Written by Gary
As electric vehicle sales surge, discussions are now turning to noise and safety (SPY +0.7%). United Airlines orders $3 billion worth of supersonic airplanes.
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. | |
| Traders Rush To Ship Masked Venezuelan Crude To ChinaCommodity traders are in a rush to ship as much Venezuelan heavy crude to China as possible before a new fuel tax kicks in, causing a 40-50-percent rise in prices, Reuters reports, citing industry insiders and shipping data. Over the last 12 months, China has seen a 13-fold increase in imports of bitumen blends, some 90 percent of which was actually heavy crude from Venezuela, according to data from cargo tracker Vortexa Analytics. The crude was labeled as Malaysian bitumen blend to avoid sanction action from the United States. According to Vortexa, |
| Uganda Picks Four Firms For New Oil Exploration RoundUganda has shortlisted four companies for an exploration round following its second oil exploration tender ever. The tender involved five oil blocks along Ugandas border with Congo, where oil has already been discovered, Dow Jones reports. The companies include Frances Totalwhich recently changed its name to TotalEnergiesAustralian DGR Global, Nigerian PetrolAfrik Energy Resources, and Ugandas state-owned National Oil Co. Total has had a presence in Uganda for five years after it was awarded a license to develop |
| Oil Prices Poised For A Breakout As WTI Nears $70Oil prices were rising early on Friday and headed to a second consecutive week of gains after the U.S. signaled that there may not be an imminent announcement of an agreement for the United States and Iran to return to the Iranian nuclear deal. As of 9:21 a.m. EDT on Friday, WTI Crude was nearing the $70 mark and traded at $69.51, up by 1.03 percent. Brent Crude was also rising and seeking to break the $72 thresholdit traded at $71.88, up 0.81 percent. Oil prices have risen for most of this week amid signs of recovering demand in the United |
| Climate Activism Is Great News For Saudi Arabia And RussiaBig 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. But not all oil and gas players will be on the losing end of those attacks. Some of the biggest names in the oil and business have recently suffered a trifecta of blows by climate activists and investors. Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) lost three board seats to Engine No. 1, an activist hedge, in a stunning proxy campaign. |
| Can We Actually Harness Energy From A Black Hole?Could black holes be the key to the future of our energy production? Some scientists think so. And the secret to harvesting their energy lies in gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful transient objects in the known universe. These bursts, which are thought to be the product of the formation of a black hole, are the strongest and brightest explosions in existence. In the few finite seconds that one of these bursts lasts, they can create as much energy as our solar systems sun will produce during the entirety of its 10-billion-year lifespan. |
| U.S. Natural Gas Storage Capacity Hardly Increased Since Start Of Shale BoomUnderground storage capacity for natural gas in the United States has stayed essentially flat between 2012 and 2020, and was little changed from 2019 to 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday. Last year, design capacity, or the total working natural gas capacity for all active facilities in the Lower 48 states, rose by 4 billion cubic feet (Bcf), or by 0.1 percent compared to 2019. Demonstrated peak capacity, or the total of the highest storage levels reached by each storage facility during any month during the |
| A severe drought is gripping the Western U.S. as wildfire season beginsHot and arid conditions in the American West are set to exacerbate the threat of wildfires and water shortage issues this summer. |
| Project to develop hydrogen-powered ferry moves forward after contract for design awardedFerries are not the only mode of transportation where hydrogen fuel cells could have a role to play. |
| United offers flight attendants, pilots extra pay for proof of Covid vaccinationUnited Airlines’ flight attendants’ and pilots’ unions reached agreements to offer extra pay to members who provide proof of vaccination. |
| Mudrick Capital no longer owns debt or equity in AMC, sources sayInvestment firm Mudrick Capital has exited both its debt and equity positions in AMC Entertainment, sources tell CNBC’s David Faber. |
| AMC worth about half its skyrocketing stock price, says retail investor Trey CollinsTrey Collins, the host of the Trey’s Trades YouTube channel, said the fundamental value of AMC shares will be $20 to $25 at the end of 2021. |
| A TikTok tune is becoming Sally Beauty’s new anthem as it embraces vivid hair color to fuel growthThe retailer’s new ad was inspired by a viral TikTok post by Heather Chelan that celebrates colored hair as a form of self-expression and authenticity. |
| Mall favorite Fossil struggles in the era of the smartwatchFossil Group was a shopping mall fixture ” with its leather belts, handbags, and of course, quartz watches sold in collectible tins. And now it is struggling |
| Government confident India will have over 2 billion vaccine doses by December, minister saysIndia has so far reported more than 28.5 million cases and over 340,000 deaths. |
| AMC CEO Adam Aron urges shareholders to support plan to issue 25 million more sharesAron’s latest push to persuade investors to allow AMC to issue more stock comes after it failed to gain shareholder support to add 500 million shares. |
| As electric vehicle sales surge, discussions are now turning to noise and safetyWith the number of electric vehicles on the planet’s roads increasing, society will need to adapt. |
| The 50 best bars in Asia: This year’s list is again dominated by two citiesFor six years straight, bars in Hong Kong and Singapore have topped Asia’s 50 Best Bars list. |
| Malaysia’s Covid lockdown puts ‘a lot of pressure’ on government finances, says ministerMalaysia’s Covid-19 outbreak has substantially worsened despite the government imposing lockdowns of varying degrees over the past year. |
| Lagarde, Powell Clash Over Role Of Central Banks In Fighting Climate ChangeLagarde, Powell Clash Over Role Of Central Banks In Fighting Climate Change While investors were distracted waiting for Friday’s jobs data out of the US, the FT’s Gillian Tett was mediating a group of the world’s most powerful central bankers – including the PBOC’s Yi Gang, ECB’s Christine Lagarde, BIS General Manager Agustin Carstens and François Villeroy de Galhau, the head of the Central Bank of France – who had gathered to discuss the role that central banks can play in combating climate change during the Bank of International Settlements’ “Green Swan” virtual conference. Something interesting happened after Lagarde stepped up to assert that central banks have an obligation to do whatever they can to combat climate change under their mandate, which typically extends to maintaining stable prices and healthy labor markets. But a few minutes later, she met unexpected resistance from the Fed’s Jerome Powell, who asserted that the Fed doesn’t have a role to play in setting climate policy, a role typically reserved for the federal government.
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| Former CDC Chief: I Didn’t Expect Death Threats From Fellow Scientists Over Lab-Leak TheoryFormer CDC Chief: I Didn’t Expect Death Threats From Fellow Scientists Over Lab-Leak Theory Authored by Ed Morrissey via Hot Air (emphasis ours), Alternate headline:Â No one expects the Woke Scientistic Inquisition! Vanity Fair does an extensive and impressive dive into the strange but pervasive attempts by the scientific, media, and government establishments to quash any discussion of the lab-leak hypothesis for COVID-19’s origin. It got so bad that former CDC director Robert Redfield got death threats for suggesting it publi … |
| Who’s Hiring And Who’s Firing In May: A Third Of All Jobs Were Waiters And BartendersWho’s Hiring And Who’s Firing In May: A Third Of All Jobs Were Waiters And Bartenders Another month, another bonanza for waiters and bartenders. One month after we reported that the dismal April jobs report was nonetheless “A Golden Age For Waiters And Card Dealers”, the Obama-era “job market” gain are back with a vengeance, and of the subpar 559K jobs added in May which was another miss to expectations of 674K – as a reminder, we need to be adding at least 1 million jobs every month to recover to pre-pandemic level…
… a third of all new jobs created in May were waiters and bartenders. |
| United Airlines Orders $3 Billion Worth Of Supersonic Airplanes ÂUnited Airlines Orders $3 Billion Worth Of Supersonic Airplanes  United Airlines, Inc. is flying into the world of supersonic travel and has announced a commercial agreement with Denver-based aerospace company Boom Supersonic to add 15 supersonic passenger jets with the option to purchase 35 at a later date. At $200 million a pop, the deal is valued at more than $3 billion. Both companies will work together to ensure commercial operations of the plane, called “Overture,” are ready by 2029.Â
United said the planes are capable of Mach 1.7, nearly twice the speed of the fastest airliners. It will travel from Newark to London in just three and a half hours, Newark to Frankfurt in four hours, and San Francisco to Tokyo in just six hours. Overture resembles the same shape of an Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde. |
| Some Portugal passengers still plan to travel despite rule changeHalf of Tui passengers are going ahead with travel to Portugal, despite it being moved to the amber list. |
| Brexit: UK announces trade deal with Norway, Iceland and LiechtensteinLiechtenstein – another non-EU country – is also included in the post-Brexit deal. |
| Facebook probed by UK and EU competition watchdogsAuthorities in the UK and EU are concerned the firm is using ad data to gain an unfair advantage over rivals. |
| RBI Governor says it upfront: not ready to live with cryptosThe statement comes just a few days after the central bank issued a circular that prohibits Indian banks from referring to its now-scrapped April 2018 circular cautioning customers for trading in cryptocurrency. |
| Global money market funds lure massive inflowsAccording to Refinitiv data, money market funds had net purchases of $20.5 billion, making a fourth successive week of inflows. |
| Tata Elxsi, Muthoot Finance among 6 midcaps that analysts loveAs the overall structure of the market remains positive amid a steady decline in new Covid cases and a pick up in the speed of vaccinations, the smallcap and midcap indices continue to outperform the benchmark indices. In 2021 so far, the midcap index is up 25% and the smallcap index by 32% even though the benchmark index Nifty has gained only about 11%. Here is a collection of 6 midcap stocks recommended by analysts: |
| May 2021 BLS Jobs Situation – Job Gains Good But On The Low Side Of Expectations
The headline seasonally adjusted BLS job growth was on the low side of expectations, with the unemployment rate worsening from 6.1 % to 5.8 %. |
| : Biden calls jobs report ‘great news’ as he pushes for infrastructure planPresident Joe Biden on Friday called the latest U.S. jobs report “great news” for the economy but continued to push for his infrastructure package, saying it’s time to build on the progress the country has made. |
| The Escape Home: Remember when you could score a bargain on Airbnb? Not anymoreThe common perception has been that short-term rentals are cheaper than staying at a hotel, but oh what a difference a pandemic makes. |
| NerdWallet: Is it a good idea to get Medicare if you’re still working at 65?It’s complicated. For working people 65 or older, here’s help with figuring out when to enroll in Medicare and how to avoid costly late-enrollment penalties and coverage gaps. |
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