Written by Gary
FOMC meeting minutes: Downside risks remain but fiscal policy may be more expansionary than anticipated. As Inflation Soars, Bond ‘Rout’ Stalls.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Can Venezuela Rebuild Its Crushed Downstream Sector?President Bidens assumption of power has instilled a new sense of hope in Venezuelas political leadership, with Nicolas Maduro stating that his country was willing to walk a new path with Bidens government, provided that this path is based on mutual respect and understanding. Donald Trumps tenure brought about an unprecedented decline in US-Venezuelan relations, even in his last day in presidential office Trump had a string of oil traders and 6 oil tankers added onto OFACs relevant sanctions list. |
| Bidens Energy Plans Threaten Alaskas Oil AmbitionsThe new energy policies brought forward by the Biden administration in the US are set to rock the countrys oil and gas industry. There has been much discussion over the possible outcome for the upstream activity of the prolific Gulf of Mexico, but one of the areas that will be affected the most in relative terms is Alaska. Rystad Energy estimates that about 72% of the states remaining recoverable oil resources could stay in the ground, although the effect on production will be felt only after 2030. Alaskas oil days were already |
| Qatar Looks To Be Worlds Top LNG Producer For DecadesQatars major expansion of its liquefied natural gas capacity will help it to be the biggest LNG producer in the world for at least the next two decades, the countrys Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, told Bloomberg Television in an interview. State firm Qatar Petroleum took last week the final investment decision to build what it says would be the worlds largest LNG project in terms of capacity, as the tiny Gulf nation aims to raise its annual production by 40 percent by the end of 2025. Qatar |
| Saudi Arabia Warns Oil Producers To Remain Extremely CautiousOil producers need to remain extremely cautious as uncertainty on the market is still very high, Saudi Arabias Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said on Wednesday at the online IEA-IEF-OPEC Symposium. We are in a much better place than we were a year ago, but I must warn, once again, against complacency. The uncertainty is very high, and we have to be extremely cautious, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the energy forum, as carried by Reuters. The energy minister of the worlds top oil exporter also |
| Europe Divided Over The Future Of NuclearIn Western Europe, nuclear energy is being hit by a political and ideological storm. The refusal to integrate it into the green investment label of the European taxonomy was yet another proof of Brussels unwillingness to continue the nuclear gamble, and rather prioritize hydrogen, offshore wind, and solar. However, on February 5th, a study titled Road to EU Climate Neutrality by 2050, commissioned by the ECR and Renew fractions of the European Parliament, urged the Commission to reassess the role nuclear |
| Malaysia Makes Major Natural Gas Find As Prices SoarMalaysia is showing promise for the oil and gas industry as new natural gas finds could boost already high production levels and improve export potential in Southeast Asia. This February, Thailands PTT Exploration & Production (PTTEP) announced its biggest gas find to date, off the coast of Malaysia. The discovery was made in partnership with Kuwaits KUFPEC and Malaysias Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd. The discovery was made in Lang Lebah-1RDR2, in the SK 410B Block, where exploration first commenced in 2019, around |
| Texas blackouts show how vulnerable power grid is to climate changeThe winter storm outages in Texas reveal a broader crisis: Climate change-fueled disasters are overwhelming U.S. infrastructure. |
| U.S. will pay WHO more than $200 million in membership fees withheld by TrumpIn July, the Trump administration gave the U.N. secretary-general its notice withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization by July 6, 2021. |
| Scientists push Biden administration to require N95 masks in high-risk workplaces“The failure to address inhalation exposure to SARS-CoV-2 continues to put workers and the public at serious risk of infection,” the group said. |
| New York’s Cuomo: Amusement parks, summer camps will be able to reopen as state monitors Covid variantsNew and highly transmissible coronavirus variants could threaten to reverse the state’s progress if allowed to spread unchecked, Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned. |
| J&J has only a few million Covid vaccine doses ready as it nears U.S. launch, Biden official saysJohnson & Johnson won’t have “a big inventory” of its Covid vaccine ready ahead of its regulatory clearance expected this month, a Biden official said Wednesday. |
| After rain delay, this year’s Daytona 500 was the least viewed in the race’s historyThe nearly six-hour rain delay impacted Sunday’s Daytona 500 which resulted in the lowest viewed event in the race’s history. |
| Biden administration to invest over $1.6 billion to expand Covid testing, sequencingCarole Johnson, the White House’s Covid-19 testing coordinator, said the funding serves as a bridge until President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion aid package is passed by Congress. |
| Op-ed: It’s not often a CEO touches you at your core, but Marriott’s Arne Sorenson did just thatLongtime Marriott employees, and even his competitors, shared how CEO Arne Sorenson lead with his heart. |
| Lakers hire agency Sportfive to find new jersey sponsor, valued at nearly $200 millionThe team said the jersey patch’s media value was $199 million for the 2019-2020 season. |
| Franchising industry expects it’s poised to rebound, if Covid is brought under controlThe franchising industry is poised to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels by year’s end if Covid-19 is controlled, according to an upcoming report. |
| How once-quirky homeware store RH became a skyrocketing luxury stockRH, formerly Restoration Hardware, has seen shares more than double during a rough time for retail and is moving forward with some ambitious plans. |
| Lucky Strike-maker British American Tobacco is looking carefully at the cannabis trendBritish American Tobacco is looking at selling more cannabis products as it seeks to find new sources of revenue beyond cigarettes. |
| Watch live: Biden Covid team holds briefing after U.S. increases number of vaccine doses shipped to statesPresident Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response team is holding a news briefing Wednesday on the coronavirus pandemic. |
| Bitcoin Roars To Record Highs As Inflation Soars, Bond ‘Rout’ StallsBitcoin Roars To Record Highs As Inflation Soars, Bond ‘Rout’ Stalls Crypto stole the headlines today as Bitcoin roared above $52,000…
Source: Bloomberg Record-er and record-er!
Source: Bloomberg …bang, zoom, to the moon, Alice! Stocks were ugly early on amid … |
| Texas Freeze Raises Cost Of Charging A Tesla To $900Texas Freeze Raises Cost Of Charging A Tesla To $900 Authored by Charles Kennedy via OilPrice.com, The electricity shortage in Texas amid the cold snap has sent spot electricity prices soaring so much that the surge in power prices equals a cost of $900 for charging a Tesla.
The typical full charge of a Tesla costs around $18 using a Level 1 or Level 2 charger at home, according to estimates from The Drive. This estimate is based on an average price of $0.14 per kWh of power.  However, the extreme winter weather this week has sent Texas spot electricity prices soaring, as the wind turbines froze in the ice storms and reduced the wind power generating capacity in the Lone Star State by half. Spot electricity price … |
| Here Are The Prepared Remarks For Tomorrow’s “Game Stopped” HearingsHere Are The Prepared Remarks For Tomorrow’s “Game Stopped” Hearings On Thursday, the House Financial Services Committee will convene its planned hearing on the Gamestop trading fiasco, where the heads of Citadel, Robinhood, Reddit and Melvin Capital will come together to face off against Democrats like Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters and AOC. Ahead of that, some of the planned testimonials have been released. Below, find remarks from Keith Gill, a Youtuber/Redditor best known as “RoaringKitty”. In his testimony, the trader- who is facing a lawsuit related to his trading and online antics – insists that he still believes in his “fundamental case” for being long Gamestop, and insists he didn’t try and pump the shares purely for his own profit. In his testimony, Gill recounts how his family had an “incredibly difficult” 2020 after losing his sister to COVID.
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| Texas Grid Operator Warns Blackouts Will Continue For Another NightTexas Grid Operator Warns Blackouts Will Continue For Another Night Update (1503ET): The Houston Chronicle reports ERCOT declined to give an estimate when the power will be restored to millions of customers. The grid operator warned controlled blackouts would continue as 40% of generation capacity remains offline. “We’re unable to give any real specific because of the variables we’ve identified around the resources and the weather,” ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness said.
Temperatures across the state are expected to rise by the weekend, bringing an end to Artic conditions that triggered one of the worst controlled blackouts in the country’s history. |
| Jaguar Land Rover: Car maker confirms plans to axe 2,000 jobsThe proposed job losses will not affect manufacturing staff, the car maker says. |
| Quarantine hotel rooms are ‘like a prison’Two days into the new hotel quarantine system and arrivals complain of poor planning and conditions. |
| Google to pay Murdoch’s News Corporation for storiesRupert Murdoch has championed the idea that internet platforms should pay media companies for material. |
| Adar Poonawalla group firm makes open offer to buy additional stake in Magma FincorpEarlier this month, the Poonawalla Group and Magma Fincorp announced that the group will acquire a controlling 60 percent stake in the company by way of a Rs 3,456-crore-worth preferential issue of shares. |
| Sebi board approves easing of IPO norms for large companiesThe board has decided to lower the minimum public offer through an initial public offering by a company with a post-issue market capitalization of more than Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 10,000 crore plus 5 percent of the incremental amount beyond Rs 1 lakh crore. |
| Team Prashant Jain grabs TaMo, Nifty biggies; may have sold SBI at wrong timeThe fund management team led by Prashant Jain pounced on Tata Motors, buying 2.47 crore shares of the automaker. |
| 27 January 2021 FOMC Meeting Minutes: Downside Risks Remain But Fiscal Policy May Be More Expansionary Than Anticipated
The 27 January 2021 meeting statement presented the actions taken. This post covers the economic discussion during this FOMC meeting between the members. An interesting quote regarding fiscal policy:
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| In One Chart: All of President Biden’s key executive orders ” in one chartAs people and markets around the world adjust to having Joe Biden as U.S. president, a key factor is what the veteran Democratic politician aims to accomplish without having to work with Congress. |
| Project Syndicate: Inflation could make a stealthy comeback, with devastating consequencesThose who believe the official forecasts of continued low inflation could be in for a rude awakening, writes Axel A. Weber. |
| Capitol Report: White House plans ‘upcoming executive action’ in response to SolarWinds hackThere will be “an upcoming executive action to address the gaps we’ve identified in our review of this incident,” says a Biden administration official. |
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