Written by Gary
Main Street business failure fears rise again in pandemic whipsaw (SPY +0.1%). Brent oil is soaring amid supercycle chatter.
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 0.22% while Mexico’s IPC is up 0.20% and U.S.’s S&P 500 is up 0.13%. |
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Iran Is Facing A Stranded Oil Asset CrisisIran risks having its massive crude oil assets become stranded unless the United States lifts the sanctions that the Trump administrations imposed on Tehran three years ago, Reuters has reported, noting the sanctions have prevented the country from boosting its production capacity as other major producers have done. Iran said last month it was already beginning to ramp up crude oil production in anticipation of the removal of sanctions, but this has yet to happen as the Biden administration has tied the removal to Iran suspending its uranium enrichment | |
Oil Rally Stalls On Fragile Demand RecoveryOil prices slipped on Friday morning for a second day in a row as major forecasters warned that the global demand recovery is still fragile and as the U.S. dollar strengthened. As of 9:51 a.m. ET on Friday, WTI Crude was down 0.07 percent at $58.24 and Brent Crude prices were trading slightly up by 0.23 percent at $61.33. On Thursday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that the oil market rebalancing looks fragile in the first quarter of 2021, although it continues to be optimistic that global oil stocks will rapidly draw down in the | |
China Imports 11.12 Million Bpd Of Oil In JanuaryChinas January crude oil imports averaged 11.12 million bpd, according to energy analytics company OilX. This was up by more than 18 percent, or 1.74 million bpd, from the December average. Refinery intakes also remain strong, OilX analysts noted, averaging more than 14 million bpd for eight consecutive months now. China has been the single most bullish factor for oil prices since the pandemic hit. Thanks to the fast recovery of its economy, China has been instrumental in the oil price rebound as the worlds biggest oil importer. Independent | |
Russian Oil Giant Rosneft Sees Profits Slide 79% In 2020Rosneft reported a 79-percent drop in 2020 net profits to $2.2 billion (147 billion rubles), with its fourth-quarter result hitting a record high after a loss in the third quarter. The company said its free cash flow had remained positive for the ninth year in a row in 2020 despite the challenging demand situation on global oil markets. It also boasted a decline in production costs to $2.6 per barrel of oil equivalent in the fourth quarter of the year. The pandemic of new coronavirus infection led to an unprecedented drop in crude oil demand, | |
Gazprom Plans To Start Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline This YearRussia’s gas giant Gazprom plans to commission the controversial natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 this year, Russian news agency TASS reported on Thursday, quoting a presentation of a Gazprom executive at an energy forum in Russia. Last month, Gazpromwas said to have warned investorsthat the Nord Stream 2 project could be suspended or entirely discontinued due to extraordinary circumstances, including “political pressure.” Germany has always looked at the Russia-led project from an economic standpoint, while the United States, | |
The Most Overlooked Energy Source On EarthAbout a month ago, a report by clean energy watchdog Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) confirmed that the renewable energy sector has remained the most resilient to the ravages of Covid-19, with global energy transition investments in 2020 clocking in at a record $501.3 billion, good for 9% Y/Y growth. As expected, solar, wind power, and EVs commanded the lions share of clean energy investments, while investments in hydrogen tech and carbon capture and storage (CCS) managed to reach a combined $4.5B. Unfortunately, one renewable energy | |
Biden’s climate change strategy looks to pay farmers to curb carbon footprintPresident Joe Biden has called on U.S. farmers to lead the way in offsetting greenhouse gas emissions to battle climate change. | |
Dr. Kavita Patel: Here’s what you can and can’t do after being fully vaccinated for CovidSome Covid precautions remain necessary even after getting both Covid vaccine shots, former Obama administration policy aide Dr. Kavita Patel told CNBC. | |
Main Street business failure fears rise again in pandemic whipsawSmall business confidence is down amid the pandemic whipsaw of closures and reopenings, according to the latest CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey. | |
CDC expected to unveil new school reopening guidance as Biden pledges to get kids back to class“His goal that he set is to have the majority of schools, so more than 50%, open by day 100 of his presidency,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. | |
McDonald’s fights chicken-sandwich wars with value, while Burger King tests its pricingMcDonald’s is poised to launch its own take on the chicken sandwich on Feb. 24. Burger King is still in the testing stages. | |
CDC to investigate death of Nebraska man who received Covid vaccine doseThe CDC and FDA received 1,170 reports of death among individuals in the U.S. who received a Covid vaccine ” 0.003% of vaccinated people ” between Dec. 14, 2020, and Feb. 7, 2021. | |
Doctors warn that Covid will become endemic and people need to learn to live with itMore and more physicians and public health officials are warning that even with the mass rollout of vaccines, Covid may become endemic. | |
Spirit Airlines is hiring pilots and flight attendants again in hopes of pandemic recoverySpirit plans to resume new pilot and flight attendant training courses next month for the first time since early in the pandemic. | |
Why Trevor Bauer’s $102 million deal with the Dodgers is uniqueTrevor Bauer agreed to a three-year, $102 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, making him one of the the highest-paid players per-year in sports. | |
Why working from home is good for Williams-SonomaWith its mix of retail stores and a savvy digital presence, Williams-Sonoma has seen positive same-store sales growth from April 2017 through October 2020. | |
Don’t let your side hustle land you in court ” or worse: Hire a lawyerIn an era of gig work and side hustles, experts say too many entrepreneurs are ignoring basic precautions. These tips can help. | |
Watch live: Biden Covid team holds briefing after U.S. secures deals for 200 million more vaccine dosesPresident Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response team is holding a news briefing Friday on the pandemic. | |
Hyundai is working on a driverless car that can also turn into a ‘walking machine’The vehicle has been designed to function in extreme and remote environments. | |
Oil Is Soaring Amid “Supercycle” ChatterOil Is Soaring Amid “Supercycle” Chatter Just days after one of our favorite macro strategists, Dylan Grice, predicted that the stage is set for “a bull market in oil”, and JPM quant Marko Kolanovic said a new oil and commodity supercycle has begun, oil is starting to get the message, and has jumped more than 2% on Friday… … rising to the highest intraday level in more than a year as output curbs from top producers whittle down global inventories, while JPM predicts that an epic systematic short squeeze is about to be unleashed next month in oil (we discussed this earlier this week, and will touch on this shortly again). | |
Watch Live: Trump’s Defense Team Takes Center Stage As Impeachment Trial Nears EndWatch Live: Trump’s Defense Team Takes Center Stage As Impeachment Trial Nears End Watch Live: *Â *Â * After Democratic impeachment managers spent the last two days dissecting videos and tweets – and in one case fabricating evidence to try and convince the world that former President Trump incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, it’s now time for the defense to counter. In what is expected to last just one day, Trump’s impeachment lawyers will reportedly present a montage of prominent Democrats similarly ‘inciting’ their base, as BLM and Antifa extremists spent much of last year committing violent and destructive crimes throughout the country. If anything, it might serve … | |
New Fed Stress Test Toughens Stock & Economy Crash Scenario, Eases Jobless ExtremeNew Fed Stress Test Toughens Stock & Economy Crash Scenario, Eases Jobless Extreme Having confirmed in December that all banks comfortably passed their stress tests (allowing them all to buy back stocks and up dividends), The Fed has decided to raise the bar (albeit modestly) for its Adverse Scenario in the next round of stress tests. The top 19 US banks will have to prove they can withstand a 55% collapse in stock markets in this year’s stress tests, regulators said on Friday, outlining the parameters for an exercise that decides how much banks can pay out to their shareholders.Â
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Yellen Tells G-7 “Time To Go Big Is Now” In Her First Virtual MeetingYellen Tells G-7 “Time To Go Big Is Now” In Her First Virtual Meeting Because in some bizarro universe, the $30 trillion in fiscal and monetary stimulus injected in the past years is somehow not enough, in her first virtual meeting – alongside Fed chair Jerome Powell – with G7 finance ministers, Janet Yellen “stressed the importance of providing further fiscal support to promote a robust and lasting recovery” which means that “the time to go big is now” and that the “G7 should be focused on what more we can do to provide support at this time” according to a statement from the Treasury. Yellen, now in her role as head helicopter money driver following the Fed-Treasury MMT merger, “emphasized the commitment of the Biden Administration to multilateralism to solve global issues, stating that the United States œplaces a high priority on deepening our international engagement and strengthening our alliances” just in case someone in the G7 had not gotten the memo that Trump is no longer president. Yellen, who would receive no money from Citadel for her deep intellectual musings, also “expressed strong support for G7 efforts to tackle climate change, highlighting that her colleagues should expect the Treasury Department’s engagement on this issue to change dramatically relative to the last four years.” This means that the biggest monetary black hole of all time – namely fighting ‘global warming’ – is about to start sucking in trillions more, allowing the Treasury to issue, and the Fed to monetize, trillions more in debt. Sure enough, the Secretary noted “we understand the crucial role that the United … | |
Help to Buy deadline extended amid Covid delaysA deadline to buy a home under the current Help to Buy scheme in England has been extended to the end of May. | |
UK economy suffered record annual slump in 2020The size of the economy shrank by 9.9% in 2020 as coronavirus restrictions hit output, figures show. | |
KPMG boss Bill Michael quits after ‘stop moaning’ rowBill Michael resigns from the audit giant saying he is “truly sorry” his words “caused hurt”. | |
Anil Agarwal joins hands with Centricus for $10 bn fund to participate in PSU divestmentsAgarwal, who is the executive chairman of Vedanta Resources said in a tweet, “Teamed up with London-based firm Centricus to create a USD 10-billion fund that will invest in stake sale of public sector companies.” | |
Thematic ETFs boom, drawing punters and concernWhile Reddit “gamestonks” have grabbed recent headlines, retail investors are also credited with large flows into exchange-traded funds – basically a tradable basket of shares – swelling their assets by more than $1 trillion last year, according to Refinitiv. | |
Commodities Corner: Diesel demand charges ahead, as gasoline, jet fuel look to play a slow game of catch upDemand for diesel has returned to pre-pandemic levels, but the recovery for gasoline and jet fuel consumption has been less impressive, highlighting the challenges ahead for the transportation fuel sector “as well as the U.S. economy. | |
The Ratings Game: Disney stock dips after earnings as analyst asks: ‘How many times can investors get paid for the same thing?’For a company exposed to many of the areas hit hardest by the pandemic, Walt Disney Co. has seen its stock hold up well, thanks largely to the company’s progress in streaming video and optimism about an eventual reopening. | |
: KPMG boss quits after telling staff to ‘stop moaning’ and ‘playing the victim’ about COVID work conditionsStaff didn’t take kindly to Bill Michael’s comments, saying œIt’s incredibly insensitive. |
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