27May2021 Market Close: Retail Investors Storm Back Into The Market, DOW Closes Up 142 Points, Nasdaq Flat -0.01%, WTI Settles At 66.77, April 2021 Headline Pending Home Sales Slow

Written by Gary

Best Buy says hot housing market is boosting demand for TVs, home consultations (SPY +0.05%). Relativity Space’s massive 3D printers are reinventing rockets, and manufacturing.

The Market in Perspective

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Biden’s Asia Advisor: ”U.S. Entering Period Of Intense Competition With China” President Biden, possibly most famous for his – and his son’s – business dealings in China coming into question whilst running for the Presidency, may wake up this week to find out from one of his top advisors that he’s now a China hawk. That is, if you askKurt Campbell, the U.S. coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the National Security Council. Campbell said this week that the U.S. was “entering a period of intense competition with China as the government running the worlds second-biggest economy becomes ever more tightly
	Is There A Huge Undisclosed Short In Oil Explorer Reconnaissance Energy Africa? One of our picks for the most exiting oil plays of the last decade, Reconnaissance Energy Africa (TSX.V: RECO, OTCMKTS:RECAF) appears it may have come under heavy short selling as revealed in a recent report by Buyins.net. http://www.buyins.com/reports/recaf5-25-21.pdf Since late November 2020, 85,918,776 total shares of the company have been sold short in the U.S., according to the Buyins.net report. That means an average of 57.16% of the companys shares traded every day in the U.S. look like they have been sold short. In Canada, the numbers
	Attempts To Regulate Bitcoin Emissions Are Pointless As Bitcoin gains prominence and edges closer to becoming a mainstream currency, the value, popularity, and ecological footprint of the cryptocurrency are skyrocketing. For all of the positive media attention and new adoptees that Bitcoin has received, providing a needed boost to its perceived legitimacy, the crypto-asset is also receiving more and more criticism from high-profile dissenters. One of the most common critiques of the cryptocurrency is that its massive energy consumption and carbon footprint are fundamentally at odds with the fight
	WoodMac: Asia Needs To Invest More In Gas To Lower Emissions Despite the call from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that no new funding for fossil fuels is necessary if the world wants to get on the net-zero 2050 pathway, Asia is the region where investments in gas are necessary to cut its reliance on the more polluting coal, Wood Mackenzie said on Thursday. With coal still accounting for around two-thirds of Chinas primary energy mix and coal demand continuing to rise across many other markets, switching to natural gas is seen as critical to emission reduction goals, Gavin Thompson,
	What The Shell Climate Case Means For Big Oil Global oil and gas companies could be facing a major legal threat if the Dutch court ruling on Royal Dutch Shell sets an international precedent. In a case by Dutch NGO Milieudefensie (Environmental Defense) against Royal Dutch Shell (RDS), the court ordered that the oil giant will have to reduce its CO2 emissions by 45% from 2019 levels. Shell has always claimed that it is doing its utmost to keep in line with both the Paris Agreement and growing societal pressure. The court order, however, has made meeting these goals a legal prerequisite. According
	Venezuela Imports First Diesel Cargo In Six Months Venezuela welcomed this week its first diesel cargo since November 2020, a fuel that the country sitting atop the worlds largest oil reserves has been forced to ration, similar to gasoline. The oil products tanker Bueno arrived on Sunday near the Amuay port of Venezuela, Reuters reported on Thursday, quoting sources and shipping documents. The tanker, carrying nearly 500,000 barrels of diesel, began discharging the fuel on Monday. Bueno departed from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the middle of last month, passed the Suez
	FDA official says heart issue possibly linked to Covid vaccines is rare, would inoculate own kids A heart condition in young people who got Covid vaccines appears to be very rare and may be unrelated to the shots, said FDA vaccine regulator Dr. Peter Marks.
	‘Cruella’ is a punk-fueled and fashionable revenge tale that has critics split Here’s what critics thought of “Cruella” ahead of its debut in theaters and on Disney+ Premiere Access on Friday.
	Academy delays Oscars ceremony to March 2022, giving films 10 months of eligibility The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will delay the 2022 Oscars Awards ceremony to March and reduce the months of eligibility to 10 months.
	Africa needs at least 20 million Covid vaccine doses in the next six weeks, WHO says Africa needs at least 20 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine within the next six weeks to get the second round of shots to people.
	Best Buy says hot housing market is boosting demand for TVs, home consultations Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said the company has benefited from selling products and offering home installations as people move into new houses or remodel.
	U.S. Covid cases down more than 50% since start of May as the country averages 1.7 million daily vaccine shots Average daily Covid case counts in the U.S. are at less than half of the level recorded at the start of May.
	Retail conglomerate Authentic Brands Group readies for summer IPO Authentic Brands Group is preparing for an initial public offering that could come as soon as this summer, according to a person familiar with the matter.
	Swiss bank Julius Baer to pay $80 million in deferred prosecution deal for FIFA soccer corruption case Swiss bank Julius Baer received a deferred prosecution agreement for money laundering charges related to corruption involving soccer governing body FIFA.
	Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Ford, Dollar Tree, GE and more These are the stocks posting the largest moves in midday trading.
	‘Time is running out’: Planet on course to hit a critical temperature limit soon Energy demand is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years as the population grows, with most of that need still set to be met by fossil fuels.
	Relativity Space’s massive 3D printers are reinventing rockets, and manufacturing Relativity Space uses 3D-printing to build rockets, but CEO Tim Ellis says its big idea goes beyond aerospace into a manufacturing and multiplanetary future.
	SoftBank is backing buy-now-pay-later firm Klarna in funding round that values it at over $40 billion European fintech Klarna is close to securing a new funding round at a valuation of more than $40 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter.
	Start-ups boomed during the pandemic. Here’s how some entrepreneurs found a niche While more than 4 million new businesses were formed during the pandemic, a new survey finds that half may not survive more than a year.
	Small Caps Jump, Big-Tech Dumps, As Biden’s Booming Budget Busts Bonds Small Caps Jump, Big-Tech Dumps, As Biden’s Booming Budget Busts Bonds Biden’s booming budget sent yields higher on the day – and the retroactive capital gains tax embedded in that budget spooked stocks broadly speaking. But Small Caps refused to lay down as the short-squeeze continued. Nasdaq ended lower on the day… The Dow and S&P haven’t been this uncorrelated since the dotcom crash in 2000… Source: Bloomberg Small Caps are ripping back relative to Nasdaq as the spiky trading con …
	Retail Investors Storm Back Into The Market: This Is What They Are Buying Retail Investors Storm Back Into The Market: This Is What They Are Buying It was less than than three weeks ago when we first noted that retail participation in stock trading had seemingly collapsed after a wild start to the year, with JPMorgan reporting that US retail investors share in equity trading declined sharply in March after a strong January and February, and a record high share of 28% in December. And while April and the start of May exhibited a similar continued decline in both retail participation and performance of “retail favorite” stocks, which underperformed the broader market by 8% since mid-March, things have changed dramatically in the past two weeks and as Goldman notes in a new piece discussing the “Recent performance of stocks with high levels of retail activity”, stocks with high retail trading volumes have outperformed by 5% since May 12th, with half of this outperformance occurring yesterday (Wednesday). Echoing JPMorgan’s observations, Goldman then notes …
	General Flynn Believes COVID Was A “Weaponized Operation” By China General Flynn Believes COVID Was A “Weaponized Operation” By China Authored by Steve Wastson via Summit News, President Trump ‘s former national security advisorÂ Michael Flynn commented on the renewed focus on the theory that the coronavirus came from a lab in Wuhan, saying that he believes it was a ‘weaponised operation’. œWe’ve had over a year of people all over the world having to answer tough questions, Flynn said during an interview on 1320 AM WJAS. The three star general continued œThe people in this country are demanding answers. I believe we what we are going to find out is that this was a weaponized operation by the nation of China with some collaboration ¦ with other countries. While Flynn suggested that the outbreak was œsome kind of attack, he also stated that it could have œoccurred mistakenly because of poor operational co …
	Knock On Wood: Blackstone, Balyasny And About Ten Other Managers Bought ARKK Puts In Q1 Knock On Wood: Blackstone, Balyasny And About Ten Other Managers Bought ARKK Puts In Q1 If you had a sneaking suspicion that Wall Street was starting to bet against the “untouchable” Cathie Wood, as we did over the last couple months, you were right. Today it was revealed that “about two dozen investment advisers” that includedÂ Balyasny AssetÂ Management and a unit of Blackstone bought put options on ARK’s Innovation ETF during the first quarter.Â Blackstone bought puts on 1.3 million ARKK shares andÂ Balyasny acquired puts on 436,500 shares.Â The managers saw Wood’s fund as a “alternative to buffer against a slump in stocksÂ that surged during the pandemic,” that buying puts on an index, the report said. In other words, the assetÂ managers wereÂ so confident in Wood’s abilityÂ to handpick stocks that would lose value during a pull back, they took the inverse of her “expertise” instead of just getting short a tech or small cap index (or both).Â And so far, that strategy likely provided outsized returns as a hedge: ARKK is down about 30% from its highs, while the QQQ ETF is down just about 0.7% from its February peak. Chris Murphy, co-head of derivativesÂ strategy at Susquehanna International Group, said:Â œIf you were sitting on some serious gains heading intoÂ this year and you want to protect those gains, it was anÂ effective strategy.
	Airbnb extends worldwide party ban until end of summer The online rental platform said on Thursday it was “in the best interest of public health”.
	Farmers should not fear Australia trade deal, UK minister says Trade minister Greg Hands says UK farmers should “be positive, not fearful” of Australia agreement.
	Airbus ramps up production as it eyes post-Covid recovery The world’s largest planemaker says demand from the crisis-hit airline sector will reach pre-Covid levels by 2025.
	Rich Indians’ favorite stocks faring better in new virus wave Power plant equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals has more than doubled this year, making it among the top gainers in Bloomberg Intelligence’s basket.
	Eicher Motors Q4 results: Consolidated PAT rises 73% YoY to Rs 526 cr; firm to pay Rs 17 dividend The company’s consolidated total revenue from operations climbed 33 per cent on-year to Rs 2,940.3 crore, which was also slightly below Street’s estimates.
	Shibulal again buys Infosys shares worth Rs 100 cr Shibulal and Kumari, promoters of the IT major held a 0.05 per cent stake and 0.21 per cent stake in the company, respectively, as per shareholding data for March 2021 quarter.
	April 2021 Headline Pending Home Sales Slow Written by Steven Hansen The National Association of Realtors (NAR) seasonally adjusted pending home sales index slowed. Our analysis shows significant growth this month as the data is being compared to the lockdown one year ago.
	Cryptos: ‘Irresponsible’ bitcoin ads banned for being misleading The Advertising Standards Authority, the U.K.’s independent advertising regulator, ruled on Wednesday that the adverts took advantage of consumers’ lack of experience and irresponsibly suggested that investing in bitcoin was straightforward.
	Capitol Report: Monthly payments of up to $300 per child are starting for most families ” and could keep coming for years As the U.S. government prepares to send out up to $300 a month per child to millions of families beginning July 15, the payments could end up coming for years rather than fading away next year as planned, according to some analysts and advocates.
	: Airbus ramps up A320 jet production as aerospace giant signals recovery Airbus on Thursday outlined plans to increase production of its popular single-aisle passenger jets, signaling recovery for the aviation industry, which has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.