Description

TL;DR: Liquidity setup week. US industrials bull market confirmed, Japan elections loom, and Bitcoin takes the pain.

📄 Summary

US ISM Manufacturing: Bull Market Confirmed

The US ISM Manufacturing PMI printed at 52.6, a major beat versus the 48.5 consensus expectation. Matt Dines calls out that the consensus “tends to herd with each other and get these signals wrong” at inflection points (3:28). This expansionary reading confirms the Dow Theory breakout MindPrint Hash flagged weeks ago between industrial equities (XLI) and the Dow Jones Transportation Index. The signal: the US goods-producing economy is in a bull market, echoing Treasury Secretary Bessent’s stated objective to “grow our way out of this” and “run it hot” (4:17).

Fed H.8 Report: Early Innings of Re-Industrialization

Bank lending data through January 21 shows an uptick in commercial and industrial (C&I) lending, with annualized rate of change moving positive. Matt stresses this is “first, second inning of this thing playing out” and “nowhere near overheated” relative to 2023-2024 plateaus or the March 2020 CARES Act surge (12:27). Deposits show a seasonal downtick typical of January, and banks are tapping debt markets post-earnings blackout for funding. Key watchpoint: cash reserves, as the Fed monitors whether banks have ample reserves to settle transactions in an above-trend growth economy (14:31). Sectors with structural tailwinds in this environment, US industrials and small caps, have been outperforming in the current pullback (11:23).

Japan Snap Elections: The Yen Carry Trade’s Last Chapter

Sunday’s Japanese general elections are the geopolitical headline of the week. PM Takaichi’s LDP currently holds 198 seats and is looking to consolidate power. Key thresholds: 233 (simple majority), 243 (stable majority), 261 (absolute majority, the target), and 310 (two-thirds supermajority). Goldman expects LDP to pick up roughly 65 seats to reach 263, which would allow passage of initiatives without opposition cooperation (21:47). The bigger picture: Japanese banking, the BOJ, and the political regime are all aligned to address inflation, which means JGB yields will keep rising. Matt states bluntly that the yen carry trade, the second-largest global liquidity pool, is “not long for this world” (16:03). Combined with the offshore dollar system already being dismantled via SOFR and LIBOR deprecation, the only remaining option for economies dependent on cross-border financing is to mark up gold, explaining the secular bull market in precious metals (18:07).

Bitcoin and SaaS Sell-Off: Liquidity Tip of the Spear

Bitcoin’s crash from around 124K to 65-66K is painful but, in Matt’s view, cyclical rather than fundamental. BTC trades at roughly a 1.5 beta to the cloud computing/SaaS sector (SKYY), and the hoped-for NASDAQ decoupling “has not happened yet” (26:36). The sell-off reflects a global liquidity suck: offshore dollar gone, yen carry trade unwinding, US re-industrialization absorbing capital, and margin calls forcing portfolio liquidation. Matt notes that despite the carnage, private business engagements he is seeing suggest major credit firms still view continued Bitcoin ascent as “where the puck is going” (29:40). On the SaaS narrative, Cameron Otsuka pushes back on headlines blaming Claude’s Cowork release for the SaaSpocalypse, noting “there is zero way that Claude Cowork release is what caused all of this” and the actual driver is the liquidity and macro trend Matt has outlined (31:13).

🔑 Key Takeaways

US manufacturing PMI at 52.6 confirms industrial bull market; lean into US industrials and small caps as structural outperformers.

Bank C&I lending is inflecting positive but remains early innings; watch cash reserves as the Fed’s key constraint.

Japan elections Sunday: 261+ LDP seats would be a strong result, accelerating the end of the yen carry trade and supporting the gold bull thesis.

Global liquidity is contracting as two major funding sources (offshore dollar, yen carry) are being shut down; gold is the last accommodation tool.

Bitcoin sell-off is liquidity-driven and cyclical, not a fundamental breakdown; ride it out.

SaaS/cloud destruction narrative is overstated; the real story is the macro liquidity regime, not AI product launches.

📱 Social Media

Mine, Print, Hash: https://x.com/MinePrintHash

Matt Dines: https://x.com/LeveredUSTs

Cameron Otsuka: https://x.com/CameronOtsuka

🔗 Links

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