12Mar2021 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street Heading Lower At The Opening Bell, DOW Futures Up 45 Points, But Trending Lower, Nasdaq Off Sharply At -1.4%, Silver Slips To 25.42, Bitcoin Down To 55900

Written by Gary

February 2021 Producer Price final demand increased significantly (SPY -0.4%). Biggest premarket movers: Ulta, Poshmark, and Novavax.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	European markets are mixed today. The CAC 40 is up 0.72% while the FTSE 100 gains 0.10%. The DAX is off 0.56%.

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Can Fuel Cell Cars Compete With The EV Boom? If there has ever been a misleading headline, it has to be the one above, at least according to European carmakers. Hydrogen cars, they say, are not a viable alternative to battery electric vehicles. And that is despite billions of dollars that their own governments are pouring into hydrogen. “You won’t see any hydrogen usage in cars,” Volkswagen’s chief executive Herbert Diess told the Financial Times recently. “Not even in 10 years because the physics behind it are so unreasonable.” In this, Diess appears to share the opinion of the man he sees
	Battery Giant LG Chem To Invest $4.5 Billion In U.S. Expansion LG Chem is prepared to invest $4.5 billion over the next five years to expand battery capacity in the United States. In a Thursday email, according to Bloomberg Green, LG Chem said it would not only sink $4.5 billion into battery capacity expansion, but it would hire 10,000 workers. The company hatched the plan over the last year in response to what it says as the growing demand for electric vehicles and President Bidens ambitious green policies. Several automakers are planning to electrify their fleet of vehicles. Ford and GM have vowed
	Argentinas Shale Patch Is Poised For A Comeback After a harsh 2020 and slow post-pandemic recovery Argentinas hydrocarbon sector has come roaring back to life. A combination of substantially higher oil prices, government subsidies, favorable legislation and growing demand for light sweet crude oil and natural gas has caused activity in Argentinas Vaca Muerta (Spanish for dead cow) soar. After fracking activity slowed to almost zero during May 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it then soared to a 17-month high in January 2021. Data obtained by S&P Global Platts shows
	U.S. Needs To Cut Emissions By 57% To Meet Paris Agreement Goals The United States needs to reduce its emissions by at least 57 percent by 2030 below 2005 levels to fulfill its share of the cuts consistent with the Paris Agreement, which the Biden Administration has rejoined, Climate Action Tracker (CAT) said in a new report on Thursday. After rejoining the Paris Agreement on his first day in office, U.S. President Joe Biden and his Administration are preparing a new 2030 Paris Agreement target, or Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), expected to be announced in time for the Leaders Climate Summit
	Why Are Investors Turning Their Backs On Fossil Fuel Projects? Over the next five years, oil and gas companies will definitely see less investment as the worlds biggest institutional investors are increasingly looking at the environmental credentials of the companies in their portfolios As the global drive toward sustainability accelerates, the worlds biggest institutional investors are increasingly looking at the environmental credentials of the companies in their portfolios. The pressure on Big Oil and all other oil firms, coal miners, and even gas project developers is growing to show they
	Mexico Energy Reform Sparks Wave Of Lawsuits The Mexico chapter of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) expects a wave of international arbitrations and lawsuits in the coming weeks after Mexico enacted this week a new law that favors state-owned electricity generation companies over private power firms. Mexican President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador pushed in recent weeks a new law for the countrys electricity sector, which strengthens state control over the power generation sector by promoting state-owned companies. The antitrust regulator of Mexico, COFECE, said
	Victoria’s Secret owner L Brands shares rise after retailer hikes outlook, reinstates dividend L Brands on Friday hiked its profit outlook for the current quarter, and said it would be reinstating an annual dividend and paying down debt.
	Dr. Kavita Patel says July 4th may mark Covid ‘turning point’ but it’ll remain part of daily life However, Dr. Kavita Patel told CNBC that regular boosters or vaccines will likely be necessary moving forward, especially as Covid variants spread.
	EU says AstraZeneca is not doing enough to meet its vaccine deliveries target The European Union has asked AstraZeneca to do more to respect its contract with the bloc, as concerns grow that the firm will miss delivery targets once again.
	Here’s what the buyer of Beeple’s NFT digital art actually gets for $69 million The buyer of “Everydays” gets “essentially a long string of numbers and letters” and a “massive, high-resolution JPEG,” an art specialist at Christie’s said.
	More countries suspend AstraZeneca vaccinations over blood clot fears: What we know so far AstraZeneca has said the vaccine has been studied extensively during Phase 3 trials and peer-reviewed data confirms the shot is “generally well tolerated.”
	London’s River Thames set to trial new tidal energy technologies The move could help to decarbonize operations connected to the river.
	Private equity firm CVC lands $509 million deal for international rugby tournament It brings CVC’s total investment in professional rugby union to more than Â£700 million.
	Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Ulta, Poshmark, Novavax and others These are the stocks posting the largest moves before the bell.
	5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday Nasdaq futures fell Friday, one day after the tech-heavy index soared 2.5%. Dow and S&P 500 futures were mixed after Thursday’s record high closes.
	Hyatt Hotels CEO sees ‘clear path to recovery’ after Covid rocked industry As travel recovers, Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian said the company is banking on leisure bookings to be a main driver for business this year.
	Hollywood’s $10 billion opportunity: McKinsey study says anti-Black bias hurts revenue The potential windfall is tied to underrepresentation of Black talent. The total opportunity for greater diversity is significantly larger.
	Poshmark sales top estimates in its first quarterly report as a public company, but outlook disappoints; shares fall The online seller of secondhand clothing issued a weaker-than-expected sales outlook for the current quarter.
	Ulta shares tumble on weaker-than-expected outlook, retailer taps Dave Kimbell as CEO The company also announced that its CEO Mary Dillon will step down in June, and be replaced by its president, Dave Kimbell.
	US Producer Prices Soar Most Since 2018 As Gas Prices Spike US Producer Prices Soar Most Since 2018 As Gas Prices Spike After January’s record surge in producer prices, analysts expected February inflation to slow and it did, rising 0.5% MoM as expected. That sent the year-over-year change in producer prices to +2.8% – its highest since Oct 2018. Source: Bloomberg However, core PPI disappointed, rising 2.5% YoY vs +2.6% YoY expected. Consumers should brace… Under the hood, energy and transportation costs led the move higher in producer prices…
	Lordstown Shares Crater After Hindenburg Alleges Fake Order “Mirage” Lordstown Shares Crater After Hindenburg Alleges Fake Order “Mirage” Shares of Lordstown Motors plunged in pre-market trading Friday after short seller Hindenburg Research released a report called “The Lordstown Motors Mirage: Fake Orders, Undisclosed Production Hurdles, And A Prototype Inferno”. Hindenburg is best known for being the firm that called Nikola an “intricate fraud”, which led to the departure of the company’s founder and eventual probes by several regulatory bodies.Â The LordstownÂ report alleges that the company is an “EV SPAC with no revenue and no sellable product” which hasÂ “misled investors on both its demand and production capabilities”. Hindenburg takes specific exception with the company’s pre-orders, stating that their “conversations with former employees, business partners and an extensive document review show that the company’s orders are largely fictitious and used as a prop to raise capital and confer legitimacy.” The report points out several examples: For example, Lord …
	Tencent Censured, Ant Group Head Forced Out As Beijing’s Big-Tech Crackdown Continues Tencent Censured, Ant Group Head Forced Out As Beijing’s Big-Tech Crackdown Continues The government-sponsored crackdown on China’s tech behemoths roared back into gear on Friday as Simon Hu, the head of Alibaba’s Ant Group (the payments group that saw its spinoff IPO unceremoniously canceled by President Xi and the CCP last year), abruptly resigned, while Tencent – another member of the Chinese tech giant pantheon – has reportedly been put on notice. Hu – who was brought on by Alibaba in late 2019 to run Ant Group during an executive reshuffle – was supposed to lead the financial group to post-spinoff success, with ambitions of breaking into the western market, and eventually competing against American tech and financial giants in their own backyard. Fortunately for Ant Group’s American competitors, the CCP has decided that it would rather keep restive tech giants firmly under its thumb rather than risk allowing them to accumulate even more economic power. Earlier, Pony Ma’s Tencent was officially censured by China’s antitrust watchdog (which has played a high profile role in the …
	Crypto Slides After CFTC Probes Binance On Derivative Trades Crypto Slides After CFTC Probes Binance On Derivative Trades Crypto markets are sliding this morning following headlines that the CFTC is investigating whether the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which isn’t registered with the agency, allowed Americans to buy crypto ‘derivatives’ – which are regulated by the CFTC – and over ‘know your customer’ regulations. Bitcoin slid back below $56k, plunging by $1000 in minutes. Ethereum – the token behind the NFT craze – dipped below $1750…
	UK exports to European Union drop 40% in January Official figures show a sharp drop in trade in goods with the EU as the Brexit transition period ended.
	Cumbria coal mine: Public inquiry after government U-turn Ministers say “increased” controversy over the Cumbria mine means a public inquiry is needed.
	Households ‘buy 3.2 million pets in lockdown’ Many have bought pets in response to social isolation, but there are concerns about animal welfare.
	How Nazara’s lost opportunity in 2018 turned out to be a blessing in disguise Nazara will come out with its Rs 583 crore IPO on March 17. Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who held 3,294,310 shares, or 11.51 per cent stake, in the company as of September 30, is not selling any share through the IPO.
	Citigroup tweaks model portfolio to be more defensive, cites elevated valuations ‹Citi has a target of 14,800 on the Nifty by December this year which implies a minor downside from current levels.
	At 73 times earnings, is Craftsman Automation IPO worth investing? Analysts on Dalal Street said the issue is aggressively priced, but some of them see value in the long term.
	February 2021 Producer Price Final Demand Increased Significantly Written by Steven Hansen The Producer Price Index (PPI) year-over-year inflation increased from +1.7 % to +2.8 %
	Rail Week Ending 06 March 2021 – A Better Week Written by Steven Hansen Week 9 of 2021 shows the same week total rail traffic (from the same week one year ago) improved according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data. Total rail traffic has been mostly in contraction for over one year – and now is slowly recovering from the coronavirus pandemic although economic intuitive sectors are not doing well.
	The Moneyist: ‘Change can happen without us noticing’: COVID brought us a year of epic uncertainty ” but here’s what I know for sure ‘The isolation doesn’t seem quite so intense one year later. Perhaps we have normalized it, but we can be forgiven if our stoicism turns to fatigue.’
	Outside the Box: Three things we need to see before consumers will really open their wallets Passage of the American Rescue Plan sets the stage for the floodgates to open later this year.
	The Big Move: I just bought a seller-financed home with an 8.99% interest rate. Is that legal? ‘We are basically paying mostly all-interest payments and only reducing the principal balance by only about $1,160 during the whole first year. ‘