Written by Gary
DOW closed off 0.35%, Nasdaq off 1.94%, and SandP off -0.79. In these days, there is no great reason for advances or declines but there were weaknesses in tech shares and uncertainties about the pandemic stimulus. Gold was off today with oil and the dollar little changed,
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
The Oil Refinery Crisis Will Worsen This WinterIt was only to be expected that many of the worlds refiners would be pinched between low demand for finished products and rising inventories as the pandemic lockdowns continue to stifle activity. But the warm December that is expected this year is also threatening finished products demand. And its possible that many of the older, small refiners wont survive at all. According to HIS Markit, eleven U.S. refiners are scheduled to close. The largest refinery in the United States, Royal Dutch Shells Convent, Louisiana refinery | |
Big Oil Boosts Earnings From Tax-Haven AffiliatesSome of the worlds biggest oil corporations have boosted their earnings in recent years by paying very little or no taxes at all on profits of their affiliates in offshore tax havens, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a review of company filings and reports from rating agencies. According to a special Reuters report by Tom Bergin and Ron Bousso, companies such as Chevron, Shell, BP, Total, and Eni have affiliates providing oil trading, banking, or insurance services in offshore tax havens, and the profits of those affiliates are either | |
Why The World Might Not Have Enough Oil To Meet Demand Trough 2050The world is on track to run out of sufficient oil supplies to meet its needs through 2050, despite lower future demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the accelerating energy transition unless exploration speeds up significantly and capital expenditure of at least $3 trillion is put to the task, a bombshell report by Rystad Energy reveals. To meet the global cumulative demand over the next 30 years, undeveloped and undiscovered resources totaling 313 billion barrels of oil need to be added to currently producing assets. Rystad Energy | |
Kurdistan To Hand Over Oil Revenue To Iraq In Exchange For FundsThe Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will comply with the recent Iraqi federal fiscal deficit bill under which the semi-autonomous region in Iraq is set to hand over an “unspecified amount of oil” to the federal government in exchange for Baghdad allocating funds for Kurdistan’s civil servant salaries. “The KRG will start implementing the duties they have as per the law, and will notify the responsible offices to do their part,” KRG’s Finance Minister, Awat Sheikh Janab, wrote in a letter to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance obtained by Rudaw English. | |
Is Elon Musk Wrong About Lithium?“There is a massive amount of lithium on earth…there really is enough lithium in Nevada alone to electrify the entire U.S. fleet.” Elon Musk, Tesla CEO. Back on November 23, lithium producer stocks got badly hammered after Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk made the above remark on Tesla’s battery day event. Tesla’s main thrust of the event was that EV batteries were about to become much cheaper and more powerful and could give internal combustion engines (ICEs) a serious run for their money in the years to come. Musk’s comments are certainly | |
Maduro Accuses CIA Of Bribing Oil WorkersVenezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has accused the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency of corrupting hundreds of oil industry employees, including former Energy Minister and Venezuela representative of the UN Rafael Ramirez. “There are thousands of cases of infiltration into the oil industry through the US Embassy here in Venezuela. If they bribed the head of the oil industry, corrupted him, lured [former Energy Minister and former Representative to the UN] Rafael Ramirez away, what can you think about the current level | |
Covid vaccine offers exhausted health-care workers hope “but not immediate relief” as ICUs fill across U.S.“We’re scared, we’re tired, we’re frustrated,” said Tayler Oakes, a 27-year-old nurse treating patients at a Navajo Nation health-care facility. | |
New vaccine billionaires gain wealth as Moderna and BioNTech shares soarThe soaring shares of vaccine makers has created a new wave of billionaires, raising questions about pandemic profits amidst an increasingly unequal recovery. | |
Delta CEO asks employees to take more unpaid leave in 2021 as industry continues to struggleDelta’s CEO is asking for more volunteers to take unpaid leave next year with a recovery still months away. | |
GM’s Cruise begins testing autonomous vehicles without human drivers in San FranciscoCruise plans to begin with a handful of vehicles, followed by a “very methodical and responsible” ramp-up across San Francisco. | |
Mayo Clinic doctor studying Covid ‘long haulers’ says it might take them a year or more to recover“It does seem like this is something anybody can come down with after their infection,” Dr. Greg Vanichkachorn told CNBC on Wednesday. | |
Pentagon reveals plans to distribute first 44,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine as early as next weekAs early as next week, the Department of Defense is slated to receive nearly 44,000 of the first dose of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine. | |
Poor countries set to miss out on Covid vaccines as wealthier nations hoard doses, campaigners warnThe People’s Vaccine Alliance said wealthy nations had bought up enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly three times over by the end of 2021. | |
People with a history of ‘significant’ allergic reactions shouldn’t have Pfizer vaccine, UK regulator warnsPeople who have a history of “significant” allergic reactions should not receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, the U.K. drug regulator said. | |
U.S. plans to ship 2.9 million Covid vaccine doses as early as the end of this weekAn additional 2.9 million doses will be reserved for patients to get their second dose, said Gen. Gustave Perna of Operation Warp Speed. | |
Watch live: Trump administration officials discuss Covid vaccine distributionThe briefing comes a day before a FDA panel is scheduled to vote on whether to recommend Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. | |
Watch live: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds press briefing on Covid response“We are looking at hospitalization capacity, and if we don’t get the rate under control, you are going to overwhelm your hospitals. We will have to go back to shutdown,” he said Monday. | |
Starbucks taps Mellody Hobson as board chair amid broader push for more diverse boardsStarbucks said Wednesday that Mellody Hobson will serve as the next non-executive chair of its board. | |
Airlines scrap international ticket change fees as demand crumbles in pandemicDelta and United are getting rid of international change fees in an effort to entice travelers to book flights. | |
DASH Double Trashes Tech; Dollar Bid Sparks Bullion & Bitcoin BreakdownDASH Double Trashes Tech; Dollar Bid Sparks Bullion & Bitcoin Breakdown Tyler Durden Wed, 12/09/2020 – 16:01 Well that all escalated quickly. Some disappointing comments from Washington on the COVID Relief bill appeared to combine with some algo-chaos around the insane IPO release of DoorDash to spark the market’s worst day in over a month… | |
California Sees Record 30K+ New COVID Cases; Fauci Says US Won’t Return To Normal Until Mid-2021: Live UpdatesCalifornia Sees Record 30K+ New COVID Cases; Fauci Says US Won’t Return To Normal Until Mid-2021: Live Updates Tyler Durden Wed, 12/09/2020 – 15:58 Summary: Normaity may return at end of 2021, Fauci says California sees record 30K+ new cases Cuomo shares more dire data out of NY as cases, deaths climb along coasts Canada approves Pfizer vaccine China Sinopharm Vaccine has 86% efficiency, UAE says South hospitalizations top springtime peak Worst-hit midwestern states slow Iran reports 10K+ new cases Dutch extends lockdown, announces more aid AstraZeneca warns people with allergies not to take its vaccine | |
One Third Of US States Have Now Joined Texas SCOTUS Bid To Overturn ElectionOne Third Of US States Have Now Joined Texas SCOTUS Bid To Overturn Election Tyler Durden Wed, 12/09/2020 – 15:55 Update (1555ET): A total of seventeen US states filed a brief at the US Supreme Court on Wednesday in support of Texas’s bid to overturn the election results. | |
In Stunning Rebuke, LA Judge Strikes Down ‘Abusive’ Outdoor Dining Ban As Lacking ‘Science, Evidence Or Logic’In Stunning Rebuke, LA Judge Strikes Down ‘Abusive’ Outdoor Dining Ban As Lacking ‘Science, Evidence Or Logic’ Tyler Durden Wed, 12/09/2020 – 15:40 A Los Angeles judge has tentatively struck down the county’s ban on outdoor dining after the Public Health Department – led by Director Barbara Ferrer – failed to provide a scientific basis for the order. | |
Huge US lawsuits seek break up of FacebookFacebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, is accused of taking illegal steps to crush rivals. | |
Tesco: Brexit ‘could see people choose cheddar over brie’The chairman of Tesco says price rises related to Brexit could change what people choose to eat. | |
Twitter boss Jack Dorsey donates $15m for income supportJack Dorsey’s support for universal basic income programmes comes as US government aid has faltered. | |
Should you invest in Kotak’s newly-launched International REIT FoF?Kotak International REIT FoF is an open-ended mutual fund that invests in units of SMAM Asia REIT Sub Trust Fund, which in turn holds a portfolio of listed REITs that own real estate projects like residential, office, data centres, warehousing, retail and hospitality in countries like Singapore, Australia, Hongkong, New Zealand and Thailand. | |
Airbnb’s $3.1 billion IPO hinges on hosts who make rentals feel like homeAirbnb said the site will lose some of what makes it unique and sets it apart from hotel chains. As of the end of last year, Airbnb said only 10% of its total hosts were professional, as opposed to individuals. However, they accounted for almost 30% of room nights booked. | |
Govt to sell 20% stake in IRCTC via OFS, to raise Rs 4,374 croreThrough the OFS, the government has proposed to sell 2.4 crore shares, constituting 15% paid-up share capital of the company, with an option to sell an additional 80 lakh shares or 5% stake in case of demand. | |
October 2020 Headline Wholesale Sales Improved and Inventories GrewWritten by Steven Hansen The headlines say wholesale sales were up month-over-month with inventory levels remaining elevated. Our analysis shows improvement in the rate of growth for the rolling averages. | |
09Dec2020 Midday Update: Oil Crashes After EIA Reports Huge Crude Build, DOW Down 74 Points, Nasdaq Down Sharply At -1.0%, US Dollar Rises Fractionally To 91.18, Golds Slips To 1841Written by Gary Lowe’s steps up plans to gain market share, reiterates fiscal 2020 forecast (SPY -0.6%). Elon Musk says he has officially moved to Texas. | |
Realtor.com: Priscilla Presley just sold her Beverly Hills villa for $13 millionPriscilla Presley has just sold her longtime Beverly Hills home. The property closed for $13 million on Dec. 2. | |
: Microsoft, Unilever and a Finnish oil refiner believe Amazon has it right with climate pledgeTechnology rivals are aligning on a major climate pledge with Wednesday’s announcement that Microsoft Corp. will join Amazon.com’s ambitious year-old Climate Pledge. | |
The Margin: These ‘scams’ have become so normalized we hardly even notice them anymoreIt doesn’t take a Nigerian prince to separate a fool and his money. |
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