08Apr2021 Midday Update: India Looks To Buy More Iranian Oil As Spat With Saudis Escalates, WTI Crude At 59.68, DOW Trading Sideways At +15, Nasdaq Higher At +1.0%, SP 500 Trading At New Historic Highs

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.

Oil Slips As COVID Resurgence Threatens Demand Recovery

Oil prices dropped early on Thursday, following a record number of new daily COVID cases in major oil consumer India and a jump in U.S. gasoline stocks estimated by the EIA. As of 10:55 a.m. EDT on Thursday, WTI Crude prices were down 0.69 percent at $59.33 and Brent Crude was trading down 0.43 percent on the day at $62.87. Crude oil prices continued to reflect on Thursday a sizeable build in U.S. gasoline inventories reported by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday. The EIA reported a crude oil inventory draw of 3.5 million

Bidens Plan Looks To Eliminate $35 Billion Fossil Fuel Subsidies

The $2-trillion infrastructure and tax plan of U.S. President Joe Biden proposes to eliminate tax preferences and implicit subsidies for fossil fuels that would boost government receipts by more than $35 billion over the next decade, the U.S. Treasury said in the Made in America Tax Plan Report this week. President Bidens plan on fixing the nations infrastructureunveiledlast week proposes to eliminate tax preferences for fossil fuels and make sure polluting industries pay for environmental clean up. The President

GM Shares Secrets About Its New Revolutionary Battery Tech

GM shed some light on its EV tech research to produce much cheaper EV batteries, which will be key for its EV transformation. The automaker is experimenting with different types of lithium-ion batteries as well as solid-state battery technology and high-voltage electrolytes, among others, GM president Mark Reuss said, as quoted by Reuters, at an industry conference this week. The successful technology will be used in the next generation of Ultium batteries, due to be released sometime around 2025. The aim is to make these batteries cost less than

M&A In U.S. Oil And Gas To Hit $3.4 Billion In Q1 2021

Mergers and acquisitions in the upstream segment of the U.S. oil and gas industry hit $3.4 billion in the first quarter of the year, Reuters has reported, citing data from Enverus, the energy consultancy. The value of the deals in the first quarter compares with $600 million for the first quarter of 2020 but is less than the $27.8 billion in deals recorded for the fourth quarter of 2020. The five biggest deals last quarter involved a private company, Enverus noted in its report. These included Pioneer Natural Resources $6.4-billion acquisition

India Looks To Buy More Iranian Oil As Spat With Saudis Escalates

India is at the ready to purchase more Iranian oil immediately if U.S. sanctions on Iran are lifted, a government official has threatened in the latest escalation of the India-Saudi spat over crude oil. Indias refiners have already been instructed to purchase less crude oil from Saudi Arabia after a war of words between the two over oil policies. India has for months pushed its main suppliersSaudi Arabia and Iraqto ramp up oil production to keep oil prices manageable for the worlds third-largest oil importer. The plea

U.S. Shale Giant Thanks OPEC+ For Brilliant Market Rebalancing Efforts

OPEC+ has been doing a brilliant job in managing supply and demand balances in the pandemic and every American oil producer appreciates the alliances efforts, Occidentals chief executive Vicki Hollub said on Tuesday. Thanks to the massive production cuts that OPEC+ started in May 2020, after a brief Saudi-Russian price war that only contributed to the oil price crash, oil prices stabilized later in the summer of 2020 and rallied this year as vaccination rollouts and economic stimulus made the market more optimistic about global oil

The Masters: Five possible storylines to follow this week at Augusta National

Ahead of the 85th Masters at Augusta National, we look at five possible storylines to follow this week.

Researchers identify five new cases of ‘double mutant’ Covid variant in California

The double-mutant strain contains two key mutations, E484Q and L452R, that have been found separately in other variants but not together in a single strain.

Employers should incentivize, not mandate, workers to get Covid vaccines, says Wharton professor

Businesses should look to incentivize staff to get a Covid vaccine, rather than mandate it, Wharton School professor Nancy Rothbard told CNBC on Thursday.

The Covid-19 vaccine script that TV shows are using to fight fear and misinformation

In the fight against Covid-19 vaccine misinformation, some Hollywood showrunners say TV scripts can be used to change the narrative.

GM cutting production at several North American plants due to chip shortage

For months, GM has been prioritizing manufacturing its most profitable vehicles, such as full-size pickups, by cutting production of cars and crossovers.

As Americans start traveling again, airlines revive pilot hiring plans

Airlines including United, JetBlue and Spirit have started or plan to resume hiring pilots.

WWE is fully converted to Peacock, now it wants to make more content

The WWE will host its WrestleMania 37 event exclusively on Peacock as part of a $1 billion rights agreement.

GameStop says it will name Ryan Cohen chairman

GameStop announced Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen will become its chairman following the company’s annual shareholder meeting, which is scheduled for June 9.

Norway’s huge oil-backed wealth fund invests in an offshore wind farm

The transaction is set to be completed later this year.

Officials rush to defend AstraZeneca Covid vaccine after UK, EU blood clot guidance

The U.K. health secretary stressed that the risk of developing a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca shot was about the same as on a long-haul flight.

Expedia Group debuts online Covid info search for 7 travel brands

Expedia Group is starting COVID-19 Travel Advisor, an online tool that provides information about current travel restrictions, in partnership with Sherpa.

Covid vaccine maker CureVac hopes shot will get EU approval in June

The U.K. and EU have pre-ordered up to 455 million doses of CureVac’s mRNA vaccine, subject to regulatory approval.

Sneaker reseller StockX’s valuation jumps to $3.8 billion

Popular sneaker reseller StockX has just closed another round of funding after seeing huge growth during the Covid pandemic.

Accuser Alleges Cuomo “Groomed Me For Sex” As GOP Challenger Launches Gubernatorial Campaign

Accuser Alleges Cuomo “Groomed Me For Sex” As GOP Challenger Launches Gubernatorial Campaign

The identity of the young Capitol employee who, last month, became the first woman to accuse Cuomo of groping her – after the governor insisted during a press conference that he never touched any woman without consent – still hasn’t been revealed. But on Wednesday, the Albany Times-Union published a lengthy account of the moment in November when the alleged grope took place.

We already knew that Cuomo had summoned the young woman from the Capitol to the Executive Mansion – the governor’s official residence – where he allegedly proceeded to grope her, fondling her breast above her bra after reaching under her blouse, after luring her to the residence with a request to help the governor with his phone.

Now, it appears the young woman – who is still working at the Capitol, despite enduring “dirty looks” and a paucity of assignments – and who has struggled with mental health issues and rapid weight loss while also being a young …

Not ‘The Onion’! Nancy Pelosi Claims Border Situation Has Improved Under Biden

Not ‘The Onion’! Nancy Pelosi Claims Border Situation Has Improved Under Biden

Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told reporters Wednesday that the situation at the border has improved since Joe Biden took office and that it is now on a œgood path .

œThe fact is that we’re on a good path at the border under the leadership of President Biden ¦ we were in a very bad situation under the Trump administration, Pelosi proclaimed:

Pelosi’s statement is nuts, by anyone’s standards.

Even the White House has admitted there is a humanitarian crisis on the border. What is good about that?

There are now over 17 …

Why The Silence In The Face Of COVID Tyranny?

Why The Silence In The Face Of COVID Tyranny?

Authored by Daniel Boudreaux via The American Institute for Economic Research,

From the indispensable Lockdown Sceptics I learned recently of this job ad in Britain:

This is an exciting role for an experienced communications professional and offers the opportunity to work at the heart of the Department of Health. The role is a senior leadership role within the NHS Communications team and may offer the first step in developing a possible future career in a senior communication role in the Civil Service.

You will primarily be responsible for delivering a communications strategy to support the expansion of asymptomatic testing that normalises testing as part of everyday life. The role offers the opportunity to work with a wide variety of stakeholders across the public and private sector and provide communi-cations [sic] support to our marketing campaigns.

Note especially the words that I’ve bolded and italicized.

Because I was alerted to this ad by Lockdown Sceptics’s collection of links to Covid-19 developments, several of which are to news items about the coming regime of vaccine passports ” and also because by now humanity has been subject to more than a year of the devilment unleashed by Covid Derangement Syndrome ” this ad didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me, however, is my lack of surprise.

Had …

GM Cuts Production, VW Warns Texas Storms Hurt Chip Supplies As Semi Shortage Hammers Carmakers

GM Cuts Production, VW Warns Texas Storms Hurt Chip Supplies As Semi Shortage Hammers Carmakers

Microchip supply bottlenecks have hamstrung supply chains for everything from laptops to cars. A few hours ago, we reported that shortages of critical chip supplies have forced the company to push back production of MacBooks and iPads until the second half of the year.

And just a few weeks after we shared a warning from Bloomberg Markets commentator Michael Msika about chip shortages potentially undermining the market-beating rally in shares of carmakers, it looks like these fears have been realized, as both GM and VW have warned about production difficulties tied to chip shortages on Thursday.

GM shares skidded after the company warned it would temporarily idle plants in North America due to the ongoing semiconductor chip shortages. The temporary plant closures range from a week or two to several weeks. GM warned that the shortages wo …

William: Banks must do more to protect the environment

The Duke of Cambridge says investing in nature is a cost-effective way of tackling global warming.

Why global tax talks are back on the agenda

International efforts to reform business taxation have been given new impetus by the new US administration.

Morrisons to stop selling plastic carrier bags

The supermarket chain will remove 100 million plastic carrier bags from its network over the next year.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala may have placed a bid in Lodha Developers’ IPO: ETNow report

The report comes at a time when the city-based real estate developer’s IPO has struggled for response from investors.

3 construction cos that may record up to 35% revenue growth in two years

The buoyancy in the order books is largely driven by the contribution from the social infrastructure segment including building educational institutions, hospitals, affordable houses and water segments.

Smart RBI created scope within the limited space to keep pushing growth

Under the newly-announced program, RBI will commit upfront to a specific amount of open market purchases of government securities.

The Moneyist: I received two $1,400 stimulus payments because I was also claimed as a dependent. Should I give one back?

The Moneyist: ‘You cannot be claimed as a dependent and file a tax return yourself and expect a payment. It’s one or the other.’

: China’s bitcoin crackdown contradicts Peter Thiel’s belief that it is a ‘financial weapon’ against U.S.

Thiel’s past statements on bitcoin, along with China’s overall policy toward the virtual currency, appear to be at odds with his most recent analysis

Futures Movers: Oil prices see mixed trading, though oil demand concerns prevail

Oil prices trade on a mixed note Thursday, with U.S. prices down but the global benchmark moving higher, as traders weighed the prospects for energy demand on the back of the rise in global cases of COVID-19.