Written by Gary
EV producers grapple with rising battery costs (SPY -0.1%). Third estimate 4q2020 GDP improves marginally to 4.3%. Corporate profits improve.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
![]() | North and South American markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Bovespa gained 1.21%, while the IPC led the S&P 500 lower. They fell 1.14% and 0.06% respectively. |
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
![]() | Australia Dangerously Dependent On Chinese Fuel ImportsThere’s growing alarm in Canberra over what’s expected to beAustralia’s inevitableincreased dependence on foreign petroleumamid a major influx of cheaper refined oil products from China. It comes as China’scrude oil refinery capacity is rapidly expanding and simultaneously Australia is about to see itslast four refineries cut down by two, giventhe recent announced closures of an Exxon Mobil and separately a BP refinery. It’s yet another way that Beijing has the upper hand and leverage amid the ongoing trade |
![]() | Customers Can Now Buy Tesla With BitcoinTesla has started accepting bitcoin, Elon Musk said on Wednesday, fulfilling a promise from last month when the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker invested as much as US$1.5 billion in bitcoin. You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin, Musk tweeted early on Wednesday. Tesla is using only internal & open source software & operates Bitcoin nodes directly. Bitcoin paid to Tesla will be retained as Bitcoin, not converted to fiat currency, he added. The price of bitcoin jumped by 5 percent after Musks announcement |
![]() | Most Hydrogen Is A Climate Killer: Enel ExecutiveToday, hydrogen is anything but clean. That 98% produced today is an industrial feedstock. Just 2% is produced from electrolysis, said Enel Green Powers head of business development, Carlo Zorzoli. Hydrogen today is not a solution to decarbonisation: hydrogen is a part of the problem. So the very first thing to do is convert grey hydrogen to green, Zorzoli added, speaking at the Enlit Europe webcast, as quoted by Power Engineering. Enel Green Power has ambitious plans for green hydrogen: the company recently sealed |
![]() | Gas Pipeline Explosion Cuts Venezuela Oil Production By 30,000 BpdA burst natural gas pipeline in Venezuela has forced PDVSA to cut light crude oil production by 30,000 bpd, Reuters has reported, noting that the explosion could also affect the production of the countrys most popular heavy grade, Merey 16. The state oil company uses the light crude to dilute its extra heavy to make it more easily transportable. A section of the pipeline, which transports associated gas from oil fields to a reinjection plant, exploded last Saturday, with the government blaming the explosion on a terrorist attack. At the |
![]() | Goldman Sachs: EV Producers Grapple With Rising Battery CostsRising demand for battery metals and minerals will lead to an increase in EV battery costs, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note, pointing out that this could lead to an increase in EV prices. Prices for the three main natural resources have been rising since the start of 2021, the Goldman analysts said, as quoted by CNBC. We believe that in order to promote sustainable EV industries, somecountries may consider implementing policies to increase national stockpiles. The battery accounts for between 20 and 40 percent |
![]() | The Top 5 Natural Gas Wildcats Of 2021Having assessed the most promising oil-focused exploration wells of 2021, the time has come to do pinpoint this years up-and-coming gas wildcats. It will not be easy to forget and let go of all the difficulties that 2020 generated global gas production decreased by 4% compared to 2019, capital expenditures were cut across all continents, exploration wells were routinely delayed until external conditions improve. In some cases, the COVID-induced market depression has had unexpected consequences that either directly or indirectly impact |
![]() | American Petroleum Institute endorses carbon pricing as industry faces pressure on curbing emissionsThe oil and gas industry’s largest trade group Thursday endorsed a price on carbon emissions, a major shift after it long resisted climate change regulation. |
![]() | More than half of individual investors think the stock market is rigged against them, survey findsA survey taken in late February shows 56% of individual investors think the market is not set up to favor retail customers. |
![]() | Broadway could open in September, as New York lays out plans to vaccinate theater workersNew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to vaccinate theater workers in order to get Broadway up and running in September. |
![]() | TheScore, valued at $1 billion, is playing underdog in U.S. sports gambling and public marketsThe Canada-based gaming and media company is worth $1 billion and wants to gain market share in U.S. online sports betting. |
![]() | JetBlue wants travelers to book hotels, vacation homes and theme park tickets with the airlineJetBlue Airways is launching an online travel site where travelers can add hotels, car rentals and vacation homes after booking flights. |
![]() | Rocket builder ABL raises $170 million from T. Rowe, Fidelity to become the latest space unicornRocket builder ABL Space closed a $170 million round of funding from new investors T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Management at a valuation of $1.3 billion. |
![]() | Ex-HP CEO Meg Whitman and NBA COO Mark Tatum join General Motors boardThe elections come at a pivotal time for the automaker, which plans to transition to exclusively offering electric vehicles by 2035. |
![]() | Trump’s former Covid vaccine chief Moncef Slaoui leaves more companies after sexual harassment claimCentessa Pharmaceuticals and vaccine developer Vaxcyte announced that Moncef Slaoui has stepped down from his roles with their companies. |
![]() | H&M gets wiped off major Chinese apps after an old statement about forced labor reappearsH&M faced backlash on Chinese social media over an old statement that the retailer had said it was “deeply concerned” about reports of forced labor in Xinjiang. |
![]() | Beauty and bargain retail could be the biggest winners in 2021, Wells Fargo predictsBeauty and bargain retail are poised to be the biggest winners in 2021 as consumers return to stores and socializing, according to a new survey by Wells Fargo. |
![]() | Data, doubts and disputes: A timeline of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine problemsAstraZeneca’s Covid shot has always been accompanied by high hopes, but it has been mired in controversy ever since its inception. |
![]() | Compensation for victims of Covid vaccine injuries is limitedTwo government programs compensate victims of rare vaccine adverse reactions. Currently the Covid-19 vaccine is eligible for only a less generous program. |
![]() | Biden To Stay In Afghanistan Beyond May 1st Agreement Despite Pentagon Saying “We’re Ready”Biden To Stay In Afghanistan Beyond May 1st Agreement Despite Pentagon Saying “We’re Ready” Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that the Biden administration plans to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond the May 1st deadline set by the US-Taliban peace deal that was signed last year. “It’s a general feeling that May 1 is too soon, just logistically,” Smith said at a panel on Wednesday, according to Responsible Statecraft. Smith cited conversations he had with administration officials. “You cannot pull out ten thousand plus troops in any sort of reasonable way in just six weeks,” he said. Smith said the Biden adm … |
![]() | Watch Live: Big Tech CEOs Face-Off With Congressional Members… AgainWatch Live: Big Tech CEOs Face-Off With Congressional Members… Again For the fourth time since the beginning of the virus pandemic, social media executives will answer questions on how their platforms aided extremists in the US Capitol attack, along with questions about misinformation on a video conference call with congressional members. At 1200 ET, the House’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce will ask CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google how their platforms contributed to the deadly attacks on the US Capitol in January and the spread of misinformation about vaccines. Members from both subcommittees will likely hound Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, and Google’s Sundar Pichai on the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and rise of vaccine misinformation. The billionaire tech CEOs will likely defend the liability shield that protects their platforms. Both R … |
![]() | SEC Investigating SoftBank After NASDAQ Gamma Squeeze, FOIA RevealsSEC Investigating SoftBank After NASDAQ Gamma Squeeze, FOIA Reveals It looks like the SEC could finally be catching up to the artificial gamma squeeze that helped the NASDAQ nearly double off its March 2020 lows. We were aghast when it was revealed in September 2020 that Softbank had bought about $4 billion worth of call options in names where it owned the underlying equity. The “strategy” seemed to clearly border on manipulation, despite apparently being legal. Large purchases of out of the money call options in names that you own force dealers to buy up the stock, to hedge, causing dramatic (and unnatural) feedback loops higher for names when their stock would otherwise remain dormant. And with the NASDAQ appearing to be on shaky ground of late, everyone is going to be looking for a scapegoat if the ground falls out underneath the index. Perhaps that’s why, as of now, legal website PlainSite says that FOIA reveals the SEC could be investigating SoftBank’s “strategy”. |
![]() | “Iranian Missile” Fired On Israeli Cargo Ship In Arabian Sea: Report“Iranian Missile” Fired On Israeli Cargo Ship In Arabian Sea: Report A massive potential escalation in the Arabian Sea just outside the Persian Gulf has potentially catapulted the region to a war-footing: Israeli media is widely reporting that “an Iranian missile was fired at an Israeli ship,” according to a breaking report in Israel’s N12 news. It’s said to be an Israeli-owned cargo ship named the “Lori”. Based on initial reports it sustained damage, but it doesn’t appear to have been severe enough to disable it, give the vessel has continued on its planned route.
Here are the early details as presented in The Jerusalem Post:
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![]() | Ford says farewell to ‘Mondeo man’ as car to be phased outThe car, which became synonymous with a certain type of British motorist, will be phased out next year. |
![]() | Liberty Steel: Government looking at ‘all options’Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng tells MPs he hopes to support the steelmaker “in its entirety”. |
![]() | Santander to close more than 100 branchesThe bank says 840 staff will be affected by the decision although it will try to offer them roles elsewhere. |
![]() | SAIL best stock to play higher steel prices, say analystsAccording to analysts, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is the best play as the company is backward integrated with captive iron ore and has a higher financial leverage. |
![]() | Newly-listed stocks challenging FMCG biggies on Dalal StreetThe listing of the biscuits-maker Mrs Bectors Foods Specialties provided a suitable peer to Britannia Industries, albeit smaller in scale. |
![]() | Indian companies raise record $3 bn via ESG overseas bondsIn the first quarter of this year, six local companies sold a record $3 billion worth of global ESG bonds, compared with $1.27 billion in the whole of last year, show data from Bloomberg. |
![]() | Third Estimate 4Q2020 GDP Improves Marginally to 4.3%. Corporate Profits Improve.Written by Steven Hansen The third estimate of fourth-quarter 2020 Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) improved from the second estimate’s positive 4.1 % to 4.3 %. |
![]() | NewsWatch: Dow slumps 300 points, Nasdaq wipes out 2021 gains as stock market shrugs off upbeat jobs dataU.S. stocks head lower Thursday with the main benchmarks on pace to slump for a third session, even as the latest data on the economy appeared to point to improvement as the country emerges from the COVID pandemic. |
![]() | Metals Stocks: Gold edges lower as traders look for a catalystGold futures edge lower in choppy trade Thursday as investors await a catalyst to break the precious metal out of its trading range. |
![]() | : SEC cracks opens probe into blank-check company IPO mania: reportThe independent federal government regulatory agency has sent letters to banks asking for information on their individual SPACs, or blank-check companies, Reuters reported. |
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