Written by Gary
US futures dip from record as Chinese stocks soar (SPY -0.5%).
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. | |
| Oil Prices Rise On Weaker U.S. DollarFollowing a 6-percent weekly gain last week, oil prices were slightly up on Monday morning, erasing earlier losses as the U.S. dollar weakened again. As of 10:39 a.m. EDT on Monday, WTI Crude was up 0.32 percent at $63.30 and Brent Crude was trading up 0.19 percent at $66.88. The weaker U.S. dollar was supporting oil prices early on Monday as it makes oil cheaper to buy for holders of other currencies. Price gains, however, were limited, in view of the second tsunami wave of COVID-19 cases in India, a major oil consumer and the third-largest |
| China’s Oil Buying Frenzy May End This MonthHigher Chinese crude oil imports and increased domestic production led to a jump in crude volumes directed to storage in the worlds top oil importer in March, according to calculations by Reuters columnist Clyde Russell based on official data. Chinese crude imports, reported by the customs, were higher in March compared to the average of the previous two months of the year, while domestic oil production also rose. So in March, China is estimated to have sent as much as 1.63 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude to either commercial or strategic |
| BP Plans $1.3 Billion Gas Collection System To Eliminate FlaringSupermajor BP plans to invest $1.3 billion on constructing a system that would capture and collect natural gas released during oil production in the Permian to eliminate the highly controversial practice of flaring, the Wall Street Journal reports, adding that the company could announce an end to flaring by 2025. We will be producing oil and gas for decades, but it will be a certain kind of oil and gas, the Journal quoted Dave Lawler, chairman of BP America, as saying. Its a highly profitable barrel and its a |
| Why Libyas Oil Production Could Drop This WeekLibyas crude oil production, which has stabilized in recent months at just over 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd), could drop in the coming days and possibly weeks after a field operator stopped pumping crude because of delays of budget allocations. The Arabian Gulf Oil Company, a subsidiary of the National Oil Corporation (NOC), has decided to halt production because of the delays in the budget that is planned to allocate money to the oil firm to repair and maintain infrastructure and keep oil production online, Ahmed Al-Oraibi, head of |
| The Best Is Yet To Come For The Worlds Hottest Oil PlayBy now, those of you who read about my top New Years stock pick, Recon Africa, will have learned that this small-cap explorer may have just moved one giant step forward in Namibias Kavango Basin. Beyond my wildest imagination, this small-cap explorer set out to drill three wells to prove up the existence of indicators of petroleum systems in Namibia. They may have proved it in the first drill. Some results are just in and this play may have just been hugely de-risked. But it looks like they did much more |
| Why Irans Return To Oil Markets Isnt A Major ThreatThe ongoing JCPOA discussions, involving European countries, Russia, Iran, and, on the sidelines, the U.S., are being watched by international oil markets with trepidation. The possibility of Washington rejoining the international Iranian nuclear agreement is still in doubt, but the Biden Administration appears to be considering the move. Iran has indicated that it with only rejoin JCPOA if US sanctions on its main economic sectors, namely oil and gas, are lifted. Analysts are worried about the possible negative repercussions for global oil supply |
| Amazon signs with ULA for rockets to launch Jeff Bezos’ Kuiper internet satellitesAmazon signed a contract for nine launches of its Project Kuiper internet satellites on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rockets. |
| Fauci says it’s ‘disturbing’ that some people won’t take Covid vaccine because of politics“It’s almost paradoxical that they don’t want to get vaccinated,” White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said. |
| Coca-Cola CEO says company will raise prices to offset higher commodity costsCoca-Cola CEO James Quincey told CNBC on Monday that the company will raise prices on its drinks to combat the impact of higher commodity costs. |
| CDC says fewer than 6,000 Americans have contracted Covid after being fully vaccinatedU.S. officials have confirmed fewer than 6,000 cases of Covid-19 in fully vaccinated Americans, just 0.007% of the 84 million Americans with full protection. |
| Greta Thunberg urges world leaders to end the ‘tragedy’ of Covid vaccine inequityAn average of one-in-four people in high-income nations has received a Covid vaccine, compared to just one in more than 500 for people in low-income countries. |
| FDA asks Emergent plant to pause manufacturing while it investigates botched Covid vaccinesEmergent said the FDA initiated an inspection on April 12 and asked the company to temporarily halt manufacturing four days later. |
| Nobull, the athletic apparel brand with a cult-like CrossFit following, raises cash to speed global expansionThe CrossFit community’s favorite clothing and footwear brand, Nobull, has raised new funding, giving it a more than $500 million valuation, CNBC has learned. |
| Dr. Scott Gottlieb expects Covid cases in U.S. to fall ‘quite dramatically’ in coming weeksWarming weather and continued progress administering Covid vaccines will help lower U.S. coronavirus cases, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC. |
| Europe should be open to Russia’s Sputnik V shot amid ‘Pfizer monopoly,’ vaccine backer saysEurope should be open to taking up and using Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, according to Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund. |
| U.S. vaccinations hold steady as deadline arrives to open eligibility to all adultsThe U.S. is reporting 3 million daily shots given as President Biden’s deadline arrives for states to expand vaccine eligibility to all adults. |
| ‘Disgusted’: Plans for a breakaway European Super League met with widespread furyThe European Super League has been met with widespread criticism and resistance from former players, politicians, governing bodies, pundits and fans. |
| McDonald’s teams up with BTS to spotlight the K-pop band’s favorite orderMcDonald’s is teaming up with K-pop band BTS as part of its Famous Orders promotion. |
| United adds summer flights to Iceland, Greece and Croatia in hopes vaccinations spur travel reboundInternational travel demand is still down sharply because of the pandemic, and most of continental Europe remains off-limits for most U.S. citizens. |
| Fed’s Inflation Problem: Easy Money Creates More Market Than Reported InflationFed’s Inflation Problem: Easy Money Creates More Market Than Reported Inflation Submitted by Joseph Carson, former chief economist at AllianceBernstein The Fed has an inflation problem, but it’s not the failure to meet an arbitrary target. The problem is that there is a significant separation between reported and market inflation. The uncoupling is not new and is a statistical issue. But it has become a thorny policy problem as easy money creates more market than reported inflation. Statistical Separation—Reported Versus Market Inflation In practice, there should be no difference between reported and market inflation. But in the statistical business of measuring and reporting consumer price inflation (CPI), there is. Market prices reflect current economic conditions and measure what the consumer would pay, and businesses receive. That is how prices for goods and services are measured and reported in the consumer price index, except for one. Price estimates for owner-occupied housing (which accounts for roughly one-quarter of the CPI) do not reflect market prices, nor are they based on data for owner-occupied homes. In the CPI, owner-occupied home costs are estimated based on what people could have earned had they rented their house. However, since the late 1990s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has been using rents of primary residence as a proxy for the implied rent for owner-occupied housing, even though the markets’ characteristics and price trends are fundamentally different. Two decades of rents and house price data show the scale of separation between reported and market inflation when … |
| Apple Allows Parler’s Return To App StoreApple Allows Parler’s Return To App Store After removing the Trump-friendly social media platform, Parler, from the App Store back in January following the US Capitol riots, Apple has “approved” the app’s return following improvements to the moderation system, according to CNN, citing a letter Apple sent to Congress on Monday.Â
The letter – addressed to Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Ken Buck, said Apple’s app review team said Parler’s moderation process is now “sufficient” for it to return to the ŒApp Store Œ.
Apple’s approval of Parler’s latest version comes as Big Tech companies colluded to crush the conservative social media platform out of existence, saying that it was a platform of ‘hate’ and ‘incited violence’ during the Capitol riots … |
| Calm Before The Storm? Goldman Says ‘Buy The Dip’ In VIXCalm Before The Storm? Goldman Says ‘Buy The Dip’ In VIX After Friday’s big option expiration, SpotGamma points out that both QQQ and IWM start the week at/in a negative gamma position, which implies higher relative volatility in those indices.
There is also now a very wide range in distribution of SPX gamma (gamma is shallow and evenly dispersed 4100-4200 with a large œvoid from 4100-4000).
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| Shares Of Chinese Battery Maker CATL Surge As Company Said To Be Considered For Apple’s EV ProjectShares Of Chinese Battery Maker CATL Surge As Company Said To Be Considered For Apple’s EV Project Shares of Contemporary Amperex Technology were up as much as 9% in Shenzhen overnight on news that it could be the company involved in supplying batteries for Apple’s electric vehicle project. The jump in shares marks the best day for the company’s stock in four months, Bloomberg reported Monday morning. The report, which appears to be unconfirmed for the time being, was published in Xuangubao.cn, a Chinese online stock news platform. That platform did not report a source for the information. A battery is “still being tested” for the project, according to Bloomberg, and the company did not respond for comment when asked about the news.
This news comes about a week after we reported that Magna’s joint venture with LG could be in line to produce Apple’s electric vehicles and that the entity was “very near” an EV contract. “LG Magna e-Powertrain is very near to signing contracts with Apple u … |
| UK government intervenes in Nvidia takeover of chip designer ArmThe government is to examine Nvidia’s planned purchase of the UK firm on national security grounds. |
| London Capital and Finance: Treasury expects £120m compensation billThe government says an estimated 8,800 bondholders of the collapsed scheme will receive a share of the money. |
| Shoppers making ‘revenge purchases’ flock back to High StreetShoppers flocked back to the High Street last week to treat themselves after non-essential stores reopened. |
| Nestle India Q1 preview: PAT may rise 12% YoY led by strong domestic performanceThe company is expected to report a strong 8.2 per cent on-year growth in revenues in the quarter to Rs 3,598.1 crore, an analysts’ poll showed. Nestle India considers January-December as its financial year. |
| NSE unlisted shares soar 80% in six monthsNSE shares are currently traded at Rs. 1,750 apiece in the unlisted market compared with Rs. 900-1000 in September last year, said brokers. At the current price in the unlisted market, NSE is valued at Rs 87,000 crore. |
| Will ‘vaccine for all’ news arrest D-Street’s freefall and take it to record highs?The second wave of Covid-19 infections in the country had triggered fears that India’s economic recovery will be hamstrung due to the return of localized lockdowns. |
| : Lawsuits against Robinhood in the GameStop saga are getting their day in court ” but there’s one big snagMonday, April 19 marks an important initial court date. |
| NewsWatch: Dow’s slide gains steam Monday as blue-chip index dips by 200 points; Nasdaq slides 1.2%Stocks add to their losses near midday Monday, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 ended last week at all-time highs as investors struggle to find reasons to push equity benchmarks to new heights. |
| Deep Dive: Apple stock update: The key numbers you need to look at nowThese are the key metrics and stock valuation of the world’s largest company. |
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