Another comeback day spoiled and then some. What gives?

Today, we look at the violent vibe shift in the US equity market, which crumbled overnight after a quite positive session, led by the very high momentum sectors that posted a solid result yesterday. It doesn't feel like this is all coming from negative reactions to earnings results from the likes of Tesla or Lam Research - but what is it? We wonder if it could be geopolitics. Also on today's pod, we delve way back into the financial history of the 1870's depression and its origins and aggravations, whether hedge fund strategies that are blowing up are further aggravating the French debt market instabilities and much more. Today's pod is hosted by Saxo Global Head of Macro Strategy John J. Hardy.

Links

• The eFinancialCareers story that anecdotally suggests some of the stress on French debt could be down to ill-advised bets that mean reversion on French yield spreads would remain operative. 
• HT to Cory Doctorow for this substack post on the Singularity (when AI and technology suddenly begin outstripping human capabilities and possibly leading to our merging machines), which like nuclear fusion always seems to be 20 years away. The post has a couple of book recommendations from the early 2000's on what the Singularity might look like. I asked ChatGPT for some more up-to-date recommendations, and it gave me this one and this one from Ray Nayler, which look very interesting, but also this one and this one, number three from Adrian Tchaikovsky's Dogs of War series. I haven't read the latter, but did read his Dogs of War - incredibly highly recommended speculative fiction book that is "A gripping exploration of AI, free will, personhood and the ethics of creating intelligent beings as weapons.", an apt ChatGPT summary. There is also Toward Eternity by Anton Hur, which is apparently more about transhumanism.

The PHP2shell hack is getting a lot of attention. People like French grocery stores that don't patch their freezer firmware could still be at risk.

Read daily in-depth market updates from the Saxo Market Call and the Saxo Strategy Team here.

Please reach out to us at marketcall@saxobank.com for feedback and questions.

Click here to open an account with Saxo.

Intro music by AShamaluevMusic

DISCLAIMER This content is marketing material. Trading financial instruments carries risks. Always ensure that you understand these risks before trading. This material does not contain investment advice or an encouragement to invest in a particular manner. Historic performance is not a guarantee of future results. The instrument(s) referenced in this content may be issued by a partner, from whom Saxo Bank A/S receives promotional fees, payment or retrocessions. While Saxo may receive compensation from these partnerships, all content is created with the aim of providing clients with valuable information and options.