Written by Gary
The tech sector looks poised for another down day, fueled by fears about inflation and rising long-term interest rates (SPY -0.5%). Biggest premarket movers: Home Depot, Palo Alto Networks, Shopify, AMC.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
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What Is Moving the Markets
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Should You Follow Buffett Into Energy Stocks?For decades, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) chairman and CEO Warren Buffett maintained a pretty conservative approach to investing, favoring retail and banking stocks while avoiding sectors such as tech and energy. However, he finally pulled the trigger on PetroChina Co. (NYSE:PTR) in 2002 and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in 2011. The Oracle’s foray into energy and tech initially paid off after he realized a tidy $3.5B profit on PetroChina, while his $90 billion Apple stake now represents a ridiculous 20% of Berkshire Hathaway’s market value. However, |
| Lithium Prices Soar As Tesla, Apple And Google Fight For SupplyThe electric vehicle (EV) revolution is gaining serious momentum. According to experts projections, demand for electric vehicles should rise at a 21.1% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) until 2026. The extraordinary demand that is forecast for EVs over the next five years has now begun to trigger a massive disruption in the global energy markets. As demand for EVs continues to move higher, the demand for lithium the critical component needed for the batteries that power all those EVs is also projected to climb higher. According |
| Iran Doubles Down On Nuclear Ambitions As It Expands Oil InfluenceTehrans broad strategy regarding the U.S. is to seek to push new President Joe Biden back into a non-renegotiated nuclear deal, which favours Iran, whilst at the same time allowing Iran is own backdoor to continue to export its own crude oil and other related products. The past week has seen significant developments on both sides of this equation, with Iran dramatically sharpening its nuclear threat but also putting into place one of the last key pieces that will allow it to export crude directly to its principal oil markets in Asia. In |
| Saudi Arabia And Russia Are Headed For Another Clash On OPEC+ Oil CutsThe leaders of the OPEC+ alliance, Saudi Arabia and Russia, are reportedly once again at odds over oil supply management ahead of another crucial meeting of the group next week. OPECs top producer and de facto leader Saudi Arabia would likely prefer the March 3-4 meetings to decide that the OPEC+ coalition holds production flat in April, Bloomberg reports. However, the key Saudi partner in the deal, Russia, will likely be pushing for further easing of the production cuts, especially Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said earlier |
| Europes Rare Earth Dependency DilemmaSolar panels. Wind turbines. Electric vehicle batteries and motors. These are just four of the things that need one or more of a group of minerals known as rare earths. Incidentally, these are also four of the things the EU is basing its future on. And it produces next to none of these critical rare earths. Like lithium, rare earths are abundant. Deposits large enough to make economic sense, however, are only found in a limited number of areas around the world, with the largest deposits discovered so far in China. Rare earth exports are a lucrative |
| Indias Oil Imports From North America Break Another RecordThe United States and Canada accounted for 11 percent of Indias crude oil imports in Januarya record-high share of North American crude for the worlds third-largest oil importer, Reuters reported on Monday, citing data obtained from trade sources. Indias total crude oil imports last month averaged around 4.8 million barrels per day (bpd), down from a three-year high in December, but slightly up compared to January last year. In December 2020, Indias crude oil imports were estimated to have jumped by 29 percent |
| ‘Sun, sea, sand and Soberana 02’: Cuba open to inoculating tourists with homegrown Covid vaccineCuba aims to be one of the first countries in the world to vaccinate its entire population in 2021. |
| Macy’s holiday sales top estimates, lifting company to its first profitable quarter in a yearMacy’s reported its first quarterly profit in a year, as its efforts to slash inventories during the holiday quarter and rely less on deep discounting paid off. |
| Home Depot tops estimates as sales surge 25%, but shares fall on worries pandemic gains won’t lastThe home improvement retailer said it does not know how long the pandemic will last and what that will mean for consumer spending. |
| European travel stocks surge after UK announces its end-to-lockdown planEuropean travel stocks soared on Tuesday morning as customers rushed to make new bookings after the U.K. announced its plan to end coronavirus restrictions. |
| Electric vehicle firm Lucid Motors to go public in $11.8 billion SPAC dealLucid plans to go public through a reverse merger with a blank-check company started by veteran investment banker Michael Klein. |
| Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Home Depot, Palo Alto Networks, Shopify, AMC & moreThese are the stocks posting the largest moves before the bell. |
| 5 things to know before the stock market opens TuesdayU.S. stock futures were mostly lower Tuesday, pointing to a 1.4% decline in the Nasdaq, one day after the index sank nearly 2.5%. |
| Ford’s stock hasn’t done this in 6 years, chart analyst says as Wall Street grows optimistic on consumer playsA consumer spending comeback could ignite discretionary stocks such as Ford, says Fairlead Strategies managing partner and founder Katie Stockton. |
| ‘Brand doesn’t matter. Get the first vaccine available,’ Dr. Vin Gupta saysDr. Vin Gupta explains why patients should stop weighing the pros and cons of which Covid vaccine is better and get the first shot available ASAP. |
| Robert Johnson: Companies will take hiring Black workers seriously when not doing so hurts their stockBET founder Robert Johnson told CNBC tougher corporate accountability will help ensure companies work to hire more Black Americans in senior roles. |
| Chief of Cherokee Nation wants Jeep to stop using tribe’s name on SUVsJeep started using the Cherokee name more than 45 years ago, including currently on the brand’s top-selling Grand Cherokee as well as a smaller SUV. |
| Movie theaters in New York City can open in March at 25% capacityAfter nearly a year of closures, New York City cinemas will be permitted to open on March 5, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. |
| Royal Caribbean CEO says booking data for cruises suggest a surprisingly positive post-Covid recoveryRoyal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain told CNBC on Monday that booking data for cruises suggest a surprisingly positive post-Covid recovery. |
| Tech Tock, Tech Tock, Tech TockTech Tock, Tech Tock, Tech Tock By Michael Every of Rabobank œHow do you defuse a time bomb? Help, I need answers really qui ¦ Yesterday saw US tech stocks tumble. Some of the biggest names took a big dip, and Bitcoin, the apparent wave of the future, receded nearly 20% from its recent peak. One pities the blue-chip CFO having to think about marking that crypto asset to market on their balance sheet: no firm would ever do something so rash in such volatile times, would they? Meanwhile, US 10-year yields surged again to 1.39%, retracing, and then deciding that, no, they had been right earlier, to stand at 1.37% at time of writing. It’s almost as if the prospect of higher borrowing costs is negatively correlated with the performance of firms who base both their businesses and CEOs on Hooli/Gavin Belson from TV’s ‘Silicon Valley’ ( œWhat is Hooli? Excellent question. Hooli isn’t just another high-tech company. Hooli isn’t just about software. Hooli, Hooli is about people. Hooli is about innovative technology that, makes a difference. Transforming the world as we know it. Making the world, a better place, through minimal message oriented transport layers. ) It’s also almost as if Bitcoin might be correlated with one ‘Belson’, who had just put crypto on his CFO’s balance sheet, saying that the price of said asset œseems high . Or perhaps, more likely but less-well reported, with the US Treasury Secretary repeating that most of the ac … |
| Tesla Plunges Below S&P 500 Inclusion Level As Yesterday’s Selloff IntensifiesTesla Plunges Below S&P 500 Inclusion Level As Yesterday’s Selloff Intensifies So goes Bitcoin, so goes Tesla. At least that was the manta on Tuesday morning as Tesla shares plunged in the pre-market session, extending yesterday’s ugly losses and falling below the level where Tesla was included into the S&P 500. In addition to Tesla plunging, Bitcoin was also down about 15% heading into the cash open on Tuesday and a newly announced SPAC deal for Lucid Motors had pulled back more than 40% from highs it made just days ago. This means that everyone who chased the S&P 500 trade, in addition to anyone who admittedly has been buying over the last 2-3 trading days *cough* Cathie Wood on CNBC last week *cough* is now in the red.
Hilariously, Tesla bull Cathie Wood was actually predicting a market turnaround for the NASDAQ last week. She joined |
| Futures Tumble As Tech Stocks, Cryptocurrencies CrashFutures Tumble As Tech Stocks, Cryptocurrencies Crash Global stocks, US equity futures, and cryptocurrencies all tumbled on Tuesday as the recent surge in inflation, bond yields, and commodity prices continued to hammer technology shares while investors awaited fresh reassurance from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the path for monetary policy in the United States. The MSCI world equity index fell 0.1% to fresh two-week lows, having earlier risen on gains in commodity-heavy equity indexes in Asia. After rising during the Asian session, S&P 500 futures also fell once Europen came online and were last down 0.4%.
Nasdaq futures tumbled as much as 2%, and were last down 1.4% a day after the tech-heavy gauge posted its longest losing streak in four months. Heavyweight tech stocks slid premarket, with Apple -2.7%, Amazon -2.4%, Tesla -7.5%, Alphabet -1.6%. Tesla crashed 6% in pre-market trading, sliding below the $695 level at which it entered the S&P500. Tesla shares were set to plunge into the red for the year, hit by a fall of bitcoin, in which the electric car … |
| Hedge Fund Manager: Investors No Longer Want Common Ground, They Want To DestroyHedge Fund Manager: Investors No Longer Want Common Ground, They Want To Destroy Authored by One River Asset Management CIO Eric Peters, who is up about $2 billion on his massive and pioneering purchase of bitcoin last year. Anecdote “Faith, cynicism, skepticism,” said the CIO.
“We increasingly see that as people are drawn toward the cynical and faithful wings of the distribution, the cynics develop their own faith, and the faithful develop their own cynicism. And these passions amplify the tribal conflicts that divide us,” he said. “This is beginning to manifest in markets, which we are taught should be immune, rational. Having capital at risk forces one to be sober when considering the possible future states of the world, probabilities, market prices, risk versus reward, he explained. |
| Under-25s hit worst as unemployment rises againUK unemployment has risen to 5.1% – its highest level in almost five years, official figures show. |
| Holiday bookings surge after lockdown exit plansTravel firms serving the UK and overseas report a huge jump in bookings and website traffic since Monday. |
| Coronavirus: Gender pay gap enforcement delayed by a further six monthsThe equalities watchdog says it is the right move amidst the pandemic, but Labour calls it “unacceptable”. |
| India’s Bitcoin owners get sinking feeling as Jhunjhunwala calls for its banHighlighting the deficiencies of Bitcoin, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala called upon the regulators to ban cryptocurrency altogether. |
| Heranba IPO subscribed 84% on Day 1The IPO of the Gujarat-based crop protection chemicals manufacturer is at 22.67 times its trailing 12-month earnings per share (EPS). |
| HSBC India profit up despite higher provisionsProfit before tax from India increased to $1.02 billion in 2020 from $1 billion in 2019 even though the group net profit fell 30% to $6.01 billion due to higher provisions for loan losses post Covid 19. |
| : Airlines and travel stocks surge as U.K. sets out lockdown exit plansEasyJet said holiday bookings jumped by 660% hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined a road map for a return to air travel. |
| : Facebook befriends Australia again, after striking a deal with Canberra government on new lawFacebook said that it would restore Australian news on its platform, after striking a deal with the Canberra government on a new law that will force big technology companies to pay for news. |
| BookWatch: Reassess your life and career every 7 years by asking these 3 questionsHere’s a response to feeling burned out at work or depleted by relationships. |
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