Written by Gary
Redditors Abandon Squeezes, Panic-Buy Penny-Stocks As USD Hits 2-Mo Highs (SPY +1.1%). Cold Weather Pushes Gas Prices Above $3, Manufacturing New Orders Improvement Continued.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Qatar Loses Interest In Europes LNG MarketQatar could not have a better start to 2021, first scoring a major political goal by restoring diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and ending its almost 4-year long embargo. Following a political breakthrough came an unexpected revenue bonanza which saw Doha happily riding the waves of spiking LNG prices in Asia. The combination of both developments Qatar casting away its pariah state and probably playing a more nuanced role as it finds itself between Saudi Arabia, Iran and the still-skeptical UAE, as well as its low-cost LNG production |
| Solar Firms Vow To Prevent China Forced Labor In Supply ChainAs many as 175 solar manufacturers and power companies, including Tesla and Duke Energy, pledged on Thursday to create supply chain traceability to ensure the products they use are not connected with forced labor in Chinas western region of Xinjiang, or anywhere else in the world. The commitment of the companies is part of an industry-wide effort led by U.S. trade group Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and comes as reports have intensified in recent months of the Chinese governments human rights abuses against the Uighurs |
| Cold Weather Pushes Gas Prices Above $3The weather doesnt always follow traders hopes and expectations. However, it sometimes exceeds them. December and January saw a surge in natural gas prices in Asia as a cold spell caused a boom in electricity and heating demand. Now, U.S. gas prices are also enjoying an improvement, albeit a lot more moderate than the $30 per mmBtu the Asian spot market saw last month. The front-month Henry Hub contract for natural gas topped $3 this week after the first Noreaster for the year brought snow and low temperatures to the U.S. Northeast. |
| Shell Sees Return To Normal Oil Demand In 2022Royal Dutch Shell expects global oil demand to return to some sort of normalcy next year, chief executive Ben van Beurden said on Thursday as the supermajor reported another set of weak Big Oil results affected by the pandemic. I believe 2022 is going to be sort of back to normal regarding global oil demand rebounding to the levels seen before the pandemic, Argus quoted van Beurden as saying. Full recovery of oil consumption will have to wait for a recovery in the aviation industry, Shells top executive said. |
| Saudi Arabia Raises Oil Prices To U.S. And EuropeThe worlds top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, raised on Thursday the prices of all its crude oil that will go to the United States and Europe in March while leaving unchanged the official selling prices of its crude to its key market in Asia. The Saudi state oil giant Aramco raised the prices of all its crude grades to the U.S. by $0.10 per barrel, while the Saudi oil prices to Europe were lifted by between $1.30 and $1.40 a barrel, according to Bloomberg. The price of the Saudi flagshipArab Light crude grade to Northwest Europe was raised |
| Rallying Oil Prices Are A Headache For AirlinesAs if the airline sector needed another trouble on top of the reduced travel demand due to the pandemic, oil prices at their highest in a year are set to raise jet fuel costs for the industry that has been suffering a lot from the lockdowns, flight bans, border closures, and quarantines with COVID-19. Oil prices hit a one-year high this week amid signs of a tightening oil market and risk appetite from investors and speculators. Higher crude oil prices, however, mean higher fuel prices for airlines, which have been one of the worst-hit industries |
| Airlines, labor unions push for a third round of federal aid with travel demand still depressedSome airlines and labor unions are seeking another $15 billion in federal payroll aid as the pandemic continues to strain carriers. |
| Nordstrom shares tumble as 2021 sales outlook disappoints, retailer sees bigger shift to RackWith new shoppers patterns, Nordstrom said it plans to focus its investments on smaller-format stores, building its off-price Rack business and e-commerce. |
| Koss family and company’s execs cash in $44 million in stock during short squeeze frenzyMembers of the Koss family alone sold $31 million of the stock, according to SEC filings |
| Dollar Tree’s Family Dollar taps Instacart to make same-day deliveriesInstacart will deliver online purchases to Family Dollar customers’ homes in as quick as an hour. |
| Ford forced to cut profitable F-150 pickup truck production due to semiconductor chip shortageFord is cutting production at plants in Michigan and Missouri that produce its profitable F-150 pickup trucks due to a global semiconductor chip shortage. |
| Outspoken Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, who challenged Trump on race issues, to retire this yearMerck CEO Ken Frazier will be succeeded by the chief financial officer Robert Davis, the company said. |
| Role of medical drones in global Covid vaccine campaign is growingDrone-delivery start-up Zipline plans to distribute Covid-19 vaccines with end-to-end cold chain capabilities. |
| Ford heads into earnings with a 2021 lead on Tesla. What two traders are watchingWith Ford and fellow automaker General Motors up nearly 30% year to date, two traders say electric vehicles will be a key factor in their race to profits. |
| Super Bowl sports bets could reach $4.3 billion while last-minute ticket prices slideInteresting wagers include a $3.4 million bet on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and if the opening kickoff will be returned for a touchdown. Â Â |
| Ford earnings are out – here are the numbersFord reported earnings after the bell. Here are the results. |
| SpaceX says its Starlink satellite internet service now has over 10,000 usersElon Musk’s SpaceX disclosed on Thursday that its Starlink satellite internet service now has “over 10,000 users in the United States and abroad.” |
| Chobani is reportedly eyeing an IPO later this yearYogurt-maker Chobani is considering going public later this year through an initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reported. |
| Ford CEO promises ‘year of action’ as he accelerates company restructuring and transition to EVsFord CEO Jim Farley says he will provide a clear and decisive plan for the company as the auto industry transitions to electric vehicles. |
| Redditors Abandon Squeezes, Panic-Buy Penny-Stocks As USD Hits 2-Mo HighsRedditors Abandon Squeezes, Panic-Buy Penny-Stocks As USD Hits 2-Mo Highs As ‘most-shorted’ stocks faded, the ‘most-illiquid’ stocks are suddenly bid…
Source: Bloomberg Since the election, US Micro-Caps are up over 50% – the 3rd such screaming rally since 2009…
Source: Bloomberg GME was clubbed like a baby seal today, now down around 90% from its record highs… |
| LL Cool J Invests In $72 Million Crypto FundLL Cool J Invests In $72 Million Crypto Fund First it was the outcasts. Then it was the “forward thinking” silicon valley gurus and eccentric CEOs. Then the contrarian Wall Street pros such as PTJ and Druck who got on board. And now, we are in the phase where rappers are throwing their full weight (which in some cases is substantial) behind cryptocurrencies.
According to CoinDesk, LL Cool J is the latest investor in a crypto startup: the rapper and entrepreneur is part of a “glitzy” roster of limited partners backing North Island Ventures’ newly revealed $72 million VC fund, which is headed by Glenn Hutchins, co-founder of $39 billion private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. His backers include big names like hedge fund icon Paul Tudor Jones; Apollo co-founder Josh Harris, and former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi. The report notes that the new VC fund, whose co-founders are Hutchins’ son James Hutchins and former Digital Currency Group investor Travis Scher, has been quietly making V … |
| Surging Dollar Could Be The Bull In Stock Rally’s China ShopSurging Dollar Could Be The Bull In Stock Rally’s China Shop By Laura Cooper, Bloomberg Markets Live commentator and analyst Relative real yields are making the greenback more attractive in G-10 crosses, while stretched positions have speculators on the wrong side of the trade. Conditions are ripe for dollar strength to thwart the risk rally. While the dollar is being challenged by its EM peers, a corrective phase has the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index grinding higher as markets pivot away from the perception of all central banks holding at effective lower bounds. That is disrupting long-held correlations — leaving the dollar as a headwind to an ongoing S&P 500 rally.
One needs to look no further than the tumbling yen – no longer a reliable barometer of risk sentiment – as the USD/JPY pair extends above 105. The 12-month rolling weekly correlation between the S&P 500 and USD/JPY has extended deeper into negative. Japanese investors directing flows abroad isn’t helping – but the trend reflects the dollar’s dominance in r … |
| House Democrats Formally Request Trump Testify Under Oath During Impeachment TrialHouse Democrats Formally Request Trump Testify Under Oath During Impeachment Trial House Democrats have formally asked former President Trump to testify under oath during next week’s Senate impeachment trial, according to a Thursday report from the Associated Press.
The request was made in a letter from House impeachment managers, which suggests they intend to present “an aggressive case,” for which they have charged Trump with inciting a mob of supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 (through an open door).
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| Rare black Fortune 500 chief Ken Frazier to retireMerck chief executive Ken Frazier is just one of four black executives leading a major US company. |
| Covid hotel quarantine ‘to start on 15 February’Accommodation for more than 1,000 new people every day will be required, the BBC learns. |
| Bank of England: Economy to rebound strongly due to vaccineHigh Street Banks are also told to prepare for the possibility that interest rates could fall below zero. |
| GameStop’s unraveling accelerates as Redditors pivot to BiotechThe video-game retailer sank 17% and touched this week’s low of $73.88 at 10:40 a.m. in New York as trading volume continued to dry up. |
| India’s gold punters hit by double whammy of duty cut, fall in overseas priceThe duty cut, along with the recent correction, has caused inventory loss to jewellers who haven’t hedged their risk, to Sovereign gold bond holders and gold bulls on the futures market. |
| RBI’s words will have to speak louder than action as market looks for answersWhen the rate-setting panel sets to release its statement on Friday, it will have to choose its words with even more care than before, as they may end up deciding the course the bond market and equity market will take going ahead. |
| December 2020 Headline Manufacturing New Orders Improvement ContinuedWritten by Steven Hansen
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| 30 January 2021 New York Fed Weekly Economic Index (WEI): Index Decline ContinuesWritten 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 recovery has stalled based on the 13 week rolling average.
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| Capitol Report: Biden says ‘America is back,’ vows to confront China on economy in first foreign policy speech as presidentPresident Joe Biden re-asserted U.S. engagement with the world on Thursday, saying “diplomacy is back” in his first foreign policy speech as commander in chief. |
| : As COVID-19 vaccine doses reach 10 million, U.K. cautiously eyes encouraging pandemic numbersHospital admissions and deaths have been falling throughout the U.K., England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty said on Wednesday. |
| The Wall Street Journal: Toxic heavy metals found in top baby food brands, congressional report findsA congressional investigation found high levels of toxic metals in several top baby food brands and called on federal regulators to set stricter standards on the food manufacturers. |
US Census says manufacturing new orders improved month-over-month with unfilled orders continuing to shrink. Our analysis shows the rolling averages improved but remain in contraction.
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