Trading Ideas

Supertanker freight rates are on the rise for a second time this month as producers, refiners and traders scramble to secure ships to transport crude or store a fast-growing global glut of oil, industry sources said. Freight rates for very large crude-oil carriers (VLCC) along the Middle East Gulf to China route were assessed at about $180,000 a day on Monday, up from some $125,000 on Friday and a weekly low of about $90,000 a day on Wednesday, according to several ship broking sources. “Its difficult to say whether or not the rates will be sustained, or at …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Airlines worldwide raised more than $17 billion in bank loans in March to shore up their finances amid the coronavirus outbreak.U.S. carriers were the most active, borrowing $12.5 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Delta Air Lines Inc. is the top borrower this month, obtaining $5.6 billion, followed by Singapore Airlines Ltd., which secured a S$4 billion ($2.8 billion) bridge loan, and United Airlines Holdings Inc., which raised $2.5 billion.The airlines have borrowed new loans or drawn down on existing credit lines that they typically didn’t use before the health crisis. Companies in all industries globally have …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — A crushing global shortage of ventilators needed to treat coronavirus patients has sent a German smallcap stock soaring, leaving analysts scrambling to value both the shares and the company’s ability to help combat the crisis.While major German indexes have lost between 17% and 28% in 2020, shares of Draegerwerk AG & Co KGaA have gained about 70%, taking off in mid-March after Germany ordered 10,000 ventilators and other medical equipment from the company. M.M. Warburg analyst Eggert Kuls estimates that each ventilator costs about 20,000 euros, making the deal worth 200 million euros ($221 million) in revenue for …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Oil demand is getting hammered at a faster pace than anyone had predicted and landlocked crude production in the U.S., Russia and Canada is most vulnerable, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.Consumption will drop by 26 million barrels, or 25%, this week as social-distancing measures to contain the coronavirus now impact 92% of global GDP, analysts including Jeff Currie and Damien Courvalin said in a note. There’s been at least 900,000 barrels a day of announced shut-ins at the wellhead, with the true number likely higher and growing by the hour, they said.“The ultimate magnitude of these shut-ins, …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Strategists at JPMorgan Chase & Co. have concluded that most risk assets — a universe that typically includes stocks and credit — have seen their low points for the recession that’s gripped economies around the world.Conditions that JPMorgan had set for market stabilization and revival have largely been met, with recession-like pricing, a reversal in investor positioning and extraordinary fiscal stimulus, strategists led by John Normand wrote in a note Friday. Coronavirus infection rates remain a “wild card,” as they remain high even if they’re “slowing” in the U.S. and Europe.“Risky markets should remain volatile as long as …read more […]

Major U.S. airlines asked the U.S. Treasury to move quickly to release up to $58 billion in government grants and loans and recommended a formula to divide up the money. The letter was signed by the chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Alaska Air Group, JetBlue Airways Corp, Southwest Airlines Co, Hawaiian Airlines and Atlas Air Worldwide. …read more […]

We hate to say this but, we told you so. On February 27th we published an article with the title Recession is Imminent: We Need A Travel Ban NOW and predicted a US recession when the S&P 500 Index was trading at the 3150 level. We also told you to short the market and buy […] …read more […]

Asian shares slid on Monday and oil prices took another tumble as fears mounted that the global shutdown for the coronavirus could last for months, doing untold harm to economies despite central banks’ best efforts. “We continue to mark down 1H20 global GDP forecasts as our assessment of both the global pandemic’s reach and the damage related to necessary containment policies has increased,” said JPMorgan economist Bruce Kasman. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 skidded 1.2% right from the bell, and Japan’s Nikkei 3.7%. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — SoftBank Group Corp. fell as much as 10% after a satellite operator it invested in filed for bankruptcy, ceding some gains from an unprecedented plan to sell assets and buy back shares.OneWeb made the filing late Friday U.S. time after raising about $3.3 billion in debt and equity financing from shareholders including SoftBank, Airbus SE and Qualcomm Inc. since its inception. At least $1 billion of that came from SoftBank, which said it first invested in December 2016 and declined to give a total amount.It is the latest blow to SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, who last week unveiled …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Insurers the world over have been walloped by evaporating investment returns, but those in South Korea have been hit particularly hard. Just consider this: The nation’s second-largest life insurer became a penny stock this month.Hanwha Life Insurance Co. has fallen 66% over the past year, and its shares touched the equivalent of about 71 cents on March 23. Its price-to-book value is just 0.1 times, a fraction the 0.8 average for European insurers or 0.9 among U.S. counterparts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.The latest slump in markets, which has seen the South Korean won tumble — casting …read more […]

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Stocks were poised to extend losses Monday as the coronavirus pandemic deepened over the weekend, with the U.S. death toll escalating. …read more […]

President Trump on Sunday said he was extending the administration’s social-distancing guidelines for another 30 days through the end of April, after saying for days that he was hoping to open up the country in the coming weeks. …read more […]

(Bloomberg) — Crude dropped to its lowest in 17 years as virus lockdowns cascaded through the world’s largest economies, leaving the market overwhelmed by cratering demand and an unmanageable surplus.Futures in London fell as much as 7.6% to their lowest since November 2002 while also slumping in New York to trade below $20 a barrel. Physical oil markets are struggling to store fuel, hit by a double whammy of coronavirus restrictions eroding demand while Saudi Arabia and Russia dig in their heels over a damaging war for market share.The kingdom said on Friday that it hadn’t had any contact with …read more […]

Asian share markets looked set for a rocky start on Monday as U.S. stock futures took an early spill amid fears the global shutdown for the coronavirus could last for months, doing untold harm to economies. Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB, said the main question for markets was whether all the stimulus would be enough to help the global economy withstand the shock. “To answer this question, one needs to know the magnitude of the containment measures and for how long they will be implemented,” he added. …read more […]