Written by Gary
Final Q1 GDP Estimate Comes In At 6.4%, As Expected (SPY +0.5%). May durable goods orders disappoint. Initial jobless claims disappoint again as Pennsylvania pukes again.
Here is the current market situation from CNN Money | |
European markets are mixed. The DAX is higher by 0.06%, while the CAC 40 is leading the FTSE 100 lower. They are down 0.43% and 0.07% respectively. |
What Is Moving the Markets
Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
Oil Prices Set To Head Even Higher As Market TightensSolid oil demand is driving up the spot crude prices in every part of the world. This is a clear indication that the physical oil market is finally catching up with the recent rally in the paper market. The strengthening appetite for crude in Asia and tightening regional markets due to changed differentials between regional benchmarks are, in turn, supportive of the oil futures rally, analysts and traders tell Reuters. The surging premium of Brent over the Middle Eastern benchmark Dubai now makes shipping crude grades from the | |
Is This The Most Exciting Gold Play of 2021?If youre wondering where in the world you can find an unimaginably vast territory rich not only in gold but in all the metals deemed strategic for the 21st-century economy, yet still largely untapped we think you dont have to look far. Canadas Quebec province, a massive 1.7 million km, contains one of the most diverse collections of metals in the world … Only 1% of it is being mined. And only 5% is covered by mining rights. Its a mecca of gold, silver, iron, nickel, titanium, niobium, copper, and zinc. | |
Landmark Gas Deal Confirms UAEs Commitment To U.S. Middle East StrategyThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the key Arab state at the centre of the U.S.s Middle East pushback against increasing Chinese and Russian influence across the region via the recent normalisation deals between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain. The UAEs Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is the key corporate proxy in this effort. For the strategy to function effectively it is necessary not only that the UAE increases its crude oil volumes via ADNOC – and plans are proceeding to push this up by around 1 million barrels per | |
Canada’s Oil Sands Production Is Roaring BackCanada’s oil sands production has come roaring back, and according to IHS Markit, output is returning to pre-pandemic levels after a particularly difficult year that involved not only the Covid-19 pandemic but also a major pipeline defeat in the Keystone XL cancellation. Canada’s oil sands production has now fully recovered, according to IHS Markitand then some. The pandemic has, however, dimmed the future prospects for the oilsands. Canada’s oil sands production should reach 3.6 million bpd in 2030, according to the latest IHS Markit forecast. | |
Will Canadas Oil Sands Survive The Green Revolution?Canadas climate is heating up at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the world. In order to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, experts have determined that its imperative to keep our world from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial averages, and preferably no more than 1.5 degrees. In northern Canada, annual average temperatures have already increased by approximately 2.3 degrees Celsius. And its not just the Canadian arctic that is heating up alarmingly, dangerously fast — the entire country of Canada | |
Suriname’s Oil Boom Keeps Getting HotterThe Guyana-Suriname Basin, which the U.S. Geological Service estimates hold crude oil resources of up to 33 billion barrels, is in the midst of a massive drilling boom that has seen a swathe of major oil discoveries over the last six years. While most of those finds have occurred on the Guyana side of the hydrocarbon basin, the former Dutch colony of Suriname is rapidly catching up. The impoverished South American country, which has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-10 pandemic with gross domestic product shrinking 13.5% during 2020, is focused | |
Millions could be suffering from long Covid, British study suggestsA study in England looking at persistent Covid-19 symptoms suggests that around 2 million people in the country may have had the condition known as “long Covid.” | |
Brooklyn Nets owners will use character, not credit scores, for $2.5 million loan program that helps Black businessesNBA owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai will use money from the $50 million Social Justice Fund that was established in 2020. | |
5 things to know before the stock market opens ThursdayDow futures rose Thursday after of a slew of before-the-bell economic data and renewed hopes for an infrastructure deal. | |
Delta Covid variant has a new mutation called ‘delta plus’: Here’s what you need to knowA mutation of the delta variant has emerged, it’s called “delta plus.” | |
OIive Garden parent’s same-store sales near pre-pandemic levels as Covid restrictions easeDarden Restaurants on Thursday reported that its fiscal fourth quarter same-store sales nearly returned to 2019 levels. | |
Norway’s Statkraft lined up to provide green hydrogen for 88-meter long, zero-emission shipThe idea is for the ship, which will also have two rotor sails, to carry grain and gravel. | |
Singapore to expand its vaccination campaign to everyone 12 and older on July 2Singapore said Thursday that some permanent residents and long-term pass holders can begin booking appointments on July 2. | |
Covid is already deadlier this year than all of 2020. So why do many in U.S. think the problem’s over?In the global scramble for Covid-19 vaccines, high-income countries, predictably, have sought to secure stocks for their own populations first. | |
Paralympics could pave the way for a ‘more inclusive’ post-pandemic recovery, experts sayTokyo Paralympics allow businesses to embrace a vastly underrepresented segment of the workforce and aid global coronavirus recovery, experts said. | |
A shortage of doctors and nurses has contributed to Japan’s slow vaccine rollout, professor saysEven before the coronavirus pandemic, a 2017 World Health Organization report noted Japan was facing a “critical shortage of doctors.” | |
Lawyers for Britney Spears’ father backed themselves into a corner, former prosecutor saysFormer prosecutor David Henderson explained that Britney Spears’ statements illustrate that the conservatorship is having deleterious effects on her life. | |
Box CEO says KKR investment created opportunity for all shareholdersBox CEO Aaron Levie defended the cloud software vendor’s decision to accept a $500 million investment from KKR. | |
Covid cases will rise in the fall as delta variant spreads, epidemiologist warnsNew Covid-19 infections in the U.S. will tick higher this fall as the highly contagious delta variant spreads, epidemiologist Dr. Anne Rimoin warned Wednesday. | |
Final Q1 GDP Estimate Comes In At 6.4%, As ExpectedFinal Q1 GDP Estimate Comes In At 6.4%, As Expected Out of today’s huge data dump, which included initial and continuing jobless claims, durable goods and capex, retail and wholesale inventories, advance trade goods balance… and finally, the third and final revision to Q1 GDP, it was the last data point would have the least impact as it was the most delayed looking at the state of the US economy at the now ancient March 31, 2021. And sure enough, the update from the BEA assured that virtually nobody would care about today’s GDP print which came in at 6.4%, unchanged from the previous print and also right on top of expectations. There were no surprises in the closely watched personal consumption data either, which came at 11.4%, on top of expectations, and just fractionally higher than the 11.3% 2nd estimate. The increase in real GDP in the first quarter reflected increases in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, residential fixed investment, an … | |
May Durable Goods Orders DisappointMay Durable Goods Orders Disappoint After unexpectedly tumbling in April (-1.3% MoM), analysts expected preliminary May Durable Goods Orders to rebound significantly (+2.8% MoM) but they were disappointed when the print hit at only +2.3% MoM (and the month before was upwardly revised to a 0.8% drop). Source: Bloomberg Despite the disappointment, that was still the biggest MoM jump since January, bolstered by a sizable pickup in orders for planes and motor vehicles. Source: Bloomberg | |
Initial Jobless Claims Disappoint Again As Pennsylvania Pukes AgainInitial Jobless Claims Disappoint Again As Pennsylvania Pukes Again After rising unexpectedly last week (to 412k), initial jobless claims were expected to drop back (to 380k), but perhaps most notably, today’s jobless claims report is the first to reflect the early June 12 phase out emergency benefits in Alaska, Iowa, Missouri and Mississippi. The analysts were wrong – initial claims printed 411k (notably worse than the 380k expected) and relatively flat from the week before… Source: Bloomberg But something crazy is going on in PA as for the second week in a row, it was the massive outlier in initial claims… | |
“It’s A Bust”: Elon Musk’s Fixation With Tesla’s Failed Solar Roof Rollout“It’s A Bust”: Elon Musk’s Fixation With Tesla’s Failed Solar Roof Rollout We’ve been skeptical not only of basically everything Elon Musk has been doing over the last half-decade, but specifically about the company’s plans for its solar roof tiles – which were pitched as one of the reasons to help Tesla bail out acquire the nearly-now-defunct Solar City, run by one of Musk’s cousins, years ago. Additionally, some of the more well known Tesla skeptics on FinTwit have taken special exception with the company’s solar roof aspirations, with one expert in the field opining for nearly 2 hours back in 2019 about why he believed, logistically, that the Solar Roof “rollout” was nothing more than a charade. But now it looks as though the mainstream media is finally starting to catch on to the boondoggle, as well. Bloomberg’s Dana Hull published a piece on Wednesday morning aptly titled “Tesla’s Solar Roof Rollout Is a Bust ” And a Fixation for Elon Musk”. The piece notes that Musk has recently become “intensely focused on Tesla’s Solar Roof”, despite it just being a small part of Tesla’s business. This is because, Hull postulates that the roof is “essential to Musk’s vision for the company to evolve from an electric-car maker to something much grander”. And we all know that Elon Musk is having a tough time turning a profit, ex-ZEV credits, as an automaker. But the program is in tatters, the piece notes, potentially due to Musk’s micromanagement of it. “Musk has fir … | |
Bank of England shrugs off inflation fearsBank policymakers keep rates steady despite concerns of an inflation surge in the wake of the pandemic. | |
Citi bank boss says staff work better in the officeJames Bardrick says most UK staff at bank Citi will work from the office three days a week. | |
EE to reintroduce Europe roaming charges in JanuaryThe mobile operator EE is to charge new customers to use their phones in Europe. | |
RIL-Google to launch affordable smartphone JioPhone Next on Sept 10Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said the phone would be a fully-featured smartphone, supporting the entire suite of applications from both Google Playstore and Jio. | |
Ambani to challenge Musk, Adani; to enter green energy businessReliance will invest Rs 60,000 crore in building four gigafactories at Jamnagar Gigacomplex. An overall investment of Rs 75,000 crore in new green energy business will be made over the next three years. RIL said it will establish and enable at least 100 GW of solar energy by 2030. | |
Petrol tax to swell states’ revenue past pre-pandemic highs: CrisilThe agency said revenues of India’s top 10 states, which plunged 600 basis points (bps) last fiscal, are set to exceed the pre-pandemic levels by 600 bps this fiscal. | |
19 June 2021 Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Modestly Declines
Market expectations for weekly initial unemployment claims (from Econoday) were 359 K to 395 K (consensus 380 K), and the Department of Labor reported 411,000 new claims. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the data) 4 week moving average moved from 396,250 (reported last week as 395,000) to 397,750 | |
: Why an industrial giant known for dishwashers sees its future in electric vehicles, hydrogen, 5G and the cloudSiemens is a 174-year-old industrial giant that, once upon a time, made dishwashers, and maybe that’s the image the brand still summons. | |
NewsWatch: U.S. economy grew at unrevised 6.4% annual rate in first quarterThe U.S. economy grew at an unrevised 6.4% annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. | |
Economic Report: U.S. unemployment claims barely fall and disappoint for second week in a rowThe number of people who applied for unemployment benefits in mid-June barely fell and remained above 400,000 for the second week in a row, a disappointing result that raises questions about progress in the U.S. labor market. |
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