17Aug2021 Pre-Market Commentary: Wall Street To Open Sharply Lower, DOW Down 168 Points, Nasdaq Down 0.6%, WTI Crude Slips To 66.93, Bitcoin Hovering At 46800

Written by Gary

Retail sales drop worse-than-expected 1.1% as rising Covid fears hit consumers (SPY -0.4%). Home Depot shares tumble despite an earnings beat. Retailers rang up fewer customers as DIY trends weaken.

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.
	Why Norwegians Love Both EVs and Oil Most Norwegians support their countrys current commitment to continue to search for oil and gas, even though Norway has the highest electric vehicle (EV) penetration anywhere in the world. Norway is set to hold a parliamentary election on September 13, a few months after the current government of a conservative-led coalition said in June thatthe Norwegian oil and gas sector willcontinue to play a major rolein long-term job creation, economic growth prospects, and value for the country. A recent poll of Norstat carried out
	5 Things You Need To Know About The Worlds Hottest Oil Play With evidence of an active petroleum system now confirmed after two test wells in Namibias 6.3-million-acre Kavango Basin, the game is afoot with 2D seismic and a 6-well exploration drilling campaign that hopes to put this final frontier nation definitively on the commercial oil map. Recon Africa (TSXV:RECO, OTC:RECAF), the junior explorer behind the new play, and its JV partner NAMCOR, Namibias state oil company, think they might have drilled into a reservoir in their first test well, and they are very excited about what comes next.
	The Main Reason Oil Prices Won’t Go Above $80 Per Barrel As highlighted repeatedly by OilPrice.com there are two extremely powerful reasons why the oil price has been effectively capped around US$75-80 per barrel of Brent since the end of the 2014-2016 Oil Price War. These two reasons remain in place and are the key factors why no matter how much various investment banks and funds have talked their (long) books with tales of how and why the oil price should be at US$80 or US$90 or US$100 or above per barrel it has not got there. There has also been talk recently that the new U.S. President, Joe Biden,
	The Remarkable Rise Of U.S. LNG The United States will see its total natural gas exports exceed imports by a significantly larger margin this year compared to 2020, thanks to surging liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and continued growth in pipeline exports to Mexico, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday. This year, U.S. natural gas exports will exceed natural gas imports by an average of 11.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), the EIA has estimated. This would be nearly 50 percent more than the 2020 average of 7.5 Bcf/d net gas exports. For the first
	The Natural Gas Rally Is Far From Over After hitting a near three-year high of $4.20/MMBtu a week ago, natural gas prices have gone into a sharp reversal, leading to growing fears that the bull party could have come to an abrupt end. Natural gas futures slipped another 4% on Thursday to trade at $3.90/MMBtu after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that natural gas injections rose by 49 billion cubic feet for the week ended Aug. 6, above the 44 billion cubic feet average estimate by Wall Street. Gas prices have now declined four times in five sessions while
	Is It Time For Biden To Rethink Sanctions Against Venezuela? Negotiations for Venezuelas November 2021 regional elections, which are being brokered by Norway, kicked off this week in Mexico. The talks between the authoritarian regime of Nicolas Maduro and opposition leaders aim to establish a memorandum of understanding for further detailed discussion in September 2021. The goal of the talks is to ultimately establish the terms for holding the November regional elections for governors and mayors. It is also hoped that if an acceptable agreement can be achieved it will bring the opposition boycotts
	Retail sales drop worse-than-expected 1.1% in July as rising Covid fears hit consumers Retail sales were expected to decrease 0.3% in July, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
	Airlines split on whether to mandate Covid vaccines for employees Several airlines are mandating Covid vaccines for employees while others have maintained a policy of encouraging, not requiring them.
	Americans are spending $765 more a month than they did in 2020, survey finds Between dining out and travel, Americans are spending an average of $765 more a month compared to last year, according to a report.
	5 things to know before the stock market opens Tuesday Stock futures fell Tuesday morning as traders awaited the release of key economic data about the U.S. consumer.
	With retail earnings in focus, Oppenheimer analyst names favorite play in the space While the retail earnings calendar is loaded, Oppenheimer’s Ari Wald looked to a retailer that isn’t reporting this week as his favorite play in the space.
	Walmart earnings top estimates, fueled by strong grocery sales and back-to-school spending The discounter also sharpened its forecast for the year, saying it expects Walmart U.S. same-store sales to increase by 5% to 6%, excluding fuel.
	Los Angeles Lakers trade Gatorade for BioSteel to fill team’s bench sponsorship BioSteel will have exposure on the Lakers bench and in-arena signage at Staples Center. Beverage deals with top NBA teams can range up to $5 million per year.
	Home Depot shares tumble despite earnings beat, retailer rang up fewer customers as DIY trends weaken Home Depot’s same-store sales came in slightly short of Wall Street estimates, as fewer people visited its shops to buy items for do-it-yourself projects.
	Allbirds launches activewear line ahead of planned IPO Valued at $1.7 billion, Allbirds is on track for an initial public offering this year.
	Europe markets dip as investors monitor economic data, Afghanistan crisis; BHP Group up 6% The ongoing coronavirus pandemic and spread of the highly transmissible delta Covid-19 variant has rattled market confidence.
	32-year-old founders of multimillion-dollar app share their No. 1 tip for starting a business When husband-and-wife duo Chris Halim and Raena Lim quit their jobs in 2016 to start their own sustainable fashion business, they had little idea of the success it would become. But they knew one thing for sure ” and it’s advice they stand by today.
	Feds will ration water from Colorado River amid historic drought The Colorado River supplies water and power for more than 40 million people across the West, while also fueling some 2.5 million acres of croplands.
	Spirit Airlines says operational meltdown cost it about $50 million, cuts third-quarter schedule Spirit Airlines says its massive flight cancellations over the past few weeks cost it about $50 million.
	US Retail Sales Slump In July As Stimmy Spending Stalls US Retail Sales Slump In July As Stimmy Spending Stalls Following June’s very modest rise in retail sales, analysts are expecting a stimmy-less American public – whose buying attitudes have utterly collapsed along with sentiment – to spend less in July (-0.3% MoM consensus). Source: Bloomberg Specifically, BofA, which has nailed the numbers all year, is forecasting a dramatic drop in retail sales in July as the spikes from stimulus checks fades into the distance (and the hopes of imminent recovery are dashed by government fearmongering and actions over the Delta variant). So just how bad was it? US Retail Sales fell 1.1% MoM in July – almost four times worse than the 0.3% slide expected
	Futures Slide On Growing Lockdown Fears Ahead Of Retail Sales Miss Futures Slide On Growing Lockdown Fears Ahead Of Retail Sales Miss Global stocks and US futures fell on Tuesday ahead of data that will show consensus badly missed its expectations on retail sales amid global concern that more lockdowns are becoming necessary to contain a fast-spreading pandemic compounding the risks posed by any tapering of Federal Reserve stimulus, regulatory clampdowns by China and travel curbs. New Zealand discovered a positive case and announced aÂ lockdown, sending the NZD plunging amid expectations the RBNZ’s rate hike plans had been crashedÂ At 730 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 208 points, or 0.59%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 20 points, or 0.45%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 54.25 points, or 0.35%. Global equities started the week on the backfoot as tighter scrutiny of China’s internet sector and signs of slowing economic recovery, particularly in China, drove investors towards defensive parts of the market.Â A stronger dollar and a slide in Treasury yields underscored the risk-off mood Tuesday. Gold rose for a fifth day and oil declined. …
	Cathie Wood Responds To Michael Burry: You Just Don’t Get Space & Innovation Cathie Wood Responds To Michael Burry: You Just Don’t Get Space & Innovation After it was revealed that Michael ‘the big short’ Burry was betting against ARKK and added to his TSLA puts, Cathie ‘long to the moon Alice’ Wood clapped back at the hedge fund manager with the classic ‘you just don’t understand’ argument: In a tweet, Wood remarked that she doesn’t think Burry understands the fundamentals that are creating œexplosive growth and investment opportunities in the innovation space. To his credit, Michael Burry made a great call based on fundamentals and recognized the calamity brewing in the housing/mortgage market. I do not believe that he understands the fundamentals that are creating explosive growth and investment opportunities in the innovation space. ” Cathie Wood (@CathieDWood) August 17, 2021 On the bright side, at least Wood didn’t add, “it’s different this time” to her response.
	Walmart Beats, Boosts Forecast But Stock Slides On Huge Inventory Build, Weak eCommerce Walmart Beats, Boosts Forecast But Stock Slides On Huge Inventory Build, Weak eCommerce The post-covid spending spree may be fading but it’s still going strong at places such as Walmart which just posted another whopper of a quarter, where it beat on everything from revenue to comp stores to EPS, and boosted its quarterly and full year guidance. First, here are the Q2 results: Revenue $141.05 billion, +2.4% y/y, estimate $137.14 billion (range $130.42 billion to $144.94 billion) Adjusted EPS $1.78 vs. $1.56 y/y, estimate $1.57 (range $1.36 to $1.70) Total U.S. comparable sales ex-gas +5.5% vs. +9.90% y/y, estimate +3.5% Walmart-only U.S. stores comparable sales ex-gas +5.2% vs. +9.30% y/y, estimate +3.12% Sam’s Club U.S. comparable sales ex-gas +7.7% vs. +13.3% y/y, estimate +2.98% Walmart reported that in YTD it repurchased $5.2BN in stock and paid out $3.1BN in dividends after generating $12.4BN in operating cash flow and spending $5.0BN on CapEx, re …
	UK job vacancies at record high as wages pick up Job vacancies hit 953,000 amid signs the country’s labour market is rebounding “robustly”.
	Former ITV boss Adam Crozier appointed new chairman of BT Adam Crozier, who has previously headed the TV company and the FA, will join the telecoms giant this year.
	BHP: Mining giant to leave London’s FTSE 100 for Sydney The company, which has been part of the blue chip index for 20 years, is scrapping its dual listing.
	2 Jhunjhunwala stocks, RIL & Bajaj Finance among 28 counters sending buy signals The list of stocks includes Fortis Healthcare, where ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala held 4.31 per cent stake as of June 30.
	A consensus ‘strong buy’ is all set to race, fuelled by Modi’s infra push One of the biggest beneficiaries of this move could be a smallcap contractor of roads and highways ” IRB Infrastructure. Even though its performance in the past one-and-a-half years has not given many reasons to write home about, its recent outbreak from a range, along with superb growth prospects, has made analysts gung-ho about it.
	SBI Card raises Rs 500 cr by issuing bonds The stakeholders’ relationship and customer experience committee of the company has approved the allotment of 5,000 fixed rate, redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of face value of Rs 10 lakh each aggregating to Rs 500 crore on private placement basis.
	Headline Retail Sales Slow in July 2021 Written by Steven Hansen Retail sales slowed according to US Census headline data. The three-month rolling average declined. Year-over-Year growth also declined due to the comparison to reopening after the lockdown period one year ago. .
	Economic Report: U.S. retail sales slump 1.1% due to shortage of cars and shift in consumer spending Americans cut spending at retail stores in July for the second time in three months, reflecting a shift toward services such as travel and entertainment and a limited selection of popular products such as new cars.
	Need to Know: Here’s what Vanguard found to be the most potent inflation-fighting asset class Quantitative analyst at index fund manager Vanguard found the most potent inflation-fighting asset classes.
	Futures Movers: Oil on track for 4-day losing streak due to demand worries Oil futures trade lower Tuesday, with both benchmarks on track for a fourth straight day of declines, as investors fret over the outlook for demand due to the continued spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.