Written by Gary
Morgan Stanley Spots An Extremely Rare Market Signal Which Precedes Selloffs (SPY flat +0.02%). GM shares hit record high after revealing electric van and flying cars.
The Market in Perspective
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Google Looks To Turn Data Centers Into Energy StorageWhen most people imagine the internet, the last thing that comes to mind is huge, on-the-ground facilities and thousands of miles of wires across the ocean floor, but even the digital age depends entirely on material things. Even the cloud, whose very name suggests an ethereal, floating datasphere free from servers, towers, and wires, is housed in data centers around the world. And those data centers require energy–a LOT of energy. As more and more people get connected to the internet around the world and spend increasingly lengthy amounts | |
Oil Prices Jump To 10-Month High On Weak DollarWe hope you enjoy.Chart of the Week- Roughly 9.1 gigawatts of electricity capacity are slated for retirement in 2021 in the United States.- Nuclear power will account for 51% of that total, with coal accounting for 30%.- 48 GW of coal capacity has shut down in the past five years. Retirements are expected to continue, although the pace could slow this year.Market Movers- U.S. Well Services (NASDAQ: USWS) surged to its highest level in seven months after securing a contract | |
Can Sea Water Batteries Solve Our Energy Storage Problem?The stakes are rising with each passing day for energy storage. The world needs it, and it needs it cheaply and urgently, given all the plans in Europe, Asia, and the United States to considerably boost the amount of renewable energy in the power generation mix. As a result, breakthroughs in energy storage tech have become more or less a regular occurrence. The latest of these breakthroughs promises to solve the two challenges of energy storage: price and capacity. It does that by using seawater for a battery’s electrolytes instead of solvents, | |
South Africas Faces Major Oil Refinery CrisisTwo of South Africas four oil refineries are currently offline and expected to restart next year at the earliest, while the other two facilities also face an uncertain future as oil companies are reassessing their downstream portfolios in the wake of the pandemic that crushed fuel demand. Two South African oil refineries, owned by units of Glencore and Malaysias Petronas, are forecast to remain closed at least until next year, Bloomberg reports, citing energy consultancy CITAC. Those two refineries account for 43 percent of South | |
Big Oil Is An Unsung Hero In The Fight Against COVIDWhile the oil and gas industries experienced a difficult year in 2020, with decreased demand and a severe drop in prices, energy suppliers have continued to provide vital fuel sources for people around the globe. Though there were dramatic shortages of other products during the pandemic panic, oil and gas have remained stable sources of energy for those confronting the difficult realities of living in a strange new normal. People around the world have been able to heat their houses, fuel their cars, and use vital cooking energy to maintain | |
Shell To Cut UK Jobs As Part Of Global Workforce ReductionShell will be cutting 330 jobs from its North Sea operations, mostly office jobs based in Aberdeen, the supermajor said on Tuesday, as carried by the BBC. The Aberdeen team of Shell will thus be reduced to around 1,000 people from the current 1,300 workforce. Most of the job cuts in Aberdeen will take place over the next two years. Other jobs will be affected by the planned project of decommissioning of the Brent Charlie platform, expected to be completed within two years, according to the BBC. Shell continues to consider the UK North Sea | |
GM shares hit record high as automaker reveals electric van and delves into flying carsThe potential foray into personal air mobility was announced as part of Cadillac’s portfolio of luxury and EV vehicles. | |
Walmart will test grocery deliveries to a smart cooler on customers’ doorstepsWalmart is launching the pilot as more customers look for convenient and contact-free ways to stock their fridges. | |
CDC expands Covid vaccination guidelines to everyone 65 and olderThe states’ focus on vaccinating health-care workers and nursing homes has created a bottleneck, the official said. | |
Electric ‘flying car’ start-up Archer teams up with Fiat ChryslerThe partnership is expected to assist the start-up in lowering its purchasing costs and accelerating the launch of an electric “flying car.” | |
Pfizer CEO supports expanding Covid vaccine eligibility, describes supply of doses as adequate“I think the main bottleneck right now is to make sure we ramp up our prioritization so we can administer more vaccines,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC. | |
Dr. Fauci warns Covid variant found in South Africa could pose threat to antibody drugsA more infectious coronavirus strain first identified in South Africa is “disturbing” and could pose a threat to Covid antibody drugs, Dr. Anthony Fauci said. | |
A slow vaccine rollout threatens to spark another round of movie delaysA slower-than-expected rollout of the coronavirus vaccine could have a devastating domino effect on the 2021 movie slate. | |
US will require negative Covid tests for inbound international air travelThe US government will start requiring negative Covid tests for air travelers arriving from abroad. | |
NFL’s playoff openers see solid ratings, Nickelodeon’s game draws 2 million viewersSunday’s CBS game between the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears attracted over 28 million viewers, and its kids’ version drew approximately 2 million. | |
U.S. to change Covid vaccine allocation to favor states that quickly administer shotsThe government is changing the way it allocates Covid vaccine doses, now basing it on how quickly states can administer shots and size of their elderly population. | |
New York will turn Citi Field into a ‘mega’ Covid vaccination site, mayor saysNew York will turn Citi Field, home of the Mets, into a ‘mega’ Covid vaccination site, aiming to give as many as 7,000 shots a day, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. | |
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Tesla, General Motors, Wells Fargo and moreThese are the stocks posting the largest moves in midday trading. | |
Americans spent a record online over 2020 holidays, and more e-commerce gains are expectedOnline shopping over the 2020 holidays in the United States grew 32.2% from 2019s, totaling $188.2 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. | |
Tech Wrecks And Russell Roars As Dollar Dead-Cat-Bounce DiesTech Wrecks And Russell Roars As Dollar Dead-Cat-Bounce Dies After an unexpected plunge in Small Business Optimism, buyers of Small Cap stocks were in a world of their own today as the rest of the majors traded together… “Mad, Mad World” indeed… Nasdaq clung to unchanged year-to-date (while Small Caps are up 7.5% YTD!)… | |
Former Michigan Governor Charged In Flint Water ScandalFormer Michigan Governor Charged In Flint Water Scandal By now, most of America probably remembers the Flint, Mich. water crisis as one of the biggest scandals of the Obama era. But nearly seven years after the impoverished city’s drinking water was found to be contaminated, former GOP Gov. Rick Snyder (who was widely vilified in the press over his involvement in the decisions that led to the contamination) is reportedly about to face criminal charges. The AP reports that Snyder, his health director Nick Lyon and other ex-officials from his administration have been told they’re being charged after a new investigation of the Flint water scandal. The city’s water, which was mistakenly contaminated with lead due to an oversight by the state, caused an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in 2014-2015 and untold led poisoning. Rick Snyder Snyder has been out of office for two years, but he was governor when state-appointed managers in Flint switched the city’s water source to the Flint River … | |
Morgan Stanley Spots An Extremely Rare Market Signal Which Precedes SelloffsMorgan Stanley Spots An Extremely Rare Market Signal Which Precedes Selloffs In the past two weeks, we have discussed extensively (here, here and here) the “fundamental” risk that higher rates pose to tech names in particular (most notably the venerable five FAAMG ultra-high duration “generals” which account for a quarter of the S&P’s market cap), and the broader market in general. But in addition to risk from higher nominal and real interest rates, extended technicals – the result of the extreme “off the charts” euphoria we pointed out over the weekend… … may signal lower than average returns in the short term, according to Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson who points o … | |
Goldman: Here’s What Life Under Democrat Control Will Look LikeGoldman: Here’s What Life Under Democrat Control Will Look Like Following the runoff elections in Georgia, Democrats now have 50 seats in the Senate and therefore will set the US political agenda in both chambers. This changes the policy outlook substantially, as it means that President-elect Biden can pass fiscal legislation without Republican support as long as Democrats remain unified. Nevertheless, the incoming administration will face political constraints in such closely divided House and Senate, and practical constraints imposed by congressional procedures. Below we list some of the most frequently questions Goldman clients have about what life will look like under Democrat control for at least the next two years. How will President-elect Biden and congressional Democrats govern? Goldman expects a bipartisan approach, at least at the outset. The most important question regarding the policy outlook over the next year will be how President Biden “along with House Speaker Pelosi and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Schumer “balance the political and practical benefits of bipartisan support with the policy benefits of passing legislation even over Republican opposition. Recent events in Washington might increase Democratic interest in finding bipartisan support while also increasing Republican willingness to support aspects of the Biden Administration’s agenda, at least in the near term. One of the first decisions the Biden Administration will need to make is whether to pass some of its major priorities through the budget reconciliation process, which requires only 51 votes in the Senate, or to go through regular o … | |
Tesco, Asda and Waitrose ban shoppers without face masksIt follows similar moves by Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, but those with medical reasons will be exempt. | |
John Lewis suspends click and collect due to virus safetyCustomers will only be able to collect from Waitrose stores following a “change in tone” from the government. | |
Families ‘struggling to pay for funerals’A report suggests there is a widening gap in the cost of funerals in different parts of the UK. | |
Zoom seeks to raise $1.5 billion through new stock offeringZoom said in a statement Tuesday it expects to give its underwriter a 30-day option to buy as much as an additional $225 million of Class A stock at the public offering price, excluding underwriting discounts and fees. | |
11 Indian cos in Hurun global 500 list, country ranked 10th: ReportThe total value of these 11 companies grew 14 per cent and has been pegged at USD 805 billion or nearly a third of the Indian GDP. | |
How short-term rates impacted corporate borrowingsBank of Baroda, Rural Electrification Corporation, and Indian Bank are now paying about 25-45 basis points higher for three-to-five-year money compared to their own secondary market rates. | |
November 2020 Headline JOLTS Job Openings Year-over-Year Growth Rate ImprovedWritten by Steven Hansen The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) can be used as a predictor of future job growth, and the predictive elements show that the year-over-year growth rate of unadjusted private non-farm job openings year-over-year rate of growth improved but remains in contraction. | |
: Europe struggles to defend itself against new COVID variantsThe variant found in the U.K. has already been detected in Germany, France, Spain, Ireland and Denmark, with some countries requiring negative COVID tests from inbound travelers. | |
: Biden to name Gary Gensler as SEC Chairman: reportsPresident-elect Joe Biden will nominate former Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gary Gensler to be Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to reports in Reuters and Bloomberg. | |
Bond Report: Treasury yields erase early climb after strong 10-year note auctionU.S. Treasury yields pulled back from their highs on Tuesday after investors showed appetite for an auction of benchmark 10-year notes, which had risen to their highest levels since March. |
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