Yesterday we pointed out that the number of companies in Europe losing money jumped for the first time in 2 years [2], doubling from 5% to 10% (even as the matched metric for US peers continues to improve). Unfortunately, we can now say with absolutely certainty that this number will shortly soar courtesy of surging input costs which eat even further into what little is left of corporate profits, not to mention the demand destruction which comes from having to pay a price at the pump [3]which would lead the average American to get a stroke on the spot. The culprit - Brent, whose price in euros has now risen to a new all time high, surpassing the peaks seen in 2008. In fact, EUR brent is now up 293% from its 2008 lows, putting the returns of the S&P and even gold to shame! And all along the market keeps on happily chugging higher completely oblivious of the tens of billions in corporate profits that new are eaten away courtesy of this latest and greatest side effect of massive central bank liquidity tsunamization. But hey - there's always Apple's latest gizmo which somehow is never quite "priced in" by the market.
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