Written by Gary
U.S. Government Considers Making Ransom Payments Illegal (SPY +0.02%). SP 500 finishes virtually unchanged, Nasdaq at highest level since April 30.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | Oil Pipeline Leak Could Force Libya To Shut In 60,000 Bpd Of ProductionLibya may need to shut in around 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil production after a pipeline connecting an oilfield and an oil terminal leaked, sources told Arab energy outlet Attaqa on Tuesday. The 32-inch pipeline carrying crude from the Al-Samah oilfield to the Es Sider port has leaked, and some of the oilfields production may need to be shut in. Currently, production at Al-Samah is estimated at around 285,000 bpd, according to Attaqa. The pumping operations at the field may need to be stopped, an oil engineer at the site and a source |
| Carbon Capture Investment Soars As CO2 Levels Hit Record HighWith carbon capture having hit record levels, government investment in new projects is soaring, even Elon Musk is backing it. Heres whats happening in the space. As populations continue to grow and our energy burden to the planet increases, carbon dioxide levels in the earths atmosphere have hit a 4.5 million-year high, reaching 419 parts per million (ppm) this May. The greenhouse gas traps heat from the sun and keeps it close to the earths surface, contributing to climate change and causing devastating environmental |
| Will Iraqs $40 Billion Bet On Nuclear Power Solve Its Energy Crisis?Iraq is in the process of developing a US$40-billion plan to build nuclear reactors as OPECs second-largest producer looks to end continual power outages amid a shortage of electricity supply, Kamal Hussain Latif, chairman of the Iraqi Radioactive Sources Regulatory Authority, told Bloomberg in an interview. Iraq has been suffering shortages of electricity supply since 2003, and those have led in recent years to protests where people have tried to enter oilfields to demand an end to the power outages. Electricity demand is exceeding supply |
| Russia Expands Its Influence In Major Iraqi Oil FieldsGiven the U.S.s broad scaling-down of its on-the-ground operations in the Middle East over the past five years, a specific function of which is ExxonMobils intention to sell its stake in Iraqs supergiant West Qurna 1 oil field, China and Russia have been busy in occupying the spaces left by the U.S., as OilPrice.com has been highlighting since the process began. Just a few days ago, Washington appeared finally to have caught up to what has been going on, with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Dana Stroul, saying: Its |
| U.S. Government Considers Making Ransom Payments IllegalAs the CEO of Colonial Pipeline testifies before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday about last months ransomware attack on the major fuel pipeline to the U.S. East Coast, legislators, and government officials have started to air the idea of making ransom payments illegal in some cases. Colonial Pipelines chief executive Joseph Blount is appearing before Congress this week to testify, a month after the pipeline operator had to shut down operations for five days, which led to gasoline shortages and a spike in prices. |
| Investors Set Their Sights On $100 OilChart of the Week- More than half of Vietnams electricity comes from coal.- But renewables are growing quickly, and now make up 5% of the total.- Vietnam plans on adding nearly 18 GW of solar over this decade but will need to build out its grid capacity. Market Movers- Plains All American (NASDAQ: PAA) agreed to sell its natural gas storage assets to Hartree Partners for $850 million.- Pembina Pipeline (NYSE: PBA) announced a partnership |
| ‘Nothing changed overnight’ to make Wendy’s a better bet, trader says as stock sees Reddit interestWendy’s shares are at all-time highs as Reddit traders find a new target in the fast-food company, but two traders are steering clear for now. |
| Chipotle hikes prices to cover the cost of raising wagesChipotle Mexican Grill has hiked menu prices by roughly 4% to cover the cost of raising its workers’ wages. |
| Lumber executive sees further relief in sky-high prices, says delaying building projects makes senseLumber industry veteran Kyle Little said it’s sensible to delay building projects due to high wood costs. “We do see some relief over the next six to 12 months.” |
| Wealthy investors are worried about inflation, CNBC millionaire survey showsSixty-five percent of millionaires are worried about rising inflation caused by recent government spending, according to CNBC’s latest survey. |
| Fauci says U.S. must vaccinate more people before Delta becomes dominant Covid variant in AmericaDr. Anthony Fauci says the U.S. must vaccinate more people before the Covid variant Delta, first identified in India, becomes the country’s dominant strain. |
| Starbucks revives reusable cup use after pandemic pauseStarbucks on Tuesday announced that customers can start using reusable cups again at their company-owned cafes after it paused the program due to Covid-19. |
| Biogen faces tough questions over $56K-a-year price of newly approved Alzheimer’s drugBiogen on Tuesday faced tough questions from Wall Street analysts over the $56,000 annual cost of its newly approved Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm. |
| Boeing orders continue to outpace cancellations, Dreamliner deliveries still pausedBoeing orders outpaced cancellations for a fourth consecutive month, but Dreamliner deliveries are still paused. |
| Florida, Alabama discontinue daily Covid data reporting in shift to ‘next phase’ of pandemicFlorida and Alabama will no longer report daily Covid case and death counts following changes put in place at each state’s health department in recent days. |
| As AMC seeks to add more theaters to its portfolio, insiders warn that the market already has too many screensAMC’s revitalization plan hinges on adding new theaters, but former Regal CFO David Ownby told Jefferies the market is already saturated. |
| A lesson the CEO of Francesca’s learned when he was fired once is helping to shape the retailer’s turnaround strategyFrancesca’s CEO Andrew Clarke is leading the apparel chain through a transformation post-bankruptcy and is looking to focus on the LGBTQ community. |
| Here’s how to resist the urge to splurge in a post-pandemic spending spreeJust over 50% of U.S. consumers plan to spend extra money splurging or treating themselves, according to a recent survey. Here’s how to do it smartly. |
| Bezos, Buffett, Bloomberg, Musk, Icahn and Soros pay tiny fraction of wealth in income taxes, report revealsBillionaires like Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Elon Musk of Tesla, and George Soros at times have paid zero federal income taxes. |
| Bonds, Black Gold, & Big-Shorts Bid As Bitcoin Breaks DownBonds, Black Gold, & Big-Shorts Bid As Bitcoin Breaks Down The most-shorted meme stocks continued to charge higher today…
Source: Bloomberg The best performer among these manic meme stocks was CLOV…
As did the most-shorted micro-caps… |
| State Department Lifts Travel Restrictions For Dozens Of CountriesState Department Lifts Travel Restrictions For Dozens Of Countries Just as Ontario finally lifted some of its COVID-19-inspired travel restrictions, the US Department of State announced plans to revise its travel advisory for dozens of countries, including its neighbors, Canada and Mexico. While the border between American and Canada may remain closed until September, the State Department’s decision to lower its travel advisory to a Level 3 from a Level 4 could have major implications for tourism around the world. Back in April, the US rated about 150 countries out of 209 as “Level 4: Do Not Travel.” Today that number has fallen to about 125 at the highest advisory level. As restrictions start to ease, air travel, a popular gauge of travel linked to tourism, has started to rebound, As of the end of May, the TSA announced that it had screened nearly 2MM air travelers – the highest number since the pandemic began. News of Washington’s plans to abandon the travel curbs sent airline shares climbing, with Hawaiian Airlines and Air Canada both seeing notable gains. |
| Reports Indicate Massive Fire Breaks Out At Chinese Polysilicon PlantÂReports Indicate Massive Fire Breaks Out At Chinese Polysilicon Plant Twitter handle “Insider Paper” reports a massive fire has erupted at a polysilicon plant in China.Â
According to the report, “an explosion” occurred at a polysilicon plant in Shihezi City, Xinjiang, China. Polysilicon, or poly-Si, is used as a raw material by the solar photovoltaic and electronics industries.Â
Another Twitter account, called “Today_China,” also says the explosion occurred … |
| One Bank Goes Apocalyptic: Inflation Is About To Explode “Leaving Global Economies Sitting On A Time Bomb”One Bank Goes Apocalyptic: Inflation Is About To Explode “Leaving Global Economies Sitting On A Time Bomb” As excerpted from “Inflation: The defining macro story of this decade” a must-read report written by Deutsche Bank’s global head of research, David Folkerts-Landau, co-authored by Peter Hooper and Jim Reid.
The above quotes highlight that US macro policy and, indeed, the very role of government in the economy, is undergoing its biggest shift in direction in 40 years. In turn we are concerned that it will bring about uncomfortable levels of inflation. It is no exaggerati … |
| Biden strike force to target ‘unfair’ tradeThe US announced plans to target “unfair foreign trade practices”, which it says have damaged supply chains. |
| Colonial Pipeline boss ‘deeply sorry’ for cyber attackJoseph Blount said the decision to pay hackers a $4.4m (£3.1m) ransom was the toughest in his career. |
| Covid-19: Less than a quarter of pubs confident of surviving three monthsOfficial figures show pub owners’ level of confident almost half that other other businesses. |
| Bitcoin slumps toward levels last seen in May’s crypto selloffThe largest token tumbled almost 7 per cent at one point on Tuesday and was around $33,100 as of 6:09 a.m. in New York. The wider Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index fell as much as 10 per cent. |
| Power stocks in focus. Should you stay put in Adani Power, Tata Power, NTPC, CESC, PowerGrid?India’s power consumption surged 12.6% in the first week of June to 25.36 billion units, pointing to a recovery in demand. |
| One adverse view & analysts cut price targets for D-Street’s pet stock by 25%While the company’s management says it is expecting a hit that should be mild, manageable and restricted to the June quarter, analysts say the consensus estimates and valuations that the market is assigning to the business are unrealistic. |
| C Written by Steven Hansen The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) can be used as a predictor of future job growth, and the predictive elements show that the year-over-year growth rate of unadjusted private non-farm job openings year-over-year rate of growth SIGNIFICANTLY improved and continues in expansion.
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| Bond Report: 10 and 30-year Treasury yields skid to 3-month lows TuesdayU.S. government bond yields for the 10 and 30-year Treasurys hit their lowest in at least three months Tuesday, ahead of policy meetings of the European Central Bank on Thursday and the Federal Reserve next week. |
| The Ratings Game: Target’s traffic growth tops Costco, a good sign with back-to-school and holidays still to comeUBS says Target’s traffic growth is in line with Home Depot and Lowe’s. |
| : Lordstown stock drops 20% after electric-truck company warns about financial positionLordstown Motors Corp. shares dropped nearly 15% after the electric-vehicle company warned investors about its ability to continue functioning financially Tuesday. |
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