Written by Gary
NASA lands Perseverance rover on the Mars surface, carrying the first helicopter for another planet (SPY -0.4%). Oil prices retreat as deadly winter storm moves east.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Goldman: European Oil Major Stocks Poised To Rally This YearThe expected recovery of global oil demand for transportation and more positive earnings this year, compared to the nightmare of 2020, are setting the stage for a rally in the stocks of the biggest European oil companies, Goldman Sachs says. Shares in Europes Big Oil could jump by between 20 percent and 50 percent over the next year, thanks to recovering demand and the potential launch of share repurchases, Goldman Sachs analysts led by Michele Della Vigna said in a note as carried by Barrons. A transportation recovery can |
| Whos To Blame For The Texas Power Crisis?Our last report focused on the uniqueness of the Texas wholesale electricity market, ERCOT, and how it was specifically designed to evade federal utility regulation. And as if he were our paid spokesperson, former Texas governor Rick Perry stated publicly that Texans were happy to suffer blackouts and other hardships if it meant evading federal regulatory scrutiny. Whether the good (and shivering) citizens of the Lone Star State agree is another matter. But today, instead of dealing with politics, well take a closer look at ERCOT as a state |
| Why Investors Are Buying Bonds Of The World’s Most Indebted Oil CompanyDespite the fact that the yield on the benchmark bonds of Mexicos Pemex is so high that it would typically mean a company is on its way to default, investors are buying bonds of the state-owned oil firm, certain that the government will not leave one of its most important assets to default on its bonds. Asset managers who hold Pemex bonds are confident that despite the continuous worsening of the oil firms finances, the government, especially the government of Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, will never |
| Oil Prices Retreat As Deadly Winter Storm Moves EastOil prices gave up earlier gains to trade lower just after noon on Thursday, while the severe winter storms continued to move east, leaving at least 20 people dead and millions without electricity from Texas to New England. As of 12:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, WTI Crude prices were trading down 0.52 percent at $60.78. Brent Crude prices were down 0.50 percent at $63.99. Meanwhile, winter storms from Texas to New England have left at least 20 people dead, with millions left without electricity at some point since the start of the week. Unlike |
| Big Oil Invests In Geothermal Energy BreakthroughBP and Chevron, this Tuesday, announced plans to invest heavily in geothermal energy through a new innovative start up. The new technology introduced by Canadian startup Eavor, pronounced ever, provides a clean energy source directly from the earths heat. BP and Chevron have made a $40 million investment in Calgary-based Eavor, bucking the trend by developing a largely overlooked energy source. Funding goes mainly towards the research and development of geothermal power. Senior vice president of zero carbon energy |
| Volkswagen Shares Jump After News Of Possible Porsche ListingVW shares are on the rise Thursday after reports that the company is weighing a listing of its Porsche brand, “among other options” to unlock value. VW preferred shares were up as much as 5.7% on the news and Porsche SE was up as much as 6%. VW shares in Frankfurt popped as much as 3.4% on the news. The report states that should Porsche list its shares, it would only list a maximum of 25% of the company at a “total estimated value of EU20 billion to EU25 billion, according to internal calculations,” Bloomberg wrote on Thursday. The |
| Dr. Fauci says winter storm in Texas is a ‘significant’ problem for Covid vaccine distributionThe winter storm and power outages across the state of Texas pose a “significant” problem for Covid-19 vaccine distribution, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned. |
| Texas grid failure ignites feud over Republican oversight of the energy industryThe Texas grid failure that’s left millions without power has fueled outrage over Republicans’ decades-long oversight of the state’s energy industry. |
| Why an emboldened Walmart is looking to beyond retail for future growthThe retail giant wants to build an ecosystem of services, from offering financial products to delivering groceries to customers’ fridges. |
| CDC’s classroom guidance would keep 90% of schools at least partially closedThe new guidance would keep more than 90% of schools, including in almost all of the 50 largest counties in the country, from fully reopening, doctors say. |
| American, JetBlue start jointly selling tickets under new partnershipAmerican and JetBlue launched a partnership to better compete in the Northeast that allows them to sell tickets on each other’s flights |
| Amazon air cargo contractor expects more growth after posting banner year during pandemicAtlas Air Worldwide Holdings posts record sales and profits, boosted by demand during the pandemic. |
| NASA lands Perseverance rover on the Mars surface, carrying the first helicopter for another planetNASA successfully landed its latest robotic rover on Mars on Thursday, with the U.S. space agency confirming that Perseverance touched down safely. |
| Food and its packaging are highly unlikely to transmit Covid, top U.S. food and health officials sayIt’s been a little more than a year into the global Covid-19 pandemic and there’s still “no credible evidence” that people can catch the virus from food. |
| Why Walmart’s CEO says Americans urgently need another stimulus checkWalmart CEO Doug McMillon said more customers spent their recent stimulus checks on necessities, such as groceries. |
| Watch NASA’s rover Perseverance after landing on MarsNASA is hours away from its most ambitious Mars mission yet, with the U.S. space agency set to attempt to land rover Perseverance. |
| NBA star Russell Westbrook invests in Varo Bank after $63 million funding roundRussell Westbrook will also serve as an advisor to the financial tech firm to improve banking relations in the Black community. |
| Biden Covid advisor says Christmas is a ‘reasonable’ timeline for getting back to normalBiden’s prediction that the U.S. could return to normal by next Christmas is “reasonable,” according to an advisor on the president’s Covid-19 response team. |
| Walmart to hike wages for 425,000 workers to average above $15 an hourWalmart said its minimum starting wage for workers will remain at $11 an hour. Rivals Amazon and Target have made their starting pay $15 an hour. |
| Crypto Crash-Up Continues As Dollar Drops, Oil & NatGas TumbleCrypto Crash-Up Continues As Dollar Drops, Oil & NatGas Tumble Hopefully this is a sign of improvement in supply and potentially the end of the horrors in Texas (and more broadly). NatGas prices tumbled today…
Oil prices also fell, despite a big inventory draw as fears over the shut-ins lasting a long time appeared to abate…
And gasoline prices also slid lower… |
| Deutsche Bank Cuts Bonus Plans After ECB Objects To Higher PayoutsDeutsche Bank Cuts Bonus Plans After ECB Objects To Higher Payouts Deutsche Bank employees just can’t catch a break.
For years, workers at Germany’s largest (and according to many, most insolvent) bank were told they won’t get a bonus and they should be happy that they have a job. Then, last year, things finally looked up when the bank whose stock price trades not too far from its all time lows, finally resumed the practice of paid out a modest bonus pool of ‚¬1.52 billion for 2019, which is a small fraction compared to what other bank workers get. Excitement then started to pick up in December, when reports circulated that Deutsche Bank was considering raising bonuses for traders by 10%, and peaked in outright euphoria a few weeks ago when Bloomberg reported that the final numbers could be even higher in light of the bank’s impressive Q4 results which included the first annual profit since 2014. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be and it now looks like any hopes for further bonus inf … |
| Gundlach Changes His Mind On Bitcoin As First North American Crypto ETF LaunchesGundlach Changes His Mind On Bitcoin As First North American Crypto ETF Launches With both bitcoin and ethereum hitting new all time highs overnight, skeptics are getting steamrolled, and the latest to join the bullish bandwagon was none other than long-time gold bull and cryptoskeptic Jeffrey Gundlach, who said he has changed his mind on the metal and considers Bitcoin a better trade. Gundlach tweeted he’d been a long-term gold bull and U.S. dollar bear, but has turned neutral on both six months ago. Instead, he now thinks that Bitcoin may well be œthe stimulus asset, referring to the cryptocurrency’s rally amid a tsunami of cash pumped into the financial system during the pandemic.
Gundlach is the latest convert to the crypto cause’s and another sign the Bitcoin investmen cause is winning over some of the most influential institutional money managers and possibly siphoning cash from the gold market. While in the past traders turned to the precious metal as a risk-off or reflation asset, over the past year, gold has barely budged following a sharp spike in the spring of 2020, and has been range-bound while gold ETFs … |
| Real Yields Are Ringing A Warning Bell For The Risk RallyReal Yields Are Ringing A Warning Bell For The Risk Rally By Laura Cooper, macro strategist at Bloomberg Rising U.S. real yields could eventually derail the everything rally. Gains across stocks, credit and emerging markets are predicated on forever-loose monetary policy, and lofty valuations are harder to sustain when conditions hint at future tightening. Stimulus-fueled growth prospects have rekindled the typically positive relationship between real U.S. yields and inflation expectations. And that can trigger outflows on higher-yielding assets like equities. Market-based inflation expectations are comfortably priced for a medium-term overshoot, above the Fed’s 2% target. Near-zero Fed rates sent real yields deeply into negative territory last year, without the growth-element to boost nominal yields As a massive fiscal impulse underpins the economic recovery, a corresponding increase in policy tightening expectations could drive up the inflation-adjusted benchmarks, removing a key tailwind to the broad risk rally.
And even more fiscal spending, with an infrastru … |
| Slash business rates to save High Street, says Next bossBoss Lord Wolfson says that unless rates are lowered, many shops will have to close unnecessarily. |
| Robinhood boss says GameStop episode ‘unacceptable’Lawmakers grill key players in the GameStop trading frenzy at a hearing in Washington. |
| Coronavirus: ‘No jab, no job’ policies may be legal for new staffIt may be legal to insist on vaccinations in new staff contracts, the justice secretary says. |
| RBI finds no takers for Rs 25,000 cr G-secs; yields rise 11 bpsThe benchmark yielded 6.14 percent Thursday versus 6.03 percent a day earlier. The central bank was aiming to borrow Rs 31,000 crore through a primary auction against which it ended up raising a little more than Rs 6,000 crore. |
| Smaller PSBs see a surge in trading volumes in anticipation of privatisationœSelect low value public sector bank stocks are surging on expectations of privatisation after the announcement in the Union Budget,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities. |
| FPIs pump in $33.8b this fiscal. Check 10 sectors they are most bullish onOf the total FPI assets of $592.5 billion, $537.4 billion were inequities and $51.38 billion in debt, according to the data collated by Care Ratings. |
| Earnings Results: Dropbox quarterly sales top $500 million for first timeThe company also announced a $1 billion share repurchase. |
| : Airbus offers bleak guidance despite topping fourth-quarter earnings estimatesAirbus, the European conglomerate that shares the large-jet market with Boeing, reported fourth-quarter results on Thursday that didn’t make inspiring reading. |
| Market Extra: Hedge funds on the lookout: ‘they don’t want to get burned’, says analyst as GameStop-style short interest fallsGameStop-style short-squeeze chaos that reached a crescendo in late January has declined markedly, according to recent data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. |
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