10Mar2021 Pre-Market Commentary: Futures Up, Traders Pleased With Rise Of Critical CPI Print, DOW Up 124 Points, Nasdaq Up +0.5%, WTI Crude Higher 64.69, Bitcoin Climbs 56100

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

European markets are mixed today. The DAX is up 0.38% while the CAC 40 gains 0.37%. The FTSE 100 is off 0.25%.

Bidens Policies Unlikely To Cause Crash In U.S. Oil Production

U.S. President Joe Biden has put the oil industry and oil-producing states on edge with his plans to reform oil and gas permitting and leasing practices on federal land and in federal waters. Currently, the Administration is pausing new oil and natural gas leases pending completion of a review for potential changes to the regulations. Although it is not clear yet how restrictive those changes would be, the industry and analysts are trying to quantify how much U.S. oil production would suffer in the medium and long term. Immediate impacts will likely

Oil Prices Drop As Traders Take Profits

Speculators have been selling oil over the past two weeks as prices continue higher and the appetite for profit-taking increases. How long it will last is anyone’s guess, but it might intensify this week. Oil prices began rising last November when the first news about vaccine safety and efficacy emerged. Then, oil prices experienced a series of small dips. After that, it’s been mostly smooth sailing since January, thanks to the mass rollout of vaccinations that are expected to boost oil demand soon. In addition to the vaccinations, however, OPEC+

Will California Greenlight New Oil Production?

Tens of thousands of oil wells could be developed in Kern County, California as an ordinance which was previously denied exploration is being revised. This Monday, the Kern County Board of Supervisors are expected to vote to determine whether to allow the drilling of up to 2,700 wells a year, or 65,000 over the next two decades. Questions over the environmental impact have so far stopped the development of the project, as previous plans did not present the potential environmental damage that drilling might cause. Kern County is

Artificial Intelligence Is A Gamechanger In The Battery Boom

The biggest energy transition in history is well and truly underway, and nowhere is the shift more readily apparent than in the transport industry. Wall Street is almost unanimous that electric vehicles are the future of the industry, with EV sales already outpacing ICE sales in markets such as Norway. That kind of exponential growth can only mean one thing: Explosive demand for the metals that go into those batteries. Demand for battery metals is projected to soar as the transport industry continues to electrify at a record pace. In fact,

Oil Prices Slide On Yet Another Surprise Inventory Build

The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported on Tuesday a build in crude oil inventories of 12.792 million barrels for the week ending March 5. Analysts had predicted an inventory build of 816,000 barrels for the week. In the previous week, the API reported a major build in oil inventories of 7.356-million barrels after analysts had predicted a 928,000-barrel draw. But that was nothing compared to the EIA’s report a day later of a 21.6 million barrel build. It is unclear whether todays reported stock build is part of EIAs large

How Oil Could Go To $100 Per Barrel

In its February Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA forecasts this month’s world oil consumption at 96.7 million barrels per day (mbpd). The oil supply, however, is much lower, only 93.6 mbpd, with the difference of 3.1 mbpd of necessity being drawn from crude oil and refined product inventories. By historical standards, a sustained draw of 3 mbpd is large, and we would expect prices to be rising under such circumstances. The EIA sees demand continuing to recover at a good pace to mid-year, with July world oil consumption forecast at 98.2

GE to merge aircraft leasing unit with rival AerCap in a $30 billion deal as industry faces more pandemic turmoil

GE’s aircraft leasing unit is combining with rival AerCap as the industrial conglomerate further slims down and faces impacts from Covid-19.

Lego sales soared in 2020, but don’t just credit stay-at-home trends, it’s gaining fans in China

Lego consumer sales jumped 21% last year, the result of a broader product range, e-commerce investments paying off and a surge of growth in China.

Alaska becomes the first state to make Covid vaccines available to nearly everyone

Alaska on Tuesday became the first state to make Covid vaccines available to anyone 16 and older who works or lives in the state, effective immediately.

CEO of Airstream maker Thor Industries expects hot RV market to continue post pandemic

“The millennial generation is larger than the boomers, so we see this as a long-term opportunity,” Thor Industries CEO Bob Martin told CNBC.

J&J Covid vaccine distribution in poor, black communities raises race questions

The allocation of J&J’s shot to inner-cities and rural areas, as some officials suggest, could bring allegations of discrimination based on race and class.

5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday

Stocks were headed for a mixed open Wednesday, one day after beaten-up tech stocks roared back, pushing the Nasdaq up nearly 3.7%.

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: GE, Eli Lilly, Campbell Soup and others

These are the stocks posting the largest moves before the bell.

India is turning to ‘green hydrogen’ in a bid to decarbonize its economy

Hydrogen has a range of applications and can be deployed in sectors such as industry and transport.

ITV shares slide after Piers Morgan quits flagship morning show

ITV shares slid 5% Wednesday following the resignation of high-profile presenter Piers Morgan over comments he made about Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

France’s love affair with nuclear power will continue, but change is afoot

The country is a world leader in nuclear power, but its relationship is set to alter in the years ahead.

Hong Kong ‘pretty confident’ vaccination will be available for all residents by year-end, health secretary says

Hong Kong has ordered more than 22 million doses of Covid vaccines.

Fauci warns U.S. Covid cases may ‘plateau again at an unacceptably high level’

White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Covid-19 cases in the United States may plateau again at a very high level.

Mastercard exec says almost 75% of apparel sales were made online last month

Digital sales of apparel spiked 47% and jewelry 63% from pre-pandemic levels last month as consumers shifted buying habits, Mastercard’s Linda Kirkpatrick said.

Stocks, USDJPY Dip On BoJ Yield Curve Control Comments

Stocks, USDJPY Dip On BoJ Yield Curve Control Comments

Having blown out the yield curve control barrier two weeks ago, Bloomberg reports that Bank of Japan officials are looking at ways to enable yields to fluctuate more freely in their policy review.

This comes after Governor Haruhiko Kuroda appeared to rule out a widening of the range during comments in parliament on Friday that caused yields to tumble.

Futures Flat, Traders On Edge Ahead Of Critical CPI Print, 10Y Treasury Auction

Futures Flat, Traders On Edge Ahead Of Critical CPI Print, 10Y Treasury Auction

U.S. equity futures and global markets drifted without direction on Wednesday as the rally in tech shares stalled and U.S. bond yields ticked higher ahead of a critical 10Y bond auction while investors nervously awaited a reading on inflation later in the day amid fears that the economy could potentially overheat. As Reuters puts it, “it all seemed a bit subdued” after Tuesday’s roaring 20% surge in electric car doyen Tesla, 4% jump in the Nasdaq and biggest one-day gain for global heavyweights Amazon and Microsoft in well over a month.

At 6:31 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 110 points, or 0.34%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 3.50 points, or 0.09% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 15 points, or 0.12% as Tesla dropped about 1.5%, while Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp fell between 0.2% and 0.7% in early trading. General Electric rose as much as 3.7% in pre-market trading after agreeing to combine its jet-leasing business with rival AerCap Holdings NV. The Nasdaq dipped after …

The Fed’s Most Convenient Lie: A CPI Charade

The Fed’s Most Convenient Lie: A CPI Charade

Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via GoldSwitzerland.com,

Despite a penchant for double-speak that would make a politician blush, the Fed tells us that its primary focus is unemployment not inflation.

Let me remind readers, however, that an openly nervous Mr. Powell came out in the summer of 2020 with a specific, as well as headline-making, agenda to œallow higher inflation above the 2% rate.

This œnew inflation direction ignored the larger irony that the Fed had been unsuccessfully œtargeting 2% inflation for years before changing verbs from œtargeting to œallowing.

Such magical word choices reveal a critical skunk in the Fed’s semantic wood pile.

If, for example, the Fed was honestly œtargeting inflation to no success for years, how could Powell suddenly have the public ability to then œallow more of what he failed to achieve before, as if inflation was as simple to dial up and down as a thermostat in one’s home?

Dishonest Inflation Reporting

The blunt answer is that the Fed, in sync with the fiction writers at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), reports consumer inflation as honestly as Al Capone reported taxable income.

In short: The Fed has been lying about (i.e. downplaying) inflation for years.

As we’ve shown in many prior reports, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) scale used by the BLS to measure U.S. consumer price inflation is an open charade, allowing the BLS, and hence the Fed, to basically œreport inflation however they s …

Deutsche Bank Considers Permanent Work-From-Home Addition Several Days Per Week

Deutsche Bank Considers Permanent Work-From-Home Addition Several Days Per Week

Just a couple of days ago, we wrote how the 4 day work week was catching on a result of the new, post-Covid work landscape.Â

Now, it looks like Deutsche Bank could be next big corporation to adopt similar changes. The banking giant is considering letting staff work from home between one to three days a week, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Deutsche is actively trying to cut back on real estate costs, the report says.Â

Deutsche Bank U.K. CEO Tiina Lee said that being in the office 5 days a week œfeels to me a little bit like a wasted opportunity. Lee said that staff wants to work from home and “that is something that we’re looking to explore.

She noted that traders may have less days working from home and that the policy will be different according to different roles at the bank.

And it’s not just Deutsche …

Lego ‘to hire hundreds’ more in UK in digital drive

The toy giant sees best sales in five years as lockdown spurs growth in Lego sets for families.

Tesco to start recycling bread bags and crisp packets

The supermarket is rolling out new recycling points for soft plastics that often end up in landfill.

The Restaurant Group: Wagamama owner to raise millions as lockdown bites

The Restaurant Group says its sales dived by 57% last year after its sites were forced to close.

Anupam Rasayan IPO looks fully priced: Should you subscribe?

After annualising the earnings for the nine-months of FY21, Anupam Rasayan IPO demands a price-earnings (P/E) multiple of 86.

Cement stocks on the cusp of a new growth cycle: Morgan Stanley

Shares of cement companies have been on an uptrend, especially after the Union Budget allocated more for the infrastructure projects.

UBS signals risk of India stocks trailing bonds over 12 months

Continuing their rally from pandemic-driven lows in March 2020, Indian stocks have significantly outperformed their Asian peers so far this year, helped by sustained foreign buying of local shares.

: Americans debate what COVID-19 vaccine they want, but Fauci says to take what’s available to you

Now that there are three COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S., some Americans and government officials are picking and choosing the vaccines they prefer — much to the chagrin of federal health officials who are urging people to sign up for any available vaccine.

Outside the Box: Bill Gates and Warren Buffet should thank American taxpayers for their profitable farmland investments

Congress has reduced risk by using taxpayer funds to underwrite crop prices and cash revenues.

: Russia slows down Twitter speed and demands removal of ‘illegal’ content

The Russian government ordered on Wednesday a general slowdown of Twitter’s connection speed, after what it called œsystematic disregard of the requirement to remove content forbidden in Russia.