HOUSTON (Reuters) – Texas energy firms on Friday began to prepare for oil and gas production after days of frozen shutdowns as electric power and water service slowly resumed at darkened oilfields and refineries. It will take several days for oilfield crews to deice valves, restart systems and begin oil and gas production. U.S. Gulf Coast refiners face five- to seven-day restarts with low water pressure continuing to hamper operations even as power is being restored, said people familiar with the matter. Millions of people across Texas shivered in the dark this week after a severe winter storm laid siege to the state, with demand for natural gas spiking and supplies needed to power electric generators and heat homes drying up. Estimates vary, but the unusually cold weather in Texas and the Plains states curtailed up to 4 million barrels per day of crude oil production and 21 billion cubic feet of natural gas, according to analysts. Texas refiners halted about a fifth of the nation’s oil processing amid power outages and severe cold. The freeze offs, which can occur when water in the gas turns to ice, led utilities to call for conservation measures from California to West Virginia. Ford Motor Co halted production in Kansas City, Missouri, because of a lack of natural gas. Mexico, which imports large volumes of natural gas from the United States, experienced blackouts in northern states bordering Texas, with some factories reporting billions in losses on limited natural gas supplies from Texas. Texas on Wednesday ordered gas producers to halt exports needed by state utilities through Sunday, sparking Mexico to call the U.S. envoy to press for natural gas supplies. But in the U.S., the move did not appear to affect deliveries beyond Texas’ borders. California’s power exchange and the MISO, an exchange that handles 15 U.S. states, both said they had not seen any impact. More natural gas will soon be flowing. Chevron Corp and ConocoPhillips have begun restoring shale output, and Chevron will prioritize natural gas production. Texas oil and gas regulators and a DiamondBack Energy executive also reported that power was being restored to west Texas, where oil production was shut by record snowfall and power outages. “The majority of our Permian and Eagle Ford volumes remain offline,” said Conoco spokeswoman April Andrews, referring to the two major Texas shale fields. Conoco, the top U.S. independent oil producer, is ready to bring back full operations across its U.S. operations outside of Alaska once power and other infrastructure outages end, she said. Nick Note: Their is fantasy and their is reality…. I live in reality and make my living taking money from people living in la la land. Reality is the electric car is nothing new. The electric motor is pretty standard fare. the advantage is a electric motor last for ever and is virtually maintenance free. The problem as we all know is the battery. In an electric car it is literally thousands of lithium cells (like in your computer battery) that are linked together. But their is another problem… REALITY is most of the worlds electricity is generated by coal. So your greene winnie electric car basically burns the most polluting fuel known to man….. DIRTY COAL. And the cost of grid storage and distribution will be more then the cost of generation. The wet dream of the grennie winnies is solar and wind to power a world wide electric car fleet. Their is a problem. The grid can not handle the distributive load or generate enough electricity to charge 200 million+ cars in America alone. Oh i almost forgot to mention wind and solar generation cannot do the job. At the very time most people will charge their computer battery cars (night time) is when solar panels go to sleep because their is no sun. And usually the wind dies down at night. Natural gas fired turbines is one solution which the grennies reject. And their is nuclear which glow in the dark hysteria reject out of hand. Which means the green revolution is a fraud. And frozen iced solid wind turbines and failed natural gas systems plus solar panels that do not work worth a shit on cloudy winter days in Texas reveal how fragile the system really is. i have lived off the grin for decades and we come to you from my 100kw installed solar system. I am an expert. My battery cars are 100% charged off of our solar system. I have wired into our greenoie winnie cars with high tech transformers that take the 500 DCV output of the car batteries and reduce them to 48VDC ( which is the voltage my 3 phase inverters run) as part of a complicated system where the car batteries become storage for the excess power my solar cells generate. Let me be clear here the America joke grid and generation capacity cannot support 200 million electric cars. Not now and not in the foreseeable future. Wind does not work… and solar is day time electricity. To hook the US grid to batteries and bulk up on solar panels is a multi trillion dollar endeavor… with no real benefit. For mere billions America could switch to LPG and CNG as a transportation fuel using existing technology and infrastructure. And that will give Scottie time to ramp up the lithium crystals. Oh did i mention their is not enough Lithium in the world to build the batteries to power a global fleet of electric cars.
GameStop ban wasn’t intended to help hedge funds – Robinhood CEO
(Reuters) – Wall Street hedge fund managers, the chief executives of Robinhood and Reddit and a YouTube streamer known as Roaring Kitty on Wednesday defended their roles in GameStop’s Reddit-fueled stock rally before they face a grilling by lawmakers. They insisted that while the market turmoil around the stock was unprecedented, there was no foul play, according to official testimony published by the House Financial Services Committee a day before a scheduled hearing. (https://bit.ly/3pucdNd) Last month’s Reddit rally drove massive volatility in GameStop and other shares, prompting the post-trade clearing houses that guarantee trades to call for billions of dollars in collateral from Robinhood and other retail trading platforms. In response, many suspended buying in the affected stocks on Jan. 28. This outraged lawmakers, who questioned if the trading platforms were siding with hedge funds that had bet against the shares over Mom and Pop investors. Vladimir Tenev, CEO of online brokerage Robinhood, wrote in his testimony that the decision to halt buying was solely due to the need to meet regulatory capital requirements. Gabriel Plotkin said he was “humbled” when his hedge fund Melvin Capital Management suffered significant losses on the short end of the trade, but insisted his firm did not push Robinhood to suspend trading. Likewise, Ken Griffin, CEO of hedge fund Citadel LLC and majority owner of Citadel Securities, a market maker that handles most of Robinhood’s customer orders, disputed speculation that his firm tried to influence Robinhood’s decision. “I want to be perfectly clear: We had no role in Robinhood’s decision to limit trading in GameStop or any other of the ‘meme’ stocks. I first learned of Robinhood’s trading restrictions only after they were publicly announced,” he wrote. Keith Gill, who touted his GameStop investment for months on his Roaring Kitty YouTube channel and Reddit, insisted his position was solely based on publicly known fundamentals of the business and it was “preposterous” to suggest he sought to entice unwitting investors to buy shares. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said the company had analyzed traffic on the Reddit sub-feed WallStreetBets where users congregate to discuss stocks. The company found no bots, foreign agents or bad actors played a significant role in a traffic that helped drive interest in GameStop.”WallStreetBets is first and foremost a real community,” he said. On Thursday, the House committee will hear from the five men, as well as from Jennifer Schulp, director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute. Lawmakers have directed most of their ire at Robinhood, but Tenev insisted his company had little choice but to suspend buying. He provided extensive detail on demands from clearing houses for the firm to put up billions of dollars in additional collateral to meet regulatory requirements. He also dismissed the idea that Robinhood acted at behest of any hedge funds, calling such speculation “absolutely false and market-distorting rhetoric,” while noting its customer agreement and securities rules give it discretion to freeze trading. Griffin used the opportunity to point to flaws in the post-trade infrastructure, noting that faster settlement times and “transparent clearing house capital requirements,” could help reduce risks to brokers like Robinhood and its customers. Nick Note: What the hell did they expect to happen. Get in a chat room and disclose your positions. I can tell you it could end up no other way but them getting butt fucked!
Fed to focus on pro-growth, pro-job policies – Brainard
Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Lael Brainard (pictured) stated on Thursday the central bank would focus on “sustainable” “pro-growth, pro-job” policies to help the economy recover from the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “Those are the kinds of priorities that square very well with our overall framework, which is to ensure the economy is at maximum employment in a sustainable way,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Brainard called for reforms to the system that would add “standardized, reliable, and mandatory disclosures” on how companies are preparing to face the impact of climate change. The Federal Reserve’s emerging focus on climate change won’t lessen its focus on achieving maximum employment, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said on Thursday in response to questions about whether a transition away from carbon-based fuel will kill jobs. The Fed will be focused on long-term risks of climate change but also how the transition to a less carbon-dependent economy “might affect our economic growth over the medium to long term,” Brainard said in comments to an Institute of International Finance summit on climate change. “The focus on investments in a sustainable economy that are pro-growth, that are pro-jobs, those are the kinds of priorities that square very well with our overall framework, which is to ensure the economy is at maximum employment in a sustainable way,” she said. Her remarks were focused on the need for financial firms and their supervisors, including at the Fed, to take more explicit account of the risks climate changes poses to industry business plans and portfolios, and to invest in the complex models and data analysis needed to do so. Nick Note: their only choice is to keep the economy stoked. Its far cheaper to throw a trillion here and a trillion their at the economy. Then have a 100 trillion dollar wipe out…
Pfizer says South African variant could significantly reduce protective antibodies
Scientists win Nobel chemistry prize for ‘genetic scissors’
Two scientists have been awarded the 2020 Nobel prize in chemistry for developing the genetic scissors used in gene editing – the first time two women have shared the prize. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna will share the 10m Swedish kronor (£870,000) prize announced on Wednesday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. The researchers won the prize for “the development of a method for genome editing”, according to the formal citation from the Nobel committee. Cheaper, faster and more accurate than other gene editing tools, the harnessing of the CRISPR-Cas9 system has revolutionised the field of genetic engineering, with its impact felt across biomedical research, clinical medicine, agriculture and wider society. However, it is the technology’s potential to treat or prevent human diseases that has generated the most excitement, as well as controversy over attempts to use it to create gene-edited babies. Prof Charpentier is director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin. As so often in science, her landmark discovery came out of the pursuit of a seemingly obscure area of research – in this case, into an ancient system which bacteria use to defend themselves against viruses. CRISPR – short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats – equips bacteria with the ability to recognise genetic sequences which viruses insert into their DNA, and disable them by snipping the DNA with a set of molecular scissors. Although researchers were aware of this system, Charpentier characterised the components of the scissors, by studying the bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes, which causes tonsillitis, scarlet fever, and other serious human infections. After publishing her discovery in 2011, she began collaborating with Prof Doudna, a biochemist at the University of California, to try and recreate the molecular scissors in a test tube, as well as simplifying their components to make them easier to use. Once this had been achieved, they set about reprogramming the scissors so that, rather than just snipping RNA (a single-stranded messenger molecule that normally delivers genetic instructions from DNA) from viruses, they could be used to recognise and cut any DNA sequence at will. “They had created programmable genetic scissors,” said Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel committee for chemistry. “There is enormous power in this genetic tool, which affects us all.” Soon afterwards, other scientists showed it was possible to do this in cells, and then whole organisms. When cells detects the damage caused by the scissors, they try to fix it, often disabling the gene in the process. This can be useful for turning off harmful genes, but other types of repairs are also possible, such as replacing mutated DNA with a healthy section to correct genetic diseases. Since Charpentier and Doudna began harnessing the scissors in 2012, their use has escalated. Plant researchers have created crops that can withstand mould, pests and drought, while clinical trials of new cancer therapies and techniques for curing inherited diseases are currently underway. The technology has also generated controversy, as scientists have tried to use it to correct genetic defects in human embryos. Doudna has previously admitted to worrying about how the technology she helped develop might be used, including even dreaming that Hitler approached her about potential applications. “Global transparency is a key step in ensuring responsible use of the technology in the future,” she said. Nick Note: Meet Frankenstein the monster that will ravage the human race. I can tell you for a fact that N.Korea, China and Russia have mastered this technology. The Gennie is out of the test tube. I can tell you as we speak their DNA labs have been unleashed and are literally creating monsters. FOR A FACT THEY ARE SPLICING HUMAN DNA WITH ANIMAL They are creating half man half animals that could end up devouring human kind. Look their is nothing to do about this. And you thought all you had to worry about GMO corn! We are talking the stuff Armageddon is made of. Top scientists have been quietly disclosing that the Coronavirus may have been a crisper splice and the new variants may represent further genetic engineering of the spike protein. Why? simple you create a variant the vaccines can not detect or stop.
Researchers urge delay in administering Pfizer vaccine’s second dose, cite strong data
US producer prices up 1.3% in January
Seasonally adjusted producer prices for final demand in the United States grew by 1.3% year-on-year in January, the largest increase since the index was established in 2009, the country’s Department of Labor reported on Wednesday. The final demand services index advanced 1.3%, while the prices for final demand goods grew 1.4%. For services, the 9.4% increase in prices for portfolio management contributed the most, while a 13.6% jump in gasoline prices affected the goods indicator the most. On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand climbed 1.7%. Nick Note: this is simply a fluke as the supply chain recovers. THEIR IS NO INFLATION AND THEIR WILL BE NO INFLATION. As you can see by this next story the Fed will not jump. The numbers we have seen today further affirms our view that a monster stock market rally is in progress followed by the mother of all stock market wipe outs!
Inflation unlikely to hit 2% goal within a year – Fed’s Rosengren
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s President Eric Rosengren said on Wednesday that if a problem with inflation was to occur, “the Fed will take care of it.” Although Rosengren noted he would be surprised if sustained inflation rate hit Fed’s 2% goal within the next year or two. He also mentioned that the major inflation measures right now are “quite low”. Rosengren added that payroll creation was very low in January and the United States still has “a lot more to do” to fix the labor market and its “quite large” existing gap. According to Rosengren, the coronavirus and vaccination developments still lead the economy and the labor market is disrupted. Nick note: It remains to be seen how effective the mass vaccinations really are and how long they will last. The bigger issue are the mutations and how fast the booster shot will take to develop and deploy. Markets are not bothered by such details. One thing this global plague has done its made the masses crazy as in stir crazy with a dose of cabin fervor. So look fpr the masses to go absolutely bonkers crazy and the markets will join in the fun. Like the stock market after WWII. But in the wings lurks two problems. the first being market valuations that can never be justified by profits never mind by dividends. And the second is the mathematical probability a strain of the virus emerges that starts killing the mass vaccinated people……
ESMA: Investments based on data from social media are risky
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has released a statement to highlight to retail investors the risks connected with trading decisions based exclusively on exchanges of views, informal recommendations and sharing of trading intentions through social networks and unregulated online platforms – or as we call it for short, social trading. The statement was issued as part of ESMA’s investor protection objective to safeguard retail investors. ESMA stated that several recent episodes have seen certain US stocks experience high price volatility based on information shared on social media. Although market rules and structures are different in the European Union, the regulator stated that it cannot be ruled out that similar circumstances may develop in the EU. And it is clear that ESMA wants to work to prevent that from happening. The US events ESMA refers to were a large group of retail traders, sharing views on Reddit “Wallstreetbets”, ended up initiating short squeezes in a number of heavily shorted US stocks such as GameStop and AMC Entertainment in late January and early February. The social-driven action caused huge losses to (primarily) large institutional investors who had large short positions, but the wild up-and-then-back-down short squeeze play also drew in a large number of unprepared retail traders looking to make a quick buck. Some did, but some also lost big. The market craziness also caught a lot of brokers unprepared, some of which limited trading in certain stocks while others simply stopped taking on new clients for a while. The ESMA statement highlights the following issues:
❑ Investors need to use reliable information for investment decisions;
❑ Increased risk of investor loss due to price volatility; and
❑ Risk of committing market abuse.
ESMA said that alongside the EU’s various national financial regulators it will continue analysing market events and consider adopting further initiatives aimed at preserving investor protection and market integrity as appropriate. Social trading has been around in various forms for as long as social networking has been with us (anyone remember Currensee?), but has really just taken off lately. Some FX and CFD brokers have made social trading a mainstay of their offerings, with some very good results being seen by firms such as eToro and NAGA.com. The full statement issued by ESMA reads as follows:
17 February 2021
STATEMENT
Episodes of very high volatility in trading of certain stocks
Recent episodes have shown very high volatility in certain US stocks, linked to a significant accumulation of net short positions and concerted action by some retail investors, based on information shared on social media.
Although market rules and structures are different in the EU, it cannot be ruled out that similar circumstances may occur in the EU as well.
An increased participation of retail investors in stock markets is welcome for the development of the Capital Markets Union. Nonetheless, ESMA urges retail investors to be careful when taking investment decisions based exclusively on information from social media and other unregulated online platforms, if they cannot verify the reliability and quality of that information.
A key step for any investor before making an investment decision is to gather investment information from reliable sources, while keeping in mind one’s investment objectives, the benefits of diversification and the ability to bear losses.
Price volatility increases investors’ risk of loss Retail investors face significant risks when investing in stocks characterised by very high price volatility. Volatility could be increased by many factors including when stocks are subject to heavy short selling. Price trends can suddenly come to a halt and reverse, quickly exposing retail clients to heavy losses.
Those using trading strategies that involve leverage are exposed to even greater risks as leverage increases investor’s exposure to potential losses. Examples are day-trading strategies in which margin trading, i.e. trading with money borrowed from the firm, or derivatives are used. ESMA stresses that trading with leverage is complex and should be entered into with a full understanding of the risks.
Market abuse risks
Discussing the opportunity to buy or sell the shares of an issuer does not constitute market abuse. However, organising or executing coordinated strategies to trade or place orders at certain conditions and times to move a share’s price could constitute market manipulation.
Similarly, special care should be taken when posting information on social media about an issuer or a financial instrument, as disseminating false or misleading information may also be market manipulation. Additionally, care should be taken when disseminating investment recommendations through any media, including social media and online platforms, as they are subject to a number of regulatory requirements.
ESMA and the National Competent Authorities will continue analysing market events and consider adopting further initiatives aimed at preserving investor protection and market integrity as appropriate. Nick Note: we monitor social media 24?7 and i get reports constantly. I have never seen a bigger bunch of stupid fucks. It will be the biggest stock market wipe out ever with the biggest loses of the retail investor…….I cannot wait!
UK gives go-ahead to expose volunteers to COVID in medical trial
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to allow volunteers to be exposed to the COVID-19 virus to advance medical research into the pandemic. The trial, which will begin within a month, will see up to 90 healthy volunteers aged 18-30 exposed to COVID-19 in a safe and controlled environment to increase understanding of how the virus affects people, the government said. In order to make the trial as safe as possible, the version of the virus that has been circulating in England since March 2020 will be used rather than one of the new variants. The study will initially seek to establish the smallest amount of virus needed to cause infection, it said. Volunteers could then be given vaccine candidates before being exposed to the virus. The volunteers will be compensated for taking part. British Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the study would help to find the best and most effective vaccines for use over the longer term. “These human challenge studies will take place here in the UK and will help accelerate scientists’ knowledge of how coronavirus affects people and could eventually further the rapid development of vaccines,” he said. .The government’s vaccines task force, Imperial College London, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and clinical company hVIVO, which has pioneered viral human challenge models, are working on the study. Nick Note: The English do not get the Dr Mengele human research price. Equivalent to the Nobel high explosive funded peace prixe. The Chinese first infect its population to see what the virus would do. And when they saw how devastating it is they sent Chinned (tourists) infected citizens to infect the world. As i point in fact i prefer they do research on humans and spare my beloved dogs….. who are much nicer to me then people!
US government extends foreclosure moratorium
https://youtu.be/zoWlxbGhdiw
The Biden administration announced Tuesday that it would extend the foreclosure moratorium and mortgage forbearance through the end of June. The actions would block home foreclosures and offer delayed mortgage payments until July, as well as offer six months of additional mortgage forbearance for those who enroll on or before June 30. The actions are an extension of an order that was originally enacted under the Trump administration in March of last year. President Joe Biden — as one of 17 orders he signed on his first day in office — initially extended the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums through the end of March. The eviction moratorium remains in effect through March but was not included in the actions announced Tuesday. The departments of Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture will work together to enact the actions, according to the announcement from the White House. Resources for homeowners will be consolidated on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s website. The White House announcement also pushed for quick passage of
Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package, arguing the bill would provide states with $10 billion to assist homeowners with mortgage and utility costs.
The Biden administration said Tuesday that 2.7 million homeowners are enrolled in the Covid-19 mortgage forbearance program, which remains available to an additional 11 million government-backed mortgages. Nick Note: Happy season is upon us. No mortgage payment, no rent… more money for Robin Hood trading.