Written by Gary
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Etsy, Cinemark, DXC (SPY +0.2%). AMC Entertainment stock trading has been halted due to volatility.
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. | |
| Japan Looks To Become Leader In Wind EnergyJapan has notoriously been dependent on energy imports, being the worlds fifth-largest crude importer and second-largest LNG importer (having lost the top position to China last year). Its self-sufficiency ratio dropped substantially after the 2011 Fukushima incident, from some 20% to 7-8%. Even though Tokyo did manage to hew off a couple of percentage points from its import dependence (around 12% by 2020), this was largely done by means of curbing energy consumption and rendering it more energy efficient. It is against this background that |
| Worlds Top Offshore Wind Firm To Triple Capacity With $57 Billion InvestmentDanish renewables company rsted, the biggest developer of offshore wind farms in the world, plans to invest the equivalent of over US$57 billion by 2027 as part of a new strategy to become a global green energy major. rsted, which currently has 12 gigawatts (GW) of installed renewable capacity around the world, plans to nearly triple that capacity to 50 GW by 2030, the company said on its Capital Markets Day on Wednesday. In order to support this build-out of renewable energy capacity, rsted plans to invest around US$57.46 |
| IEA: Global Energy Investment To Rise To $1.9 Trillion In 2021Global energy investment this year is seen expanding by 10 percent from 2020 to $1.9 trillion, the International Energy Agency said in its World Energy Investment 2021 report. Energy demand is also on the rebound, and it is a strong one, with the IEA expecting it to expand by 4.6 percent this year, more than making up for the 4-percent contraction of last year. Investments in the power sector are set for a 5-percent increase this year, with renewables unsurprisingly taking the biggest share. These will account for 70 percent of 2021 investments |
| Biden Suspends Alaska Wildlife Refuge Oil LeasesThe Biden administration has suspended oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and the suspension could become permanent. In a statement, the Department of the Interior said the suspension was a prerequisite for a comprehensive analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Trump administration opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling last year in August by approving the first-ever drilling program for the region. The oil drilling program was planned to be followed by the |
| Oil Rises On OPEC OptimismCrude oil prices strengthened further this week after OPEC+ signaled its growing optimism about the balance between demand and supply, and confirmed that it planned to continue increasing production. Bloomberg quoted Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying that crude oil demand has shown clear signs of improvement and Russias Alexander Novak as noting a gradual economic recovery. The improvement in demand is what is keeping prices higher despite expectations of much more crude oil coming from Iran |
| Rapid Energy Transition Could Doom Oil Exporting CountriesIts a tough time being in the oil and gas business. Big Oil has lately come under a plethora of attacks from all directions, ranging from uncooperative financiers and investors amidst a global shift to renewable energy to hostile governments and hardline climate activists. And although the major oil-exporting economies of the world werent necessarily in the environmental crosshairs like Big Oil was, the shift could have a devastating effect on those oil-dependent economies. In a virtual climate summit with 41 world leaders last |
| Bed Bath & Beyond stock surges 50% as retailer launches store brands ahead of scheduleShares of Bed Bath & Beyond surged nearly 50% on Wednesday after the company said it would launch three private label brands this quarter. |
| Rent the Runway enters $33 billion fashion resale market as it looks to build back from pandemic lowsFashion rental platform Rent the Runway is getting into resale, the company said Wednesday. |
| Twelve U.S. states have 70% of adults at least partially vaccinatedTwelve U.S. states now have 70% of adult residents with at least one Covid vaccine shot, CDC data published Tuesday shows. |
| Axiom Space expands SpaceX private crew launch deal, with four total missions to the space stationAxiom Space added crewed flights to the International Space Station through SpaceX, bringing its total planned missions through Elon Musk’s company to four. |
| Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit’s failed drug test is confirmedA second test of blood from Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit confirmed the presence of the banned steroid betamethasone, a lawyer for the horse’s owner said. |
| Babe Ruth’s 1914 Baltimore card, valued at $6 million, sells for record price ” now you can own part of itThe sports card is the first to show 19-year-old Babe Ruth as a minor league pitcher and available via a sports collectible IPO. |
| Amazon Prime Day starts June 21. Here’s how to find the best dealsAmazon announced its two-day shopping event will take place June 21 and 22 this year. Here’s how to get ready for the big sale. |
| Siemens Mobility to work on hydrogen tech for trains after signing agreementTrains are not the only mode of transportation to use hydrogen fuel cells. |
| Biden to double down on U.S. efforts to get more Americans vaccinated by the Fourth of JulySpeaking from the White House on Wednesday, Biden will announce June as a “national month of action” to get more Americans vaccinated by July 4. |
| Guild Education reaches $3.7 billion valuation amid labor shortageGuild, which works with corporations including Lowe’s and Walmart to educate employees, raises $150 million amid the tightest labor market in a decade. |
| Cyberattack on meatpacker JBS could pressure restaurant margins if not resolved quickly, analysts sayThe cyberattack on JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, could cause pain for restaurants if the situation isn’t fully resolved quickly, analysts say. |
| AMC trading frenzy triggers trading halts as stock surges more than 80%Shares of AMC Entertainment opened at an all-time high on Wednesday. |
| AMC plans to reward retail investors with free popcorn and exclusive screeningsAMC launched a new portal on its website just for its retail investors. The site contains “special offers” and company updates just for shareholders. |
| Step Aside AMC: Here Are The Most Shorted Stocks Right NowStep Aside AMC: Here Are The Most Shorted Stocks Right Now Four months after the Reddit crew sparked a historic market-wide short squeeze across a handful of small and mid-cap companies, which knocked out some of the most respected hedge funds in the world with Melvin Capital requiring a multi-billion bailout from Ken Griffin and Steve Cohen, the squeeze is back sending heavily shorted names like AMC, whose short interest we pointed out last week was off the charts…
… and which has exploded higher, a squeeze which has now shifted over to names such as Bed Bath and Beyond and various other small and mid-cap names.
Of course, there is no mystery what’s behind this: just like in late January when the meme squeeze phenomeno … |
| Markets Have Never Had It So GoodMarkets Have Never Had It So Good As Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid points out in his latest “Chart of the day”, Bloomberg’s US financial conditions index has eased to fresh 14-plus year highs. This index looks at money markets, various credit spreads and equity markets. However Bloomberg also compiles a financial conditions “plus” index where they include indicators of asset-price bubbles incorporating tech shares, housing markets and additional yield deviations from the mean. As Reid notes, this œplus index has really exploded higher over the last few weeks to comfortably be at record highs. When we add in combined fiscal deficits and Fed balance sheet expansion as a % of GDP one can easily see why financial conditions are so loose and bubbles have appeared in various places over the last few months.
So, yes, markets have never had it so good, but what comes next? As the DB credit strategist rhetorically concludes, “will policymakers regret such extreme stimulus in the quarters ahead? Much will depend on whether inflation comes roaring back as a result of the trends seen … |
| Massive Blaze Engulfs Tehran Refinery Just Hours After Sinking Of Iranian WarshipMassive Blaze Engulfs Tehran Refinery Just Hours After Sinking Of Iranian Warship A major oil refinery in Tehran is now engulfed in a huge blaze just hours after on Wednesday morning the Islamic Republic’s largest warship caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Oman under mysterious circumstances. Iranian state Tasnim news in a breaking report has identified it as the Shahid Tondguyan oil refinery, considered among the country’s largest.Â
Coincidence? Or are we now witnessing a return to the summer of 2020 which saw tit-for-tat sabotage attacks on oil tankers, military and nuclear sites involving Israel and Iran? The timing is also interesting given Iran and the West appear on the verge of completing a restor … |
| The Woke Purge Is Coming For The MilitaryThe Woke Purge Is Coming For The Military Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com, Mikhail Tukhachevsky was only 42 years old when Joseph Stalin promoted him to the highest possible military rank in the Soviet Union. As œMarshall of the Soviet Union , Tukhachevsky had near supreme authority over all Soviet military forces. And he had been personally tasked by Stalin to modernize the military and prepare for war. But Tukhachevsky’s new authority didn’t last very long. Shortly after assuming his duties as Marshall, he was quietly reassigned to an unimportant post ¦ and subsequently arrested. The year was 1936. And Tukhachevsky was suspected of plotting with the Germans to overthrow Stalin and implement a military dictatorship. Tukhachevsky was brutally beaten while in captivity, and he confessed to being a Nazi spy after two days of relentless torture. He was branded a traitor and executed. Tukhachevsky wasn’t the only one, either. This was a period in Soviet history called the Great Terror, in which an extremely paranoid Stalin purged the military of anyone who showed any sign of ideological dissent. The rest of the officers were quick to show Stalin that they were worthy, loyal comrades. Soldiers routinely ratted each other out and put each other on phony trials where a guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion. During Tukhachevsky’s trial, one of the judges passionately recounted to the Soviet press how much he loathed traitors who were disloyal to Stalin: |
| Pension scandal: ‘I’ve lost 14 years of payments’Tens of thousands of elderly female pensioners are set to miss out on life changing payments. |
| Etsy snaps up Gen-Z focussed shopping app Depop for $1.6bnThe British second-hand clothing app Depop has unique items and potential to scale up, the boss of Etsy says. |
| Ex-reality TV stars’ ‘misleading’ debt ads bannedStars from Only Way is Essex and Geordie Shore have Instagram debt adverts banned by the regulator. |
| RIL says O2C biz restructuring to attract pool of investor capitalRIL is courting Saudi Aramco to buy a minority stake in the oil-to-chemical business, talks for which are still going on. |
| Growing order book, inorganic momentum to support Mastek’s performanceMastek provides software services including applications development, digital commerce, Oracle Suite and Cloud Migration, and testing. UK is its major market contributing nearly 70 per cent to the revenue followed by the US with 14.6 per cent share and the rest from the Middle East and other regions. |
| How the fin-fluencers trap you in your own game in the marketType ‘investment tips India’ on Google, and a staggering 7.69 million search results would appear in 0.64 seconds. The typical Indian ‘go-to Google’ solution has to be nipped in the bud. |
| : Zero U.K. COVID-19 deaths recorded for first time since start of pandemicThe U.K. recorded no daily deaths from COVID-19 for the first time since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, according to the latest government data released on Tuesday. |
| : Elon Musk tweeted and this stock jumped, after report that regulators told Tesla his Twitter account broke court orderOn Wednesday, shares in Samsung Publishing moved higher following new tweets from the chief executive of the electric-vehicle company, while crypto asset dogecoin soared after Musk posted a related meme. |
| Dispatches from a Pandemic: ‘Fighting the pandemic at Skid Row was the toughest challenge of our lifetime ” we were trying to save lives while saving ourselves’In April, a district judge ordered the city and county of Los Angeles to offer housing to the entire homeless population of Skid Row by mid-October. |
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