Written by Gary
December 2020 Trade Data Continues To Show Recovery But Exports Remain In Contraction Year-over-Year (SPY +0.4%). Energy prices to rise for millions of households.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
 | North and South American markets are higher today with shares in Brazil leading the region. The Bovespa is up 0.98% while Mexico’s IPC is up 0.70% and U.S.’s S&P 500 is up 0.30%. |
Traders Corner – Health of the Market
What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
| South Korea To Build Worlds Largest Offshore Wind FarmSouth Korea will invest some $43 billion in constructing what is to be the worlds largest offshore wind farm, Reuters reports, adding that the project should be completed by 2030. The plan is part of the countrys Green New Deal that seeks to transition South Korea to a more sustainable energy future. With this project, we are accelerating the eco-friendly energy transition and moving more vigorously toward carbon neutrality, President Moon Jae-in said at the signing ceremony for the 8.2-GW project, which will help the |
| EV Newcomer Lucid To Challenge Tesla In Luxury SpaceLucid Air, a luxury electric sedan, is set to hit markets this spring, with a price tag of $169,000 in what some see as a direct challenge to the currently undisputed leader in this space, Tesla. Lucid Air, a product of Lucid Motors, was designed by Teslas former chief engineer, Peter Rawlinson, who designed the Model S. According to him, the Lucid Air will be better than the Model S, with a range of 517 miles per charge. It will be able to go from zero to 60 in just over 2 seconds, and it will charge faster. A new luxury model for a market |
| Canada Oil And Gas Deals Surge 468%The value of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Canada jumped in the fourth quarter of 2020, thanks to the blockbuster deal between Cenovus Energy and Husky Energy, GlobalDatas deals database has shown. All M&A transactions in Canada in the fourth quarter last year were worth US$10.01 billion, up by 468.3 percent from the previous quarter and a surge of 504.2 percent compared to the last four quarter average of US$1.66 billion, according to data from GlobalData cited by World Pipelines. The single largest deal was the US$7.77 billion |
| Chinas Oil Major CNOOC Boosts Capex To 7-Year High Despite PandemicChinese state oil and gas company CNOOC will boost its capital spending this year to the highest in seven years, thanks to a 5-percent increase in domestic output. Reuters reports CNOOC aims to spend $13.9-15.5 billion this year, mainly on boosting domestic oil and gas exploration and production, which last year hit 528 million barrels of oil equivalent. Most of the domestic output will come from offshore fields, CNOOC said, which will account for 68 percent of the companys production target for this year. Output from operations overseas |
| Trading Giant Gunvor: $60 Could Be The Ceiling For Oil PricesOil prices are unlikely to soar much above the $60 per barrel mark, considering that this price level would incentivize a lot of oil supply, including from the United States, Torbjrn Trnqvist, chief executive at one of the worlds largest independent oil traders, Gunvor, told Bloomberg on Friday. Once you hit $60 a barrel, any oil production out there is profitable, and the incentive for oil producers to hold back erodes real fast, Trnqvist told Bloomberg in an email. Brent Crude prices were cents away from |
| Can Anything Help Restore Wall Streets Confidence In U.S. Shale?Rallying oil prices are testing once again the U.S. shale patchs resolve to spend within their means and prioritize profitability over production growth. U.S oil prices above $55 a barrel are also testing the patience of investors with American oil producers, and investor hopes that this time around shale firms will keep, for a change, their promises to stay disciplined in spending for drilling. The higher the price of oil, the greater the temptation to plow more cash into new wells. The fact that U.S. oil companies are |
| How can I get a coronavirus shot? Here are 5 vaccination questions answeredIt’s no surprise that questions related to the coronavirus pandemic have dominated search engines over the past year. |
| Merck CEO says public service is in his future, but not politics, as he plans June retirementMerck CEO Ken Frazier is retiring in June. He leaves a legacy of a focus on research, and a commitment to social justice that he’s likely to continue. |
| New Covid strains ‘may even escape the immune response,’ says Biden Covid advisorDr. Celine Gounder warns about the highly transmissible new Covid variants, vaccine resistance, and why Americans should not let their guards down on the virus. |
| Tapestry CEO says heart-shaped Kate Spade bag sold out after going viral on TikTok“We were able to harness that. The bag sold out. We got it restocked,” Tapestry CEO Joanne Crevoiserat told CNBC. |
| Clorox looking at long-term growth as consumers change at-home habits, CEO Linda Rendle says“We have our sights set on accelerating the growth in the long term and we see tremendous opportunity to do that,” Rendle said. |
| Watch live: New York Gov. Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Murphy hold joint press briefing on CovidNew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy will hold a joint press briefing Friday on the coronavirus pandemic. |
| Watch live: Biden Covid response team holds briefing after J&J requests FDA OK for vaccinePresident Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response team is holding a briefing on the pandemic. |
| Half of all Americans will bet on Sunday’s Super BowlOnline gambling got a major boost from the Covid crisis, yet overall, Americans will wager $4.3 billion on this year’s Super Bowl, a 37% decline from 2020. |
| Denmark wants to build a renewable energy island in the North Sea, the largest construction project in its historyThe country is a pioneer when it comes to offshore wind projects. |
| Latino-owned businesses are achieving record growth, but big banks still won’t fund themLatino businesses are growing sales across industries faster that any other group of entrepreneurs, but national banks are still denying them loans. |
| Op-ed: Why one of market’s hottest tech companies says WFH is getting worrisomeAmazon, Salesforce and Alphabet recently invested in Databricks at a value of $28 billion, but the start-up is worried that prolonged WFH could slow success. |
| Here’s where the jobs are ” in one chartThe leisure and hospitality industry saw outsized job losses thanks to a torrent of layoffs at bars and restaurants. |
| USA Today Op-Ed Denounces Tom Brady For Being WhiteUSA Today Op-Ed Denounces Tom Brady For Being White Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, USA Today published an op-ed which denounced Tom Brady for refusing to walk back his previous support for Donald Trump and for being œwhite.
Yes, really. With the Super Bowl just days away, Nancy Armour (who is white), took the opportunity to fan the flames of more political and racial division by attacking Brady for refusing to cave to the woke mob that requires total subservience to its ideological consensus. As Dave Blount explains, the motivation for the hit piece is the fact that Brady committed the sin of refusing to recant his previous statements about Trump. In order to terrify the rest into compliance, leftists appear to reserve their most vitriolic invective for celebrities who simply try to avoid wading into the putrid swamp that is modern politic … |
| Blowback: Hedge Funds Ramp Up Security Amidst “Death Threats”, “Obscene Messages”Blowback: Hedge Funds Ramp Up Security Amidst “Death Threats”, “Obscene Messages” Unlike Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, some hedge funds actually are being threatened. The increase in “hate” toward rich money managers is the result of the Reddit-fueled populist uprising surrounding capital markets. This “Reddit Rebellion” has prompted wealthy hedgies ramping up their personal and corporate security with Bloomberg reporting today that as a result of last week’s GameStop debacle, “the level of vitriol has experts wondering if merely owning a certain stock, or betting against it, might pose new safety risks.” In fact, short sellers told Bloomberg they had dealt with “death threats, attempts to hack their phones, people trying to enter their offices and obscene messages sent to spouses.” Christopher Falkenberg, president of security firm Insite Risk Management, told Bloomberg “we now say to clients, ‘Tell us about your positions.’ We’ve never done that before. And we have clients with short positions who are saying to us, ‘We need a new security program.” Gabe Plotkin, head of Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that suffered billions in losses due to the GameStop short squeeze, says he has hired extra security for his family (and, arguably, his Miami beachfront mansion which is currently in the process of expansion). Plotkin was reportedly the target of “anti-Semitic slurs” and a chorus of insults from the market’s newest participants. |
| Senate Adopts Ernst Amendment To Not Raise The Minimum Wage During PandemicSenate Adopts Ernst Amendment To Not Raise The Minimum Wage During Pandemic Authored by Mark Tapscott via The Epoch Times, An amendment offered by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) to prohibit increasing the federal minimum wage while the nation continues grappling with the CCP Virus was unanimously adopted by the Senate late Thursday.
The Sanders Budget Resolution was offered by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as a means of allowing Senate Democrats to adopt President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion CCP virus recovery proposal without support from any of the Senate’s 50 Republicans. Biden proposed during the campaign and since taking office as President raising the federal minimum wage to at least $15 per hour. Other Democrats, including Sanders, have pushed for an increase to $23 per hour.
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| Trump Refuses To Testify At “Public Relations Stunt” Impeachment TrialTrump Refuses To Testify At “Public Relations Stunt” Impeachment Trial Yesterday, the Democrats’ House impeachment managers formally invited former President Trump to testify “either before, or during” his Senate impeachment trial (and face cross-examination). Questions would specifically focus on his role in “inciting a mob” – as the Democrats put it – to “attack” the Capitol on Jan. 6. Well, Trump’s team has finally come up with their answer, and it’s a resounding “no”. But not only that: Trump advisor and spokesman Jason Miller also denounced the Democrats’ continued fixation with impeachment as “an unconstitutional proceeding” and “a public relations stunt”. Trump’s senate “trial” will proceed on Feb. 9 after the House already passed articles of impeachment, officially making Trump the first president to be impeached twice.
Democrats say following through with the trial is important to ensure that Trump faces “accountability” for the events of Jan. 6, when a crowd of his supporters rallied at the Capitol following a speech by Trump where he urged them to pre … |
| Energy prices to rise for millions of householdsThe average customer on a default tariff is likely to see their annual bill increase by £96 in April. |
| House price rises ‘could be running out of steam’The Halifax says prices fell last month and are likely to come under pressure in the months ahead. |
| US job growth sluggish as virus hampers recoveryThe US economy added just 49,000 jobs in January, with the hospitality sector still shedding workers. |
| Biotech surpasses GameStop as best-performing retail pickCassava Sciences Inc. nabbed the top spot as best microcap stock performer this year with an almost 680% rally. |
| What did big Wall Street investors chase during GameStop retail frenzy?Big Tech has been one of the biggest winners of the pandemic, with revenues turbocharged by stay-at-home rules and increased interest from investors who are taking advantage of the cheap money available. |
| How does RBI propose to deal with liquidity?The Reserve Bank of India on Friday promised abundant liquidity to calm market nerves, after yields surged past 6% recently amid apprehension of extra supply of government papers. |
| December 2020 Trade Data Continues To Show Recovery But Exports Remain In Contraction Year-over-YearWritten by Steven Hansen Trade data headlines show the trade balance continues to worsen with imports growing faster than exports.
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| NewsWatch: These are the top TikTok accounts that are fueling the stock buzz for younger investorsHow does a young investor navigate TikTok without getting lost in the scroll? Top financial TikTokers have some advice. |
| Coronavirus Update: J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate sparks hopes for faster recovery, just as daily deaths spike above 5,000 in the U.S.Hopes for a quicker recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic got a boost Friday, after the Food and Drug Administration said it would review Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate before the end of the month. |
| : Ford ‘is pulling a GM’ with its bet on electric vehicles, and Wall Street applaudsInvestors overlook a messy quarter for Ford Motor Co. to focus on the auto maker’s plan to invest more in electric and autonomous cars. |
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