Written by Gary
US stock futures are relatively steady this morning (SPY -0.2%). Oil prices rise on Iran worries as OPEC+ talks continue.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | European markets are mixed today. The CAC 40 is up 0.68% while the FTSE 100 gains 0.04%. The DAX is off 0.79%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Should Oil Markets Brace for A U.S. Shale Comeback?The 2020 crisis put an abrupt end to the growth in U.S. crude oil production, which had just hit 13 million barrels per day (bpd) before oil prices and demand collapsed with the spread of the pandemic. Between March and May 2020, U.S. oil production plunged by over 2.5 million bpd as companies slashed spending on drilling and curtailed output in response to the low oil prices. In May, U.S. oil production hit 10 million bpdits lowest monthly level since late 2017. After the trough in May, oil output in the United States |
| How 400 Year Old Blood Taxis Created A $5.7 Trillion IndustryNearly 400 years ago, a French businessman may have launched the start of an estimated $5.7 trillion industry, the estimate of value that Uber puts on all passenger vehicle miles and all public transportation miles in all countries globally. At the time, many elites used his fiacres to move around Paris secretly and commit illegal acts without gaining attention But today, its led to a industry thats revolutionized the way people around the world work and travel every day By 2021 giving over 540 million people |
| Venezuelas 2020 Oil Exports Plunged To The Lowest Level In 77 YearsVenezuelas crude oil and refined product exports plummeted in 2020 to their lowest level in 77 years, as the U.S. continued to step up sanctions against Nicolas Maduros regime and anyone found dealing with it, Reuters reported on Monday, citing data from Refinitiv Eikon and internal documents from state oil firm PDVSA. Last year, Venezuelas oil exports plunged by 37.5 percent, reaching just 626,534 barrels per day (bpd), the lowest level since the early 1940s, according to the data. In 2019, exports of crude oil and refined |
| OPEC+ Talks Stall Over Oil ProductionThe OPEC+ talks stalled on Monday after the group failed to reach a consensus on the best path forward for oil production, the body reported on Monday afternoon. OPEC and non-OPECs Ministerial Meeting held on Monday will now resume on Tuesday, January 5, giving the group more time to discuss amongst themselves and come to some sort of agreement on Februarys oil production. The group has been unable toso farreach an agreement, with some countries lobbying hard for a 500,000 barrel per day output increase and others hoping |
| Russias Annual Oil Production Drops For The First Time Since 2008Due to the OPEC+ production cut deal and the decreased demand in the pandemic, Russias crude oil and condensate production fell in 2020 for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis and then slump in oil prices, according to government statistics. Russias annualized oil production declined by 8.6 percent to 10.27 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2020, down from a record-high in 2019, data from the energy ministry cited by Russian news agency Interfax showed. According to Reuters estimates, the 2020 oil production dropped |
| The Beginning Of A New Megatrend In Solar EnergyThe solar sector has enjoyed a jaw-dropping run-up in the current year. The sectors sole pure-play solar fund, Invesco Solar Portfolio ETF (TAN), is up 234% over the past 52 weeks, with a good chunk of those returns having come after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the U.S. presidential elections a month-and-half ago. That incredible momentum is certainly beginning to look like a big bubble in the making, considering that its hard to prove how the fundamental value of solar companies has more than tripled in the space of just |
| The UK is delaying second vaccine shots and it’s proving controversial. Here’s what we know so farThe U.K.’s decision to delay giving people the second dose of a coronavirus vaccine is proving controversial, with experts and the vaccine producers weighing in. |
| 5 things to know before the stock market opens TuesdayU.S. stock futures were relatively steady Tuesday, a day after the Dow and S&P 500 saw sharp declines in their first negative start to a year since 2016. |
| ‘Planning is the antidote to panic’: Providence Hospital System defies America’s slow vaccine rollout trendThe Providence Hospital System defied the country’s slow rollout trend and gave the first dose of the Covid vaccine to more than half of its 120,000 employees. |
| VMware commits to closing workforce gender gap by 2030“We want to see more diversity in the workplace. We’re committed to having 50% of our managers be women,” VMware COO Sanjay Poonen told CNBC’s Jim Cramer. |
| Electric-vehicle SPAC sell-off is a ‘sign of health,’ Jim Cramer says“Mad Money” host Jim Cramer offers his takeaways on six electric-vehicle SPACs after a brutal trading day on Wall Street. |
| Jim Cramer reveals his 10 investment themes for 2021“I always fall back on themes. That’s the best way to approach a sell-off, like we had today,” the “Mad Money” host said. |
| New York Gov. Cuomo confirms state’s first case of new Covid strain initially found in UKThe case was identified in a 60-year-old man from Saratoga County who had no travel history, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday. |
| British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposes national lockdown on England to combat new Covid variantIf England doesn’t implement a new lockdown, the nation’s health system will become overwhelmed in 21 days, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. |
| Moderna increases minimum 2021 Covid vaccine production by 20% to 600 million dosesThe U.S. is on track to secure 100 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine by the end of March and additional 100 million by June, the company said. |
| New York Gov. Cuomo to propose law making it a crime to skip the line for Covid vaccineNew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would propose a law that would make it a crime to sell or administer Covid-19 vaccines to people trying to skip in line. |
| McDonald’s will launch 3 chicken sandwiches next month as it doubles down on chickenMcDonald’s will launch three chicken sandwiches on Feb. 24 as it tries to reach new customers with more poultry on its menu. |
| How Walmart plans to take over health careAs consumers face rising health-care costs, Walmart is diving deeper into the business, opening a number of doctor-run clinics called Walmart Health. |
| As Covid cases surge in California, Hollywood pauses TV productionSAG-AFTRA, the Joint Policy Committee and the Producers Guild of America recommended that TV production be temporarily halted. |
| Blain: Will The ‘Green’ Economy Trigger The Next Meltdown?Blain: Will The ‘Green’ Economy Trigger The Next Meltdown? Authored by Bill Blain via MorningPorridge.com, Back in the last century, I spent a large part of my investment career packaging up financial assets, like mortgages, into bonds ” securitisation. I was heavily involved with the acquisition financing of a US home lender ¦ which went spectacularly wrong a few years later when we discovered to our shock and absolute horror – about the same time everyone else did- that all assumptions behind sub-prime mortgage lending were pants. Pretty much ended my career in big banks ¦ Sub-prime was a small, but very significant part of the ABS market. When it tumbled it shook markets to the core. Everyone believed securitisation worked because it did. The arbitrage for smart players was that very few people actually bothered to check or do the due diligence on the piles of ABS cack they bought. The book, the film (and I am sure there is a probably also a pie), The Big Short, summed up the delusional madness of believing complex investment instruments don’t go wrong because they have been so carefully planned, constructed and trust. They don’t ever go wrong ¦ right up to the moment they do. And once you realise it, you also realise it was blindingly obvious from the get-go just how flawed they were ¦ I suspect it’s all about to happen again. All it takes for a financial crash is a couple of snowflakes to roll down the hill and trigger an avalanche. One sector it might start is in renewables. |
| US Equity Futures Fail To Rebound Ahead Of Crucial Georgia VoteUS Equity Futures Fail To Rebound Ahead Of Crucial Georgia Vote US equity futures and global stocks tried and failed to rebound from Monday’s rout which was the worst first day to a new year since 2016. Emini futures failed to turn green and were last trading down 7 points or 0.2%, at 3,685, as investors looked to twin Senate runoff elections in Georgia that would determine the balance of power in Washington. Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index reversed earlier gains and dropped to session lows -0.5% even though Asian stocks climbed as China’s equity benchmark rose to a 13-year high; the dollar dropped, yields rose and bitcoin was flat.
In the most bizarre overnight move, the Hong Kong-traded stocks of China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom rallied by more than 6% after the New York Stock Exchange suddenly and inexplicably abandoned plans to de-list the companies’ shares following a U.S. executive order. Late on Monday, the NYSE announced t … |
| Here Are The Top 5 Consensus Trades As We Enter 2021Here Are The Top 5 Consensus Trades As We Enter 2021 At the start of every year, the Wall Street consensus is infatuated with a set of ideas, narratives and trades, which shape markets for the next few months, quite often repricing violently especially since so many of them end up being dead wrong. 2021 is no exception, and as Reuters summarizes among the top trades which investment banks and asset managers believe will dominate financial markets in 2021, are: i) Dump the dollar!; ii) Buy emerging markets! iii) Stay sustainable… oh and pray that central banks bail you out when everything blows up. 1. King Dollar (Keeps) Falling Covid ended a decade of dollar strength (after first creating a supernova surge in the value of the greenback as a $12 trillion dollar short squeeze shockwave which was short circuited by the Fed printing trillions), and expectations are for 2021 to bring more greenback pitfalls. BofA’s December investor survey showed ‘shorting’ the dollar was the second most crowded trade. Another gauge – U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data – shows $30 billion in net dollar shorts, swinging from last December’s $17 billion net long. The reasoning, says Peter Fitzgerald, chief investment officer for multi-asset and macro at Aviva Investors, is that no central bank can œout-dove the Fed . In other words, when the Federal Reserve cut interest rates near 0%, it kicked away the dollar’s yield advantage over peers. And it still has room to ease policy. Any future reduction in trade and political tensions, likely under a Biden administration, w … |
| Proud Boys Leader Arrested In Washington Ahead Of Wednesday Protest RallyProud Boys Leader Arrested In Washington Ahead Of Wednesday Protest Rally The leader of the Proud Boys, the group that has vocally supported President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results, was arrested on Monday on charges of destruction of property after he arrived in Washington to protest the congressional certification of the election later this week, the NYT and WaPo reported. The chairman of the Proud Boys – a Latin man by the name of Enrique Tarrio – was arrested by Metropolitan Police on suspicion of burning a Black Lives Matter banner torn from a historic Black church in Washington during protests last month that led to several violent clashes, including stabbings, around the city. Police stopped a car Tarrio had been in shortly after it entered the District, said Du … |
| Government offers firms new grants to survive lockdownBusiness groups welcomed the new help as a good start but said more aid and a clear plan would be needed. |
| Tui and Thomas Cook cancel bookings as lockdown beginsTui and Thomas Cook cancel holidays after new coronavirus restrictions are imposed. |
| Paperchase on the brink of administrationThe stationery chain which has 127 stores and around 1,500 employees says shop closures hit it hard. |
| Beauty startup Nykaa plans $3 billion IPO this yearThe startup founded by Falguni Nayar, a former investment banker, is working with advisers to prepare for the share sale in Mumbai, the people said. |
| Plutus Wealth & Associates purchase Nazara shares worth Rs 500 crore from WestBridgeWestBridge Ventures II Investment Holdings is a fund managed by WestBridge Capital, and the shares were acquired in a secondary transaction between the parties.e |
| Why this New Year feels good on D-Street despite pricey valuationsWe expect the valuations to sustain and believe that there is a good chance of index delivering low-teens returns in the New Year. |
| November 2020 CoreLogic Home Prices: Annual U.S. Home Price Appreciation Jumped to 8.2%Written by Steven Hansen CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) home prices for October 2020 increased 8.2% in November 2020, compared with November 2019, marking the largest annual appreciation since March 2014. On a month-over-month basis, home prices increased by 1.1% compared to October 2020.
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| Futures Movers: Oil prices rise on Iran worries as OPEC+ talks continueOil futures rose Tuesday after Iran seized a South Korean ship and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies extended talks over whether to further ease production cuts. |
| ‘Deaths of despair’ during COVID-19 have risen significantly in 2020, new research saysThey were disproportionately experienced by working aged men, driven in part by synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, according to Casey Mulligan, professor of economics at the University of Chicago. |
| Need to Know: If 2020 was a year ‘to buy the rumor,’ maybe 2021 is time to ‘sell the news,’ veteran newsletter writer saysMarkets may zigzag this year as stocks will have to grow into their lofty valuations, says Kirk Spano. |
Enrique Tarrio, center, the leader of the Proud Boys
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