Written by Gary
Business inventories remain normal for times of economic expansion (SPY -0.2%). Politico fact bombs New York Times over criticism of leak prosecutor.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | The Automaker Powering Its Cars With VolcanosA car that sports upward of 1,000 horsepower and speeds of up to 300 miles per hour is difficult to square with sustainability. Such cars are normally major gas guzzlers. But not Swedish Koeniggseg. The company, which makes about 30 cars annually that sell for a couple of million each, recently hired a former Tesla executive to help it transform into a mass car manufacturera mass car manufacturer of vehicles that use the emissions of volcanoes as a way to moderate their carbon footprint. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Koeniggseg’s |
| OPEC+ Alliance Has Been Key In Oil Market RecoveryThe OPEC+ alliance has taken decisive actions to help reduce oil market volatility, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on Tuesday at the opening of the meeting of OPECs economic and technical think-tank. DoC Participating Countries have taken proactive and pre-emptive actions to help reduce volatility, stabilize the oil market and provide a flexible platform for recovery with potentially broader participation in the coming years, Barkindo said, opening the meeting of the Economic Commission Board. The two-day meetingheld |
| Depleted Gas Stocks Force Europe To Use More CoalWith power demand recovering from the pandemic, European utilities are using more coal as natural gas inventories are unusually low for this time of the year due to a cold snap in late winter and early spring. This year, despite the record-high carbon price in Europe, the use of coal for power generation has jumped by up to 15 percent, Andy Sommer, team leader of fundamental analysis and modeling at Swiss trader Axpo Solutions, told Bloomberg in an interview published on Tuesday. Gas storage is so low now that Europe cannot afford to run |
| Volkswagen CEO Slams G7 Over Slow Coal Phase OutVolkswagens VLKAYchief executive has taken aim at leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) for failing to set a firm date to phase out coal power and rejecting a proposal to halt the production of diesel and gas cars. Herbert Diess, who is leading VWs transformation to a manufacturer of electric vehicles (EV), vented his disappointment on Twitter. Thats not enough, @G7, Diess tweeted Tuesday. We need to exit coal much earlier! EVs are key to reach the climate goals 2030. But EVs only make sense with green |
| Colombia Reboots Oil Industry Despite Deadly ProtestsAfter a devastating 2020 strife-torn Colombia has been rocked by widespread anti-government protests which were sparked at the end of April 2021 by President Duques proposed tax reform. Authorities heavy-handed repression of the protests which sees 77 dead, with 40 of those at the hands of police and security agencies according to think tank Indepaz, sparked a series of road blockades across Colombia. Those have prevented onshore oil companies from resupplying their operations and transporting petroleum by road, forcing many to shutter |
| $100 Oil Is Now A Distinct PossibilityAlthough oil may not be headed to a new supercycle, prices still have room to rise from current levels because of a strong demand rebound and expected tightness in supply, some of the world’s largest commodity trading groups say. There is a chance for $100 oil, Jeremy Weir, chief executive officer at commodity trader Trafigura, told the FT Commodities Global Summit on Tuesday. “You need higher prices to incentivize and also maybe to build on the cost of carbon in the future as well. You also need to attract capital in the business,” Weir |
| Fallen film producer Harvey Weinstein ordered extradited from New York to Los Angeles to face sex assault chargesFilm producer Harvey Weinstein became the face of the #MeToo movement in 2017 when multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. |
| Southwest Airlines flights briefly delayed again, a day after weather-service glitchSouthwest Airlines reports technical issue a day after weather-service glitch. |
| Lordstown Motors shares soar after new chairwoman says production plans remain on trackLordstown Motors Chairwoman Angela Strand on Tuesday described it as a “new day” for the embattled company. |
| MLB unveils plan to enforce rules around players cheating with sticky ballsThe league said new guidelines that empower umpires to search pitchers for foreign substances will take effect on June 21. |
| More than 600,000 people have died from Covid in the U.S. as officials race to vaccinate more peopleThe U.S. hit another grim milestone in the pandemic Monday, reaching more than 600,000 Covid fatalities as the nation races to administer more vaccine doses. |
| ‘Luca’ may be going to Disney+, but the future for Pixar is on the big screenThe pandemic forced Disney to release two Pixar films on Disney+, but as movie theaters rebound, the animation studio’s future is on the big screen. |
| Alibaba co-founder and Nets owner Joe Tsai says Asians are ‘scapegoated’ in times of turmoil in U.S.“If there’s a crisis ” if there’s a pandemic, if there’s a war or if there’s an economic downturn ” Asian Americans get scapegoated,” Joe Tsai told CNBC. |
| Best Buy will sell luggage, grills as it seeks to capitalize on reopening economy, housing marketOther retailers have also expanded into adjacent categories to expand their reach and grow online sales. |
| GM-backed Cruise secures $5 billion credit line as it prepares to launch self-driving robotaxisThe new credit is being provided by GM’s automotive financing arm to use for the purchase of Cruise’s self-driving Origin shuttles. |
| Express, Urban Outfitters and J. Crew open websites to third-party sellers, hoping to win new shoppersExpress, Urban Outfitters and J. Crew are offering products from third-party sellers to boost traffic and revenue in attempt to drive traffic away from Amazon. |
| Airbus hints at a freighter version of its A350 to tap into hot cargo marketAirbus says it is considering a freighter version of its wide-body A350 aircraft. |
| GM partnering with Wabtec on electric freight locomotives for rail industryThe companies have signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding for GM to engineer and supply its battery and fuel cell systems for Wabtec locomotives. |
| Bitcoin, Black Gold, & Breakevens Bounce As Retail Sales Slump Sinks StocksBitcoin, Black Gold, & Breakevens Bounce As Retail Sales Slump Sinks Stocks Futures trod water overnight but the wave of selling pressure began at the cash market open (remember Friday is Quad Witch and there is some serious gamma malarkey flying around as yesterday’s closing ramp showed). Small Caps bounced hard after the European close but faded late on. Nasdaq was the day’s biggest loser…
Stocks just could not sustain the idiocy of the late-day meltup in stocks yesterday… |
| Feds Investigating Suspected Chinese Spies’ Return To US Ahead Of COVID Travel BanFeds Investigating Suspected Chinese Spies’ Return To US Ahead Of COVID Travel Ban Authored by Joseph Simonson via the Washington Free Beacon (emphasis ours), Intelligence officials are investigating why suspected Chinese spies returned to the United States on student and work visas at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to internal government documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. Hundreds of Chinese nationals are the subject of a federal probe after law enforcement officials flagged their travel at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese nationals returned to the United States earlier than expected in January 2020, often having modified their travel plans. Then-president Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting entry from non-citizens and residen … |
| US Is Already Grappling With Real Inflation Rates Above 10% Kyle Bass WarnsUS Is Already Grappling With Real Inflation Rates Above 10% Kyle Bass Warns Following the latest hot inflationary print, more investors are becoming skeptical of the Fed’s view that inflationary pressures are “transitory”. Yesterday, famed investor Paul Tudor Jones lamented the deluge of money pumped into the financial system by fiscal and monetary policymakers, and warned that markets might go “bat sh*t crazy” after Wednesday’s FOMC press conference, which PTJ believes could be the most important meeting of Chair Jerome Powell’s tenure, as the Fed sees its grip on a rapidly overheating economy start to slip. On Tuesday morning, billionaire hedge fund investor Kyle Bass warned during an appearance on CNBC that official gauges of inflation aren’t accurately reflecting how much of Americans’ wealth is being eroded by the Treasury and the Fed’s twin money issuance programs, and that the actual amount by which inflation is eating away at Americans’ savings is already in the double-digits. Digging into the weeds, Bass said that Fed uses “chain-weighted inflation numbers” which are “designed to be artificially low.” Because of this, Bass believes actual inflation in the US is more than 10% with rates at 0.
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| Politico Fact Bombs New York Times Over Criticism Of Leak ProsecutorPolitico Fact Bombs New York Times Over Criticism Of Leak Prosecutor Authored by Jonathan Turley, The New York Times faced a stinging contradiction from Politico this week after it ran a story besmirching the lead prosecutor in the leak investigation launched under former Attorney General Bill Barr. The article relies on anonymous sources to claim that Assistant U.S. Attorney Osmar Benevenuto of the District of New Jersey was brought in by Barr as part of his œsmall circle of trusted aides officials. Â In reality, it appears that Benevenuto was not initially selected by Barr and does not appear to have known him.
Here is what the New York Times wrote:
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| Billionaire Mackenzie Scott gives away another £2bnThe Amazon founder’s ex-wife said she chose 286 teams ’empowering voices the world needs to hear’. |
| Alibaba’s Jack Ma is ‘lying low’, says co-founderAlibaba’s co-founder and executive chairman says Jack Ma is focusing on hobbies and philanthropy. |
| ‘If you can eat out, you can go to the office’, says bank bossMorgan Stanley’s chief executive said New York-based employees should be ready to return to the workplace. |
| Dodla Dairy mobilises Rs 156 cr from anchor investors ahead of IPOThe company has decided to allocate a total of 36,46,099 equity shares at Rs 428 apiece to anchor investors for Rs 156.05 crore, a circular uploaded on BSE website showed. |
| ICICI Bank raises Rs 2,827 cr by issuing bonds“Pursuant to the same, the bank has allotted 28,274 senior unsecured redeemable long-term bonds in the nature of debentures aggregating to Rs 2,827.40 crore on a private placement basis,” ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing. |
| Fed poised to crawl onto ‘knife edge’ to limit record bond purchasesFed officials have said they want to see œsubstantial further progress toward their goals of maximum employment and average 2 per cent inflation before reducing current asset purchases of $120 billion per month. None are suggesting that they’re close to achieving that. |
| April 2021 Business Inventories Remain Normal For Times Of Economic ExpansionWritten by Steven Hansen Headlines say final business sales data (retail plus wholesale plus manufacturing) improved month-over-month. The rolling averages improved. Inventories are within normal ranges for times of economic expansion.
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| : Dutch Bros coffee chain files for confidential IPODutch Bros Coffee Inc. has filed for a confidential initial public offering, the Oregon-based coffee chain said Tuesday. |
| Market Extra: Underground Cellar wants to be like Robinhood but for buying and trading wine‘Our users are not just wine drinkers but collectors,’ says Jeffrey Shaw, chief executive and founder of Underground Cellar, which recently raised $12.5 million to expand its platform. |
| Peter Morici: Saddle up for a summer rally in the stock marketStrong profits will carry stocks through the dog days of August and beyond |
Travelers at an Air China desk in Feb. 2020 / Getty Images
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