Written by Gary
Tesla operating in Autopilot hits police car in Michigan (SPY -0.5%). Biggest midday movers: Plug Power, Coupa Software, Lennar and more.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
North and South American markets are mixed. The Bovespa is higher by 0.82%, while the S&P 500 is leading the IPC lower. They are down 0.44% and 0.41% respectively. |
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Qatar To Build A Luxury Floating Hotel That Generates ElectricityQatar, one of the richest countries in the Middle East thanks to its massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and oil reserves, plans to build a floating eco-hotel that would spin very slowlylike a recordto generate its own electricity via solar, wind, and tidal energy. The Eco-Floating Hotel is designed by Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio (HAADS) and will have 152 rooms. The hotel will produce clean energy and have zero waste, according to the designs. The hotel will feature vawtaus, or vertical axis wind turbines and umbrellas, | |
Oil Drops As IEA Dashes Hopes Of SupercycleOil prices erased earlier gains and traded lower on Wednesday morning, following an estimate by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that no supercycle for oil is around the corner amid plentiful supply and a large global spare capacity. Just after the weekly EIA inventory report showed a crude build of 2.4 million barrels for the week to March 12, WTI Crude prices were down by 1.11 percent at $64.03 as of 10:47 a.m. EDT, while Brent Crude traded down by 1.18 percent at $67.50. Both benchmarks reversed earlier gains, which were fueled by | |
Enbridge: Line 5 Shutdown Will Lead To Immediate Oil ShortagesIf Michigan shuts down the Line 5 crude oil pipeline, refiners in central Canada and the U.S. Midwest will face a shortage of feedstocks, and propane prices will shoot up, the operator of the pipeline, Enbridge, has warned. A shutdown of Line 5 would cause an immediate shortage of energy in the region, Vern Yu, Enbridge president of liquid pipelines, said. It would drive up prices significantly, and the replacement would be years away. Michigans Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the director of the states Department | |
Oil Prices Inch Lower As Crude Inventories Continue To BuildThe Energy Information Administration reported a crude oil inventory build of 2.4 million barrels for the week to March 12, up/down from a build of 13.8 million barrels the authority reported for the previous week. A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute surprised markets by estimating an oil inventory decline for the same week, of 1 million barrels. Hefty builds in both crude and fuel inventories were expected in the past three weeks after the wave of Arctic weather that swept across Texas prompted refinery closures and stocking up of | |
China Breaks $1B Fuel Smuggling RingChina broke a criminal ring that sought to smuggle almost a million barrels of fuel, although it has yet to be established whether the gangs involved tried to smuggle the fuel in or out of the country, Reuters has reported. The large-scale operation resulted in catching 171 suspects from 14 gangs and seizing 11 ships with fuel worth some $770 million, according to the report. The Chinese customs agency launched a nationwide crackdown on fuel smuggling last years. Since then, it said it had recorded as many as 170 cases of smuggling, with the amount | |
IEA: Oil Demand Will Not Return To Pre-Crisis Levels Until 2023Global oil demand will take until 2023 to return to the pre-pandemic levels of 100 million bpd, but COVID-19 will change parts of consumer behavior forever with global gasoline demand likely past its peak already, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday in its annual Oil 2021 report with projections through 2026. By 2026, global oil demand is expected at 104.1 million bpd, up by 4.4 million bpd compared to 2019 levels. Still, consumption in 2025 is projected 2.5 million bpd lower than the agencys estimates from last year. | |
Disneyland to reopen on April 30, Disney CEO Bob Chapek saysDisney’s two California theme parks will reopen on April 30, CEO Bob Chapek said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley.” | |
Sun Country Airlines raises $218 million in industry’s first IPO since 2018 as U.S. carriers eye recoverySun Country Airlines is set to start trading on Wednesday. | |
WHO recommends AstraZeneca vaccinations continue, says benefits still outweigh risksThe latest guidance from the global public health body comes after a raft of European countries announced that they would suspend use of the shot. | |
Ford to launch flexible work-from-home plan as employees return to offices this summerHow much a Ford employee will be able to work remotely will be based on their job responsibilities as well as discussions with their managers. | |
PepsiCo unveils new line of Mountain Dew energy drinks with Lebron James’ endorsementPepsiCo’s new Mtn Dew Rise Energy line is meant to compete in the energy drink category and draw in consumers who usually stick to coffee or juice. | |
Amazon is expanding Amazon Care telehealth service nationally for its employees and other companiesAmazon is expanding its Amazon Care nationally for its employees and will offer the telehealth service to other companies | |
CDC is considering shortening social distancing recommendations for schools to 3 feet, director saysA new study published suggests that 3 feet may be as safe as 6 feet, provided that everyone is masked. | |
Tesla operating in Autopilot hits police car in Michigan, officials sayThe crash is the latest in a string of accidents involving Tesla vehicles that have sparked investigations by federal safety officials. | |
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Plug Power, Coupa Software, Lennar and moreThese are the stocks posting the largest moves in midday trading. | |
EU proposes vaccine certificates for travel ” but citizens might not need a shotTourism-reliant economies, such as Greece, have pushed for a common EU system that would restore some travel in the region this summer. | |
BMW has no plans to produce its own electric vehicle batteries as it looks to ramp up offeringÂThe German carmaker is one of many in the sector looking to develop more electric vehicles. | |
Nordstrom debuts platform for shoppable shows as more retailers experiment with livestreamingU.S. retailers are playing catch-up to a trend that has been rampant for years in Asia, in large part thanks to the e-commerce giant Alibaba. | |
This Little Known “Innovation” ETF Is Smashing ARKK’s Performance By 10x In 2021This Little Known “Innovation” ETF Is Smashing ARKK’s Performance By 10x In 2021 While much of the NASDAQ-based success and praise of late has been focused around Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, there has actually been one fund that has outpaced and outperformed ARK’s flagship Innovation Fund (ARKK) over the same course of time. The Direxion Moonshot Innovators ETF (MOON) has risen 39% this year, according to Bloomberg. This smashes ARKK’s performance for 2021, which is only up 3.5% over the same period of time. Interestingly, MOON was spawned alongside of another new “innovation” ETFs after the wild success of Wood’s ARKK. This year, Wood’s funds have experienced significant volatility, which we have been documenting at length here on Zero Hedge. Most of ARK’s funds wind up moving with the NASDAQ, which has had a turbulent start to the year, despite remaining new all time highs. Many of the ARKK copycats, like MOON, have avoided the turmoil in the NASDAQ by owning significant amounts of biotechnology stocks. MOON, for example, owns ImmunityBio, Inc., which is up 131% this year. | |
Georgia Massage Parlor Massacre Suspect Says Wasn’t Race-Related, Blames “Sex Addiction”Georgia Massage Parlor Massacre Suspect Says Wasn’t Race-Related, Blames “Sex Addiction” Update (1215ET): Just as we expected, given the increasing clamor of claims of increased violence against Asian Americans (and the narrative need to pin this to ‘white supremacists’ rather than the mostly black – that we have seen – assailants that have been charged or ‘caught on tape’ in these attacks), last night’s killing spree at 3 mostly-Asian-run massage parlors in Atlanta triggered race-based outrage (white suspect, 8 dead young Asian women). However, authorities have stated that Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock, said the shooting spree was connected to his “addiction to sex,” and not racially motivated. Of course, officials still say it’s too soon say say whether the attacks will still be categorized as a hate crime, according to the Associated Press and ABC 7 News. * * * After an hours long manhunt, a 21-year-old man has been captured in southwest Georgia, hours after eight people were killed in shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors… | |
GOP Senators Accuse Biden Of Breaking Law, Sparking ‘Humanitarian Crisis’ With Border Wall HaltGOP Senators Accuse Biden Of Breaking Law, Sparking ‘Humanitarian Crisis’ With Border Wall Halt Forty Senate Republicans have accused President Joe Biden of breaking federal budget law when he suspended the construction of a southern border wall, and say the halt contributed to the current crisis involving illegal border crossings, according to Bloomberg. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) ad 39 other Senate Republicans demanded that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate Biden for a potential violation of a 1974 act forbidding the executive branch from refusing to spend Congressionally-appropriated funds. “On Jan. 20, in one of the first official acts of his presidency, Joseph Biden suspended border wall construction and ordered a freeze of funds provided by Congress for that purpose. In the weeks that followed, operational control of our southern border was compromised and a humani … | |
JPM: The Entire Rates Complex Will Reprice If Fed Confirms That Lift-Off Is Coming In 2023JPM: The Entire Rates Complex Will Reprice If Fed Confirms That Lift-Off Is Coming In 2023 Paul Meggyesi, head of FX Research at JPMorgan Securities, shares his thoughts on today’s main event. Today’ FOMC is expected to symbolically validate what the market holds to be self-evidently true ” that when economic facts change, especially radically, so too will policy. It shouldn’t matter that the market already has the best part of three hikes priced for 2023, any acknowledgement by the Fed that lift-off is being brought forward into 2023 would effectively sanction the continued re-pricing of the entire rates complex. Certainly it is difficult to regard current market pricing as being stretched when the terminal funds rate is still priced below the Fed’s long-run estimate. In all, the FOMC should mark an important milestone in the rehabilitation of the dollar’s interest rate support, contingent upon the accelerated pace of vaccinations relieving the burden on public health and delivery of radical f … | |
Weddings on hold again after ‘confusion’ over rulesThe government says its roadmap setting out when weddings could take place had not changed. | |
Uber ‘willing to change’ as drivers get minimum wage, holiday pay and pensionsIt comes after a court ruling on driver status and could have consequences across the gig economy. | |
Covid: EU plans rollout of travel certificate before summerIt will permit travel by those vaccinated, or who have tested negative or recently recovered. | |
Tata Communications OFS closes; govt to mop up nearly Rs 5,440 croreThe offer received overall bids for 6.12 crore shares as against 4.6 crore shares on offer. Though the floor price for the OFS was fixed at Rs 1,161, most of the bids came in at Rs 1,184. | |
Smart money dumping consumption stocks as interest shifts to capex cycleThe Nifty consumption index has underperformed the benchmark Nifty 50 by 6% since the beginning of 2021. | |
Global fund managers see inflation, taper tantrum as bigger risk than Covid-19The survey found that the expectation of a ‘V-shaped’ recovery is also fuelling bets that bond yields in the Group of 10 largest economies will jump closer to 2% as inflation runs hot amid supply constraints and roaring demand come back. | |
February 2021 Residential Building Growth MixedWritten by Steven Hansen Headline residential building permits declined and construction completions improved. The rolling averages improved for permits and construction completions. | |
: WHO urges countries to keep using AstraZeneca vaccine as ‘benefits outweigh risks’“Vaccination against COVID-19 will not reduce illness or deaths from other causes,” the World Health Organization said. | |
: Micron drops memory tech that Intel sold off two years agoMicron Technology Inc. announced Tuesday afternoon that it would drop development of a next-generation memory product it had once developed in concert with Intel Corp. | |
The Tell: Here’s how the stock market and bond yields have responded to the last 17 Fed decisionsIt’s all eyes on the Federal Reserve for traders and investors Wednesday. Deutsche Bank broke down how stocks, bonds and the dollar have reacted to the past 17 Fed decisions. |
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