28May2021 Market Close: Oil Rig Count Rises As Brent Prices Flirt With $70, WTI Crude Settles At 66.62, Gold 1902, Silver Rises 27.90, Bitcoin Fractionally Lower 36100, SP 500 4th Straight Positive Month

Written by Gary

Car shoppers, seeking Memorial Day deals, face high prices, few discounts and low inventory (SPY +0.2%). ECRI’s WLI Growth Rate Again Marginally Declines.

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	A Historic Week For Big Oil It was a historic week for the oil industry, potentially marking a turning point, at least for the corporate strategies of the oil majors. More curbs on the supply side do add some bullish sentiment to the market, although the impacts on the fundamentals are not necessarily going to unfold in the near term. But in the wake of the huge blows to the oil majors this week, more than a few analysts spoke about growing odds of a supply crunch in the years ahead. Shell loses in court. Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) lost a landmark legal case in a Dutch
	Shareholders Overwhelmingly Back Totals Climate Policy Shareholders supported on Friday the climate policy of French Total and approved the rebranding of the supermajor to TotalEnergies to reflect its pivot to renewable energy. Totals annual general meeting on Friday came after a turbulent week for Big Oil, in which major companies such as Exxon, Chevron, and Shell suffering stinging defeats in the boardrooms and in Shells case in a Dutch courtroom. In May 2020, we announced our ambition to get to net zero emissions across our operations by 2050, together with society.
	Oil Rig Count Rises As Brent Prices Flirt With $70 Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil and gas rigs in the United States increased by 2 again this week, bringing the total rig count to 457a more than 100-rig gain since the start of the year. In the week prior, the U.S. oil and gas rig count increased by 2. But the longer trend in rig count additions bodes well for the U.S. oil industry, as drillers pick up the pace, adding 106 rigs so far this year, more than half of which were added in Texas. The total number of active oil and gas drilling rigs in the U.S. is now 156
	Germany Pumps $10 Billion In Hydrogen In Bid To Become Global Leader Germany will fund 62 large-scale hydrogen projects with as much as US$10 billion in federal and state funds as it aims to become the worlds leader in hydrogen technologies, the German ministries of economy and transport said on Friday. Germany will provide US$9.72 billion (8 billion euro) to the 62 projects it has selected to reduce emissions in the transportation, steelmaking, and chemicals sectors. Germany wants to become a global leader in hydrogen technology, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said, noting that the investment announced
	Energy Companies Are Scrambling For Cyber Insurance U.S. energy companies are urgently building their cyberattack insurance coverage following the Colonial Pipeline network attack earlier this month, Reuters has reported, adding that premiums were likely to rise on this increased demand. A ransomware attack shut down the largest fuel pipeline in the United States two weeks ago, causing panic buying of gasoline and diesel along the East Coast and a consequent shortage of fuels that shut down hundreds of filling stations. The pipeline was restarted after its operator paid the hackers some $4 million.
	Moodys: Credit Risk Is Growing For Big Oil This weeks climate-related actions in boardrooms and courtrooms involving some of the largest international oil companies signal rising threat to the sector, Moodys Investor Service said in a comment on the industry. A new court ruling against Royal Dutch Shell and shareholder votes at ExxonMobil and Chevron highlights the increasing credit risk for major oil producers over concerns about climate change, Moodys said. This week, shareholders at the two largest U.S. oil corporations, Exxon and Chevron,
	CDC eases summer camp Covid guidance, says fully vaccinated teens don’t need masks Fully vaccinated teens should still wear masks where required, including at local businesses and workplaces, according to the CDC.
	Costco is seeing inflation abound, impacting a slew of consumer products The big-box club chain said it’s been seeing accelerating prices across a range of products.
	Biden budget would give CDC its biggest funding boost in nearly 20 years The budget blueprint for fiscal 2022 would include $8.7 billion in discretionary funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the OMB said.
	Car shoppers, seeking Memorial Day deals, face high prices, few discounts and low inventory On top of reduced inventory due to a microchip shortage ” and consumer demand pushing prices higher ” manufacturers are not offering many discounts.
	WHO says Covid origin investigation is being ‘poisoned by politics’ A top official at the WHO said that the investigations into Covid-19 origins have been “very unfair to the scientists” due to politicization of the topic.
	How the $1 trillion market for ‘green’ bonds is changing Wall Street So-called green bonds have become more popular in recent years, and this fast-growing segment of the $128.3 trillion global bond market could grow even more.
	Stocks making the biggest moves midday: AMC, Ulta Beauty, Best Buy, HP and more These are the stocks posting the largest moves in midday trading.
	Facebook, Twitter and a future of social that’s increasingly audio Audio is the hottest trend in social media, and start-ups like Clubhouse and Discord have the attention of tech giants from Facebook to Twitter and Microsoft.
	Nearly half of Americans have at least one vaccine shot as Covid case counts fall further CDC data shows 49.9% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.
	Memorial Day weekend box office could be first to top $100 million since the pandemic began This Memorial Day weekend could break the $100 million mark at the box office.
	To-go cocktails will stick around in at least 20 states after the pandemic Lawmakers in 14 states and the District of Columbia, have approved allowing restaurants to sell cocktails to go permanently.
	Dr. Scott Gottlieb: Covid risk should be low in the U.S. this summer but will rise in the fall “I don’t think we should declare mission accomplished. I think that we should declare a near-term victory,” the former FDA chief told CNBC.
	Unruly behavior from plane passengers has never been this bad, says flight attendant union chief Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, told CNBC that passenger behavior is “complete nuts.”
	Bullion Best In May As Tech Wrecks; Bitcoin’s Biggest Bust In A Decade Bullion Best In May As Tech Wrecks; Bitcoin’s Biggest Bust In A Decade Well that was a different month – bonds were bid, big-tech dumped (as Meme stocks soared), crypto puked along with the dollar but bullion was best bid. Is it time to cut the dollar’s rope? < …
	Peter Schiff: Inflation Crashes The Party Peter Schiff: Inflation Crashes The Party Authored by Peter Schiff via SchiffGold.com, It’s dawning on many investors that our post-Covid financial problems may not be as easily solved as Washington claims… The latest clue that trouble is brewing has come from the sudden and dramatic arrival of inflation. On May 12, it was revealed thatÂ the Consumer Price Index (CPI) had risen 4.2% year-over-year, the fastest pace since 2008. Some tried to downplay concern by pointing out that the gains resulted from the œbase effect of comparing current prices with the artificially depressed œCovid lockdown prices of March and April of last year. But that ignores the more alarming trend of near-term price acceleration. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in every month this y …
	“Transitory” Retail Buying Frenzy: Money Market Funds See Massive Inflows As Investors Turn Defensive “Transitory” Retail Buying Frenzy: Money Market Funds See Massive Inflows As Investors Turn Defensive The recent surge in retail trading, which has seen the WallStreetBets army flood back into meme stocks for the second time since the epic February short squeeze sending names like AMC and GME soaring even as other high risk-reward corners of the market have remained stagnant… … may prove to be – in the Fed’s favorite parlance – “transitory.” The reason fort his is that unlike the first quarter when we saw a record flood of new capital entering equity funds and validating the retail buying…
	Fauci In 2012: Gain-Of-Function Research ‘Worth Risk Of Lab Accident Sparking Pandemic’ Fauci In 2012: Gain-Of-Function Research ‘Worth Risk Of Lab Accident Sparking Pandemic’ America’s top virologist, Anthony Fauci, argued in 2012 that the risks of a lab accident sparking a pandemic are outweighed by the potential benefits of manipulating viruses via gain-of-function research, according to previously unsurfaced remarks reported by Sharri Markson via The Australian. “In an unlikely but conceivable turn of events, what if that scientist becomes infected with the virus, which leads to an outbreak and ultimately triggers a pandemic?” Fauci wrote in the American Society for Microbiology in 2012, adding “Many ask reasonable questions: given the possibility of such a scenario ” however remote ” should the initial experiments have been performed and/or published in the first place, and what were the processes involved in this decision?” < …
	Hospitality ‘struggling to fill thousands of jobs’ Restaurants, cafes and pubs are particularly short of waiting staff and chefs, UK Hospitality says.
	Homes set to be heated by sewage plants in future Heat from industry and warmth from the sea feature in advice to government on future home heating.
	HS2 leg to Leeds will go ahead, says Shapps The eastern branch of the planned high speed rail network will be completed, the transport secretary says.
	Sovereign gold bond issue price fixed at Rs 4,889/gm; subscription to open on Monday The Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2021-22- Series-III or the third tranche will be open for subscription from May 31 to June 4, 2021.
	Dubaicoin surges 1,000% on fake claims of being city’s official cryptocurrency The coin made by cryptocurrency startup Arabianchain Technology on May 24 falsely claimed that it was the official cryptocurrency of the West Asian city, leading to a sharp rally in its price.
	Money managers see good days ahead as Street looks forward to unlocking œThe market is cheering the downward trajectory of the Covid-19 curve as the recovery rate since the last few days has been faster compared to the new cases. With the improvement in the Covid-19 curve, India is playing catch-up with the global market, said Naveen Kulkarni, chief investment officer at Axis Securities.
	21 May 2021 ECRI’s WLI Growth Rate Again Marginally Declines Written by Steven Hansen ECRI’s WLI Growth Index which forecasts economic growth six months forward was little changed and remains well into expansion.
	: The buy now, pay later wave: Klarna, Affirm and rivals hope to take U.S. by storm A new form of digital layaway has taken Europe by storm and found some acceptance in the U.S., and the growing handful of rivals in the space are looking to spur more online purchases that Americans pay for over time.
	: Nissan to invest $1.8 billion in new electric-vehicle battery plants with Chinese partner, according to report Nissan will invest more than 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in building new electric-vehicle battery plants in the U.K. and Japan, according to a report.
	TaxWatch: Financial advisers aren’t scared of Biden’s retroactive capital-gains tax hike ” but they’re definitely not thrilled about it either ‘I’m not freaking out, but I can’t just put my head in the sand.’