Written by Gary
DiDi plummets 22% after China moves to block the app (SPY -0.7%). Oil markets will tighten regardless of OPEC’s decision.
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. | |
Shell To Bow Out Of California Joint Venture With ExxonShell is reportedly planning to quit its California-based joint venture with fellow oil supermajor ExxonMobil as it looks to accelerate its transition away from fossil fuels. Four sources told Reuters that the FTSE blue chip had informed Exxon that it intended to exit subsidiary Aera Energy, in which it holds a 52 percent stake. The firm did not respond to a request for comment. If it does so, it will be the latest in a number of divestments the Anglo-Dutch giant has made this year amid growing pressure to up its climate commitments. Shell has | |
DiDi Plummets 22% After China Moves To Block The AppChina’s move to block Didi Chuxing Technology Co. from app stores just days after the ride-hailing giant’s U.S. IPO has resulted in a 22% plunge in shares U.S. premarket trade Tuesday. Didi said on Monday that the Cyberspace Administration of China’s (CAC) ban on the app would have a significant impact on its revenue. As for existing customers with the app, the ban wouldn’t affect them. In premarket trading on Tuesday, shares are trading around $12 handle, or about a 22% discount from Friday’s close. U.S. stocks were closed on | |
US Oil Prices Soar To 6-Year High In OPEC StandoffThe U.S. benchmark oil price WTI Crude hit its highest level since November 2014 early on Tuesday, after OPEC+ on Monday called off its third attempt to reach an agreement over oil policy management for the coming months. In Asian trade earlier in the day, WTI Crude touched $76.50 a barrel, narrowing the WTI/Brent Crude spread significantly. After intense talks late last week and attempts at mediation during the weekend, the standoff between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia over the Emirati baseline production | |
Iran Accuses Israel Of Nuclear Site AttackIran blamed on Tuesday Israel for attacking in late June a civilian nuclear site near Tehran, admitting that the attempt damaged the building, Iranian state media reported. This is the second time that Iran has blamed Israel for an attempted sabotage against a nuclear facility since Iran, the United States, and the remaining signatories to the so-called Iranian nuclear deal started negotiations in April about the U.S. and Iran potentially returning to the agreement. If the parties agree to a deal, it would eventually mean the lifting of the U.S. | |
Biden Urges OPEC+ To Raise Output Amid Soaring Crude PricesSaudi Aramco has raised the August official selling prices of crude to Asia, as the oil market tightens, sparking fears of another oil price war and prompting the Biden administration to call on OPEC to settle its internal differences and start bringing more oil to markets, Bloomberg has reported, citing administration insiders. Aramco has set the August OSP for Arab light at $2.70/barrel, up 80 cents per barrel from Julys price, Reuters reports, while the OSP to the United States was set up 20 cents a barrel for August. Rising oil prices | |
Oil Markets Will Tighten Regardless Of OPEC’s DecisionThe oil market is tightening and will continue to draw down inventories for the rest of the year. This drawdown is largely due to OPEC+ offering less supply than the expected demand growth in the coming months, analysts and industry professionals say. The OPEC+ group is expected to add 2 million barrels per day (bpd) between August and December. That is if the UAE-vs-all-others standoff on baseline production levels is resolved and a deal is sealed this week. Such a deal now looks unlikely as OPEC+ called off the meeting on Monday morning. | |
Shuttered fitting rooms anger shoppers and boost returns. How these retailers are trying to fix thatA survey from Coresight found that 42.4% of consumers in the U.S. returned unwanted products from March 2020 to March 2021, and most of that was clothing. | |
Dr. Scott Gottlieb says people who had Covid get ‘best of both worlds’ if they get vaccinated“At least with one dose, you do develop a broad, very deep, very durable immunity based on the data that we’ve seen so far,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC. | |
Home Depot, Lowe’s amp up focus on home pros, as consumers swap DIY projects for parties, travelCustomers tackled do-it-yourself projects during the pandemic, but are now inviting contractors back into their homes and dining out instead of painting. | |
AMC says it won’t seek shareholder approval to boost stock outstandingAMC Entertainment said it has tabled a proposal that would have asked its shareholders to allow the movie theater chain to issue up to 25 million more shares. | |
Subway upgrades menu and mobile app as part of its comeback bidSubway is hoping that upgrading its ingredients and mobile app will help draw customers back to its restaurants. | |
Formula 1: Australian Grand Prix cancelled for second successive year due to coronavirusFormula 1’s Australian Grand Prix has been cancelled for the second year in a row due to “restrictions and logistical challenges” related to the coronavirus pandemic. | |
‘The easy money has been made’ in airline stocks, trader says. One way to play the groupThe U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) could be running out of steam, Piper Sandler’s Craig Johnson warns. | |
Mask-wearing becomes a new battleground in England as Covid rules are easedSince the start of the pandemic, millions of people have been forced to wear face masks. Now, as rules are eased, they are a highly contentious issue. | |
Warren Buffett-backed BYD sold fewer all-electric cars than before the pandemicChinese automaker BYD sold fewer all-electric passenger cars in the first six months of this year than the same period in 2019. | |
Singapore targets 75% vaccination so border restrictions can be gradually easedData from scientific publication Our World In Data showed as of July 3, nearly 37% of Singapore’s 5.6 million population had been fully vaccinated. | |
Covid resurgence in parts of Asia drags down consumer spendingPrivate consumption in most parts of Asia remains below pre-pandemic levels, says Lloyd Chan of Oxford Economics. | |
Subway Is Making A Major Menu OverhaulSubway Is Making A Major Menu Overhaul By Jonathan Maze of Restaurant Business Subway is making what it calls the biggest menu refresh in its history, a broad overhaul that includes a combination of upgraded ingredients or new, updated or returned sandwiches designed to reinvigorate the lagging sandwich giant. The œEat Fresh Refresh arrives in the chain’s 21,000 U.S. restaurants on July 13, when it is giving away a six-inch Turkey Cali Fresh sub, one of its new sandwiches,  between 10 a.m. and noon. Subway is also taking the unusual step of closing its restaurants early the night before, at 6 p.m., which it is calling a œrefresh break to prepare its employees for the debut of the new menu. The changes will include 11 newly improved ingredients, including upgrades to its signature Italian bread as well as its Hearty Multigrain bread. The company has also created four new sandwiches and is bringing back two others, Roast Beef and Rotisserie Chicken, that had been removed from the menu last summer. Another four sandwiches have been upgraded due to the better ingredients. Company executives also assured that they are putting the weight of Subway’s marketing budget behind the effort. œThis is one of the boldest changes in core menu in decades, Trevor Haynes, president of North America at the Milford, Conn.-based sandwich giant. … | |
Goldman Doubles Down On Oil: Says Ignore OPEC+ Drama, World Desperately Needs Extra 5 Million Bpd To Avoid “Critically Low Inventories”Goldman Doubles Down On Oil: Says Ignore OPEC+ Drama, World Desperately Needs Extra 5 Million Bpd To Avoid “Critically Low Inventories” As is well-known by now, the July OPEC+ meeting never concluded as the UAE and Saudi Arabia/Russia failed to overcome their differences, with the former asking for a higher baseline from April 2022 and the latter for an extended commitment through 2022. Picking up on this development Goldman’s commodity strategist Damien Courvalin – who has been extremely bullish oil in recent months – concedes that while this lack of agreement has introduced uncertainty into the OPEC+ production path, its base-case remains “for a gradual increase in production through 1Q22 that would ultimately help meet their preferences, with Brent prices at $80/bbl this summer.” Looking ahead, Goldman predicts that as negotiations continue, most outcomes (1) still imply higher prices in coming months as the physical market tightens, (2) with higher OPEC+ production than the group discussed needed by the global oil market next year. That said, Goldman warns that price volatility will likely rise – which can be clearly seen in today’s violent reaction which saw WTI surge then slide – with the release of the August OSP the key next catalyst. | |
Dean Of Howard University Under Fire For Defending CosbyDean Of Howard University Under Fire For Defending Cosby Authored by Jonathan Turley, We recently discussed the ruling of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturning the conviction of Bill Cosby. While the Court differed on what errors warranted such action, all of the justices agreed that the trial was fundamentally flawed. Indeed, it was a disgrace and Cosby could sue for malicious prosecution. Yet, the incoming dean of Howard University’s fine arts college, Phylicia Rashad, is under attack for declaring her support for Cosby. Rashad played Bill Cosby’s TV wife on œThe Cosby Show.  Fortune reported that there are calls for her resignation. Rashad | |
Looters Ransack Bagram Airbase After US Sneaks Out In Middle Of NightLooters Ransack Bagram Airbase After US Sneaks Out In Middle Of Night The United States has wound down its ‘forever war’ in Afghanistan by essentially sneaking off from its largest base there in the middle of the night, reportedly without so much as informing the local Afghan commander. The somewhat shocking method of departure which immediately left Bagram a “ghost base” – as some are already calling it – was bluntly described by Associated Press as follows: “The U.S. left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said.”
What’s more is that it caught local Afghan forces so off guard that looting immediately resulted the moment the unsecured base was left devoid of Americans. The Afghan commander for the area had only initially heard “rumors” of an impending US exit … | |
Some firms to insist customers and staff still wear face masksSome customers will still be asked to wear face masks even after it becomes a “personal choice” on 19 July. | |
Vauxhall UK plant safe with electric vehicle planThe Ellesmere Port factory will get a £100m investment to build electric vehicles and protect 1,000 jobs. | |
State pension predicted to rise by 8%The latest forecasts mean the debate about the triple lock guarantee will heat up. | |
Now earn interest like bank savings account on your Bitcoin walletZebPay Earn will support earnings on Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tether (USDT), Polygon (MATIC), Binance Coin (BNB), and Dai (DAI). | |
Nifty companies to report robust numbers in Q1 as low base effect kicks inThe sample’s revenue is expected to grow by 56.3% year-on-year while net profit is likely to treble. In the year-ago quarter, revenue and profit had fallen by 27% and 48% respectively. | |
Chip shortage short circuits Tata Motors, banks find their grooveAfter nearly 80 per cent gains in the year so far, Tata Motors may be staring at a long winter in the months to come. | |
The Margin: This Airheads candy chicken sandwich might ruffle some feathers on #NationalFriedChickenDayYes, that’s a bun made entirely out of Airheads taffy, the candy maker says | |
NewsWatch: The second most popular destination in the world wants its tourists backVisitors are returning to Spain, but will they arrive soon enough and in sufficient numbers? | |
TaxWatch: IRS audits fell in 2020 ” with one big exceptionInternal Revenue Service audit numbers dropped again in 2020, continuing a downward trend that’s been occurring for years — except for one group of taxpayers. |
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