and then make it perfectly every time from then on.
The Tesla person said that with the new Gigafactory the company will be on schedule for a tenfold ramp up in car production by 2020.
The $35,000 Tesla 3 that will make this possible will be offered in two wheel and four wheel drive variations. That will take them from 92,000 units a year to 500,000. Q3 2018 Production has already reached 53,000.
I asked him if this means that if your wife suspects you of cheating, will your Tesla rat you out. He answered, “Only if she is a coder.”
Then I wondered what would stop Tesla from selling your driving habits to marketers who would then make special offers from stores you prefer.
A previous Tesla experiment landed me a pair of Seven for All Mankind designer jeans for half off.
Tesla outsells every other luxury car of its class, including the Mercedes S class, the BMW Series 7, and the Audi 8.
Among the US car industry, only Ford and Tesla have never filed for bankruptcy. Tesla is the first new car manufacturer to succeed since Chrysler made its debut in 1928.
I asked about the S-1 maximum single charge range achieved by a driver.
An enthusiast in Norway managed to take one 800 miles on a flat track with no wind and perfect conditions. Wow! My drive from Lake Tahoe record of 400 miles doesn’t come close, and that involved a 7,000 foot decline from the High Sierra crest.
I also enquired about the Cambridge University battery breakthrough (click here for “Battery Breakthrough Promises Big Dividends.”
He said he was aware of it, but that it takes a long time to get a technology from the bench to the marketplace.
Just with their own in-house tinkering, Tesla is boosting battery ranges by 3-5% a year. The current S-1 gets a 305-mile range, compared to my four-year-old 255-mile range.
The Berkeley professor made some interesting observations about Millennials.
He said that while 75% of baby boomers got drivers licenses at 16, and 70% of Generation Xer’s did so by then, only 55% of Millennials took to the road at that age.
The rule of thumb for anything regarding Millennials is that they do everything late.
The gentleman from the Air Resources Board brought out some interesting facts.
More than 80% of all cancer-causing chemicals entering the atmosphere come from diesel engines, so a major effort will be made to cut back emissions from commercial trucks.
Look for the electric fleet coming to a neighborhood near you. Goodbye Volkswagen!
Workplace charging of employee cars will be the next big growth area for charging stations.
Half of all greenhouse gases derive from the burning of oil. The biggest savings in greenhouse gas emissions will come from a clampdown on the refining industry.
Think Koch Brothers.
I was amazed at his commitment to meet California’s goal of obtaining 50% of its energy from alternative sources by 2030.
The oil industry managed to exempt gasoline from the legislation, SB 350. But Governor Jerry Brown put it back in through an executive order.
The state is paying for the initial build-out of hydrogen refueling stations for the new $57,500 Toyota Mirai. A single tank will take the fuel cell vehicle 312 miles.
The state is making major investments in biofuel, planning to obtain 10% of the 50% target from this source.
During a slow moment, I asked a bleach blond trophy girlfriend sitting next to me of her interest in electric cars, expecting the worst.
To my surprise, she said that last summer, she drove an electric bike from New York to Los Angeles, towing a trailer with a solar panel cut in half to provide power.
The southern route avoided the high mountain ranges. I noticed she seemed unusually tanned, and it wasn’t from a can.
I was humbled. For once, I knew less about electric cars than anyone else in the room.
After the dinner, I went up to the Tesla executive and told him “Job well done.” I used to own one of the oldest S-1’s, number 125 off the assembly line, until it was totaled by a drunk driver on Christmas Eve.
I even tested to their safety claims.
Thank you, Tesla! You saved my life!
Global Market Comments
September 27, 2018
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(HOW TO GAIN AN ADVANTAGE WITH PARALLEL TRADING),
(GM), (F), (TM), (NSANY), (DDAIF), BMW (BMWYY), (VWAPY),
(PALL), (GS), (RSX), (EZA), (CAT), (CMI), (KMTUY),
(KODK), (SLV), (AAPL),
(TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2018, MIAMI, FL,
GLOBAL STRATEGY LUNCHEON)
Global Market Comments
May 31, 2018
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2018, FORT WORTH, TEXAS, GLOBAL STRATEGY LUNCHEON),
(ARE WE SEEING "PEAK AUTO SALES"?),
(GM), (TM), (F), (HMC), (TSLA) (NSANY),
(TESTIMONIAL)
It is safe to say that all of the bad news is finally in the price at General Motors (GM).
In the wake of the latest batch of recalls, the total number of cars slated for mandatory repairs now equals virtually all of the company?s production of the last five years.
Woe to the outside supplier who provided those faulty, but cheap ignition switches to the beleaguered company! Penny wise, but 100 million pounds foolish!
What is more important is that ace mediator, Kenneth Feinberg, has finally come up with a number to offer the grieving families of the 17 who were senselessly killed driving GM?s deathtraps of yore. A fatality is now worth $1 million, and the company is offering as little as $20,000 for lesser accidents.
GM should put these numbers on their new car stickers.
In all honesty, this is just a ?feel good? gesture. The company that is actually responsible for these deaths went bankrupt in 2009, and the management long since sent into retirement to practice their gold swings. The new GM bears no legal liability whatsoever.
However, the company needs to preserve the value of its brand. The GM logo still goes out with every vehicle the firm manufactures. So, it will do the right thing for the victims.
Even if you apply these numbers to the much higher number of deaths claimed by plaintiffs? lawyers, more than 88, the total liability will not be enough to put a substantial dent in GM?s earnings. It is really just sofa change for them.
Many of the higher figures include drunk-driving deaths and fatalities of those driving at high speed without seatbelts. But every law school graduate out there is gunning for a piece of the action.
Don?t you just love America!
So all of this bad news is really good news in disguise. This will enable GM shares to catch up with those at Ford and Toyota, which have been on a tear this year. The industry seems poised to reach annual production of 17 million in 2014, an eight-year high. This will be great for profits for everyone.
I knew as much a few weeks ago, when I learned of massive insider buying of stock at GM all the way down to the middle management level. As has so often been the case this year, I waited for a dip that never came.
Now that the upside breakout is undeniable, I have to jump in. A share price appreciation up into the mid $40?s is in the cards.
The shares are starting from such a low base that even if a 5%-10% correction comes, the August, 2015 $32-$34 in-the-money bull call spread should be able to weather the selling. This strike combination particularly benefits from huge chart support at the 200 day moving average.
It doesn?t hurt that during the entire ignition crisis, GM?s market share actually rose. This was no doubt due to the heavy discount and attractive financing that was offered. What they?re losing in margin, they?re making up on volume.
Things are not so good that I am going to run out and buy a GM tomorrow. I am happy with my Tesla Model S-1, thank you very much.
Time to Take Another Ride with GM
Looking for beneficiaries of the coming collapse of the Japanese yen (FXY), (YCS), Toyota Motors (TM) has to be at the very top of your list. A cheaper domestic currency brings a lower cost of production, high foreign sales proceeds, and wider profit margins all the way around.
I am probably the only person in the country who once worked for Toyota, speaks Japanese, and worked in the White House Press Corps, so I feel uniquely qualified to comment on the current state of play with Toyota.
When Akio Toyoda, president of the Toyota parent and grandson of the founder, and English speaking Yoshimi Inaba, president of Toyota Motor North America, Inc. appeared in front of congress, it was the usual kabuki theatre.
The member from Kentucky, where nonunion Toyota plants are located, listed off the firm's charitable donations to the community, while the one from Michigan launched a vicious, no-holds-barred attack.
The language spoken by the two Japanese couldn't have been more different. Toyoda spoke the words of inherited wealth, of a ruling shogun, of privilege, and of condescension. Inaba talked like the hardscrabble warrior that he was, who spent 40 years clawing his way up the Toyota organization ladder.
I think the entire crisis happened because Toyota management believed in their products to such incredible extremes that any criticism was viewed merely as the unhappy grumblings of competitors. That?s how the whole brake pedal fiasco ran away from them, leading to the largest vehicle recalls in history. Similarly, the quality of Japanese products became so ingrained in the minds of American regulators that they too fell asleep at the switch, giving the company a free pass on the rising tide of consumer complaints.
On top of this, you can pile the Japanese cultural aversion to sending bad news up the command chain. This was a major reason why Japan lost WWII, and explains how the suicide rate in the country is so appallingly high. When the bill finally came due, the price tag was 37 dead in acceleration accidents, and a witch hunt on national TV. Toyota's management will make sure, literally on pain of death, that every product rolling off the assembly line, from here on, will be models of engineering perfection.
The stock has held up amazingly well so far, probably because it is mostly owned by strong hands, with few traders involved. Not only should you buy the stock when global markets return to a sustained risk accumulation mode, you should buy a Toyota car as well. It will be the only time in your life that you can find them at a discount. All of this explains why the 37% pop in the stock this year outperformed the main indexes in the US, but also those in Japan as well.
Is This a Buy Signal?
The Bank of Japan renewed its membership in the international quantitative easing club last week, announcing that it was substantially expanding its bond repurchases.
Specifically, it will increase them from ?55 trillion to ?65 trillion, a jump equivalent to $830 billion. To understand how big this is, consider that Japan?s GDP is one third the size of the US. That would be the same as the Federal Reserve announcing a repo program with $2.5 trillion here. Imagine what your asset prices would do if that happened.
For good measure, the Japanese also announced an inflation target of 1%, which is entirely wishful thinking for a country that is entering its 23rd year of deflation. It?s like a man on skid row planning on how to spend his prospective lottery winnings.
The government was prompted to action by the 2011 full year GDP figure, which came in at an appalling -0.9%, compared to a robust growth of 4.5% in 2010. The tsunami reconstruction program has fallen woefully behind schedule due to extreme mismanagement and incompetence by the authorities, despite being more than adequately funded. But after watching the Land of the Rising Sun for the last 20 years, I have come to expect incompetence. Slowdowns in Europe and China, plus the Thai floods and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown have provided additional headwinds.
The immediate impact was to trigger a sharp selloff in the yen, delivering an immediate windfall to readers of my Trade Alert Service who were already long yen puts. Traders like myself are always looking for confirming cross market correlations.? You can find one in the movement of the Nikkei stock average, which has been the world?s most despised asset class for the last two decades.
As you can see from the chart below, it is threatening an important multi month breakout to the upside. The reasons for this are simple. A cheaper yen makes Japanese exports more competitive. It also makes the foreign earnings of Japanese multinationals more valuable when translated back into yen. Look no further than the chart of Toyota Motors (TM), which have leapt by a blistering 30% this year.
If you are still unsure about the integrity of the yen collapse, check out the chart for the long dollar basket (UUP). It is setting up for a multiyear head and shoulders breakout to the upside. Uncle Buck has recently taken a steroid shot from the continuing weakness in Europe and the new recession in Japan.
Bottom line: keep selling the yen on rallies, possibly for the next several years.
Those Steroid shots are Definitely Helping Uncle Buck