WIN
November 24, 2021
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
–WIN was a 1974 slogan which stood for Whip Inflation Now. The current administration is also trying to whip inflation, by announcing yesterday a tap of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The market obliged (having already sold the rumor) and bought the fact. Yesterday CLF2 settled 78.50, up 1.75 on the day. Dan Aykroyd parodied Jimmy Carter’s fight against inflation in 1978 in the clip below. The 1974 slogan to 1978 skit indicates that inflation isn’t always transitory. Today the Fed’s preferred measure is released, PCE Core Prices, expected +4.1% from 3.6% last.
–The eurodollar curve finally steepened, with reds rebounding by 3 bps and golds declining by 5.125, more than an 8 bp swing in the spread. In treasuries the five year note rose 1 bp to 1.33% while 30s finally closed above 2%, up 4 bps to 2.02%. The 3 month libor setting was 17.8 bps yesterday, the highest since May. In recent weeks it had been anchored at 12.5 to 13 bps. leading to trades like a buy of EDM2 9981.25/9987.5 call 1×2 (a few weeks ago). At a libor rate of 12.5, this trade nails it, but the current setting pegs the lower strike.
–On Tuesday, Nov 30, Yellen and Powell will testify before the Senate and again argue that inflation expectations are securely low, centered right around the Fed’s 2% goal. This afternoon Fed minutes from the last meeting are released.
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/jimmy-carter-on-inflation-cold-open/3007609
Stability at the Fed (but maybe not markets)
November 23, 2021
–New lows in all front euro$ contracts as Powell was reappointed, causing an unwind of bets for a more dovish Chair. Greens led the carnage, down 14 bps on the day (3rd year out). All contracts from EDZ2 back were down at least 10.5. New highs in some of the near calendars: EDM2/U2 rose 2.5 to 25.5, solidifying the perception of one hike over the period, even as financial commentators can’t quite decide whether the Fed will hike by the END of 2022. The peak one-year calendar is EDM2/EDM3 which settled 95.5, up 8 on the day and essentially forecasting 4 hikes over the year. Two and five year auctions saw tepid demand (even at higher yields) and on the treasury curve fives were weakest (up 11 bps), with 7s being auctioned today. Markit PMIs today as well.
–In spite of bearish trade, bonds could not break thru 2% and closed just above 1.98%, up 7.5 on the day. 5/30 treasury spread made a new low of 67 bps. Tomorrow brings the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation Core PCE prices, expected +4.1% from 3.6% last.
–In terms of Fed policy, the eurodollar curve, even with recent weakness, portrays a very easy Fed. Forward pack prices (4 contract average prices) are as follow: Reds (2nd yr) 9865 or 1.35%, Greens 9820.5 or 1.795%, Blues 9812.5 or 1.875% and Golds 9808 or 1.92%. Bear in mind that in 2018 as Powell was trying to ‘normalize’, the FF target rose to 2.25/2.50%. Out to five years the FF target isn’t even expected to rise above 1.75% in the current cycle. The outcome of financial repression is the suppression of risk/reward. Friend Tony Hamer notes in a Linked post, “The fact Tesla’s market cap increased by $200 billion with the announcement of a purported agreement to sell 100,000 Tesla cars to Hertz is stunning given the deal has a gross margin of about $375 million.”
–Vols took a nice jump on the sell-off. I marked TYH vol 5.0%, getting closer to the upper end of the recent range.
Flatter
November 22, 2021
–CME Nasdaq 100 futures are at a new all-time high this morning. I saw somewhere that there have never been as many stocks within the Nasdaq Composite making new lows as the index is making new highs. The attached chart shows the number of stocks making new lows in blue (about 10% of the components). Deterioration typically works from the edges toward the center, though big tech seems impervious to any damage given dual attributes of both growth and liquid repositories of flight-to-quality flows.
–Two and five year auctions today, sevens tomorrow. PCE prices and FOMC minutes on Wednesday. Possible announcement of Fed Chair, which could add a bit of drama to Friday’s December treasury option expiration.
–Friday featured a flatter curve, with the 2y yield essentially unchanged at 50 and tens down over 5 bps to 1.536%. 5/30 edged to a slight new low at 70 bps, as did red/gold euro$ pack spread at 58.75. Red/gold is down over 120 bps from the high set early in the year (182) while 5/30 is 93 off the year’s high. High inflation prints would ordinarily be expected to steepen the curve, and the added tailwind of an accelerated taper should also have an impact, but the market appears to be forecasting a rapid economic slowdown as soon as stimulus wears off. More immediately, Covid lockdowns are a concern.
Discomfort Index
November 14, 2021 – Weekly comment
The White House @WhiteHouse /July 1, 2021 (tweet)
Planning a cookout this year? Ketchup on the news. According to the Farm Bureau, the cost of a 4th of July BBQ is down from last year. It’s a fact you must-hear(d). Hot dog, the Biden economic plan is working. And that’s something we can all relish.
Here’s a suggestion for November 14
Having Thanksgiving dinner? Plan to ‘give’ a little more. The sixteen cents you saved on the 4th BBQ has vanished. Feeling like a turkey? “USDA’s Turkey Market Report showed that smaller 8 to 16 pound frozen turkeys were selling for $1.41 per pound, up from $1.15 the year before, a 22% increase.” Driving? How about those gas pump(kin) pie-in-the-sky prices. Might as well stay home and watch the Lions/Bears, who both have enviable records (according to gov’t statisticians). Pass the Wild Turkey.
Much has been made of last week’s plunge in consumer expectations to 62.8, from a pre-pandemic level over 90. I didn’t see any news coverage that found the data mysterious. Inflation concerns are weighing on households. On the chart below I inverted the price of oil; the falling white line represents HIGHER oil prices. There appears to be a correlation with consumer expectations.
The question is whether discouraged households begin to impede future growth, thereby bringing inflation back down. I think there’s implicit belief in this sort of self-leveling adjustment, but I personally think that current dynamics have a way of self-reinforcement.
In the early 1970’s. Arthur Okun (chair of the CEA under Lyndon Johnson) introduced a “discomfort index” to track the “country’s economic welfare by using the simple sum of the inflation rate and unemployment rate.” It became known as the Misery Index. This index was high and relevant for years. Carter blamed Ford. Reagan blamed Carter. The current level is now about where it was before it exploded higher in the 70’s. The point is, ‘self-correcting’ and transitory don’t necessarily occur in an environment of bad policies accompanied by supply shocks.
Early last week Clarida allowed that conditions could be in place for rate lift-off by the end of next year. By Friday, Jan’22/Jan’23 Fed Fund spread was 63.5, essentially forecasting 2.5 Fed hikes by the end of next year. FFF2 is 9992.0 or 8 bps, spot-on the current Fed Effective rate. FFF3 is 9928.5 or 71.5 bps. The market has galloped ahead of the Fed with focus on the inflation part of the misery index. There was simply no way to ignore Wednesday’s 6.2% CPI print. At the end of last week, Mohamed El-Erian bluntly said, “You can’t simply dismiss them [price pressures] as transitory… It is going to go down in history as one of the worst inflation calls.” He added, “I desperately want to be wrong on this call because if inflation ends up to be hotter for longer, it has very unfortunate economic, financial, institutional, social and political implications.” I think we’re seeing the start of that now. The Fed’s narrative has been that demographics and healing supply chains will overcome the myth of higher entrenched inflation expectations. As Winston Zeddemore said to Ray Stantz in Ghostbusters: “Myth? Ray, has it ever occurred to you that maybe the reason we’ve been so busy lately is ‘cause the dead HAVE been rising from the grave.” The resurrection of the Misery Index.
Let’s look for a minute at EDZ3 contract. It settled Friday at 9839.0 or 1.61%, just above the ten year yield of 1.577%. On the week it was up 28.5 bps in yield. (Tens were up 12.7 bps). The contract closed just one bp higher on Friday than Thursday’s new low for the year. Keep in mind that in June, the SEP Fed projection for Fed Funds (median) was 0.6% at the end of 2023, with Core PCE inflation 2.1%. In September the median FF projection was 1.0% for the end of ’23 with Core PCE 2.2%. After both of these meetings, EDZ3 sold off. After the sell-off in late June, the contract rebounded to a pre-FOMC high. A week after the September meeting, there was a brief rally, which also fizzled. Currently, a bear market in Eurodollars has gained strength.
Apart from some brief retracement rallies, the 5/30 treasury spread has declined since the June FOMC, closing Friday at 71 bps. The large initial decline coincided with the June FOMC; prior to that meeting the spread was 140 (off the year’s high at 163). It’s now testing a congestive area of 56 to 70 from late 2019. Last week there were a few large calendar spreads that traded, for example a seller of 20k EDZ3/EDZ5 on Tuesday at 28.5 (settled 22.5 on Friday). Later in the week, there was more of a two-way trade in back spreads. The point is this: like the 5/30 spread, back month ED calendars have declined since June. On a constant maturity basis, green/blue pack spread (3rd to 4th years) was 63 at the start of June and closed at 10 on Friday. A spread like EDU3/EDU4 settled 20.5 Friday, just off Thursday’s low-for-the-year 18.5. It was 50 at the end of September. As a contrary play, it’s worth considering buying back spreads for the positive roll (EDM3/EDM4 is 33.5). If the Fed CAN hold off on rate hikes and inflation stays high, then these spreads will rally. If the market is successful in forcing rate hikes sooner than later, back spreads will remain under pressure.
| 11/5/2021 | 11/12/2021 | chg | ||
| UST 2Y | 39.5 | 51.7 | 12.2 | |
| UST 5Y | 105.1 | 123.1 | 18.0 | |
| UST 10Y | 145.0 | 157.7 | 12.7 | |
| UST 30Y | 188.4 | 195.2 | 6.8 | |
| GERM 2Y | -72.9 | -74.2 | -1.3 | |
| GERM 10Y | -28.0 | -25.9 | 2.1 | |
| JPN 30Y | 67.1 | 67.8 | 0.7 | |
| CHINA 10Y | 289.0 | 293.6 | 4.6 | |
| EURO$ Z1/Z2 | 55.0 | 56.0 | 1.0 | |
| EURO$ Z2/Z3 | 59.0 | 62.0 | 3.0 | |
| EURO$ Z3/Z4 | 23.5 | 19.5 | -4.0 | |
| EUR | 115.52 | 114.45 | -1.07 | |
| CRUDE (active) | 81.27 | 80.79 | -0.48 | |
| SPX | 4697.53 | 4682.85 | -14.68 | -0.3% |
| VIX | 16.48 | 16.29 | -0.19 | |
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/economics/misery-index/
Puking camel
November 12, 2021
–Light volume on yesterday’s holiday trade, but pressure on red eurodollars continues. EDU3 (the last red or 8th quarterly) settled 9876.5 on 5-Nov, one week ago. Yesterday the contract was 9844.5 or 32 lower. Technical formation is, of course, the famous puking camel. Early in the session there was an exit buy of 15k 0EM 9800p for 11, settled 11.75 vs EDM3 9861.5; this was the weakest contract on the board, settling down 8 yesterday. All near one-year calendars settled at new highs. The peak is EDM2/EDM3 which closed 92 bps, up 3.5 on the day. FFF’22/FFF’23 (January one-year Fed Fund spread) settled 64.0, up 5.5 on the day (got it right this time Harish!) indicating 2.5 hikes over the coming year. Of course, market pricing may not be indicative of actual Fed moves, but the market is clearly pushing for rate hikes to quell inflationary pressures. And the pricing for those moves is flattening the back end. Greens to blues (3rd to 4th year forward spread) is only 10 bps and blues to golds (4th to 5th) is only 8.375.
Whites -3.125, reds -7.375, greens -5.125, blues -3.5 and golds -3.5.
–The dollar index is continuing to rebound to new highs for the year, though it’s not even halfway back from the pandemic 2020 high to the low at the start of this year. Gold is also having a moment, with GCZ having rallied $100 to yesterday’s 1864 since the low of last week.
–Today brings JOLTS and Michigan Sentiment numbers. Consumer sentiment is perhaps unsurprisingly weak, as the cost of living outpaces wage gains. 71.7 last, and it’s expected to be around that level. 5-10 year inflation expectations were 2.9% last…I’ll take the ‘over’ on this one. William’s speaks, but the voice of the NY Fed has become muffled in this cycle.
CPI at 30 year high. Last time it was here, 10’s were 8.5%
November 11, 2021
–Monster move on monster CPI data with yoy CPI up 6.2% and Core +4.6%, which was followed by a poorly received 30 yr auction at 1.94%, having missed the pre-auction 1.888% by a mile. NY Fed also released its UIG (Underlying Inflation Gauge) with the ‘full data set’ +4.3%, +0.3 from the previous month, and ‘prices only’ 4.4%, up 0.4%. With respect to inflation, the Biden team says they’re on it. Like the border.
–Volume was heavy. The curve flattened. The US dollar soared, as did gold. Finally a market reaction in sync with the data. On the euro$ curve reds were down an astonishing 17.125 on avg, while greens led the pace at down 17.625 (2nd and third year forward). The two weakest contracts were EDM’23 and EDU’23, both down 18.5 at 9869.5 and 9852.0 (1.35% and 1.48%). Consider those forward three-month yields against the US ten year treasury at 1.554% (+10.7 bps on the day). EDU3 to 10y is just about equal. That forward flatness is also reflected by a new low in 5/30 at just 70.6, nearly 100 off the high from earlier in the year and down 5 on the day. Positive carry is a huge lubricant for the economy, and projected flatness is going to be another economic headwind, without necessarily doing anything to stop higher prices. The Fed is behind the curve, their projections have been far wide of the mark. Powell implicitly equated inflation with wage gains, but actual costs of living are outpacing wages, which creates more job-change friction in labor markets. That is, ‘full employment’ is likely a higher number than they currently believe- higher than 3.8%. They made it sound like they have the tools to stem higher than expected inflation, but it’s only the hammer of higher rates, which can cause a slew of other problems. Good luck Lael. If she doesn’t work, Turkey has a deep bench of sidelined central bankers to choose from.
–New highs in near ED calendars. Peak is EDM’22/EDM’23 at 88.5, a jump of 12 on the day! Ten-year tip breakeven made a new high at 272 bps (long term inflation proxy).
–November midcurve options on euro$’s expire Friday. EDZ’24 settled 9826.5 and the 9825 straddle settled 8.0. Ordinarily 8 bps would seem high for just two days, but the contract moved 16.5 yesterday. Breakeven 9817 and 9833. Probably priced about right, but I wouldn’t sell it.
The CME floor used to invite a military honor guard to the floor for a ceremony before the open on Veteran’s Day. It was impressive every time. Dead silence during the ceremony except for the buzzing of unanswered or muffled phones. An explosion of cheers on its completion. I’m not sure but I think Stu Unger was one of the guys that supported the effort. Surprisingly I can’t find a video…
Ten year TIP record low yield
November 10, 2021
–New low yesterday ten-year inflation “protected” (TIP) yield at NEGATIVE 1.206%. From the TreasuryDirect website: “The principal of a TIPS increases with inflation and decreases with deflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index.” Today CPI is released and is expected 5.9% yoy with Core 4.3%. CPI hasn’t been above 5.9% since late 1990 when it peaked at 6.3%. At the time, the US 10y yield was around 8.25% vs 1.43% yesterday. As an aside, the last time the 10y TIP was around this level in Q3 2020, gold was on its way above $2000 vs 1830 now.
DO NOT FEAR: “Yellen…said the high inflation that persisted through parts of the 1970s and 1980s occurred ‘because people thought that policy makers wouldn’t bring it to an end, and inflation expectations became embedded in the American psyche. That isn’t happening now and the Federal Reserve wouldn’t permit that to happen.” (BBG) That’s expressing a lot of faith in the institution of the Fed when we don’t even know who the Chairman will be next year. In the previous period it was the towering Volcker, who crushed inflation expectations with sky-high funding rates of 20% in 1981. The current FF rate is zero to 0.25%, and the Fed is promising to keep it there until unemployment reaches around 3.8% according to Clarida. But the Fed won’t allow inflation expectations to become embedded. Just keep telling yourself that Janet. Oh, and China’s factory gate inflation in October rose to 13.5% in October, fastest in 26 years.
–Big bid in the long end yesterday despite the ten-year auction and today’s upcoming 30y auction. Both tens and thirties fell nearly 7 bps to 1.43% and 1.82%. Long end vol bid with USF at 9.3, upper end of range, as we moved to the 162 strike (USH settle 162-05).
Upside risks to inflation
November 9, 2021
–Yields rebounded yesterday on light volume and the curve flattened as the belly led the way. EDU’23 was the weakest contract on the euro$ strip closing down 10 at 9866.5. The five year yield rose 7.2 bps to 1.123% and tens gained 4.7 bps to 1.497% in front of today’s auction. Clarida said yesterday that he expected conditions to be in place by the end of next year for a rate lift-off, citing a rate of 3.8% as full employment. Jan’22/Jan’23 FF futures spread is 50.5, signifying market expectations of two hikes by end of 2022. Here’s a direct quote from Clarida on inflation:
“But let me be clear on two points. First, realized PCE inflation so far this year represents, to me, much more than a “moderate” overshoot of our 2 percent longer-run inflation objective, and I would not consider a repeat performance next year a policy success. Second, as always, there are risks to any outlook, and I and 12 of my colleagues believe that the risks to the outlook for inflation are to the upside.”
–Bloomberg reports that Biden interviewed Brainard for top job at the Fed. Vice-chair Quarles resigned yesterday, effective at the end of the year. Clarida took office as a Board member to fill an unexpired term ending Jan 21, 2022. Fed changes are in play.
–Today features PPI expected 8.6% with Core 6.8%, same as last month. CPI tomorrow. This, as the 10-year when-issued yield is hovering right around 1.5%. The WSJ has a headline noting that China junk-bond yields top 25% as property developers continue to struggle. It seems as if markets in China are responding to economic conditions while the US treasury market ignores inflation. The ten-year inflation indexed note yield was negative 113 bps late yesterday; not a record low but getting close.
–Option volume was light, but a representative trade of pressure on reds and greens was +20k 2EF 9825/9787.5ps for 5.0. Settled 5.25 vs underlying (green) EDH’24 9852.0. Midcurve Jan options expire January 14, 2022.
High gamma new assets
November 8, 2021
–TSLA down this morning as Musk asked the twitter universe if he should sell stock and the answer was ‘yes’. If I am seeing the correct figures the stock is down about 5% from Friday’s market cap of $1.227 trillion, or around $60b. Bitcoin is pressing new highs, currently 65990 vs ath on Oct 20 of 66976. Ethereum is making a new high at 4731. A lot of capital is changing hands on relatively new assets these days.
–Friday saw yields continue to fall, with tens down 7.3 bps to 1.45%. Tuesday features the ten-year auction, sandwiched between 3s today and 30s Wednesday (early due to Veteran’s Day on Thursday). The curve flattened with 2/10 down 5.5 to 105.5 bps. Implied vol firmed quite a bit in treasuries, indicating fear has shifted to the idea of lower yields. I don’t know that I have seen this before, perhaps it has occurred and I didn’t notice, but TY week2 calls traded more volume than the regular TYZ calls, 269k vs 215k. The two expiration days are: Week2, this Friday Nov 12 (day after Vet’s Day) and TYZ Friday Nov 26 (day after Thanksgiving). There was a new block buyer of 70k TY2X 132.75 call for 4/64 that sparked week-2 activity. Settled 9 vs 131-265. Several recent analyst notes have pointed out that the huge volume of equity options has surpassed that of underlying stocks, and that many of these trades are high gamma plays, with the implication they are spurred by message boards. In any case, a snapshot this morning of 2MX1C 132.75 (bbg symbol for week 2 calls) is 3/4 vs 131-16+. For the sake of comparison, TYZ 132.75c are 7/8.
–Inflation data this week with PPI tomorrow and CPI on Wednesday. CPI expected 5.9% yoy vs last of 5.4. Can TY rally from a sub-1.5% yield if CPI is ‘better than expected’ 5.6%? The answer of course is ‘probably’ but I still have a hard time wrapping my head around demand for treasuries given the macro backdrop. November midcurve options on euro$’s expire Friday. 0EX1 9925 straddle settled 10.5 Friday vs underlying EDZ2 9926.5. Wide breakevens of 9935.5 and 9914.5 for 5 days.
El Risitas
November 7, 2021 – Weekly note
You have one job: to guide and align policy with monetary and economic goals.
Andrew Bailey, after steering the markets to expect a November rate hike and then failing to deliver:
“I don’t think it’s our job to steer markets day by day and week by week.”
As Efficient Market Hype @EffMktHype said on a mock-up of the famous El Risitas interview (The Giggles, otherwise known as the laughing Spaniard): “If these guys taught a communications class, it would be sign language in the dark.” (Link at bottom, not appropriate for all work situations, but succinctly captures market conditions leading to this week’s whipsaw).
Obviously the Fed takes its communications and guidance seriously and Wednesday’s taper announcement was fully expected. However, on the week there were large changes in rates and expectations. US 2y yield fell 9.4 bps to 39.5. Fives sank 13.4 to 1.05%. Tens fell 10.2 to 1.45%. On the euro$ strip, EDZ’21/EDZ’22 plunged 11.5 bps to 55.0 and FFF2/FFF3 dropped 12.5 from 58 to 45.5, essentially shaving half a hike from expectations for next year. The 5/30 treasury spread steepened modestly from 74.6 to 83.0 The low on Oct 29, 74.6. is the lowest the spread has been since the Covid volatility of March 2020. Inaction by the BOE led rates to drop everywhere.
The week’s action concerning stirs has been well reported. As an example, Sept’22 short sterling was 9945.5 on Sept 21, just prior to the MPC meeting. By Oct 29 it was 9864, a plunge of 81.5. After this week’s meeting, the contract settled Friday at 9899, a rebound of 35 on the week. Wild.
Perhaps the idea of financial stability is destined to become more of an issue. Similar to the 1999 dotcom bubble, all I am hearing about now is crypto. I personally think economic growth and prosperity comes from investment and productivity. To me, blockchain fits that bill. But the plethora of crypto currencies and pyramid schemes being hawked on this basis is nothing more than the South Sea Bubble. Maybe it’s not big enough to make an economic dent if and when the unwind comes. However, according to CoinMarketCap.com, the total capitalization of all coins as of Sunday is $2.77 trillion. Of this, Bitcoin and Ethereum are $1.71 T combined.
https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/
Many commentators have called the rise of cryptos a failure in confidence of fiat currencies. I am sure there’s a kernel of truth to that. However, all sorts of asset valuations are suspect at this point.
Consider the chart of Zillow, down 67% from the high in February. From MarketWatch: “In announcing its latest quarterly earnings on Tuesday, Zillow confirmed that it will ‘wind down’ its Zillow Offers division that focused on buying homes, refurbishing them and then selling them, hopefully for a profit. But the profit piece was missing.” The market cap of Z has evaporated by $34 billion to $16.8b from a high of $50.8. This is a company which supposedly has expertise in valuing homes. I don’t know if Z touts AI in its methodologies. But I think a lot of companies that do will end up being painted with the A brush over time: Artificial.
Zillow’s entrance into the home-flipping business has a lot in common with crypto-ccy flipping. A big part of “financial engineering” is predicated on negative real rates. The fact that valuations rise given inflation and highly negative real rates is not permanent.
Coming up
Tuesday: PPI expected +.8.6%
Wednesday: CPI expected 5.9% from 5.4% with Core 4.3% yoy. Jobless Claims 265k
Thursday, November 11: VETERAN’S DAY
Friday: JOLTS and U Mich indicators
Treasury auctions Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of 3s, 10s, 30s.
| 10/29/2021 | 11/5/2021 | chg | ||
| UST 2Y | 48.9 | 39.5 | -9.4 | |
| UST 5Y | 118.5 | 105.1 | -13.4 | |
| UST 10Y | 155.2 | 145.0 | -10.2 | W/I 146.7 |
| UST 30Y | 193.5 | 188.4 | -5.1 | W/I 188.3 |
| GERM 2Y | -58.4 | -72.9 | -14.5 | |
| GERM 10Y | -10.6 | -28.0 | -17.4 | |
| JPN 30Y | 66.5 | 67.1 | 0.6 | |
| CHINA 10Y | 297.0 | 289.0 | -8.0 | |
| EURO$ Z1/Z2 | 66.5 | 55.0 | -11.5 | |
| EURO$ Z2/Z3 | 61.0 | 59.0 | -2.0 | |
| EURO$ Z3/Z4 | 17.0 | 23.5 | 6.5 | |
| EUR | 115.63 | 115.52 | -0.11 | |
| CRUDE (active) | 83.57 | 81.27 | -2.30 | |
| SPX | 4605.38 | 4697.53 | 92.15 | 2.0% |
| VIX | 16.26 | 16.48 | 0.22 | |
Viral star Juan Joya Borja – known as the man behind the ‘Spanish Laughing Guy’ meme – has died aged 65, with tributes pouring in.
The Spanish comedian and actor, aptly nicknamed ‘El Risitas’ (‘The Giggles’) is best remembered for bringing millions of people joy with his distinctive laugh, when he was interviewed on Spanish TV.
The star told a story about his time working at a restaurant and could not hold it together, descending into fits of giggles.
