Written by Gary
KFC looks to hire 20,000 workers as restaurant industry faces labor crunch (spy +0.5%). There are tremors in the currency market, fasten your seat belt.
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. | |
Environmentalists: BlackRocks Exxon Vote Is Moment Of TruthEnvironmentalists are watching closely how asset management giant BlackRock will vote on emission-related issues at Exxons shareholders meeting after it reported it had voted pro-environment at other companies where it holds stakes. Bloomberg reports the asset manager had backed the majority of shareholder proposals on sustainability topics during the first quarter of the year. Still, the more important votes are yet to come. Not all votes are created equal, said Ben Cushing, a senior campaign representative for financial | |
Oil Moves Higher On Largest Crude Draw Since JanuaryOil prices moved higher after the Energy Information Administration reported a crude oil inventory draw of 8 million barrels for the week to April 30. In fuels, the inventory moves were mixed. The oil inventory figure compared with a weekly draw of 7.688 million barrels estimated by the American Petroleum Institute a day earlier, and with a moderate build of 100,000 barrels that the EIA reported for the previous week. Analysts had expected the EIA to report a crude oil inventory decline of 2.19 million barrels for the period. In gasoline, the authority | |
New Mexicos Oil And Gas Royalties Hit RecordNew Mexico raked in its highest ever royalty amount from oil and gas leases in April, according to the NMs State Land Office. The previous record high royalty payments from oil and gas leases on a monthly basis was $109 million, reached in February 2020. Now, for April, the royalty payments hit almost $110 millionhigher than what New Mexico received prior to the pandemic. In fact, it was the highest ever. On average, these royalties save the average New Mexican household $1,599 in taxes per year, according to Stephanie Garcia Richard, | |
Oil Close To Hitting $70 As The U.S. And Europe ReopenBrent oil prices were less than 50 cents away from hitting $70 per barrel early on Wednesday amid market optimism that reopening the United States and Europe would accelerate the economies, travel, and oil demand this summer. As of 9:45 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, ahead of the weekly EIA report on U.S. oil inventories, Brent Crude prices had risen by 1 percent to $69.58. The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, was also uptrading above $66 per barrel, at $66.29, up by 0.94 percent on the day. Oil prices settled on Tuesday at their highest level in | |
Will Oil Hit $80 This Summer?India, the worlds third-largest oil importer, is the latest coronavirus hotspot. It has recently hit a record-breaking number of new daily coronavirus casesa statistic that dented oil demand and pressured oil prices. OPEC+, out of its own necessity, has intervened in the oil market on the supply side of the equation to offset the pandemic-depressed oil demand. And despite the groups relative success at curbing oil production to prevent excess oil inventories from ballooning before the market fully recovers, Indias booming | |
Iran Takes Drastic Measures To Conserve Electricity In TehranIran has banned the use of air conditioning at Tehran’s state agencies as the country looks to save electricity consumption amid low power generation and prioritize electricity supply to homes and hospitals. Tehran Power Distribution Company has said that the use of air conditioners at government agencies in the capital is prohibited to ease the pressure on the electricity distribution network during peak hours, Trend reported on Tuesday, quoting Iran’s Fars News Agency. “Accordingly, to prevent the overpressure on capital’s electricity distribution | |
CDC projects a surge in U.S. Covid cases through May due to variants before vaccinations drive a ‘sharp decline’While Covid cases are expected to increase this month, hospitalizations and deaths will likely remain low nationally, the U.S. agency said. | |
KFC looks to hire 20,000 workers as restaurant industry faces labor crunchKFC on Wednesday announced it is looking to hire 20,000 workers as the restaurant industry struggles to find enough labor to meet returning demand. | |
Cramer says he sold some ether after record highs to put toward an all-electric Hummer“I sold half my Ethereum yesterday … and I put some money down to own a Hummer,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Wednesday. | |
Peloton recalling all treadmills after reports of injuries, one deathIn a major reversal, Peloton announced Wednesday voluntary recalls of both its Tread+ and Tread treadmill machines over safety concerns. | |
The Honest Company will dig into next stage of growth after IPO, founder Jessica Alba saysThe Honest Company’s public market debut will start a new stage of growth for the consumer products company, according to actress and founder Jessica Alba. | |
Boeing-backed start-up Wisk signs first deal to operate air taxis in the U.S.Wisk will own, operate and maintain up to 30 eVTOL aircraft that will be deployed as part of the Blade charter flight network. | |
Electric vehicles and renewables will need a dramatic rise in mineral supply, IEA warnsÂWith demand only set to increase, there will be a number of hurdles to overcome. | |
U.S. cases, vaccinations continue to drop as White House sets new inoculation goalThe U.S. would hit Biden’s new vaccination goals early if the current pace were to hold steady, but the rate of daily inoculations has been falling for weeks. | |
WHO to open a global pandemic ‘intelligence’ hub in GermanyThe World Health Organization has launched what it called a “Global Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence” in Germany on Wednesday. | |
UPS, FedEx respond to India’s Covid crisis, mobilizing their logistics networks to deliver reliefGlobal logistics companies UPS and FedEx are providing critical aid to India as Covid cases there topped 20 million. | |
India foreign minister self-isolating after Covid scare at UK’s in-person G-7 summitIndia’s foreign minister met in person with U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel on Tuesday and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday. | |
Federal Judge Overturns CDC’s Eviction MoratoriumFederal Judge Overturns CDC’s Eviction Moratorium A month ago, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board stated yet another true but unpopular fact: “Continuing government bans on eviction and foreclosure are doing more harm than good.”
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Ethereum RevisitedEthereum Revisited Authored by Omid Malekan, Like most things, the undulations of the crypto markets are cyclical and meme-based. But thanks to the blockchain’s elimination of many of the frictions of the traditional financial system, the cycles happen faster. Take the simple fact that crypto markets trade 24/7, while most traditional markets do not. In any normal week, crypto trades for five times as many hours as stocks. That’s five times as much greed, fear and price discovery. Every bull market has multiple cycles, and each cycle has its own tenor. The first cycle of the current run was fairly simple, it was the ascent of Bitcoin. It could be seen in the rise of Bitcoin dominance over all other coins, a metric that rose from last summer to the start of this year and peaked at 70%, a 4 year high. Market cap dominance of different coins The second cycle was the rise of the newer alts, alternatively known as the œEthereum killers. With Bitcoin’s pu … | |
New York Times Subscriptions Slow ‘Sharply’ In First Post-Trump QuarterNew York Times Subscriptions Slow ‘Sharply’ In First Post-Trump Quarter The New York Times just announced that in the first quarter since former President Donald Trump left office, digital subscriptions have slowed ‘sharply’ despite revenue rising 6.6%, according to the Wall Street Journal. In its slowest growth since the second quarter of 2019, the leftist outlet signed up 167,000 new subscribers for its core news offering. When lower-cost digital products are included, the Times added a total of 301,000 digital subscriptions in the quarter, vs. 627,000 in the fourth quarter of 2020. “In our last earnings call, I noted that fluctuations in the news cycle can lead to considerable variability in net digital subscription additions from quarter to quarter,” said CEO Meredith Kopit Levien in remarks to investors. “In February and March, our audiences declined from their historic highs last year, and we saw fewer net subscription additions in the latter part of the quart … | |
Rabo: Who’s Really In The Driver’s Seat?Rabo: Who’s Really In The Driver’s Seat? Authored by Michael Every via Rabobank, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu passed a milestone last night when his 28-day mandate to try to form a government expired without him being able to do so. It is possible that for the first time in 12 years he soon won’t be prime minister. I mention this not because of any direct market relevance, but because ‘Bibi’ in at least one way exemplifies one of the problems markets are grappling with: working out who is actually driving. For example, in recent years Prime Minister Netanyahu was simultaneously head of a combination of up to four of the following at one time: the Communications Ministry; the Foreign Ministry; the Economy Ministry; the Regional Cooperation Ministry; the Ministry of Welfare; the Defence Ministry; the Ministry of Health; and the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs. He could almost hold a cabinet meeting all by himself, and one comedian phoned in for a skit trying to get an interview with several on the above list just to make the pained operator have to explain that they were all just one man ” who wasn’t free to talk. So at least in Israel the question of ‘Who’s driving?’ was always clear: Bibi. Elsewhere it still isn’t. At the head of the ECB we have a former French government minister; at the head of the Italian government we have a former head of the ECB; and at the head of the US Treasury we have a former head of the Fed ” and the latter just displayed yet again that it’s sometimes easy to be a back-seat driver. Indeed, Janet Yellen caused market ructions when she noted in public that: … | |
Peloton recalls treadmills after child’s deathHome fitness equipment firm recalls Tread and Tread+ machines after six-year-old child pulled under treadmill. | |
Goldman Sachs tells bankers to return to office in JuneStaff are being encouraged to return to office-based working when Covid restrictions are lifted. | |
End of an era for Debenhams as final shops set to closeThe department store will disappear from high streets on 15 May after more than two centuries. | |
Strong debt reduction, operating performance help Tata Steel post stellar show: Key Q4 takeawaysThe company’s operating show in the quarter was stellar with standalone operating profit rising 150 per cent year-on-year. | |
Nuvoco Vistas likely to file DRHP for Rs 5,000 crore IPO this weekThe IPO includes a fresh issue of Rs 1,400-1,500 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 3500 crore by the promoters, according to market sources. | |
Tremors in the currency market, fasten the seat beltMarket speculation is likely that disruptions may be caused by either of the following two: Cairn Energy enforcing an arbitration order or massive money flowing in for the PG INvIt’s IPO. On the surface, these appear to be the typical post-facto market justifications. But some believe it may be a reflection of nervousness due to a shift in the fundamentals. | |
April 2021 ADP Employment Grew 742,000Written by Steven Hansen ADP reported non-farm private jobs growth of 742,000 which was within expectations. A quote from the ADP authors:
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The Big Move: ‘The homeowners’ association has passed a no-rental-home policy’: Our landlord wants us to buy or leave ” what should we do?When a renter buys directly from the landlord, there may be other opportunities to save money, and not just by eliminating moving costs. But there are other concerns. | |
NewsWatch: Dow struggles for footing after service-sector report, as tech stocks attempt comebackU.S. stocks are experiencing choppy trade early Wednesday, with the Dow fighting to retain opening gains after a report on the service sector for some economists pointed to rising price pressures. | |
: ‘We’ve been caught in a death spiral’: Could this simple tax reform help struggling home buyers?Changes to the capital gains tax could entice real-estate investors to bring more supply to the housing market, says Haus chief economist Ralph McLaughlin. |
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