Written by Gary
This was a down day for the markets with the Dow down 0.55%, SandP down 0.63%, Nasdaq down 0.10%, and the Russell 2000 down 0.74%. Gold settled at $1894. WTI up 77 cents to $40.20.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Are LNG Prices About To Head Higher?Weather forecasters are predicting a harsh winter for Asia, and while this would hardly be good news for anyone in the region, it happens to be great news for LNG exporters. Producers of liquefied natural gas were hammered no less mercilessly by the coronavirus pandemic than their oil-producing peers. On top of that, the LNG market was already oversuppliedjust like the oil marketwhen the coronavirus began its global march. As a result, prices for the so-called bridge fuel slumped to about $2 per million British thermal units, |
| 5 Reasons To Doubt The Turkish Giant Gas DiscoveryA little more than a month ago Turkey has victoriously announced that the Tuna-1 wildcat, drilled to a total depth of 4525 metres, has discovered the most prolific Turkish offshore field and concurrently the largest gas field in the entire Black Sea area. The discovery was hailed by President Erdogan as the largest gas discovery in Turkeys history, presented in Turkish media as a game-changer, a transformational event that could finally break the energy pessimism haunting the country for decades. |
| Iraq Discusses Gas Investment At Its Largest Oilfield With BPIraq discussed on Tuesday plans for investment in associated gas production at its largest oilfield, Rumaila, Iraq’s Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail said in a statement to Shafaq News agency. With BP as operator, the Rumaila oilfield produces 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil, or around a third of the crude oil pumped in OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia. Oil production at Rumaila has increased by 40 percent since 2010. “The maintenance of production in Al-Rumaila oil field and the available investment opportunities |
| Oil Holds Its Breath As Presidential Election ApproachesOil prices appear to be waiting for the presidential election before making any major moves, with prices falling due to rising Libyan oil production before climbing on positive news out of ChinaChart of the Week- Oil production outages have increased in 2020, cutting into global supply.- In 2020, oil disruptions have averaged 4.6 mb/d, reaching 5.2 mb/d at its deepest point in June. Outages averaged 3.1 mb/d in 2019.- Much of the increase in outages came from Libya, Venezuela and Iran. Supply |
| UAE Says OPEC+ Set To Ease Oil Production Cuts As PlannedThe OPEC+ group plans to taper the ongoing oil production cuts as of January 2021, as initially agreed, the energy minister of OPECs third-largest producer, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said on Tuesday. Speaking to the Energy Intelligence Forum, UAEs Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said, as carried by Reuters: We in OPEC+ have set a plan and that plan… started with the almost 10 million or 9.7 million barrels (per day) reduction. That volume has been reduced, and it will be reduced again at the end of this year as we |
| The Real Reason China Is Betting Big On RenewablesThe energy and environmental sectors are still abuzz with the ambitious carbon neutrality plan announced by Beijing almost a month ago. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China would double down on its climate commitments and reduce its massive carbon footprint to net zero emissions by just 2060. At the U.N. general assembly, Xi announced that in addition to this extremely ambitious goal, his country would also reach peak emissions in just a decade, by 2030. While the rhetoric around this decision is largely based on climate change |
| Fauci: Trump’s rapid recovery from Covid-19, while welcome, ‘amplifies’ public misunderstanding of diseaseTrump’s quick bounce-back from his infection will likely underscore the mistaken belief some people have that the disease does not present significant health risks, STAT News reports. |
| Meet Kareem Daniel, the head of Disney’s new distribution unitDisney has promoted Kareem Daniel, the former president of consumer products, games and publishing. He will now oversee the new media and entertainment distribution group. |
| Data shows failed U.S. coronavirus safety measures cost lives, says ex-Obama health advisor“The problems we’ve had here ” the number of cases, the number of deaths, the number of hospitalizations ” was not inevitable, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel told CNBC on Tuesday. |
| On deal-crazy Amazon Prime Day, online retailers decide if it’s time to buckle to the bargainWorldwide sales from Amazon’s Prime Day are expected to jump 43% from 2019 levels to $9.91 billion, eMarketer said. |
| AMC warns it could run out of cash this yearA bare movie calendar and continued lackluster attendance has left AMC’s business hemorrhaging cash. |
| Delta posts another massive loss, warns recovery could take 2 years or moreDelta lost $5.4 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, but trimmed its cash burn. |
| Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine trial is paused after ‘adverse event’ in a participantJ&J’s CFO said the pause will allow the data and safety monitoring board to thoroughly investigate the unexplained illness. |
| A 25-year-old man becomes first in the U.S. to contract coronavirus twice, with second infection ‘more severe’It is the first confirmed case of a U.S. patient becoming re-infected with Covid-19, and the fifth known case reported worldwide. |
| Johnson & Johnson beats third-quarter earnings expectations, raises guidanceJ&J’s third-quarter earnings and revenue beat expectations, led by higher sales in its medical-device unit and higher demand for some of its drugs. |
| HHS invests $480 million in Cue Health to boost manufacturing of rapid coronavirus test“Cue’s tests provide results in about 20 minutes with the kind of accuracy provided by lab tests that can take several days, adding to our dramatically expanding supply of rapid tests that can support safe reopening,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar said. |
| U.S. pauses Eli Lilly’s trial of a coronavirus antibody treatment over safety concernsThe ACTIV-3 trial is one of several ongoing trials that are part of an NIH program to accelerate the development of vaccine treatments. |
| Amazon Prime Day kicks off. Four reasons the online retail trade can keep climbingWith Amazon Prime Day highlighting a wave of online retail deals, ProShares strategist Simeon Hyman sees four catalysts driving the e-commerce trade. |
| Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Disney, Ethan Allen, BlackRock, JPMorgan and moreThese are the stocks posting the largest moves in midday trading. |
| Our Simulacrum Economy – Not Fake, But Profoundly UnstableOur Simulacrum Economy – Not Fake, But Profoundly Unstable Tyler Durden Tue, 10/13/2020 – 16:20 Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, In the hyper-real casino, everyone has access to the terrors of losing, but only a few know the joys of the rigged games that guarantee a few big winners by design. Readers once routinely chastised me for over-using simulacrum to describe our economy and society. The problem is this word perfectly describes the hollowed-out, rigged economy and social order we inhabit and so synonyms don’t quite cut it: it’s not the same as simulation or imitation or counterfeit. My use (or over-use) dates back to the 2009 publication of my book Survival+, which included a chapter titled Simulacrum and the Politics of Experience. I use simulacrum to describe a carefully constructed representation of a once-authentic system that is intended to shape our behavior to suit the interests of those constructing the simulacrum. The simulacrum has the look an … |
| Banks Bust, Bullion Battered, But Big-Tech Bid (Again)Banks Bust, Bullion Battered, But Big-Tech Bid (Again) Tyler Durden Tue, 10/13/2020 – 16:02 Another day, another Nasdaq-Whale-driven gamma-squeeze in Nasdaq as the rest of the market deteriorated, giving back a lot (if not all) of yesterday’s gains (Small Caps red from Friday)… |
| “Unconstitutional”: Michigan Supreme Court Denies Gov. Whitmer Request For Extension Of Pandemic Executive Powers“Unconstitutional”: Michigan Supreme Court Denies Gov. Whitmer Request For Extension Of Pandemic Executive Powers Tyler Durden Tue, 10/13/2020 – 15:45 Fresh from her “ordeal” of almost being kidnapped by a couple of white supremacists leftist, BLM-supporting militia nuts, overnight there was more bad news for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer when on Monday a conservative majority in the Michigan Supreme Court denied her request to extend the emergency powers which she invoked to curb the spread of the coronavirus, declaring it unconstitutional. |
| Wall Street October Survey: Most Expect A Contested Election, February Vaccine And W-Shaped RecoveryWall Street October Survey: Most Expect A Contested Election, February Vaccine And W-Shaped Recovery Tyler Durden Tue, 10/13/2020 – 15:30 Today Bank of America released its latest Fund Mangers Report, which is perhaps best known for capturing the sheer schizophrenia gripping Wall Street professionals (case in point, last month a record majority of respondents said “Long US Tech” was the most crowded trade on Wall Street, even as most professionals admitted to flooding into Long US Tech trades). So what is the take home message from the latest survey of 224 pangelists managing some $624 billion in AUM? First and foremost, last month’s consensus that the current recovery is U-shaped (a view held by 32% of respondents in September) giving way to a majority view that the recovery will be a bumpy, double-dip, or W-shaped, held by 30% of respondents while the U-shaped crowd drops to 29%. Meanwhile the V-shaped optimists are far back in 3rd place with just 19% of the responses. |
| Ikea to buy back used furniture in recycling pushWorld’s biggest furniture firm to resell second-hand Ikea items in bid to be ‘climate positive’. |
| Amazon criticised over Covid as Prime Day beginsUnion says the sale could be a “hive of infection” after eight workers test positive in Coventry. |
| Covid-19: Chinese trade grows as others struggle amid pandemicExports in September rose 9.9%, while other major economies struggle with the impact of Covid-19. |
| Ahead of OFS, Sebi initiates insider trading probe in GMM Pfaudler sharesLarge quantities of shares were borrowed from the Securities Lending and Borrowing or SLB segment and sold in the market a few days before the OFS announced September 21 at 33% discount to the prevailing market price. |
| Anil Agarwal plans to move $1 bn from listed Vedanta as loansVIL has not revealed any granular details of the use of funds or which of its subsidiaries will be lending, the nature of the loan instruments, their tenure or even the interest cost for these loans. |
| Motherson Sumi’s reorganization plan good news for investorsThe share swap merger between SAMIL and Motherson Sumi Systems will allow existing shareholders of the listed entity to buy into the auto ancillary and other support businesses of SAMIL. |
| 13Oct2020 Midday Update: Wall Street Is Mostly Lower As Earnings Kick-Off, DOW Down 98 Points. Nasdaq Up 0.2%, Gold Falls To 1891, Bank Shares SlumpWritten by Gary Bull trend strengthens, SP 500, Nasdaq clear 20-day volatility bands (SPY – 0.3%). Dow edges lower as earnings season kicks off and J and J pauses vaccine trial.
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| September 2020 Consumers’ Spending Expectations Improvefrom the New York Fed The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data released the September 2020 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows improvements in labor market and spending expectations, as well as less pessimistic views about households’ expected financial situation. Home price growth expectations returned to their pre-COVID-19 levels, and debt delinquency expectations remained low.
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| Market Snapshot: Dow, S&P 500 breaks four-day win streak as J&J and Eli Lilly pause COVID-19 drug trialsU.S. stocks end slightly lower in a choppy Tuesday session as investors saw some U.S. drugmakers face setbacks in vaccine or treatment trials for the COVID-19 disease. |
| FA Center: This is how to build a portfolio strong enough to handle any uncertainty about the economy and the electionUse this time now to review your investment goals, expenses and philosophy. |
| Key Words: Billionaire investor Howard Marks paints grim view of economic outlook: stimulus alone won’t cure ‘down-cycle’The U.S. stock market has rebounded mightily in recent months but Howard Marks cautions investors to brace for a tough slog in the economy, and that’s even if a fresh fiscal stimulus package can be passed by Congress to help heal the coronavirus-stricken business climate. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
Earnings Summary for Today
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