03Feb2021 Pre-Market Commentary: ADP Employment Rebounds Adding 174 K Jobs, DOW Flat, But Rising, Nasdaq Up +0.7%, WTI Climbs 55.41, US Dollar Rises 91.24, Bitcoin 36,660

Written by Gary

Dollar remains up slightly versus major rivals after ADP data (SPY +0.4%). Oil rebounds on bullish API Inventory Data.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	European markets are mixed today. The CAC 40 is up 1.86% while the DAX gains 0.54%. The FTSE 100 is off 0.01%.

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Naked Short Selling: The Truth Is Much Worse Than You Have Been Told There is a massive threat to our capital markets, the free market in general, and fair dealings overall. And no, its not China. Its a homegrown threat that everyone has been afraid to talk about. Until now. That fear has now turned into rage. Hordes of new retail investors are banding together to take on Wall Street. They are not willing to sit back and watch naked short sellers, funded by big banks, manipulate stocks, harm companies, and fleece shareholders. The battle that launched this week over GameStop
	Tesla Could Be Worth $1200 Per Share Next Year One thousand and two hundred dollars: this is how much investment firm Piper Sandler expects the stock of Tesla to be worth in a year. That’s close to double its current prices, which itself is a huge gain on how much Tesla was worth a year ago. To say that Piper Sandler is bullish on Tesla is to say nothing. The company produced a 100-plus page report on why the luxury EV maker is set for consistent stock price gains over the long term. But it all boils down to revenue streams and markets. According to the analysts of the investment firm, Tesla
	Oil And Gas Pipelines Set To Suffer Under Biden When U.S. President Joe Biden killed a high-profile, controversial oil pipeline project on his first day in office, he set the stage for more complicated and lengthy environmental reviews for all oil and gas infrastructure. President Bidens decision to scrap the Presidential permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline was not entirely unexpected, considering the campaign promises and the focus on clean energy and strengthened environmental policies. The killing of Keystone XL and the climate executive orders that followed in
	ExxonMobil Books First Annual Loss In Its Modern History ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) booked its first annual loss since the 1999 merger of Exxon and Mobil, and the first annual loss in at least 40 years after the pandemic crushed oil demand and prices and led to a huge domestic gas asset impairment. ExxonMobil reported on Tuesday a loss of $22.44 billion for 2020, compared to earnings of $14.34 billion for 2019, due to the lower oil and gas prices and after-tax fourth-quarter impairment charges of $19.3 billion. The impairment charge and the loss for the fourth quarter were not unexpectedExxon had
	Oil Rebounds On Bullish API Inventory Data The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a draw in crude oil inventories of 4.261 million barrels for the week ending January 29, along with gasoline, distillate, and Cushing draws as well. Analysts had predicted an inventory build of 446,000 barrels for the week. In the previous week, the API reported a draw in oil inventories of 5.272-million barrels, after analysts had predicted a small build of 430,000 barrels. Oil prices were trading up on Tuesday ahead of the data release as the market heads further in backwardation territory
	China Set To Add 140 GW Renewable Energy Capacity In 2021 China is expected to add 140 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy power generation this year as its electricity consumption continues to grow, according to forecasts from the China Electricity Council (CEC) cited by Reuters. Total new capacity additions are expected at 180 GW, the CEC said in its forecasts. Last year, China added 190.87 GW of new power generation capacity, of which 133 GW was renewable electricity in the form of hydropower, wind power, and solar power, the CEC said last month. New hydropower capacity additions totaled 13.23 GW, wind
	AstraZeneca vaccine can slow the spread of Covid, and delayed second dose works, Oxford data shows Researchers at the University of Oxford found that the vaccine was 76% effective at preventing symptomatic infection for three months after one dose.
	Chipotle shares fall 4% as surging digital orders ease from record pace, earnings fall short So far in January, Chipotle Mexican Grill’s same-store sales have climbed 11%.
	Covid vaccine will be administered in ‘safe and appropriate places,’ assures Walgreens executive Walgreens executive Rick Gates reacts to news of the Biden administration directly distributing Covid vaccines to retail pharmacies starting next week.
	Britain scrambles to contain Covid mutations, spread of variant from South Africa The U.K. is scrambling to contain the spread of additional mutations of the coronavirus, with the more worrying variant first discovered in South Africa emerging.
	How to eat like a local in Melbourne, the ‘culinary capital’ of Australia From breakfast through closing time, here are five places where travelers can get to know the food scene in Australia’s most livable city.Â
	‘All I did was cry:’ Elderly Americans struggle to set up Covid vaccine appointments Americans age 65 and older who are now eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine have been tirelessly trying to secure an appointment for the drug for weeks.
	5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday Dow futures pointed to a relatively flat open after the index saw its best single-session advance and best two-session rally since November.
	Biden administration will start sending Covid vaccines directly to pharmacies as it ups shipments to states The U.S. will provide a minimum of 10.5 million vaccine doses per week for the next three weeks across all jurisdictions, a Biden administration official said.
	Kraft Heinz is reportedly in talks to sell Planters for $3 billion to Hormel Kraft Heinz is nearing a deal to sell its Planters brand to Hormel for roughly $3 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
	U.S. Covid hospitalizations and cases are falling, but new strains could undo that progress “There’s a sense of dread of what’s to come,” said Dr. Leana Wen, formerÂ Baltimore health commissioner.
	Senate confirms Pete Buttigieg as Transportation secretary The Senate confirmed Pete Buttigieg as President Biden’s Transportation secretary, becoming the youngest person to run the department.
	Boeing cuts its 777X backlog by more than a third after pushing back deliveries until 2023 Boeing took more than 100 orders out of its backlog for its newest plane.
	Pfizer plans to deliver 200 million doses of Covid vaccine to U.S. by May, sooner than expected The company, which developed its vaccine with German drugmaker BioNTech, also said it can potentially deliver 2 billion doses globally by the end of this year.
	Yellen Gets Ethics Waiver To Lead Regulator Meeting On Gamestop Insanity After Taking $810K From Citadel Yellen Gets Ethics Waiver To Lead Regulator Meeting On Gamestop Insanity After Taking $810K From Citadel Once it became clear – just a few seconds after AOC first rage-tweeted about RobinHood refusing to let “the people” trade more shares of $GME and $AMC before adding that she’d support a public hearing on what had just happened – that all the key players in the “WallStreetBets”/”Gamestop” trading saga would soon be dragged in front of Congress like a gaggle of tech CEOs, the newly elected Democrats and their hand-picked economic team were faced with a critical question: who exactly was going to preside over these proceedings on the regulatory side, since they are virtually all compromised by key connections to the financial services industry, and not just the big banks. Over the past decade, a new category of financial beast has arisen. At Zero Hedge, we have been writing about them for years. They’re alternatively called “high frequency traders” “high freaks”, and “orderflow frontrunners” for those enjoy speaking the truth, or “market makers” for the political correct, but after the events of last week, millions of people were either asking Google, or their one IBD analyst friend, to explain what ‘Citadel’ is, and how it works…. the same Citadel which thr …
	ADP Employment Rebounds In January After December Drop ADP Employment Rebounds In January After December Drop Following December’s disastrous 123k drop (with both goods and services losing jobs), analysts expected a modest 70k rise in ADP employment in January, but were pleasantly surprised by a +174k print (which however needs to be put in the context of December’s upward revision to only a 78k drop). Source: Bloomberg Only the Information sector saw job losses… Source: ADP œThe labor market continues its slow recovery amid …
	Futures Ramp As Reddit Rally Routed; Italy Soars On “Prime Mario” Futures Ramp As Reddit Rally Routed; Italy Soars On “Prime Mario” World shares and US equity futures rose on Wednesday as volatility caused by a retail trading frenzy on Wall Street subsided on expectations of tougher regulation, while optimism about U.S. fiscal stimulus and the appointment of former ECB-head as Italy’s PM – i.e., Prime Mario – also supported sentiment. At 7:30 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 16 points, or 0.1% S&P 500 E-minis were up 12.25 points, or 0.32%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 73 points, or 0.55%. The MSCI world equity index was up 0.3% by 1119 GMT, inching closer to its record peak following gains in Asia overnight and a positive open in Europe. Shares are back in rally mode as the speculative short squeeze trades popular with Reddit crowds crumble, easing fears that they could lead to destabilizing swings in the stock market as funds are forced to deleverage. Janet Yellen summoned financial regulators to discuss the recent market turmoil (more below) while GameStop andÂ AMC remained volatile, swinging from losses to gains in pre-market trading. …
	“Super” Mario Draghi Tapped To Lead Apolitical “Unity” Government, Save Italian Economy “Super” Mario Draghi Tapped To Lead Apolitical “Unity” Government, Save Italian Economy With the G-20 eager to ensure a stable hand is at the steering wheel of Italy’s chaotic economy during a critical year for Italian economic development (Italy is hosting the rotating G-20 presidency this year; Janet Yellen had a call with Italy’s economics minister just a couple of days ago) Italian President Sergio Mattarella has just confirmed that former ECB chief Mario Draghi – who earned the nickname “Super Mario” for his infamous “whatever it takes” to save the euro speech, given nearly nine years ago – will be tapped to form a new Italian government although it was not immediately clear if he will have enough political support. Italian bond yields tumbled and the 10y BTP-Bund spread tightened 11bps to 103bps overnight when the appointment was first leaked, while showing only a muted reaction to the confirmation of the news. The news, which has been carefully telegraphed to the press, with the news all but confirmed a day ago,
	Black bosses ‘shut out’ by ‘vanilla boys’ club’ Many black people feel they have little chance of reaching the top, says equality watchdog ex-chief.
	Ryanair rapped over ‘misleading’ Covid adverts The Advertising Standards Authority got 2,370 complaints – the third most of any advert.
	Jeff Bezos to step down as Amazon chief executive The Amazon founder becomes executive chairman, a move he says will allow him to focus on other ventures.
	Sebi bars Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani from accessing securities market for 1 year Biyani won’t be allowed to buy, sell or deal in securities of Future Retail for two years.
	Go away, Reddit rage. Nomura has the salaryman While the rest of us were consumed by lockdown angst and vaccine anxiety, Japanese investors ” the fabled Mrs. Watanabe is nowadays more likely to be a middle-age salaryman ” were inoculating our post-pandemic future.
	FDI hike: Prudential, other global insurers likely to hike stake in Indian JVs œI see several foreign players taking this opportunity to hike stake, said Ashish Vohra, CEO of Reliance Nippon Life Insurance. He cited two possible reasons ” œeither the domestic promoter is looking to exit, or there are profitability or solvency pressures .
	Economic Report: U.S. private payrolls rebound in January, ADP says U.S. private companies added 174,000 jobs in January after shedding workers in the prior month, according to the ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday.
	Earnings Results: Match Group offers mixed forecast while topping estimates for latest quarter Match Group Inc. delivered slightly better-than-expected results Tuesday while posting a mixed outlook for the quarter and year ahead.
	Earnings Results: Chipotle online sales nearly triple, but pandemic-related expenses also rise Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. late Tuesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street expectations despite rising sales.