26Jan2022 Market Close & Major Financial Headlines: Today Was Not The Wall Street Turnaround Day, Major Indexes Closed In The Red, But Showing A Net Gain For The Week

China Is Helping Venezuela Re-Establish Itself As A Major Oil Producer

Venezuela appears to be following in Irans footsteps by starting to ignore U.S. sanctions on its oil industry to once again develop its substantial crude reserves. After years of stalling and losing out on international investment as well as vital revenues, Venezuela looks to be set to increase its oil production, fostering relationships with key export markets that are willing to risk U.S. retaliation to the move. Over the last few weeks, Iran has built upon the foundations it made in 2021 to re-establish its international position

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/China-Is-Helping-Venezuela-Re-Establish-Itself-As-A-Major-Oil-Producer.html

Will Scotland’s Pivot To Wind Power Pay Off?

Scotland has auctioned off parts of its seabed to wind energy companies, raising $951 million and propelling the countrys renewable energy industry. But some are questioning whether its the right move to sell Scotlands significant wind energy potential to private companies. As part of the auction, 17 projects were selected from 74 applications for an area of seabed totaling 7,000km2as part of the Scottish Governments Sectoral Marine Plan. This marks the first offshore leasing round in over a decade. Scottish Power

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Wind-Power/Will-Scotlands-Pivot-To-Wind-Power-Pay-Off.html

The Hype Around Carbon Capture Is Causing Problems

After years of pushing for carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies as the mid-term solution to cleaning up fossil fuel production, many are now concerned about the caliber of the CCS projects currently in motion. As oil firms around the world race to incorporate CCS into their operations, to decarbonize without giving up on oil completely, are they making the right decisions or simply rushing to meet international ESG expectations? It has been widely accepted that CCS will play a significant role in global net-zero ambitions. So long as the

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Hype-Around-Carbon-Capture-Is-Causing-Problems.html

U.S. Oil Firms Urge Biden For Caution Over Possible Sanctions On Russia

Some of the largest U.S. companies, including the biggest oil lobby, called on the Biden Administration and Congress this week to tread carefully with potential new sanctions against Russia that could hit American firms and their competitiveness. On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said, I have made it clear to early on to President Putin that if he were to move into Ukraine, that thered be severe consequences, including significant economic sanctions, as well as Id feel obliged to beef up our presence NATOs

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Oil-Firms-Urge-Biden-For-Caution-Over-Possible-Sanctions-On-Russia.html

U.S. Natural Gas Prices Jump On High Demand

U.S. natural gas prices surged by 6 percent early on Wednesday as frigid weather in many parts of the United States lifted demand, and commodity markets eyed the Russia-Ukraine crisis, fearing disruptions of natural gas flows to Europe in the event of a conflict. At 9:57 a.m. EST on Wednesday, the U.S. benchmark price, Henry Hub, was rising by 5.90% to $4.298 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). Natural gas prices reflected expected high to very high demand for space heating and electricity in the United States in the coming days. According

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/US-Natural-Gas-Prices-Jump-On-High-Demand.html

OPEC+ Set To Continue With 400,000 Bpd Production Increase

The OPEC+ group is expected to decide next week whether it should continue unwinding the oil production cuts by another 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March, as global demand holds resilient despite record COVID cases in major oil-consuming countries, OPEC+ delegates told Bloomberg on Wednesday. The alliance is meeting online on February 2 to decide on production levels and quotas for March, having approved 400,000-bpd monthly production hikes each month since August. For next week’s meeting, expectations of OPEC+ delegates from around half of

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/OPEC-Set-To-Continue-With-400000-Bpd-Production-Increase.html

Tesla beats on earnings and revenue, says supply chain issues were ‘main limiting factor’

Tesla’s Q4 2021 earnings report comes in the midst of the most important tech earnings season in years.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/tesla-tsla-earnings-q4-2021.html

Antonio Brown considers suing Buccaneers following his release

Antonio Brown’s lawyer said the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver could sue the NFL team for defamation.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/antonio-brown-considers-suing-buccaneers-following-his-release.html

Los Angeles bans new oil and gas wells and will phase out old ones over five years

More than half a million people in L.A. live within a quarter-mile of active oil and gas wells that release air pollutants like benzene and hydrogen sulfide.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/los-angeles-bans-new-oil-and-gas-wells-will-phase-out-old-ones.html

Boom Supersonic picks North Carolina to build and test ultra-fast planes

Boom says the Overture will fly at a top speed of Mach 1.7, or about 1,300 mph, allowing it to shave hours off of some international flights.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/boom-supersonic-picks-north-carolina-to-build-and-test-ultra-fast-planes.html

Cramer’s Investing Club: Boeing’s messy quarter does not change our long view on the plane maker

Boeing salvaged a crummy quarterly report with a better-than-expected free cash flow performance.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/cramers-investing-club-boeings-messy-quarter-does-not-change-our-long-view-on-the-plane-maker.html

Here’s what changed in the new Fed statement

This is a comparison of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee statement with the one issued after the Fed’s previous policymaking meeting on Dec. 15.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/federal-reserve-statement-january-2022-heres-what-changed.html

Diversity among financial planners improved in 2021 — but it still remains overwhelmingly white and male

Growth rates among female, Black and Hispanic advisors outpaced growth among certified financial planners overall. But diversity still lags the U.S. population.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/diversity-among-financial-planners-improved-in-2021-but-it-still-lags.html

Tesla rebound? Options traders make big bets into earnings

As Tesla prepares to report earnings after the bell on Wednesday, bullish options traders are betting the results could kick this EV stock into high gear

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/tesla-rebound-options-traders-make-big-bets-into-earnings.html

CDC director says ‘milder doesn’t mean mild’ as Covid hospitalizations reach record high

“We cannot look past the strain on our health systems and substantial number of deaths,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/cdc-director-says-milder-doesnt-mean-mild-as-covid-hospitalizations-reach-record-highs.html

Cramer’s Investing Club: We believe the market is wrong on core holding Abbott’s future potential

Abbott management, known for under promising and over delivering, will do better than Wall Street thinks.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/cramers-investing-club-we-believe-the-market-is-wrong-on-core-holding-abbotts-future-potential.html

Global oil benchmark tops $90 for the first time since 2014

Oil prices are at their highest level in more than seven years, adding to inflationary pressures seen across the economy.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/global-oil-benchmark-tops-90-for-the-first-time-since-2014.html

Wind turbine maker warns of volatile business environment as inflation and supply chain issues bite

Despite a multitude of challenges, Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas says revenue in 2021 hit a record high.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/wind-energy-faces-tough-2022-as-supply-chain-issues-persist-vestas.html

How AMC rode the meme stock rally to revitalize its business

AMC’s retail investors helped revitalize the movie theater chain’s business in 2021.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/how-amc-rode-the-meme-stock-rally-to-revitalize-its-business.html

Stocks & Bonds Puke As Powell Hints At “Sooner, Faster” QT

Stocks & Bonds Puke As Powell Hints At “Sooner, Faster” QTIt started off well enough: milliseconds after the Fed statement and associated Fed balance sheet “principles” were released, algos quickly skimmed the key bullet points before they realized that there were no landmines in the statement: indeed, all the biggest hawkish fears had been defused with the Fed not announcing an early end to tapering, an early start to rate hikes and certainly nothing on the fears 50bps rate hike.

Drilling into the statement, the Committee announced the final two reductions in the amount of their monthly asset purchases, which will bring purchases to an end in “early March” and the Committee now expects that it will “soon be appropriate” to raise the funds rate – which will almost certainly happen at the next FOMC meeting in March—and updated the statement to note that inflation is “well above” the FOMC’s two percent target (previously characterized as “having exceeded 2 percent for some time”) and that the labor market is “strong,” dropping the judgment that the economy is short of full employment.

Separately, the Committee released a new set of normalization principles for reducing the size of the Fed’s balance sheet. The principles state that balance sheet reduction will start “after the process of increasing the target range for the federal funds rate has begun,” implying that the Committee may decide to start normalization at any meeting after March. This contrasts with the previous cycle’s normalization principles, which stated that balance sheet reduction would begin “once normalization of the level of the federal funds rate is w …

Read more at: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stocks-bonds-puke-powell-hints-sooner-faster-qt

Boston Man Kicked Off Heart Transplant List For Not Being Vaccinated

Boston Man Kicked Off Heart Transplant List For Not Being VaccinatedAuthored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

A Boston man has been shunted from the top of a heart transplant list with doctors saying that it is because he refused to take the COVID vaccine, and thus has less chance of survival.

CBS Boston reports that DJ Furguson was on the waiting list to receive a heart at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, but has since been taken off it.

Read more at: https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/boston-man-kicked-heart-transplant-list-not-being-vaccinated

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Breyer Plans To Retire Before Midterms

Liberal Supreme Court Justice Breyer Plans To Retire Before MidtermsUpdate (1515ET): Some more updates on Justice Breyer’s plans to retire: one Washington reporter claims that “multiple sources” have told her that Breyer wasn’t planning on announcing his retirement today. Now he’s “upset” with how the whole thing has played out. That being said, he has reportedly made up his mind about retirement.

Multiple sources tell me Justice Breyer was not planning to announce his retirement today. They describe him as “upset” with how this has played out. We still await any official notice from his office and/or the #SCOTUS public information office.

— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) January 26, 2022

A bit more clarity. I’m told Justice Breyer had firmly decided on his own to retire and that an announcement was due very soon. And while it appears someone jumped the gun on that, better to characterize him as surprised by events today than “upset”.

— Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) January 26, 2022

Meanwhile, White House Press Sec …

Read more at: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democratic-supreme-court-justice-breyer-plans-retire-midterms-nbc

No SWIFT, No Gas: Russia Responds To Western Threats As US Tries To Orchestrate Workaround

No SWIFT, No Gas: Russia Responds To Western Threats As US Tries To Orchestrate WorkaroundWhile the situation along the Ukrainian border appears to be deescalating – aside from US/UK’s panic coalition, a top Russian official says that if the West follows through on a threat to cut the Kremlin off from the SWIFT payment system, Europe won’t receive Russian oil, gas, or metals.

Vladimir Putin signs a natural gas pipeline in the Russian Far East city of Vladivostok on September 8, 2011. (DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images)On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was in discussions to ban Russia from the Swift global payments system with the United States, calling it a “very potent weapon.”

“I’m afraid it can only really be deployed with …

Read more at: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/no-swift-no-gas-russia-responds-western-threats-us-tries-orchestrate-workaround

US Federal Reserve says rate rise ‘appropriate’ soon

The US central bank is under pressure to rein in rapid price increases in the US.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60148208?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Sainsbury’s and John Lewis asks shoppers and staff to keep wearing masks

John Lewis, Waitrose and Morrisons will also ask customers to keep wearing masks in their shops when Plan B rules end.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60137428?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Jack Monroe hails inflation-measure shake-up

The food poverty campaigner had complained that official figures failed to reflect price rises for the poorest.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60140858?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Here are likely winners from healthcare sector in Budget 2022

Marketmen tracking the sector are anticipating higher allocation towards production linked incentive (PLI) schemes for the healthcare sector for capacity building of sensitive APIs, complex excipients, drug intermediates, biopharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/here-are-likely-winners-from-healthcare-sector-in-budget-2022/articleshow/89137147.cms

Budget: Unleash the gold ecosystem to generate employment and exports

The strongest argument for reducing customs duty is related to what it can do for the economy, chiefly through employment generation and export promotion. However, for this to come about, we must turn away from the bean counting around forex outflows to the positive externalities that would likely present itself over time.

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/commodities/news/budget-unleash-the-gold-ecosystem-to-generate-employment-and-exports/articleshow/89135606.cms

Trade Setup: Nifty may see further pullback but index not out of woods yet

Thursday is likely to see a jittery start to the day; the levels of 17300 and 17430 may act as immediate resistance points. The supports come in at 17180 and 17000 levels. The trading range is expected to stay a little wider than usual.

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/trade-setup-nifty-may-see-further-pullback-but-index-not-out-of-woods-yet/articleshow/89140114.cms

Market Pulse: Dow ends lower and stock market gives up gains as Fed’s Powell sets stage for interest-rate hikes starting in March

U.S. stocks reverse course to end lower Wednesday, with Wall Street mostly erasing gains after the Federal Reserve maintained a hawkish policy stance.

Read more at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B20C05575-04D4-B545-78C1-F9E7AEB038CA%7D&siteid=rss&rss=1

Market Extra: Fed rate hikes loom: These 11 arguments will define ‘titanic’ stock-market battle ahead

A “titanic battle” between stock-market bulls and bears looms as the Federal Reserve prepares to lift interest rates, says Deutsche Bank’s Alan Ruskin.

Read more at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B20C05575-04D4-B545-78BD-B9702B577F01%7D&siteid=rss&rss=1

Washington Watch: Biden promised to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. Here are the leading candidates

President Biden has promised to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, and he’ll now have his chance after reports that Justice Stephen Breyer will retire.

Read more at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B20C05575-04D4-B545-78BF-B23303D27A87%7D&siteid=rss&rss=1