Written by Gary
Stock futures signal Wall Street will take another shot at records as 2020 winds down (SPY +0.3%). Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: AstraZeneca, Intel, Caterpillar, Alibaba.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
European markets are mixed today. France’s CAC 40 is higher by 0.42% while the FTSE 100 is even. The German markets are closed. |
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
The Energy Sector To Watch In 2021The year 2020 has been unusually volatile for the U.S. financial market, but more so for the energy sector thanks to nationwide lockdowns and subsequent fuel demand destruction. It’s become a recurring theme, but the oil and gas sector has again emerged as the worst performer among America’s 11 sectors for the 11th straight year. Indeed, Refinitiv data shows that the S&P 500 earnings growth rate would have only declined 2.3% when you exclude the energy sector instead of the 6.5% when you include it. That’s quite damning for the index’s | |
Iraqi Kurdistan Finally Moves To Develop Massive Gas ResourcesIn tandem with Iraqs reiterated target for crude oil production of 7 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2025, from the previous 5 mbpd, Baghdad has also stated that it will stop flaring gas by the same point (and to halt importing fuel from Iran by 2025 as well). These moves would be in line with Iraqs endorsement in May 2017 of the United Nations and World Bank Zero Routine Flaring initiative aimed at ending this type of routine flaring by 2030 and with the commitments made by Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, during | |
The Real Reason Big Tech Dominated The Market In 2020Nearly every aspect of our lives has been transformed in 2020. But there are few places where the change has been as dramatic or all-encompassing as in the stock market. As any trader will tell you, fundamentals in 2020 appear to have become almost entirely irrelevant, ESG investing is now the single biggest trend impacting stocks, and traditional industry giants are under attack. But while all of that was going on, another remarkable trend has taken over stock markets the billion-dollar stock boom. From Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) to DoorDash | |
How Angola Can Keep Its Oil Production From FallingThere seems to be a point of saturation when it comes to assessing Angolas crude exports for the upcoming months beyond a certain point it serves as no surprise that the forthcoming month is going to set another multi-year low. Yes, Angola did voluntarily commit to capping its oil production and yes, the future seems to be brighter than the present state all the more so as many of President Lourenos endeavors to render Angolas upstream sector more business-friendly and streamline Sonangols business | |
Oil Prices Continue Climb On Large Crude DrawThe American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a draw in crude oil inventories of 4.785 million barrels for the week ending December 25. Analysts had predicted an inventory draw of 2.100 million barrels for the week. In the previous week, the API reported a build in oil inventories of 2.70-million barrels, after analysts had predicted a draw of 3.135 million barrels. Both Brent and WTI were up on Tuesday morning before the data release on hopes of a larger round of stimulus checks signed off on by President Donald Trump and the House | |
Can Bioengineered Plants Solve Our Carbon Problem?Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology is being hailed as an indispensable part of the energy transition. Net-zero emissions will be virtually impossible without CCUS, says the International Energy Agency (IEA), while start-ups and Big Oil are looking to create a market for carbon capture to tackle climate change. While the energy industry is working to capture and store carbon dioxide into carbon sinks in the North Sea, for example, bioengineers are working to address the problem with CO2 emissions | |
U.S. confirms first case of the new Covid strain discovered in UKThe infected individual, a man in his 20s, does not have a history of traveling and is in isolation in Elbert County, officials said. | |
Biden slams Trump’s vaccine effort, reiterates plan to administer 100 million doses in 100 daysDr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the vaccine rollout has been slower than anticipated. | |
California extends stay-at-home order for two regions of the state as ICU capacity remains tightThe regional order, which Gov. Gavin Newsom first announced on Dec. 3 and was set to expire Monday. | |
This chart shows 2020 had a chance to break box office records, but Covid caused lowest haul in decadesThe domestic box office fell 80% to $2.28 billion in 2020 because of Covid, the lowest tally in nearly 40 years. | |
The pandemic’s new chefs and foodies: How the health crisis shaped what we cook and craveAmericans have made more meals at home, expanded their palates with new flavors and gravitated toward premium items during the coronavirus pandemic. | |
Boeing 737 Max passenger flights resume in U.S. after nearly two-year banAmerican Airlines is the first U.S. carrier to return the Boeing 737 Max to commercial service. | |
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: AstraZeneca, Intel, Caterpillar, Alibaba & moreThese are the stocks posting the largest moves before the bell. | |
Half of U.S. states will raise their minimum wage in 2021 “and more pay hikes could be on the wayWhether the Biden administration will get the chance to raise the federal minimum wage will likely come down to runoff election in Georgia on Tuesday. | |
Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine approved by UK regulatorÂThe Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is cheaper than others and does not need to be kept at the ultra-low temperatures required by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. | |
The U.S. needs to vaccinate 3 million people per day to hit Covid vaccination goal, doctor saysTrump’s Operation Warp Speed promised 20 million doses in the U.S. by year-end, but states have received only 11.4 million doses, according to the CDC. | |
U.S. likely to fall short of goal to vaccinate 20 million people against Covid before end of yearThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said just over 11.4 million doses had been distributed as of Tuesday, short of the federal government’s goal. | |
Pierre Cardin, ground-breaking fashion designer and master marketer, dies at 98Cardin brought geometric shapes to haute couture and put his name on everything from clothing to perfume to pens during his more seven decades in fashion. | |
American Airlines expects to fly less than half of 2019 schedule through February as virus spreadsAmerican Airlines says new Covid-19 cases will likely continue to weigh on demand into 2021. | |
2020: America’s Wake-Up Call2020: America’s Wake-Up Call Authored by Pat Buchanan via Buchanan.org, Who could have predicted how dreadful a year 2020 would be. By this New Year’s Eve, 19 million to 20 million Americans will have contracted a deadly virus in a pandemic that exploded out of China to carry off 333,000 Americans, one of every 1,000 of us. As 2021 begins, Americans will be dying at the rate of 10,000 a week and contracting the virus at a rate of more than 1 million new cases a week. Yet, during that same year, miracles occurred. Vaccines were created, tested and mass-produced by Pfizer and Moderna that could, with 95% effectiveness, stop this virus cold. If Americans can reach œherd immunity ” from having caught and survived the virus or having been vaccinated against it ” the COVID-19 pandemic might be contained by the summer of 2021. Economically, the pandemic caused the worst crash since the Great Depression with scores of thousands of schools closed … | |
ER Nurse Tests Positive For COVID 8 Days After Being VaccinatedER Nurse Tests Positive For COVID 8 Days After Being Vaccinated In the latest reminder that COVID vaccines might not be as protective as the highly publicized Phase 3 trial data suggests, a local ABC News affiliate station in San Diego just reported that a nurse who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine came down with the virus 8 days later. This isn’t unprecedented. Data from the Phase 3 trials indicated that it could take up to two weeks to develop protections from the virus after receiving the shot. | |
Trump Campaign Asks Supreme Court To Set Aside Wisconsin’s ElectionTrump Campaign Asks Supreme Court To Set Aside Wisconsin’s Election Authored by Isabel van Brugen via The Epoch Times, The Trump campaign announced Tuesday that it was asking the Supreme Court to set aside Wisconsin’s presidential election, and to allow the Republican-controlled legislature to choose how to cast its 10 electoral votes. The campaign asks in its filing (pdf) that the Supreme Court declare the state election œfailed. It also asks justices to allow the Wisconsin Legislature to appoint presidential electors to replace those pledged to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Trump lost the battleground state to the former vice president by about 21,000 votes, according to official records. | |
Futures Rise, World Stocks At All-Time High On Last Full Day Of 2020Futures Rise, World Stocks At All-Time High On Last Full Day Of 2020 US equity futures and world stocks rose again as the last thrush of the year end rally levitated risk assets, with the S&P inching closer to recent all time highs and Asian shares hitting a record on Wednesday. Futures on the S&P 500 added 0.4%, recouping much of Tuesday’s losses, and emerging-market stocks advanced to the highest levels since 2007 on buoyant inflows. U.S. stocks retreated from an intraday record high on Tuesday after Mitch McConnell put off a vote on President Donald Trump’s call to increase COVID-19 relief checks from $600 to $2,000. The upbeat mood pushed the dollar to its lowest since April 2018, while its replacement, Bitcoin, extended its frenzied rally, approaching $29,000 before reversing. Speculative bets on USD futures hit the most bearish since 2011. | |
UK house prices see highest growth in six years in 2020UK house prices bucked the pandemic and climbed 7.5% in 2020, according to building society Nationwide. | |
Snapchat boss: US faces ‘century of competition’The billionaire founder of messaging app Snapchat also said he was “happy” to pay more taxes. | |
‘It put fire in my belly’: Meet the lockdown entrepreneursEight lessons from our CEO Secrets series looking at start-ups created during the Covid-19 pandemic. | |
Bulls and bears spar intensely at 13,900, may end Dec at 13,767-14,033 levelThe market range is 13767-14033, with the scale evenly balanced as of now, options data show. | |
Bitcoin hits new record, set for biggest monthly gain since 2019The digital asset surged above $28,000 Wednesday to a record high, adding to its 47 per cent rally so far in December. | |
Small stocks sparkle amid pandemic gloom; likely to shine in 2021 tooThis year turned out to be eventful for the equity market, witnessing bearish and bullish sentiments at different points of time. | |
Deep Dive: 15 stock-market winners that index-fund investors missed out on in 2020These stocks aren’t in the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq-100. | |
Lawrence G. McMillan: This stock market is starting to look like that of a year ago ” but it’s still too early to sellThe euphoria of both year-end 2019 and year-end 2017 led to nasty market declines the following February. | |
Bond Report: Treasury yields inch higher as end of year loomsU.S. Treasury yields rose slightly on Wednesday as bond-market trading remained calm in a holiday-shortened week. |
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