11Mar2021 Market Close: Wall Street Closed Up Sharply Following Biden Signature On COVID Bill, DOW Up 189 Points, Nasdaq Up 2.5%, WTI Crude Up 66.09, Bitcoin Higher At 57800

Written by Gary

Brent-priced oil flows to Asia set to slump and John Lewis warns of ‘painful’ store closures (SPY +1.0%). New York Fed weekly economic index (WEI): index marginally declined this week.

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Tech Majors Double Down On Clean Energy Purchases In recent years, Big Tech and Big Oil have emerged as some of the biggest buyers of renewable energy, with dozens now covering a substantial proportion of their energy needs through renewables. In 2019, Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary, Google Inc., signed contracts to purchase over 2.7GW of clean energy globally, the biggest clean energy commitment by any company on the planet. In fact, Google’s total renewable energy purchases now exceed the amount of electricity the company uses in its operations, including its power-hungry data
	Gold Erases Gains On Rebounding Treasury Yields Gold is heading for its first decline in three days,erasing its gainsfrom that period, as US Treasury yields rebounded following congressionalapproval of a massive stimulus package. Spot gold edged 0.2% lower to $1,724.28 per ounce by noon EST, while US gold futures held steady at $1,721.60 per ounce. Yields are on the rise again Thursday, as President Joe Biden plans to sign his $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief bill later this week after clearing the final congressional hurdle. Rising yields have played havoc with the price
	Big Energy Emerges As Winner From Texas Winter Storm As oil and gas majors surprisingly stand to profit in the long-term from the Texas storm last month, several regulators emerge largely unscathed. In the wake of the severe winter storm that hit Texas in February, causing blackouts and water shortages across the state, reforms to avoid the deadly cost of extreme weather conditions could mean regional oil majors bounce back big in the future. As smaller companies are hit hard following grid failures in the storm, people look to bigger firms, such as Vistra, NRG, Exelon and Calpine to
	Coal India Approves $6.4 Billion In New Coal Projects Despite Green Push State miner Coal India has approved as many as 32 new coal mining projects worth a total investment of US$6.4 billion, as one of the worlds largest coal consumers looks to reduce reliance on imports as its coal demand continues to grow. A total of 24 of the 32 projects will be for the expansion of existing operations, while eight will be greenfield projects, Indian media quoted the company as saying this week. The combined incremental peak capacity of these projects is expected at 193 million tons per year, which is a record capacity addition
	Iraq Is Losing Market Share In European Oil Markets Almost everything in life is a matter of perspective, including developments in the oil and gas industry. For people who would start to study global oil flows today, it would come as something completely natural that Iraq largely depends on Asia to take in its plentiful oil exports. Be it Basrah Light or Heavy, Asias share in Iraqi exports (excl. Kirkuk) averaged 80% in 2020, quite a steady progression from 60% in 2017, 65% in 2018 and 71% in 2019. For those who have dealt with Iraqi streams in the past, the occurrence of Basrah Light in
	OPEC Sees Strong Oil Demand In The Second Half Of 2021 Global oil demand is set to benefit from stronger economic recovery and vaccinations in the second half of this year, OPEC said on Thursday, adjusting higher its outlook for the second half of 2021 and raising slightly its full-year oil demand forecast. The cartel, however, revised down in its Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) its estimates for global oil demand for the first half of the year due to extended lockdowns in major economies in Europe and high unemployment rates in the United States slowing the recovery. In hindsight, the OPEC+
	Nike sets fresh diversity targets for 2025, and ties executive compensation to hitting them Nike has laid out a five-year roadmap to creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce, the company announced Thursday.
	Covid variant first found in the U.K. appears to be 64% more deadly than earlier strains, study finds The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in the U.K. is associated with a 64% higher risk of dying than earlier strains, a new study said.
	Beeple NFT becomes most expensive ever sold at auction after fetching over $60 million An NFT by the artist Beeple sold at Christie’s for over $60 million, making it the most expensive NFT ever sold at auction.
	Even at pandemic’s peak, enforcing Covid rules was a challenge at fast-food distributor’s warehouses At some Sygma warehouses, procedures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 have rarely been enforced, employees of the fast-food distributor told CNBC.
	Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot Covid vaccine cleared for use in the EU The vaccine has the added benefit of only requiring a single dose and can be stored in most standard refrigerators at temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.
	Pfizer Covid vaccine blocks 94% of asymptomatic infections and 97% of symptomatic cases in Israeli study Pfizer said its Covid-19 vaccine blocked 94% of asymptomatic infections in an Israeli study ” a result CEO Albert Bourla called “extremely important.”
	Activist investor group cuts its Kohl’s board slate to 5 directors from 9 The group of activist investors looking to seize control of Kohl’s board reduced the number of directors that it plans to nominate, to five from nine.
	Jeep unveils long-awaited Grand Wagoneer SUV topping $111,000 The Grand Wagoneer SUV will test whether Jeep can expand its product range into the lucrative luxury segment and attract new customers.
	GM CEO Mary Barra: ‘We’re just at the beginning’ of where company’s stock will move Shares of GM are up 36% this year following a slew of new product announcements, including plans to sell auto insurance and to shift its lineup to EVs by 2035.
	Yelp data shows almost half a million new businesses opened during the pandemic Yelp data scientist Justin Norman told CNBC he also sees a comeback “through the 260,000 businesses that have been able to reopen after temporarily closing.”
	Government will fully cover laid-off workers’ COBRA premiums through September The government will pay for laid off workers to maintain their employer-sponsored health insurance through September.
	Shares of EV start-up Canoo surge as much as 14% on new electric pickup truck Shares of electric vehicle start-up Canoo surged after the automaker detailed its third planned product, a bubbly-looking pickup truck.
	Stanley Druckenmiller, Bill Ackman are among the big early investors in hot IPO Coupang Billionaire investors Stanley Druckenmiller and Bill Ackman backed the South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang well before Thursday’s stock market debut.
	Bitcoin & Big-Caps Reach Record Highs, Bonds & Dollar Dumped Bitcoin & Big-Caps Reach Record Highs, Bonds & Dollar Dumped On the heels of Biden’s big blowout, the dollar is tumbling…(biggest 3-day slump since the election/vaccines in early Nov)… Source: Bloomberg And bitcoin surged back up near $58,000, erasing the losses from its record highs in mid-Feb… Source: Bloomberg Did Washington just ‘cut the rope’ from reality?
	China Approves Hong Kong Elections Overhaul To Apply “Patriotism” Litmus Test China Approves Hong Kong Elections Overhaul To Apply “Patriotism” Litmus Test On Thursday China’s parliament approved a resolutionÂ to impose sweeping changes on Hong Kong’s electoral system which is ultimately aimed to ensure that mainland loyalists are in firm control of running the city. The new requirement of “patriotism” to run for Hong Kong’s legislature means the likelihood that future elections will merely be a competition among candidates over who is more ‘loyal’ to Beijing, rather than running based on bettering the city. NPC, via AsiaNews It will in essence give a powerful already largely pro-Beijing election committee oversight to vet candidates for office based on how “pro-China” they are, effectively choking off any opposition hopes for breathing space in the city’s government. Their new powers over theÂ Legislative Council (LegCo) which is to also include electing many its members will automaticallyÂ diluteÂ the number directly elected by the public. Citing the further …
	Brent-Priced Oil Flows To Asia Set To Slump Brent-Priced Oil Flows To Asia Set To Slump Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com, The rising premium of North Sea’s benchmark Brent over Dubai crude is making shipment of Brent-linked oil to Asia more expensive and likely to reduce in the coming months, traders and market sources tellÂ Bloomberg. The Brent premium over Dubai jumped to the highest since December 2019 at over $3 per barrel on Tuesday, according to data from PVM Oil Associates cited by Bloomberg.
	“It’s Not Funny”: Reporter Angered After Jen Psaki Laughs At Migrant Children BorderÂ Question “It’s Not Funny”: Reporter Angered After Jen Psaki Laughs At Migrant Children BorderÂ Question Imagine the collective outrage and uproar if this had happened during the Trump administration… At the White House’s daily briefing on WednesdayÂ Fox News’Â Peter DoocyÂ and Press SecretaryÂ Jen Psaki began sparring – particularly after Psaki openly laughed off the reporter’s question related to the migrant border crossing crisis centered on migrant children as well as CDC guidelines for school re-openings. The exchange began withÂ Doocy grilling Psaki over if Biden has a “messaging problem” over the fact that migrant child facilities have fully opened “safely” – even with “educational” opportunities while the kids are in custody – but at the same time American schools in many cases have not, citing dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s not funny,” Doocy responded after a chuckling Psaki tried to claim it’s all about “working to fix the mess of the last couple years” in an attempt to blame it all on Trump.Â Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki LAUGHS when asked why border facilities for migrants are fully open but US schools still aren’t. ðŸ’¡ðŸ’¡ðŸ’¡pic.twitter.com/qI6Gf4qBpc ” NANCY (@9NEWSNANCY) March 10, 2021 Doocy had asked, highlighting the contradiction, “But since they are not all back …
	John Lewis warns of ‘painful’ store closures The retail giant reports big losses and says it does not expect to reopen all of its shops post-lockdown.
	HSBC plans to phase out coal financing by 2040 The bank will ask investors to back the plan following pressure from a shareholder campaign group.
	Uber and Lyft to swap data on banned drivers The two taxi apps have faced scrutiny for how they handle incidents of sexual assault and other safety issues.
	Ahead of Market: 12 things that will decide stock action on Friday Overall, market breadth remained in favour of bulls. As many as 302 stocks on the BSE 500 index settled the day in green, while 189 settled the day in red.
	Key breadth indicator hinting at possible higher levels for Nifty50 The most important use of this AD Line Breadth Indicator is to examine any divergence; bullish or bearish, against the index. In the current case, this Breadth Indicator is shown a bullish divergence against Nity50 Index.
	Gold ‘failing’ as equity hedge, faces risks: BlackRock Bullion is proving to be a less effective hedge against moves in other assets, such as stocks, as well as inflation, according to Russ Koesterich, portfolio manager for BlackRock’s Global Allocation Fund.
	06 March 2021 New York Fed Weekly Economic Index (WEI): Index Marginally Declined This Week Written by Steven Hansen The New York Fed’s Weekly Leading Index (WLI) continues to show an economy that is just above the worst seen during the Great Recession. This index recovery stalled based on the 13-week rolling average.
	: Goldman Sachs pledges $10 billion to change the lives of ‘One Million Black Women’ New initiative will focus on areas including access to capital, healthcare, job creation and education.
	MarketWatch Options Trader: The stock market is behaving in mysterious ways ” is it bullish, bearish or something else? The “stodgy” side of the market is leading, while volatility is unusually high.
	The Tell: Active managers trailed stock indexes in 2020, S&P report finds A majority of U.S. equity funds lagged the S&P 500 index during 2020, according to a closely-watched annual report from S&P Dow Jones Indices.