Written by Gary
Oil prices plummeted early today, with Brent falling below $40 (SPY -3.2%). Financial markets in the US and Europe waterfall as coronavirus impacts on economic growth.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | North and South American markets are sharply lower today with shares in Brazil off the most. The Bovespa is down 3.44% while U.S.’s S&P 500 is off 3.27% and Mexico’s IPC is lower by 2.48%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
| Saudi Aramco: Oil Demand Too Weak To Ease OPEC+ Output CutsGlobal demand currently is not supportive for OPEC+ easing the oil production cuts on January 2021, Ibrahim Al-Buainain, president and chief executive of Aramco Trading, told Gulf Intelligence on Wednesday. OPEC and its Russia-led partners will likely consider a lot of demand issues before tapering their cuts, he said in an interview with Gulf Intelligence. OPEC+s decision will depend on how economies recover, including the U.S. economy from a potential stimulus, Al-Buainain added. The OPEC+ group is set to relax the current |
| Tesla Launches UK Energy Plan With Low Power RatesTesla is offering its Tesla Energy Plan in the UK designed for homes with solar and Powerwall that will turn them into virtual power plants to produce clean energy. The Tesla Energy Plan is an energy tariff for homes with solar and Powerwall installed, which could provide to customers savings of up to 75 percent compared to the electricity tariffs of the biggest UK power providers, based on electricity consumption of 8,000 kWh/year, Tesla says on its UK website. Customers are eligible for Teslas tariff if they own a Tesla vehicle and |
| Trump Makes Final Push To Defend FrackingPresident Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to sign an executive order that would mandate the analysis of fracking and its effects on the economy in one final campaign push to defend the technology that made the U.S. the worlds largest oil and gas producer last year. Quoting government officials, The Wall Street Journal reports that the executive order will aim to tip the scales in favor of Trump in swing states such as Pennsylvania. The analysis will also include the consequences of a ban on fracking: Trump has claimed his rival Joe |
| Crude Inventory Build Forces Oil Prices LowerCrude oil price fell further after the Energy Information Administration reported an inventory increase of 4.3 million barrels for the week to October 23. This compares with a decline of 1 million barrels for the previous week, which helped prop up prices for a short while before concerns about demand prevailed once again amid surging Covid-19 cases in Europe and the United States. At 492.4 million barrels, crude oil inventories are 9 percent above the five-year average for this time of the year, when demand declines for seasonal reasons, so more |
| Why U.S. Residential Heating Oil Prices Slumped By 28% This SeasonU.S. residential heating oil prices at the start of the winter heating season are 28 percent lower than in the previous heating season due to lower crude oil prices and high inventories of distillates in the United States, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday. The 28-percent drop in heating oil prices at the start of the winter season is the biggest price decrease between the start of two seasons since October 2015, according to EIAs Heating Oil and Propane Update (HOPU). Distillate heating oil is the primary |
| Oil Prices Plunge 5% As Demand Fears IntensifyOil prices plummeted early on Wednesday, with Brent falling below $40 a barrel, dragged down by estimates of a surge in U.S. inventories and the surge in coronavirus cases in the United States and Europe. As of 9:44 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, before the EIA inventory report, WTI Crude was down by 5.66 percent at $37.33, and Brent Crude prices were dropping by 4.85 percent at $39.19, after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a bigger build than expected in crude oil inventories of 4.577 million barrels for the week ending October |
| Surge in online holiday shopping will pack 2 years of growth into one season, Adobe saysOnline sales this November and December are forecast to surge 33% year over year to a record $189 billion, according to data released Wednesday by Adobe Analytics. |
| Sanofi, GSK to provide 200 million Covid vaccine doses to WHO global immunization programSanofi and GSK’s vaccine is further behind in clinical development than some of the front-runners, such as Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, which are all in late-stage trials. |
| Chewy launches virtual vet visits as pandemic fuels pet boomThe online pet products retailer plans to expand the service across the country, add video and explore ways it could monetize the service. |
| U.S. agrees to pay Eli Lilly $375 million for 300,000 doses of coronavirus antibody drugThe agreement is for delivery over the two months following an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. |
| Boeing to shed 7,000 more jobs as pandemic hits aircraft demandBoeing reported another rough quarter as it faces weak jetliner demand, the continued grounding of its 737 Max and the coronavirus pandemic |
| Bed Bath & Beyond targets ‘stable’ sales growth in 2021, low-to-mid single-digit gains by 2023Bed Bath & Beyond, ahead of its annual meeting with investors Wednesday, laid out a three-year road map and offered fresh financial targets. |
| Panera Bread adds pizza to menus as customers order more delivery and takeoutPanera Bread customers can now buy flatbread pizzas from the sandwich chain. |
| On Alibaba’s Singles Day, Chinese consumers look to spend more, shift away from American brandsMany Chinese consumers say they’ll be shopping for domestic brands during Singles Day on Nov. 11, the global consulting firm AlixPartners found. |
| Bed Bath & Beyond plans to scale back coupons in bid to boost profitsSoon, you might not be seeing as many Bed Bath & Beyond coupons showing up in your mailbox. |
| WHO says Covid vaccine trials are ‘encouraging’ but it’ll take time to ensure it’s safe for everyoneIt comes shortly after AstraZeneca said its Covid vaccine candidate had produced a similar immune response in older and younger adults. |
| Covid cases, hospitalizations continue to surge as U.S. reaches ‘critical point’ in pandemicAdm. Brett Giroir acknowledged that increased testing alone cannot explain the surge in cases, even as President Donald Trump attributes the surge to testing alone and continues to downplay the outbreak. |
| In this week’s segment of Solve It, a weekly series about investment trends and strategies, Jaime Steinhardt, Vice President and Investment Specialist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, explains how investors can tell the œgood dividends from the ones that are simply too good to be true. |
| U.S. coronavirus trajectory looks ‘a lot like Europe’ as cases rise, Dr. Scott Gottlieb warnsFormer FDA chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC he “wouldn’t be surprised if we challenge 100,000 diagnosed cases this week.” |
| Five Arrested As “Illegal Agents” Of China In FBI Bust Of Major PRC Operation On US SoilFive Arrested As “Illegal Agents” Of China In FBI Bust Of Major PRC Operation On US Soil Tyler Durden Wed, 10/28/2020 – 13:04 The US Justice Department announced charges against eight individuals it says acted as “illegal agents” of China on Wednesday. Specifically the statement alleged they had been engaged in an organized campaign of intimating Chinese citizens currently on American soil. Five of these have already been arrested while at least one other is being sought by US law enforcement. The DoJ’s National Security division Assistant Attorney General John Demers announced at a press briefing:
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| Bill Dudley Pretends To Care About Savers, Says Only Congress Can Fix Mess Fed Has CreatedBill Dudley Pretends To Care About Savers, Says Only Congress Can Fix Mess Fed Has Created Tyler Durden Wed, 10/28/2020 – 12:57 While not nearly as provocative as his mid-2019 op-ed, in which former NY Fed president and Goldman partner Bill Dudley urged the Fed to crash the market to prevent a Trump re-election, which had the dramatic effect of a loud fart in a crowded room as countless “serious” pundits did everything they could to avoid discussing the fact that a former Fed official admitted that the central bank is i) more powerful than the president and ii) can arbitrarily manipulate markets at will, earlier today Bill Dudley took to his favorite media outlet this morning, and in a Bloomberg op-ed (which apparently nobody has read judging by the 3 comments after it), was forced to “explain” that the Fed is not bluffing when it begs Congress to inject trillions into the economy because – you see – after a decade of the Fed doing just that and enabling the terminal political dysfunction and polarity observed in US politics, the Fed no longer can do it. As Dudley puts it, while no “central bank wants to admit that it’s out of firepower… unfortunately, the U.S. Federal Reserve is very near that p … |
| US Commander Provokes China: Troops Can Be Sent To Defend Japan’s Senkaku IslandsUS Commander Provokes China: Troops Can Be Sent To Defend Japan’s Senkaku Islands Tyler Durden Wed, 10/28/2020 – 12:39 Two weeks ago we detailed the latest flare-up in maritime tensions between Japan and China after Chinese ships intruded into the Japanese-claimed Senkaku Islands area in disputed East China Sea waters, staying for a record amount of time according to Japan’s Defense Minister, who previously called the situation “intolerable”. The stakes have now been raised as of early this week given the head of US forces in Japan has said the Pentagon could send American troops to defend the Senkaku Islands from future Chinese aggression. |
| Americans Plan To Significantly Scale Back Holiday Spending This YearAmericans Plan To Significantly Scale Back Holiday Spending This Year Tyler Durden Wed, 10/28/2020 – 12:20 By Lydia Saad of Gallup Americans predict they will spend an average $805 on Christmas gifts this year, significantly below their estimate a year ago ($942) and the lowest October holiday spending projection Gallup has measured since 2016. |
| Stock markets sink amid alarm at Covid surgeFinancial markets in the US and Europe fall as concerns rise about the coronavirus impact on economic growth. |
| Soy sauce: Will it be cheaper next year?The Department for International Trade slips up in a tweet about Bake Off. |
| Boeing to cut 20% of workforce by end of 2021The planemaker is extending previously announced cuts as it faces slumping demand in the pandemic. |
| Q2 preview: Voda Idea losses may narrow; management commentary keyInvestor will watch out for management commentary on business plan to curb loss of subscribers, roadmap for fundraising, longer term 5G plans and the initial feedback post recent rebranding. |
| Deeper correction looms as FIIs turn net sellers of index futuresOn October 28, they were cumulatively net short 9393 contracts. This year itself , they’ve held cumulative net short positions of 45470 contracts (May 18), 35,904 (June 29) and a whopping 173,133 on March 6, preceding the collapse of Nifty to 7511.1 on March 24. |
| Hero Moto Q2 profit drops 9% to Rs 953 crore; revenue climbs 24%The auto major’s total revenue from operations climbed by 23.73 per cent to Rs 9,367.34 crore, from Rs 7,570.70 crore a year ago. |
| The Margin: Trump’s Omaha rally compared to Fyre Festival after hundreds left stranded in near-freezing temperaturesThe Trump campaign said traffic jams and larger-than-expected crowds were to blame |
| The Ratings Game: For Boeing, ‘it could be worse’ is as good as its gets in the third quarterBoeing Co. draws faint praise from Wall Street for not burning through cash as fast as feared and keeping production rates the same. |
| : Soy sauce tweet sparks firestorm on social media over Brexit and tariffsA simple tweet about soy sauce led to a social-media firestorm. |
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