Written by Gary
Trump vetoes defense bill, setting up possible override vote. Russia’s crude oil exports drop 10% in January-October.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | U.S. Relations With Russia Could Crumble Under BidenRussian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has accused the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden of “Russophobia and says he expects relations with the United States to go “from bad to worse.” “It would be strange to expect good things from people, many of whom made their careers on Russophobia and throwing mud at my country,” Ryabkov said on December 23, less than a month ahead of Bidens inauguration. Relations between Moscow and Washington have deteriorated in recent years over issues including Russia’s seizure |
| Russias Crude Oil Exports Drop 10% In January-OctoberDue to lower demand and the OPEC+ deal, Russias crude oil exports declined by 10.4 percent in volume year over year in January to October, data from the Russian federal customs, cited by local cargo analytics outlet SeaNews, showed. The value of Russias crude oil exports plunged by more than 40 percent in the same period due to the lower oil prices compared to the average price of oil in the first ten months of 2019. The value of Russian crude oil exports plummeted by 40.6 percent between January and October 2020, and stood at US$60.326 |
| Oil, Gas Rigs Increase For Fifth Week In A RowBaker Hughes reported on Wednesday that the number of oil and gas rigs in the United States rose by 2 to 348. The oil and gas rig count has risen for five weeks in a row for a four-week gain of 38. The oil rig count increased by 1 this week, while the gas rig count rose by 2. Miscellaneous rigs fell 1. Total oil and gas rigs in the United States are now down by 457 compared to this time last year. The EIAs estimate for oil production in the United States fell during the week ending December 11 to 11.0 million barrels of oil per day, 2.1 |
| Musk: Apple Once Refused Meeting To Discuss Buying TeslaA few years ago, when Tesla was struggling through the Model 3 program and production, Apple refused a meeting to discuss potentially buying the electric vehicle maker for around US$60 billion, Teslas chief executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday. During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for 1/10 of our current value). He refused to take the meeting, Musk tweeted on Tuesday, replying to an exchange on Twitter discussing reports that Apple targets |
| Venezuela Oil Union Leader Accuses Maduro Of PersecutionA senior Venezuelan oil workers’ union has accused the government of political persecution, the AFP reports, citing an interview with the official who has meanwhile left Venezuela. “The idea is to neutralize the oil union movement by force,” Ivan Freites, director of the federation of Venezuelan oil workers, told the AFP’s Esteban Rojas. According to Freites and other sources, the Maduro regime is targeting union leaders in an attempt to conceal its responsibility for the crisis that is ravishing the country’s vital oil industry. Earlier this month, |
| Oil Prices Rise On Bullish EIA Inventory ReportCrude oil prices today moved higher after the Energy Information Administration reported an inventory draw of 600,000 barrels for the week to December 18. This compared with a draw of 3.1 million barrels estimated for the previous week and an inventory build of 2.7 million barrels for the week to December 18, as estimated by the American Petroleum Institute and reported yesterday. Analysts had expected the EIA to report an inventory draw of 3.25 million barrels for last week. Oil prices have been on the rise the past two weeks on positive vaccine |
| Watch live: Trump health officials discuss Covid vaccines after U.S. administers first 1 million shotsOfficials from the Health and Human Services Department and Pentagon are holding a joint briefing on Operation Warp Speed. |
| Americans to stay home for the holidays ” or stick to cars if travelingMost Americans intend to stay home for the December holidays, with fewer than a quarter or so taking to the roads, rails or skies amid the pandemic. |
| The U.S. has vaccinated just 1 million people out of a goal of 20 million for DecemberThe total number of vaccines administered is still a long way off from the federal government’s goal to inoculate 20 million Americans by the end of the year. |
| Biden Covid advisor Dr. Atul Gawande details his experience in Moderna vaccine trial“That one knocked me down. Then about 24 hours later, I was back on my feet and doing OK,” Dr. Atul Gawande told CNBC. |
| Student athletes worry the coronavirus pandemic could put their scholarships at riskCollege Voices: A lot of high school sports have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving many student athletes worried about their scholarships. |
| Watch live: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo updates the public as state rolls out Covid vaccines“Of course a shutdown in January is possible,” Cuomo said last week. “But there’s a big but,” he said, spelling the word out one letter at a time “B-U-T.” |
| Dubai is offering the Pfizer vaccine to residents for free in addition to China’s Sinopharm shotThe emirate’s first batch of the Pfizer vaccines landed at Dubai International Airport late Tuesday night from Brussels. |
| Holiday sales have been hurt by pressure on shipping networks, says Fanatics chairman“As good as business is, it could have even been better,” Fanatics Executive Chairman Michael Rubin told CNBC. |
| Airlines begin complex process of calling back more than 32,000 furloughed workersAirlines will have to undo more than 32,000 furloughs as a condition for $15 billion in federal aid. |
| Texas breaks from CDC in vaccinating elderly over police and teachers as states set own priorities for rationing Covid shotsTexas, Florida and Massachusetts have broken from the CDC in setting a different schedule for who gets the next round of Covid-19 vaccine shots. |
| Space holding company Voyager to acquire Nanoracks, which added an airlock to the space stationVoyager Space Holdings’ fourth acquisition in a little over a year since it was established is a majority stake in the parent company of Nanoracks. |
| Sorrento Therapeutics developing antibodies injection and nose drops to fight Covid-19Sorrento Therapeutics is developing an antibodies injection and nose drops to fight Covid-19 and its variant strains. |
| Miami’s commercial real estate boom picks up steam as pandemic pushes companies to seek new digsAlex Rodriguez, the baseball superstar-turned-developer, said the Miami market is “a rocket ship” since Covid started. |
| Trumpnado Sparks Late-Day Lurch Lower In Stocks, Dollar Drops On Dismal DataTrumpnado Sparks Late-Day Lurch Lower In Stocks, Dollar Drops On Dismal Data Core Durable Goods miss, Personal Income and Spending miss and drop, UMich Sentiment miss and drop, total jobless claims remains above 20 million, and new home sales miss and drop… all sending hard and soft macro data plunging…
Source: Bloomberg But stocks were up because, hey, it’s just a fleshwound… And so, as all that hope evaporates, “investors” (used in the loosest way) bought Small Cap stocks with both hands and feet, while dumping big-tech at the cash open. Overnight saw stocks tank as Trump spoke on improvements to the COVID Lockdown Relief Bill, but dip-buyers just could not help themselves. Then with around 10 mins to go, the bottom fell out of the market as headlines on Trump’s … |
| 2020 Is The Worst Year For Contrarians Ever2020 Is The Worst Year For Contrarians Ever Authored by John Authers, op-ed via Bloomberg.com, Contrarian trades are where the big money is. Investors who hold their nerve and are greedy when everyone else is fearful, and vice versa, can make huge bucks. The nature of the market, and its tendency to overshoot, more or less guarantees this. But while the market is unquestionably inclined to go to unjustified extremes and overshoot, the problem for a contrarian strategy is that most of the time the market by and large gets it right. This means that a strategy of mechanically betting against the market’s most extreme positions tends not to work “ even though it occasionally works spectacularly. And 2020 turns out to have been a terrible year for contrarians. This might seem strange, as virtually all 12 months were dominated by a novel coronavirus that scarcely anyone outside China had heard of at the year’s beginning. But the virus did not turn things around “ it merely added speed to trends that were already in place. For evidence, I will refer to the annual exercise conducted by Rob Buckland, chief global equity strategist for Citigroup Inc. in London. He refers to it as the œChristmas lunch hedge fund “ the strategy that would result if stocks were picked over a boozy Christmas lunch in which traders get ever more outrageous in their attempts to shock their colleagues with predictions of which stocks will do best next year. To track such a contrarian strategy, Buckland re … |
| Trump Vetoes Defense Authorization Bill, Calls It A “Gift” To China And RussiaTrump Vetoes Defense Authorization Bill, Calls It A “Gift” To China And Russia In a move that was generally expected, on Wednesday afternoon Trump vetoed the $740.5 billion annual defense policy bill – not the covid stimulus bill which he also threatened to block last night – following through on his threat despite the legislation passing Congress with a veto-proof majority. “I am returning, without my approval, H.R. 6395, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021,” Trump said in a statement to the House of Representatives, saying the NDAA “fails to include critical national security measures, includes provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history, and contradicts efforts by my Administration to put America first in our national security and foreign policy actions. It is a “gift” to China and Russia.” The president has previously opposed a provision in the measure to rename military bases that honor Confederate generals; he has also demanded that the bill include a provision to abolish the Section 230 tech-liability shield. The bill, H.R. 6395, will now return to Congress where the House and the Senate both have the votes and may decide to override Trump’s veto. The full text of Trump’s veto is below.
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| NYC Orders Sheriffs To Track Down Travelers Defying Quarantine Order; Hospitalizations Hit New High: Live UpdatesNYC Orders Sheriffs To Track Down Travelers Defying Quarantine Order; Hospitalizations Hit New High: Live Updates Summary: Buffalo Bills may have small number of fans at home playoff game NYC orders all travelers international travelers to quarantine Swedish Parliament to vote on COVID lockdown Argentina approves emergency use of COVID vaccine More countries bar travelers from UK City sees most hospitalizations since May Sheriffs will check up on travelers from Britain UK reports new daily case record UK sees biggest one-day jump in new cases 2nd highly infectious strain discovered in UK Dr. Fauci warns US trying to get hands on new strain 40% of England now under “Tier 4” lockdown More Asian countries block travel with UK France, Bulgaria drop restrictions US hospitalizations hit new record Germany reports record deaths Mexico to start vaccination Tokyo reports nearly 750 new infections Taiwan president urges calm after country snaps longest streak with no cases India cases bounce back after 6 month low Houston area ICU see 11%Â spike COVID hospitalizations climbing across the country California’s new cases are compensating for decline in Midwest * * * Update (1515ET): Good news, Football fans: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has come up with a proposal to allow 6.7K fans attend the Buffalo Bills playoff home game. That’s roughly 1/10th of the stadium’s capacity. * * * Update (1200ET): We we … |
| Pound gains on hopes a Brexit trade deal is closeReports suggest a deal between the UK and EU could be announced later on Wednesday. |
| Lufthansa airlifts food to the UK amid lorry chaosThe German airline is flying in fresh fruit and vegetables for shops such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s. |
| Brazen fraudsters offer crime subscription serviceCriminal organisations are teaching other fraudsters a scam, prompting fresh warnings for shoppers. |
| Vedanta promoters to increase stake in Indian listed companyPromoters have fixed the price range between Rs 150 and Rs 160 per share for the offer. With this transaction, promoters stake in the company will likely to increase from 50.14% to 55.04%. |
| Mrs Bectors Food shares to list on bourses on ThursdayThe issue, sold in the range of Rs 286-288, was subscribed a whopping 198 times in the three-day bidding process, with the HNI quota getting subscribed by a solid 620.85 times. |
| Market Movers: Majesco turns ex-dividend; 25 stocks flash ‘buy’ signal on MACDShares of Majesco hit the upper circuit as they traded ex-dividend on Wednesday, and closed nearly 5 per cent from the adjusted previous close. |
| Outside the Box: When and how will I retire? 3 strategies to get you thereThe path to retirement isn’t the same for everyone. |
| Bond Report: 2-year/10-year Treasury yield curve hits steepest since 2017U.S. Treasury yields rise Wednesday as news reports suggest a Brexit trade deal could be reached soon, easing demand for haven investments. |
| The Tell: ‘Santa Claus’ rally anyone? Why few 7-day periods are better for the stock marketEquities have performed exceedingly well during a seasonal period that includes the year’s last five trading days and the first two sessions of the new year, in what’s come to be known as the œSanta Claus rally. |
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