Written by Gary
GameStop surges 40% then wipes out gain completely and is halted again (SPY +0.8%). Apple to invest $1.2 billion amid EU push for semiconductor dominance.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
North and South American markets are mixed today. The S&P 500 is up 0.66% while the IPC gains 0.42%. The Bovespa is off 0.67%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Rosneft Set To Sell Assets To Focus On Flagship Vostok Oil ProjectRussias state-owned heavyweight Rosneft plans to sell three southern oil field assets to focus its resources on developing its Vostok Oil project in Eastern Siberia, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The assets in question are Stavropolneftegaz, Ingushneft, and Dagneft, which together produce about a million tons of crude annually, the Reuters source said. This compares with a total output of 205 million tons for Rosneft. Vostok Oil, in Russias Far East, comprises several groups of oil fields holding | |
Why Gasoline Prices Will Continue To RiseThis past week the nationalaverage pricefor regular gasoline rose to $2.71 per gallon. That marks an increase of $0.46/gallon since the beginning of the year. On a daily basis I see accusations on social media that this price rise is a consequence of Joe Biden winning the presidential election. I am going to explain why this is ludicrous, but I would pose the following to those who believe this to be the case. (I feel the need to insert a caveat here, because many people dont seem to make it past this point | |
Brent-Priced Oil Flows To Asia Set To SlumpThe rising premium of North Seas benchmark Brent over Dubai crude is making shipment of Brent-linked oil to Asia more expensive and likely to reduce in the coming months, traders and market sources tell Bloomberg. The Brent premium over Dubai jumped to the highest since December 2019 at over $3 per barrel on Tuesday, according to data from PVM Oil Associates cited by Bloomberg. The key reason for this is the upcoming heavy maintenance on a number of oilfields in the North Sea, which will reduce the availability of North Sea oil to the market. | |
Oil Prices Move Higher Despite Another Major Crude BuildA week after reporting a massive crude oil inventory build of over 21 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration had another unpleasant surprise for inventory watchers: the authority reported an inventory build of 13.8 million barrels for the week to March 5. A draw in gasoline stocks and another one in distillates, however, offset the negative news. A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute reported an estimated crude oil inventory build of as much as 12.79 million barrels for the week to March 5, versus analyst expectations | |
Oil Trader Mercuria Gets Painted Bricks, Not Copper In $36 Million ScamOne of the worlds five largest commodity trading houses, Mercuria, received a cargo of painted rocks instead of copper, for which it had agreed to pay $36 million to a Turkish supplier, Bloomberg has reported, adding that the copper was switched with rocks before the cargo set off for China. An investigation into the affair revealed that the copperall 6,000 tons of it divided into 300 containerswas switched gradually during the night to avoid detection. According to Mercurias Istanbul lawyer who spoke to Bloomberg, the | |
The U.S. Lost 120,000 Oil & Gas Jobs In 2020Around 120,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. oil and gas industry last year due to the crash in oil demand and prices and subsequent massive downsizing of staffing levels, Rystad Energy said in a new analysis this week. The United States, the third-biggest employer in the oil and gas sector globally, saw the number of jobs in the industry decline to around 960,000 last year, down from approximately 1,080,000 employees in 2019. Due to the still ongoing downturn and the rollover effect into 2021, the number of oil and gas workers in the United States | |
Covid changed how we think of offices. Now companies want them to work as hard as they doOne year after companies sent workers home, they are grappling with questions about how much office space they really need. | |
J&J Covid vaccine distribution in poor, Black communities raises race questionsThe allocation of J&J’s shot to inner cities and rural areas, as some officials suggest, could bring allegations of discrimination based on race and class. | |
San Francisco Giants add sports agency Pivot to save on travel costs as league seeks to stem Covid lossesThe Bay Area company is also looking to raise $25 million to expand operations, including a mobile app for clients. | |
India is turning to ‘green hydrogen’ in a bid to decarbonize its economyHydrogen has a range of applications and can be deployed in sectors such as industry and transport. | |
GE to merge aircraft leasing unit with rival AerCap in a $30 billion deal as industry faces more pandemic turmoilGE’s aircraft leasing unit is combining with rival AerCap as the industrial conglomerate further slims down and faces impacts from Covid-19. | |
Biden administration plans to buy 100 million extra doses of J&J’s Covid vaccineBiden is expected to make the announcement during a meeting at the White House with executives from J&J and Merck. | |
Nissan’s COO says its post-Ghosn turnaround plan is on track to hit targets a year ahead of scheduleNissan is making significant progress on a global restructuring plan as it unwinds initiatives of its former leader-turned-international fugitive Carlos Ghosn. | |
Pentagon chief, secretary of State announce first trips abroad as Biden looks to re-set global relationsPentagon chief, secretary of State announce first trips abroad as Biden looks to re-set global relations. | |
Rolls-Royce tech to power all-electric aircraft designed to hit speeds of more than 200 miles per hourAmong other things, Rolls-Royce says it will design the system architecture of the VA-X4’s electrical propulsion system. | |
Short-seller Carson Block defends the practice, says trying to expose fraud is ‘pretty American’Muddy Waters Research founder Carson Block told CNBC on Wednesday that his firm tries to root out corporate fraud and protect investors. | |
GE sheds finance assets as it focuses on industrial business and seeks to strengthen balance sheet“This really marks the transformation into a more focused, simpler and stronger GE,” CEO Larry Culp said in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber. | |
Lego sales soared in 2020, but don’t just credit stay-at-home trends, it’s gaining fans in ChinaLego consumer sales jumped 21% last year, the result of a broader product range, e-commerce investments paying off and a surge of growth in China. | |
Healthy Returns: Building a Safer Future – In-Q-Tel VP Dr. Luciana Borio and former FDA Commissioner Scott GottliebMeg Tirrell speaks to In-Q Tel VP and former FDA Acting Chief Scientist Dr. Luciana Borio and former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb about building a safer future. | |
Everything’s Coming Up COVID For Much Public Spending… Even As Virus FadesEverything’s Coming Up COVID For Much Public Spending… Even As Virus Fades Submitted by Steve Miller of Real Clear Investigations For some special interests, a fading coronavirus pandemic poses a problem, but not always an insurmountable one. Big Labor and its acolytes cite the virus as a compelling reason for doubling the minimum wage and forcing businesses to provide more paid sick leave, while the Biden administration is using the pandemic as part of its justification for overhauling immigration toward eventual amnesty for undocumented migrants. Meanwhile, the left-leaning Brookings Institution has successfully persuaded the federal government to allocate more money to child-care programs in the name of pandemic safety. | |
GameStop Just Collapsed After Topping Record CloseGameStop Just Collapsed After Topping Record Close Update (1225ET): GME collapsed after we posted highlighting the craziness again, and is now halted for the third time… And AMC collapsed too… *Â *Â * WallStreetBets sentiment is soaring in GME again… | |
SEC Issues Investor Alert About Celebrity SPACs After Bruising SelloffSEC Issues Investor Alert About Celebrity SPACs After Bruising Selloff When we look back at the COVID-19 era, there’s little doubt that the SPAC boom that dominated financial headlines last year will be remembered as a shining example of what happens when the Fed steps up to monetize trillions of dollars in federal government stimulus, while millions of scared and desperate Americans scramble to parlay one free paycheck into two. A few days ago, Chamath Palihapitiya, “the King of SPACs” whose leadership in the Virgin Galactic deal arguably makes him one of the progenitors of the contemporary bubble, warned that there will be even more pain ahead for SPAC investors, especially if bond yields continue to rise (which, as we have explained, they likely will, especially if Senators Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren get their way). œThe SPAC market has taken a real beating…if you have one or two more months of this where all of a sudden bonds look better ¦you’ll have a bunch of busted IPOs or mergers. To borrow a phrase form Palihapitiya, SPACs “took a beating” during the Nasdaq drawdown that started last month. | |
Brace For A Blockbuster 10Y AuctionBrace For A Blockbuster 10Y Auction One down, one to go. While this morning’s muted CPI print calmed traders who were on edge that we would see another multi-sigma beat to expectations, and sparked a violent if brief marketwide short squeeze, the main event on today’s calendar is today’s $38BN 10Y auction at 1pm, where memories are still fresh of the catastrophic 7Y auction from Feb 25 which launched a frenzied stop loss liquidation across the yield curve and pushed the 10Y sharply higher by 10bps in seconds, above the 1.50% key level and as high as 1.61%. Yet unlike two weeks ago when in addition to mounting reflation fears and key threshold levels just begging to be “stopped out”, not to mention atrocious liquidity… | |
Heathrow says airport border queues at ‘unacceptable level’The airport regularly sees queuing times of three hours and on occasion six hours, an executive says. | |
Lego ‘to hire hundreds’ more in UK in digital driveThe toy giant sees best sales in five years as lockdown spurs growth in Lego sets for families. | |
Tesco to start recycling bread bags and crisp packetsThe supermarket is rolling out new recycling points for soft plastics that often end up in landfill. | |
Why analysts are bullish on this midcap realty stockAnalysts expect the company’s net sales to more than double in FY22 to Rs 2,100 crore over FY21 and net profit to increase to Rs 385 crore from Rs 20 crore. | |
Anupam Rasayan IPO looks fully priced: Should you subscribe?After annualising the earnings for the nine-months of FY21, Anupam Rasayan IPO demands a price-earnings (P/E) multiple of 86. | |
GameStop, other meme stocks soar as markets eye stimulus boostGameStop retains a legion of devout followers after a social media frenzy in January triggered a massive rally in which its shares surged more than 1,600%. | |
: Apple to invest $1.2 billion amid EU push for semiconductor dominanceApple will invest more than ‚¬1 billion over the next three years to create Europe’s largest research and development site for mobile wireless semiconductors and software, the tech giant said on Wednesday. | |
: ‘Don’t patronize me’ ” Rep. Katie Porter clashes with oil executive over the industry’s special tax breaksPorter, the chair of the House Natural Resources Oversight Committee, criticized special tax benefits for oil companies. | |
: Plenty have tried to create a new Silicon Valley, but this new NBA owner and tech founder may be succeedingThe winning ways of Qualtrics co-founder Ryan Smith underscores the rise of Silicon Slopes as one of the few regions in the U.S. to mold itself after Silicon Valley. |
Earnings Summary for Today
leading Stock Positions
Current Commodity Prices
Commodities are powered by Investing.com
Current Currency Crosses
The Forex Quotes are powered by Investing.com.
To contact me with questions, comments or constructive criticism is always encouraged and appreciated: