EconCurrents

Wall Street mostly stagnate, choppy trading sideways after the Wednesday selloff. DOW traded in positive territory for most of the day as other U.S. stock indexes declined after Friday’s jobs report. Investors appear to be starting the year with an aversion to long-duration stocks and instead are leaning into Value stocks with closer ties to economic recovery.

Geopolitics And Production Problems Push Oil Prices Higher as U.S. Rig Count rise. The number of active drilling rigs in the United States rose by two this week, keeping the total rig count at 588. As a result, oil prices remain strong despite the fresh wave of Covid-19 cases brought by the new variant of the coronavirus amid several oil disruptions around the globe, including in Libya, Ecuador, and Kazahkstan.

Virgin Orbit stock pops more than 20% as Branson’s company shows off its rocket in Times Square. In other news, Bed Bath & Beyond is closing more stores in 2022. Liquidation sales have kicked off at 37 Bed Bath & Beyond locations in the United States, and the stores expect to be padlocked by the end of February.

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Wall Street was mostly stagnate, sideways choppy trading after the Wednesday selloff. Trading was curbing losses from yesterday as the central bank considers raising interest rates sooner than expected, spooking market investors. The three major indexes remained in the green until late in the session until more investor decided to jump a sinking ship. According to quants at Morgan Stanley, yesterday’s market rout was worse than every selloff in the past five years, including the March 2020 crash.

BTFDers bought the low after the market opened, but to no avail. The DOW closed down 171 points, the NASDAQ down 0.1%, and the S&P 500 slipped down 0.1%. WTI crude moved up moderately, settling at 79. Gold is down fractionally at 1789, with silver at 22.15.

Sundial Research notes that a near-record number of tech stocks have plunged by some 50%, a number that was surpassed only by the March 2021 crash and the global financial crisis.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies slide as global stocks fall after hawkish Fed minutes. Bitcoin is at 43500, and Dogecoin is trading around $0.1610.

Despite persistent supply chain snags, the automobile sector comfortably outperformed the broader market over the past year. Luxury carmaker Bentley reports a second consecutive year of record sales of 14,659 vehicles last year, a 31% increase as other automakers struggle.

Short-Term Interest-Rates (STIRs) continued their hawkish push higher today after The Fed’s Jim Bullard noted that FOMC could start raising policy rates as soon as March, and shrinking the balance sheet will be the next policy step.

Traders and investors were waiting to read the minutes of the December 14-15 FOMC meeting – and were surprised by the following:

In light of elevated inflation pressures and the strengthening labor market, participants judged that the increase in policy accommodation provided by the ongoing pace of net asset purchases was no longer necessary. They remarked that a quicker conclusion of net asset purchases would better position the Committee to set policy to address the full range of plausible economic outcomes. Participants judged that it would be appropriate to double the pace of the ongoing reduction in net asset purchases. Such a change would result in reducing the monthly pace of net purchases of Treasury securities by $20 billion and of agency MBS by $10 billion starting in January. Participants also expected that economic conditions would evolve in a manner such that similar reductions in the pace of net asset purchases would be appropriate each subsequent month, resulting in an end to net asset purchases in mid-March, a few months sooner than participants had anticipated at the November FOMC meeting.

This threw a wrench into the market outlook with the DOW sliding 1.1%, NASDAQ off 3.3% and the S&P down 1.9%. And Bitcoin fell to $44,214.

As usual, we have included below the headlines and news summaries moving the markets today.

Surging sugar stocks sweeten the rally as the DOW closes up 215 points and books 2nd record close of 2022, but tech stocks get whacked. DOW is knocking on the door of a milestone at 37,000 early in 2022 – stay tuned. Nasdaq down 1.3% and the S&P 500 slipped 0.06%.

For a while, it appeared that stocks, especially giga-techs, were willing to ignore the plummeting in Treasuries and were riding the wave of new capital, some $125 billion, according to Goldman.

In other news, China has considerably reduced the allowances for fuel exports by 56% in the first export quota batch for 2022, signaling its intention to limit fuel sales abroad and curb excessive refinery output.

Stocks rise to kick off the new year of trading near record levels. Nasdaq lead the three major stock indexes higher in 2022’s first session, with Tesla and Ford’s shares rallying.
Bonds & bullion battered as big-tech takes off to start the new year

Apple reaches a $3 trillion market cap, and Tesla reported record vehicle deliveries for 2021. However, Ford beat out Tesla as the auto industry’s top growth stock in 2021.
DOW closes up 247 points, NASDAQ up 1.2%, S&P 500 up 0.6%, Tesla jumps 13% and Apple’s stock price surged 3%.

Stocks are higher on the first trading day of 2022 amid travel chaos. However, airline stocks surge despite thousands of holiday flight cancellations as Americans head to the road as air travel appears to be only getting worse. Sunday, 2,600 U.S. airline flights were canceled due to inclement weather and lack of crews.

The Santa Claus rally may have been stopped in its tracks, but 2021 was good for traders and investors with the S&P gaining over 26% on the year. This despite a rough year with constant labor shortages, screwed up supply chains, surprise inflation – not to mention the mother of all COVID surges.

For the final day of the year, the S&P closed down 0.4%, the DOW down 0.2%, and the NASDAQ off 0.6%. WTI crude closed down today at $75.52. Gold up at $1,830. Bitcoin fell to $45,890.

The staff and crew at econcurrents.com wish our readers a safe and rewarding 2022.

As usual, we have included below the headlines and news summaries moving the markets today.

The three major indexes rose to new historic highs at the opening after a better than anticipated job report. Then towards the closing bell investors began to jump ship with one day remaining this week. A flurry of investors decided to record their 2021 losses while they can.

U.S. Treasury yields retreated across the board late Thursday, marking the largest daily drop in about a week. Investors parsed data to cap the final days of 2021 amid signs that the impact of the omicron variant on the economy is muted.

U.S. oil ends near $77, adding to 5-week climb settling higher Thursday as fading concerns about the impact on the economy from the omicron variant of the coronavirus and signs of falling inventories helped to support year-end buying.