Written by Gary
U.S. is recording fewer than 30,000 daily new Covid cases for the first time in nearly a year (SPY +0.07%). Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Boeing, Deere, AT&T.
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. | |
| China Bans Teslas At Government CompoundsChinese authorities have banned government employees with Teslas from parking them inside government compounds, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed sources which noted the ban was on security grounds. Tesla cars have cameras aimed at facilitating driving but so do many other cars, the report noted. Even so, the ban is on Teslas only, according to the sources. Cameras and sensors on cars are there to capture the surroundings of the vehicle to make it easier for the driver to navigate said surroundings. Yet how this data is used has become a contentious |
| Oil Headed For Biggest Weekly Drop Since MarchFollowing three days of losses, oil prices rebounded early on Friday amid fuel demand recovery in the U.S. and Europe, but they were still set for a weekly drop of around 4 percent, which would be the steepest weekly decline since March. As of 9:57 a.m. EDT on Friday, WTI Crude was trading up by 2.49 percent at $63.48 and Brent Crude was up 1.92 percent at $66.45, as the U.S. dollar dropped and the market welcomed encouraging data about travel and road traffic in Europe and the U.S. Despite the early Friday rise, oil prices were still poised for |
| Tanzania, Uganda Finalize Oil Pipeline DealTanzania and Uganda have signed a fifth and final government agreement that will greenlight the construction of a $3.5-billion pipeline that will carry crude pumped in western Uganda to the coast of Tanzania and international markets. The agreement follows another one, signed with partners French Total and Chinese CNOOC last month. The East-African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP)project will be a 1,443 kilometer-long (897 miles) pipeline expected to transport oil from Uganda to the Tanga port in Tanzania. Totals subsidiary, Total East Africa |
| OPEC Slams IEAs Net-Zero Report As DestabilizingThe bombshell suggestion of the International Energy Agency (IEA) that the world doesnt need any new oil and gas investments ever if it is to reach net-zero emissions could further raise the volatility in oil markets if investors heed the call, according to an internal OPEC report seen by Reuters. Earlier this week, the IEA published a Net Zero by 2050 report, in which it said that the road to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius involves a rapid and radical shift away from fossil fuels. According to the Paris-based agency, created |
| Six-Year High Margins Prompt U.S. Refiners To Boost Gasoline ProductionThe highest refining margins since 2015 as U.S. gasoline prices rise are a great incentive to American refiners to increase gasoline production, according to Reuters columnist John Kemp. In the aftermath of the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline, the national average U.S. gasoline prices shot up to over $3 per gallon to a seven-year high amid shortages at the gas stations and panic buying. The national average price is expected to fall back slightly below $3 per gallon on Memorial Day, GasBuddy said this week. With more people vaccinated and the |
| Is The IEA Report A Tipping Point For Oil Investing?The eventual death of oil and thermal coal won’t come from environmentalists or even directly from renewable energy–it will come when big banks decide to stop financing it, rendering it ‘unbankable’. Two years ago, one of the biggest financiers of fossil fuels, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), made history after becoming the first big U.S. bank to rule out financing new oil exploration or drilling in the Arctic, as well as new thermal coal mines anywhere in the world. GS’ environmental policy declared climate change as one of the “most significant |
| From anti-Tesla design to huge frunk: 5 things to know about the electric Ford F-150 LightningFord’s new F-150 Lightning isn’t a “science experiment” or vehicle that looks like a “doorstop.” It’s a pickup designed to function like a truck but electric. |
| WNBA, PointsBet strike sports betting partnershipThe licensing deal with WNBA is the first pro women’s sports agreement for PointsBet. |
| Databricks is on track for $1 billion in revenue in 2022, investor saysCrunching data in the cloud became more appealing during the pandemic. That’s been good for Databricks, which has won backing from Amazon, Microsoft and Google. |
| Breeze Airways debuts in travel rebound, the second new U.S. airline in a monthBreeze Airways adds to competition as the airline industry is trying to recover from a pandemic slump. |
| Discount retailers TJX, Ross stage a comeback as shoppers crave ‘treasure hunting’ for clothes againThe appeal for so-called treasure hunting in stores could be something that many consumers end up craving more than they did before the Covid health crisis. |
| Tesla Superchargers to be used at new UK electric vehicle hubThe Oxford Superhub will be based at a park-and-ride site to the south of the English city. |
| U.S. is recording fewer than 30,000 daily new Covid cases for the first time in nearly a yearThe U.S. is reporting an average of fewer than 30,000 new Covid cases per day for the first time in nearly a year. |
| Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop threatened with shutdown in the UKGwyneth Paltrow’s wellness company Goop has been warned that its U.K. operations could be shut down after failing to file its accounts.A |
| Medical cannabis firm backed by Snoop Dogg begins trading in LondonOxford Cannabinoid Technologies, which enjoys backing from rapper Snoop Dogg, launched on the London Stock Exchange on Friday. |
| Off-the-grid homes are coming to your neighborhood, as climate change creates suburban survivalistsIncreasingly extreme weather from climate change is now a year-round phenomenon. This has homebuilders reconsidering how they design and power new homes. |
| ‘I’m not buying it’: One strategist says Wall Street is wrong to be bullish on European stocksAnalysts at Morgan Stanley say Europe is well-placed to outperform all major regions this year for the first time in more than two decades. |
| Unvaccinated Americans are less worried about traveling than vaccinated Americans are, study saysUnvaccinated people appear more comfortable traveling ” and to more densely-populated places ” than vaccinated people, according to data from Zeta Global. |
| Axel Springer Nears Deal To Buy Axios As Traffic Slumps In ‘Post-Trump’ EraAxel Springer Nears Deal To Buy Axios As Traffic Slumps In ‘Post-Trump’ Era Rumors about political news upstart Axios possibly combining with the sports-focused subscription media empire the Athletic in a SPAC deal were apparently off-base. Instead, German media conglomerate Axel Springer is reportedly on the cusp of acquiring Axios and adding it to its growing English-language media empire, which presently consists of Insider (formerly Business Insider) and its associated properties. The news was first reported by the Information. Details of a possible purchase price weren’t disclosed, and it’s unclear how far along the talks are. A deal could still fall apart. And a spokesperson for Axel Springer said the company “doesn’t comment on ‘market rumors’, while Axios CEO Jim VandeHei didn’t respond to the Information’s prodding.
Axel Springer also owns stakes in Group Nine Media, which has also reportedly been in talk … |
| Why Did Former FBI Director Freeh Give $100k To A Trust For VP Biden’s Grandkids In 2016?Why Did Former FBI Director Freeh Give $100k To A Trust For VP Biden’s Grandkids In 2016? Authored by Thomas Lifson via AmericanThinker.com, Take it from the New York Times and Washington Post: nothing to see here, move along. Definitely not a bribe. Emails recovered from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop reveal that while Joe Biden was vice president, a trust for his grandchildren ” the children of his late son Beau Biden ” received a hundred thousand dollars from a foundation controlled by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who was a lawyer for 3 corrupt foreign businessmen, later convicted and imprisoned.
Louis Freeh in 2020 (photo credit:A Ott HeinapuuA (cropped)A public domain … |
| Land Scarcity Sparks Another Bottleneck For Housing MarketALand Scarcity Sparks Another Bottleneck For Housing MarketA Forget skyrocketing home building costs because there’s another more pressing bottleneck: buildable land scarcity.A According toA Bloomberg, Ali Wolf, the Chief Economist at Zonda, which analyzes housing market data, said everyone knows about the supply-drive issues when sourcing raw materials for a build. Lumber prices have been driven up due to shortage and the lack of new mills coming online, copper and other base metal prices are through the roof, concrete is getting more expensive, and many other building materials are rapidly increasing over the past year.A Ali explained besides surging building costs. There’s an overlooked issue that’s starting to become a significant bottleneck for homebuilders and or anyone who wants to build a new home, which a shortage of ready-to-build lots. A An infographic from Zonda explains low inventory is at the lowest level on record.A |
| Confusing Market Crashes & Bear MarketsConfusing Market Crashes & Bear Markets Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com, Over the long term, confusing market crashes and bear markets can be detrimental to investor outcomes. Yet, this is whatA MorningstarA did recently in discussing the market correction in 2020.A To wit:
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| Heathrow Airport to open terminal for ‘red list’ arrivalsThe airport faced criticism after arrivals from countries with a high Covid risk were made to queue with other passengers. |
| Apple v Epic: Tim Cook takes the stand in Epic legal rowApple’s boss Tim Cook is on the witness stand in the high-profile legal row with Epic Games. |
| Leonard Blavatnik named UK’s richest person with APound Sterling23bn fortuneSir Leonard Blavatnik topples Sir James Dyson as the UK’s richest person, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. |
| Record highs beckon as D-Street looks to leave Covid in rear-view mirrorThis week, benchmark indices rose over 3 per cent led by a resurgence of interest in bank stocks as well as fading concerns among investors over corporate earnings growth, which were triggered by the onset of the second Covid-19 wave. |
| India’s profit-to-GDP hits 4-year high, but best is yet to comeThe profit pool of listed Indian companies as a percentage of GDP surged to 2.6 per cent in the financial year ended March 31, 2021, after hitting a multi-year low of 11.6 per cent at the end of the previous financial year. |
| Sebi doubles overseas investment limit of AIF, VCF to $1,500 mnCurrently, Sebi-registered alternative investment fund (AIF) or venture capital fund (VCF) are permitted to invest overseas, subject to an overall limit of $750 million. |
| NewsWatch: Facebook’s overtaken Amazon as top hedge fund holding, according to Goldman Sachs. Here’s what else funds have loaded up on.According to Goldman Sachs, during the last 18 years, stocks with the largest increase in the number of hedge-fund investors have typically gone on to outperform sector peers during the quarters following their rise in popularity. |
| : BBC attacked by Prince William over ‘deceit’ of Diana interview in 1995The interview was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse, � said Prince William. |
| The Moneyist: I moved 200 miles to live in my girlfriend’s new house. We have a child, but she does not want to marry. I’d be left with nothing if we broke up‘We had a child three years ago. Around that time we decided that I would relocate, about 200 miles, and move in with her’ |
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