12May2022 Market Close & Major Financial Headlines: Markets Little Changed With Bears In Control. S&P Down 18% This Year.

A Global Energy Shortage Is Putting Bitcoin Under Pressure

It has been a difficult start to the year for crypto markets and, as prices have plunged, the industrys energy consumption has come back into the spotlight. Crypto miners are racing to make digital currencies greener by using renewable energy sources to power operations, while others head to gas sites to use waste carbon for mining. But with uncertainty clouding Bitcoins future, gas project operators are starting to reconsider partnering with crypto miners. The poor environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining is gaining increasing

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/A-Global-Energy-Shortage-Is-Putting-Bitcoin-Under-Pressure.html

Russia Could Cut Gas Supplies To Finland Tomorrow

Hours after Moscow warned there would be retaliation for Helsinkis announcement that it is applying for NATO membership, Finnish media reports that the Kremlin threatened to cut the country off from Russian gas by Friday. Citing unnamed sources, Finlands Iltalehti reported the Russian warning to politicians, who refrained from specific comment. Prior to this warning, the local media outlet noted expectations that Finland would be cut off from Russian gas after May 23rd, when its next contract payment with Gazprom comes

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Russia-Could-Cut-Gas-Supplies-To-Finland-Tomorrow.html

Finland Looks To Join NATO Without Delay

As heavy fighting continues to rage in eastern Ukraine, Finland has said it intends to apply to join NATO “without delay,” in a major policy shift that sees the Nordic country, which shares a long border with Russia, abandoning decades of neutrality. “NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance. Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay,” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement on May 12. “We hope that

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Finland-Looks-To-Join-NATO-Without-Delay.html

A Ban On Excessive Gasoline Prices Heading To Congress For Vote

A piece of legislation that would ban excessive gasoline prices is headed for a vote in Congress next week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday afternoon. The bill, known as the Price Gouging Prevention Act of 2022 and introduced by Democrat senators Tammy Baldwin, Elizabeth Warren, and Democrat Representative Jan Schakowsky, comes in response to what Pelosi calls a major exploitation of gasoline consumers. High gasoline prices continue to plague the current administration due to a well-known history of high gasoline prices

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/A-Ban-On-Excessive-Gasoline-Prices-Heading-To-Congress-For-Vote.html

Gold And Silver Fall As Rising Interest Rates Dampen Sentiment

Rising interest rates tend to dampen investor sentiment toward precious metals. Gold and silver typically act as a store of value, particularly during periods of high inflation. Therefore, the Feds half-point interest rate increase can largely be blamed for recent price weakness. In essence, the market has priced in the policies deployed by the Fed. During times of uncertainty, gold and silver are considered safe-haven assets. In this case, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, stubbornly high inflation, and the VIX (volatility index) are providing

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Gold-And-Silver-Fall-As-Rising-Interest-Rates-Dampen-Sentiment.html

More Oil From U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Heads To Europe

Europe is set to receive more cargoes of U.S. crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as the European Union discusses an oil embargo on Russia and looks to reduce reliance on Russian oil, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing tanker-tracking data and sources with knowledge of the shipments. In recent weeks, Europe has increased purchases of U.S. crude as it considers the details of a ban on imports of Russian crude and refined products. A week after the European Commission officially proposed a full ban on Russian crude and oil

Read more at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/More-Oil-From-US-Strategic-Petroleum-Reserve-Heads-To-Europe.html

Ahead of hurricane season and summer storms, be sure you know how weather events are covered by your homeowners insurance

Regardless of where you live, it’s important to know which types of weather-related damage your homeowners insurance covers.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/ahead-of-summer-storms-check-homeowners-policy-for-weather-coverage.html

Tax professionals ‘horrified’ by IRS decision to destroy data on 30 million filers

The IRS destroyed an estimated 30 million so-called paper-filed information returns in March 2021, sparking anger from the tax community.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/tax-pros-horrified-by-irs-decision-to-destroy-data-on-30-million-filers.html

Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Carvana, GameStop, AMC, General Motors and more

These are the stocks posting the largest moves in midday trading.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-carvana-gamestop-amc-general-motors-and-more.html

U.S. licenses key Covid vaccine technology to WHO so other countries can develop shots

The license would help the World Health Organization work with manufacturers around the world to produce their own Covid-19 vaccines.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/covid-nih-licenses-key-covid-vaccine-technology-to-who-so-other-countries-can-develop-shots.html

The stocks of several electric vehicle companies surged on Thursday

Beaten-up shares of several EV start-ups traded sharply higher on Thursday.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/electric-vehicle-stocks-surge.html

Boeing considers redesigning problematic valve that has kept Starliner from flying NASA astronauts

Boeing is examining whether to redesign the propulsion valves on its Starliner crew capsule, a system has already kept the company from flying astronauts.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/boeing-considers-redesigning-crucial-valve-for-starliner-space-capsule.html

GameStock jumps 10% in odd trading; AMC shares also rise

Two main meme stocks unexpectedly jumped Thursday, with no apparent news driving the moves.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/gamestop-surges-more-than-30percent-and-is-halted-in-odd-trading-amc-shares-also-pop.html

Rivian is recalling about 500 of its electric pickups for a child-safety defect

Affected vehicles may not properly disable the airbag when a child is in the front seat.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/rivian-recalls-some-r1t-trucks-over-child-airbag-defect.html

GM shares hit new 52-week low following Wells Fargo downgrade

Wells Fargo lowered GM’s rating after market close Wednesday to “underweight” and cut the company’s price target from $74 a share to $33 a share.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/gm-shares-hit-new-52-week-low-following-wells-fargo-downgrade.html

Op-ed:  That college degree is no longer the only path to achieving the American Dream

As employers recognize that the lack of a four-year college degree doesn’t mean a potential worker doesn’t have value, the return on investment for university graduates is dropping.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/that-college-degree-is-no-longer-the-only-path-to-the-american-dream.html

U.S. airline bookings dropped 17% in April as flights got even more expensive

Domestic fares continued to surpass 2019 levels due to a rebound in demand and more expensive fuel this year.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/us-airline-bookings-dropped-17percent-in-april-flights-got-even-pricier.html

Gasoline, diesel prices rise to another record amid rampant inflation

Prices at the pump are at the highest on record.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/gasoline-diesel-prices-rise-to-another-record-amid-rampant-inflation.html

5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

U.S. stock futures dropped Thursday as the broad sell-off and revaluation of risk assets continued.

Read more at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/12/5-things-to-know-before-the-stock-market-opens-thursday-may-12.html

Bonds Bid As Nasdaq Faces Worst Drawdown Since ‘Lehman’

Bonds Bid As Nasdaq Faces Worst Drawdown Since ‘Lehman’And the word of the day is…

Another chaotic day in the illiquid US equity markets with bloodbathery rescued in the last hour by yet another magical mysterious bid helped by SF Fed’s Mary Daly commenting that hiking by 50bps per meeting is likely (which somehow the market sees as bullish!!!)…

The ramp at the close had the smell of a short-squeeze test – look at the price action in CVNA, MST …

Read more at: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bonds-bid-sp-enters-bear-nasdaq-plunges-worst-drawdown-lehman

Markets Expect The Fed To Do Something It Has Never Done Before

Markets Expect The Fed To Do Something It Has Never Done BeforeBy Ye Xie, Bloomberg Markets Live commentator and analyst

Current market pricing is inconsistent with the notion that Jerome Powell will do whatever it takes to bring down inflation.

Bloomberg’s ECAN function allows you to see visually how investors expect the CPI to evolve in coming years, based on inflation swaps. The current pricing suggests that investors expect CPI to fall from the current above 8% to 5.86% by December, and to end 2023 at 4.09%. That is still way higher than the Fed’s projections.

Meanwhile, traders expect the Fed funds rate to peak at a little under 3% next year and start declining in 2024. In other words, markets expect the Fed to end the cycle with a negative 1% real rate. In modern history, this has never happened before. The Fed has only stopped tightening when real rates moved to positive territory, as Bipan Rai at CIBC points out.

Read more at: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/markets-expect-fed-do-something-it-has-never-done

SoftBank’s Vision Funds Report Historic $27 Billion Loss

SoftBank’s Vision Funds Report Historic $27 Billion LossWhile the unraveling of ARK (and its flagship fund ARKK in particular) have come to epitomize the unraveling of the pandemic-era tech boom, Cathie Wood and company are rank amatures compared with Masa Son and SoftBank, who have seen their portfolio of rising tech firms hammered by the trifecta of global economic contagion: Rising rates in the US, China’s COVID-inspired lockdowns (and before that, Beijing’s crackdown on Chinese tech) and the fighting in Ukraine (and the inflationary hellscape that rising oil and food prices have unleashed).

We noted back in March that SoftBank’s portfolio had seen $25 billion evaporate. Since then, the bleeding has only worsened.

To wit, SoftBank’s two Vision Funds have posted historic investment losses of ¥3.5 trillion ($27.5 billion) over the 12 months to March 31 as the funds’ biggest holdings were pummeled by rising interest rates and Beijing’s crackdown on the tech sector.

These …

Read more at: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/softbanks-vision-funds-report-historic-27-billion-loss

Democrats Silent As Republicans Rip Into Secret Royalty Checks To Fauci, Hundreds Of NIH Scientists

Democrats Silent As Republicans Rip Into Secret Royalty Checks To Fauci, Hundreds Of NIH ScientistsAuthored by Mark Tapscott via The Epoch Times,

Top Democratic leaders with oversight of the National Institutes for Health (NIH) are keeping quiet about the $350 million in secret payments to agency leaders like Dr. Anthony Fauci and hundreds of its scientists.

The Epoch Times received no responses from multiple requests to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) for comment on a report by a non-profit government watchdog estimating that Fauci, former NIH director Francis Collins, and hundreds of NIH scientists got as much as $350 million in undisclosed royalty payments from pharmaceutical and other private firms between 2010 and 2020.

The

Read more at: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democrats-silent-republicans-rip-secret-royalty-checks-fauci-hundreds-nih-scientists

Chicken products recalled over salmonella fears

Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Aldi are among grocers asking some products to be returned to stores.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61424999?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Recession fears grow as rising prices hit spending

People spent less in shops and cut down on car journeys leading to the economy shrinking in March.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61419388?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Zara starts charging shoppers for online returns

But customers can still return clothes purchased online from the fashion giant for free in stores.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61423753?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Tech View: What signals bearish candle on Nifty50 is sending for Friday’s trading

Even as the index is in oversold territory, as suggested by the 14-day RSI reading of 27, analysts said the trend broadly stays negative and the index could retest a swing low of 15,670 sooner than later. For the day, the index closed at 15,808, down 359 points or 2.22 per cent.

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/tech-view-nifty50-oversold-but-any-big-respite-unlikely/articleshow/91519292.cms

80% of BSE500 stocks in bear grip; 40 firms erase half of investor wealth

According to the data from Ace Equity, as many as 400 stocks from the BSE500 index have tumbled between 20-76 per cent from their respective 52-week highs. BSE500 index constitutes about 95 per cent of the total market capitalization of BSE.

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/80-of-bse500-stocks-in-bear-grip-40-firms-erase-half-of-investor-wealth/articleshow/91512226.cms

Nifty pullback on cards: Over 20 stocks to choose from 10 sectors

From the April high of 18,115 for Nifty50, a 14 per cent correction would mature at 15,580, the brokerage said.

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/nifty-pullback-on-cards-over-20-stocks-to-chose-from-across-10-sectors/articleshow/91508679.cms

Lawrence A. Cunningham’s Quality Investing: Buffett’s estate plan to benefit charities could kill Berkshire Hathaway as we know it

Powerful institutional shareholders do not care about the unique qualities that have made Berkshire what it is today.

Read more at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B20C05575-04D4-B545-7D39-87ABC5A83C29%7D&siteid=rss&rss=1

Futures Movers: U.S. oil benchmark ekes out win as supply worries remain in focus

Oil futures erase early losses to eke out a gain in choppy trade.

Read more at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B20C05575-04D4-B545-7D2E-3530E0A4ECEE%7D&siteid=rss&rss=1

Washington Watch: Here’s how Biden could move to cancel student loans

President Joe Biden has made headlines by saying he’ll roll out a plan for canceling federal student loans “in the next couple of weeks” — and that he’ll aim to forgive less than $50,000 in debt per borrower. So what’s likely to happen actually?

Read more at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B20C05575-04D4-B545-7CAB-50BAF64F5862%7D&siteid=rss&rss=1