21Jan2021 Market Close: SandP 500 And Nasdaq Eke Out New Records In Biden's First Full Day In Office

Written by Gary

All major markets gained today, with Bitcoin down marginally to $34,718, gold up marginally to $1,841, and WTI up marginally to $52.74.

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Mercedes To Take On Tesla With Fully Electric SUV Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz rolled out its battery-powered EQA SUV as part of a plan to take on Tesla and Volkswagen. Mercedes-Benz’s first fully-electric SUV will be available in the coming months.EQA’s retail price will be set around47,541 euros ($57,734) and have a range of approximately486 kilometers (302 miles). Bloombergnotes unlike Tesla Inc.’s Model 3 or Volkswagen AG’s ID.3, Mercedes-Benz outfitted an existing combustion-engine vehicle with electric motors instead of developing one from scratch.
	China Is Struggling To Keep Up With Electricity Demand The cold spell that left Asian countries scrambling to buy enough natural gas for heating and electricity generation earlier this month made headlines and spurred a massive rally in spot gas prices on the regional market. It also highlighted a problem with Chinas electricity consumption: it grew too much, too fast. Reuters John Kemp noted in a recent column on Chinas electricity consumption that in November, this increased by 9 percent on an annual basis, according to official data. Thats despite the global pandemic
	India Hopes To Import More Iranian, Venezuelan Crude Under Biden India hopes it could diversify its oil suppliers under the new U.S. Administration that could relax restrictions on oil exports from Iran and Venezuela, Indias Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told Bloomberg TV in an interview. Some geopolitical changes are there, Pradhan told Bloomberg, referring to expected policies from U.S. President Joe Biden. The Indian minister reiterated his remarks from last month when he said that the worlds third-largest oil importer would like to have more opportunities to work for diversifying
	How Microsoft Looks To Eliminate All The Carbon It Ever Emitted In January 2020, Microsoft launched a company-wide focus on sustainability by announcing an ambitious goal and a detailed plan to become carbon negative by 2030, and by 2050 to remove from the environment more carbon than they have emitted since they were founded. To oversee this plan, they have assembled a team of experts including Microsoft Chief Environmental Officer, Lucas Joppa, and hired veterans of the energy sector like Darryl Willis, who is a geophysicist by training and spent 28 years with BP and a stint with Google before becoming Microsofts
	Baker Hughes Posts First Quarterly Profit Since Oil Collapsed In 2020 Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes (NYSE: BKR) booked its first quarterly net profit since oil prices crashed in March, reporting on Thursday a net income of $653 million for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to a loss of $170 million for the third quarter. Both orders and revenues rose in Q4 compared to the previous quarter, Baker Hughes said, although they were still lower than those booked for the fourth quarter of 2019. The profit for Q4 2020 marks the first quarterly net income for Baker Hughes since oil demand collapsed, prices crashed,
	Oil Majors Are Eyeing A Suriname Offshore Boom Majors are eying Suriname as the next big oil player. With recent success in neighbouring Guyana, Suriname offers hope for low-cost oil exploration and production going into 2021. Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Apache are all showing interest in the South American state, hoping Suriname will provide oil for as little as $30 to $40 a barrel thanks to lower production costs. This is well below the average US production cost of almost $50 per barrel. After years of political unrest, Suriname is eager to make a name for itself in the
	President Joe Biden rejoins the Paris climate accord in first move to tackle global warming President Joe BidenÂ on Wednesday signed an executive order to rejoin the U.S. into the Paris climate agreement, his first major action on global warming.
	United’s losses mount but airline expects to surpass 2019 margins in 2023 United Airlines posted another quarterly loss and said it expects sales to continue to struggle in the first quarter.
	Belk’s top lenders, including KKR, looking to avoid taking department store through bankruptcy, WSJ says KKR and other major lenders to Belk are in talks with the department store chain to keep it out of bankruptcy, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
	Dr. Fauci to lead U.S. delegation at WHO meetings as Biden plans to reverse Trump withdrawal Dr. Anthony Fauci is scheduled to give remarks on Thursday as the United States’ head delegate for the WHO’s annual executive board meetings.
	Foxconn, Apple interest in EVs point to dramatically different future for automakers Apple, Foxconn and other technology companies are going to work with automakers in ways which will transform the global auto industry.
	Biden signs order requiring travelers wear masks on planes and at airports as pandemic rages President Joe Biden mandates masks for interstate travel, including airlines, something labor unions have pushed for.
	A year into the Covid crisis, scientists explain what we learned and what we got wrong The first U.S. case of Covid-19 was reported Jan. 21, 2020, by the CDC. A year later, health experts reflect on the most important lessons learned.
	Sluggish Covid vaccine rollout threatens Wall Street’s rosy outlook The market’s optimism and economic realities could clash if Americans hold on to pandemic habits or spend conservatively because of the recession.
	Ford shares on pace for best week since June on new products, earnings expectations Ford stock is up about 20% this week, including an increase of as much as 11.9% during intraday trading Thursday morning.
	Americans grow more optimistic about Covid but blame feds for rocky vaccine rollout, NBC News poll says American voters are more optimistic about the pandemic now compared with last fall as President Biden takes office, according to a new NBC News poll.
	Saks Fifth chief says luxury retail has been ‘comfort food’ for some shoppers during the pandemic Saks Fifth Avenue Chief Executive Marc Metrick said luxury retail has been like “comfort food” for some shoppers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
	‘Bridgerton’ renewed for second season on Netflix Lady Whistledown has a big announcement for fans of Netflix’s “Bridgerton.” The Shondaland series created by Chris Van Dusen is getting a second season.
	Op-ed: A new global arms race in digital finance is heating up The world’s biggest financial institutions and central banks are getting serious about a monetary system leveraging cryptocurrencies and the blockchain.
	Peter Schiff: Biden Takes The Helm Of A Sinking Ship Peter Schiff: Biden Takes The Helm Of A Sinking Ship Via SchiffGold.com, Joe Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, becoming the 46th president of the United States. And as Peter Schiff put it in his podcast, he took the helm of a sinking ship. But the stock markets sure don’t act like the ship is taking on water. All four major stock indices close at new record highs on inauguration day. Peter said this proves that the stock market rally really didn’t have much to do with Donald Trump. If the stock market gains were really attributable to Donald Trumps policies, and Joe Biden is already unwinding those policies and reversing as many as he can by executive order, why are all the stock markets making record highs? To me, that shows you that the stock market couldn’t care less about Biden being president, because it didn’t matter that Trump was president.
	Growth Stocks’ “Line In The Sand” Defended Again, Bitcoin Battered Growth Stocks’ “Line In The Sand” Defended Again, Bitcoin Battered Big-Tech stocks rallied today as Small Caps lagged and the S&P and Dow trod water as yesterday’s exuberance faded with an ugly close… But sentiment, complacency, and ignorance continued to drive to ever higher highs…Over 86% of Nasdaq composite stocks are trading above their 200-day moving average – that is the highest number since February 2004. Source: Bloomberg
	Intel Shares Surge After Big Beat-And-Raise Intel Shares Surge After Big Beat-And-Raise So much for a ‘kitchen sink’ quarter ahead of new CEO Gelsinger’s reign… In an early, surprise, earnings release, Intel crushed top- and bottom-line expectations for the quarter
	Einhorn’s Greenlight Made A Record 25% In Q4, Mocks Tesla’s “Valuation-Indifferent” Investors: Full Letter Einhorn’s Greenlight Made A Record 25% In Q4, Mocks Tesla’s “Valuation-Indifferent” Investors: Full Letter Ending a period of dismal performance which sent his AUM tumbling in recent years, today David Einhorn sent out a letter to investors in which he was delighted to announced that in Q4, his hedge fund returned 25%: “this was the best quarterly result in Greenlight’s history. Longs contributed 42% while shorts detracted 15% and macro detracted 1%.” The reason for the surge: the dramatic outperformance of value stocks: “after nine months in which growth stocks relentlessly outperformed value stocks, the fourth quarter had a moderate reversal. For the year, however, the Russell 1000 Pure Growth index returned 67% while the Russell 1000 Pure Value index was essentially flat.” The record Q4 performance was enough to push Greenlight to green for the year, with a 5.2% return for the entire 2020. As Einhorn explains, in Q4 “nearly the entire long book performed exceptionally well. The leader was Green Brick Partners (GRBK), which surged from $16.10 to $22.96 per share as strong results caused a significant upward revision to the forecasted earnings trajectory of the company. Brighthouse Financial (BHF) recovered part of its earlier decline, advancing from $26.91 to $36.21 as the yield curve steepened and value stocks did better. AerCap Holdings (AER) bounced from $25.19 to $45.58 following enthusiasm that the COVID-19 vaccines will lead to a recovery in air travel.”
	Next pulls out of race to buy Topshop-owner Arcadia A consortium including the fashion chain will no longer bid to buy Arcadia group out of administration.
	Covid: Nine million people forced to borrow more to cope There is a “widening financial gap” between households because of the pandemic, says the ONS.
	Plans to cap fees charged by claims companies It follows criticism that firms take a large proportion of compensation for mis-sold financial products.
	RIL Q3 preview: Profit to be flat, sales likely to fall; GRM to improve sequentially The net sales for the December quarter is projected to drop 18-22 percent YoY. Net profits for the oil-to-retail conglomerate is expected to increase up to 5 percent, said analysts tracking the company.
	Jim O’Neill’s mantra to beat the market over the next decade At a time when global and domestic equity indices are scorching their way to record highs with no concerns around valuations, Jim O’Neill asserted that valuations still matter in investing.
	A huge problem like Covid has created this huge bull market: Shankar Sharma Covid created a massive problem but that led to the massive stimulus by the US Fed and the other governments and that led to the bull market
	16 January 2021 New York Fed Weekly Economic Index (WEI): Index Declines Written by Steven Hansen The New York Fed’s Weekly Leading Index (WLI) continues to show an economy that is just above the worst seen during the Great Recession. This index remains on a recovery trend based on the 13 week rolling average but the index has changed little over the last 4 weeks.
	December 2020 Residential Building Growth Improves Written by Steven Hansen Headline residential building permits improved and construction completions also improved. The rolling averages improved for permits but worsened for construction completions.
	Market Snapshot: S&P 500 and Nasdaq eke out new records in Biden’s first full day in office U.S. stocks ended mixed Thursday, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq still managed to eke out new records as investors pondered President Biden’s prospects for combating the COVID-19 pandemic and boosting economic recovery with his legislative agenda.
	: Intel stock gains after early release of earnings Intel Corp.’s stock rallied to close higher in the last minutes of trading Thursday after the chip maker released quarterly results and an outlook that topped Wall Street expectations.
	Cryptos: Bitcoin’s skid rings alarm bells as money manager says retreat to $20,000 ahead Bitcoin prices are sliding again Thursday, and the decline may be triggering some short-term bearish alarm bells with the asset already technically in a bear-market after seeing record highs earlier in January.