šŸ‹ Dimon's $141 Million Move

Jamie Dimon will sell $141M of JPMorgan stock in 2024, plus Two Sigma hedge fund rekt by a trading scandal, and buying the dip is back.

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Good Morning! If your checking account is looking light after Halloweekend...you're not alone. The U.S. savings rate is on the decline, but it's good news for the economy with consumer spending driving growth. Hedge fund Two Sigma got rocked by a trading scandal - a 'researcher' apparently made unauthorized adjustments that resulted in $620 million in unexpected gains and losses.Ā 

Buying the dip isnā€™t going out of style - at least not in the bond market. Investors have splurged $21 billion into TLT, BlackRock's long-dated Treasury fund, so far this year. And Fidelity just marked Twitter/Xā€™s value down by 65% since Elon Musk bought it a year ago.

If you havenā€™t already, make sure you are subscribed to Buysiders, our PE & VC newsletter, covering the juiciest deals on Wall Street. Next edition covering the top 3 deals of the month, goes out Wednesday.

SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Dimonā€™s $141 Million Sell-Off

On Friday, Jamie Dimon announced plans to sell 1 million shares of the bank's stock, worth $141 million. Itā€™s a big deal because itā€™s Dimon's first stock sale since he took the CEO throne back in 2005.Ā 

And he says thereā€™s a legit reason why heā€™s selling now ā€“ it's all about "financial diversification and tax planning," at least according to the official statement. But is that really all there is to it? Or does the move hint at a new career path for Dimon in the political arena?

The sale won't start 'til 2024. But JPMorganā€™s stock took a bit of a hit, dropping by 3.6% right after the announcement. Dimonā€™s sale represents a 12% chunk of what his family holds in the company. As of the last market close, they own around 8.6 million shares, worth $1.2 billion.

Some speculate that Dimon might be gearing up to make a political move. Dimon's not just any CEO ā€“ he's got some serious political connections up his sleeve. During the Obama Administration, Warren Buffett gave Dimon the thumbs-up as a possible Treasury Secretary. And as recently as last June, Bill Ackman endorsed Jamie Dimon for President.

Takeaway: CEOs of publicly traded companies have to announce any time they sell stock, and given Dimon's profile and political flirtations, it makes sense why this made the front page of WSJ and the like. But we take Dimonā€™s word that heā€™s not selling because heā€™s necessarily cynical on $JPMā€™s future. Maybe it's simply a strategic move to take some chips off the table and eye a potential presidential run?

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed mixed as Wall Street makes sense of earnings.

Movers & Shakers

  • (+) Intel ($INTC) +9%Ā after earnings beat; progress towards $3B in cost savings.

  • (+) Chipotle ($CMG) +4% after Americansā€™ burrito cravings defy high prices.

  • (ā€“) Enphase Energy ($ENPH) -15% because the solar company warned of a substantial demand drop.

Private Dealmaking

  • Rithm Capital agreed to buy Sculptor Capital for $720 million

  • Eavor, a geothermal energy developer, raised $131.2 million

  • AgentSync,Ā a compliance software provider for insurers, raised $50 million

  • Debut, a sustainable fragrance developer, raised $40 million

  • Arteria AI, a documentation infrastructure startup, raised $30 million

  • 3CentML, a machine learning efficiency startup, raised $27 million

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HEADLINES

Top Reads

  • U.S. investment banks see early signs of revival in dealmaking (Reuters)

  • The incredible rise of Celsius energy drink (BB)

  • Donā€™t blame the consumer for the market entering correction territory (CNBC)

  • Unilever is selling Dollar Shave Club to private equity (Axios)

  • 5 ways Americans keep proving economists wrong (WSJ)

  • Why Exxon and Chevron doubling down on fossil fuel makes sense (YF)

  • Why the shine has come off clean energy stocks (WSJ)

  • Elon Musk knew he made a bad bet on Twitter - he was right (Axios)

  • Bad loans are becoming a real problem for regional banks (YF)

  • Fraud allegations could roil private equityā€™s typical defenses (Axios)

BOOK OF THE DAY

Economic Facts And Fallacies

Economic Facts and Fallacies exposes some of the most popular fallacies about economic issues-and does so in a lively manner and without requiring any prior knowledge of economics by the reader.

These include many beliefs widely disseminated in the media and by politicians, such as mistaken ideas about urban problems, income differences, male-female economic differences, as well as economics fallacies about academia, about race, and about Third World countries.

One of the themes of Economic Facts and Fallacies is that fallacies are not simply crazy ideas but in fact have a certain plausibility that gives them their staying power-and makes careful examination of their flaws both necessary and important, as well as sometimes humorous.

ā€œThomas Sowell ā€œboth surprises and overturns received wisdomā€ in this indispensable examination of widespread economic fallacies.ā€

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

  • Adam Grantā€™s #1 phrase to unlock potential

  • How to be more interesting, according to science

  • Look out for these red flags in a job interview

  • How to destroy pessimism and cultivate hope

  • Netherlands named best country to retire - see where others stack up

DAILY VISUAL

Americans are Spending More While Saving Less

US personal saving rate

Source: Axios

WHAT ELSE TO READ

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DAILY ACUMEN

Tiny Delights

"What we consider defining moments, like promotions or a new house, matter less to life satisfaction than the accumulation of tiny moments that didn't seem to matter at the time.

In the end, everyday moments matter more than big prizes.Ā 

Tiny delights over big bright lights."

Source: Clear Thinking book

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

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