Written by Gary
February 2021 real income and expenditures declined (SPY +0.6%). DOW rises for second day, still stocks are set for back-to-back weekly loss.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | North and South American markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Bovespa gained 1.21%, while the IPC led the S&P 500 lower. They fell 1.14% and 0.06% respectively. |
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
| Oil Tanker Rates Surge As Suez Canal Blockage ContinuesOil product tanker rates have surged almost double since a giant container ship ran aground the Suez Canal on Tuesday, blocking traffic on the vital shipping lane. The rates for shipping oil products in the Mediterranean region have almost doubled, while shipping companies have started to divert tankers bound for Asia away from the Suez Canal to the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. While efforts continue to dislodge the huge ship the length of the Empire State Building from the Suez Canal, it could be weeks until traffic returns |
| Survey: Businesses Dont Believe Energy Transition Is ViableThe business world seems to have doubts about the economic viability of the energy transition, a survey by Standard Chartered has suggested. According to the survey called Zeronomics, as much as 64 percent of the 250 senior executive respondents dont think the energy transition to net-zero emissions is commercially viable when it comes to their company. This finding, which hints that the energy transition may simply be too expensive for many companies, chimes in with another: that the majority of companies need to invest money that they |
| Houthi Rebels Launch Missile Attack On Saudi Oil TerminalA petroleum products distribution terminal in Jizan, Saudi Arabia, was attacked late on Thursday local time, the Kingdom said, blaming the Iran-aligned Houthi movement and vowing to take measures to preserve the stability of the global oil supply. Late on Thursday, an attack with a projectile was made on the petroleum products distribution terminal in Jizan, an official spokesman at the Saudi Ministry of Energy said, as carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. The attack caused a fire in one of the petroleum tanks at the terminal on the |
| UAE To Curb Supply To Asian BuyersEmirati state oil company ADNOC has reduced its planned shipments of crude oil to Asia by 10-15 percent for June, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. ADNOC earlier said it will curb supply to Asian buyers for May by 5 to 15 percent as part of its production control obligations under the OPEC+ deal. Also, Asian buyers still have ample supply in storage and are drawing from it while prices are high. Maintenance season in many Asian refineries is helping keep demand in check, too. Interestingly enough, the news comes |
| OPECs Biggest Fear Is Becoming A RealityU.S. oil drillers are no longer sitting in the trenches, waiting for the pandemic storm to pass. They are once again in growth mode, according to the first-quarter energy survey by the Dallas Federal Reserve. As oil prices rebound, activity in the oil patch is expanding, respondents to the Dallas Fed Energy Survey said. And it is expanding strongly: from a reading of just 18.5 for the fourth quarter of 2020, the business activity index of the survey soared as high as 53.6 over the first quarter of this year. The data supports evidence from other |
| Investors Are Betting Big On Energy Stocks In 2021Despite the recent sell-offs in oil, investors are warming up to the energy sector, which bore the brunt of last years shock of crashing oil prices and oil demand. The energy sector has been the top performer in the S&P 500 index year to date, despite the price routs last week and earlier this week. Some exchange-traded funds (EFTs) tracking oil prices have surged since the start of 2021 as investors turned their attention to industries expected to benefit the most from the economic recovery. Energy is one of those, and analysts |
| Do you need to wear masks after Covid vaccine? New NIH-backed study hopes to answer thatA new study backed by the NIH aims figure out what people can and cannot do after they get vaccinated against the coronavirus. |
| CDC director warns of possible Covid surge as U.S. cases increase by 7%The nation is recording a seven-day average of about 57,000 new Covid-19 cases per day, a 7% jump over the last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. |
| WeWork CEO expects strong rebound for shared office space in post-Covid return to work“We’re starting to see, even in New York now, new activity, so we’re pretty optimistic,” WeWork CEOÂ Sandeep Mathrani told CNBC. |
| GlaxoSmithKline requests emergency authorization from FDA for Covid antibody drugThe request cites an interim analysis of a phase three trial that evaluated the drug for early treatment of Covid in adults at high risk of hospitalization. |
| A wave energy project in Britain is using the animal kingdom for inspiration ÂFunding will come from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. |
| JC Penney’s interim CEO sees green shoots emerging as department store chain plots post-bankruptcy turnaroundJust a few months into serving as interim CEO of J.C. Penney, Stanley Shashoua said he sees signs of growth in the business. |
| Victoria’s Secret-owner L Brands shares jump on raised profit outlook, thanks to stimulus boostVictoria’s Secret-owner L Brands raised its profit outlook for the first quarter, citing a boost from government stimulus. |
| Chinese electric car start-up Nio shuts factory for 5 days due to global chip shortageThough the temporary shutdown will hit deliveries, Nio is on track for more car deliveries to start 2021 than rivals Xpeng and Li Auto. |
| EU steps up vaccine exports rules and pressures AstraZeneca over deliveriesThe European Union has stepped up tough rules on the exports of Covid vaccines, while also piling pressure on AstraZeneca to deliver more shots to the region. |
| Confidence in Merkel’s leadership falters as Germany’s pandemic dragsGermany was initially widely praised for its handling of the pandemic. A year on, and the situation is very different with Merkel under pressure. |
| RH CEO confident in the retailer’s expansion plans: ‘We still feel like we’re just warming up’“We’re more excited than we’ve ever been and we see more opportunity than we’ve ever seen,” RH CEO Gary Friedman told CNBC’s Jim Cramer. |
| Cramer’s investment dos and don’ts for this tricky market environment“If you accept your predicament and you follow these rules, you’ll have a chance to prosper in this brand new market,” Jim Cramer said on “Mad Money.” |
| Cable Rallies As EU, UK Near Landmark Deal On Financial RegulationCable Rallies As EU, UK Near Landmark Deal On Financial Regulation Cable rallied Friday afternoon on the news that, days after striking a reciprocity deal to ensure adequate supplies of COVID jabs for EU member states, London and Brussels are on the cusp of a high-level agreement on a new regulatory framework for financial regulation that could revive London-based firms’ access to European markets. Investors have been closely watching for news about the deal on financial regulation, which was left out of the original Brexit trade deal, and has been seen as a major risk for the British financial services industry, which has already suffered a wave of defections as foreign firms have moved more of their European workforce to within the EU (Dublin and Warsaw have been two popular locations).
According to Bloomberg, which broke the news, the two sides are proposing “a joint forum for discussing regulations and sharing information.” In its current form,the f … |
| Nomura: Brace For A Frenzy Of Stock Buying On March 29… Here’s WhyNomura: Brace For A Frenzy Of Stock Buying On March 29… Here’s Why On Tuesday, we previewed the coming month-end “clash” between forced selling on one hand, which according to JPM could be as much as $316BN across mutual funds, and vol-control and quant buying now that the March VIX surge is out of the 12-month look back window.
Picking up on this observation, Nomura’s Charlie McElligott notes that it was the latter of these two forces (split into two discrete “flows”) that helped reverse the tide in US equities just after the European close which coincided with a violent initial down-trade. As McElligott explains: The First flow was the anticipated œVol Control buying occurred in heavy-handed fashion due to the 1m trailing realized vol window’s gradual reset lower now beginning to accelerate, particularly as a number of large œdown days from a month ago drop out of sample. As such, the Nomur … |
| H&M Disappears From China’s Internet As Xinjiang Spat ExplodesH&M Disappears From China’s Internet As Xinjiang Spat Explodes Yesterday we discussed why western Corporations are terrified to confront China, even if it means losing on those all-important virtue signaling brownie points which are all that matter in Western society today: as a reminder, the stock of H&M, Nike and Adidas came under fire on Chinese social media on Thursday after Beijing’s propaganda offensive against Swedish fashion brand H&M sparked by the company’s expression of concern about labor conditions in Xinjiang. The sportswear companies were the latest to be caught up in a backlash prompted by a government call to stop foreign brands from tainting China’s name as internet users found statements they had made in the past on Xinjiang. On Friday, as the Xinjiang spat escalated, China showed just how easy it is for Western companies to literally disappear when outlets belonging to Sweden’s H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB) – the fashion retailer that found itself at the center of an escalating spat over human rights in Xinjiang – did not to show up on Apple Maps and Baidu Maps searches in China.
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| Biden Post-Mortem: Cheat-Sheets & A Trip Into An Alternate RealityBiden Post-Mortem: Cheat-Sheets & A Trip Into An Alternate Reality RealClearPolitics’ Philip Wegmann noted, reflecting on yesterday’s first ‘meet the press moment’ for Joe Biden, that the new president started with good news. Joe Biden told reporters assembled at the White House for his first official press conference that he now expects 200 million doses of the COVID vaccine will be administered by the end of his first 100 days in office. And that’s not all. He expects the majority of K-8 students will soon be back in the classroom. He announced that more than 100 million Americans have cashed their $1,400 relief checks. He was pleased to report that unemployment is down and economic growth projections are up. There was more work to do, certainly, Biden admitted, œbut I can say to you, the American people, help is here and hope is on the way. Now, I’ll be happy to take your questions. And with that brief victory lap, the global pandemic that has taken some 547,000 lives in this country alone was quickly forgotten, at least by Biden’s media interlocutors. The president was confronted instead with questions about voting rights, the situation at the southern border, his plans for the 2024 campaign, the Senate filibuster rule, the lack of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, American troops remaining in Afghanistan, and more. It was exactly one hour and two minutes of a certain sort of normal — very different from that of the last four years. The press didn’t shout, and the president didn’t ye … |
| Asda workers win key appeal in equal pay fightSupreme Court rules shop workers are free to pursue fight to gain equal pay with warehouse staff. |
| WeWork office start up valued at $9bn in share-listing planThe valuation marks a sharp decline for the once-hyped office sharing start-up. |
| People may quit if forced to work from home, Rishi Sunak warnsThe chancellor urges firms not to scrap offices altogether, warning employees may leave if they do. |
| Global bond rout is not over. Brace for another sell-off mid-year34 of 45 strategists in response to an additional question said another sell-off in bond markets in the next three months was likely, including four who said it was very likely. |
| Bulls may outnumber bears next week as focus shifts to earningsThe sustainability of any gain in the market next week will largely depend on how the US dollar behaves. |
| Why are analysts & economists unruffled by Covid second waveIndia’s daily Covid count on Wednesday crossed the 50,000 mark for the first time since November 6. |
| February 2021 Real Income And Expenditures DeclinedWritten by Steven Hansen The data continues to be affected by the pandemic. Expenditures declined month-over-month (and is in contraction year-over-year) whilst income also declined month-over-month but is in expansion year-over-year.
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| The Moneyist: I’m dating a married man. He made me the beneficiary on a $100K life-insurance policy. Could his wife sue to claim this money?‘Although we both care greatly for each other, our relationship started as and remains a mutually beneficial one: money for me, companionship for him.’ |
| Paul Brandus: What’s good for the U.S. gun industry? An anti-gun president such as Joe BidenGun industry jobs and profits soared under President Obama on concern he’d enact control measures. The same thing is playing out now. |
| Top Ten: Weekend reads: looking ahead to the next pandemicAlso, retirement locations, stock picks and a hidden stimulus benefit. |
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