Markets: Welcome to the first full trading week of 2025,...
Markets: Welcome to the first full trading week of 2025, wherein stocks will try to snap out of their New Year’s malaise. Despite a bounce-back day on Friday, the three major indexes are down over their last five trading sessions (the Santa Claus rally wasn’t a thing this year). Still, the clouds have dissipated above CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm at the heart of the largest IT outage in history last year. Its stock has been fully rebooted since that debacle, regaining all of the $30 billion in market cap it lost in the aftermath.
The suspected New Orleans attacker made two visits to the city recently and used Meta smart glasses to film the area and plan the attack, an FBI agent said.
Jeff Baena, a screenwriter and director, died on Friday. He was the husband of Aubrey Plaza.
Starlink wi-fi services will be available on United flights beginning in the spring.
One year after a door plug blew out of an aircraft during an Alaska Airlines flight, Boeing is still trying to climb out of a steep hole.
NatGas in Storage Shows YOY Drop for First Time Since 2022
U.S. natural gas crossed a storage threshold, according to the U.S. Energy...
U.S. natural gas crossed a storage threshold, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly storage report on Jan. 3.
For the first time since December 2022, the amount of gas in storage decreased year-over-year, according to the EIA. The market was not bullish on the news, however, as the natural gas price fell following warm weather forecasts and reported production increases.
The U.S. withdrew 116 Bcf of natural gas from storage for the week ending Dec. 27, leaving the total amount of storage at 3.529 Tcf. During the same period in 2023, the U.S. held 3.480 Tcf of natural gas, or 67 Bcf more.
It was the first time in two years that overall storage levels fell from 12 months before, according to analysts. Stocks still remain higher than the five-year average of 3.259 Tcf, according to the EIA.
Mike Johnson reelected as House speaker. The vote was...
Mike Johnson reelected as House speaker. The vote was a nailbiter, but ultimately Johnson, who had the backing of President-elect Donald Trump, won over enough of his Republican colleagues to hang onto his gavel. With Democrats voting for their own leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and the GOP’s narrow 219-215 House majority, Johnson could only afford to lose one vote from his own party—and several from the party’s right flank appeared to be holding out before the vote. But Johnson won on the first ballot after convincing two Republicans who had opposed him to switch their votes so that multiple rounds of voting were not required.
The FCC’s net neutrality rules, which required internet providers to deliver all websites at the same speed, were struck down by a federal appeals court.
President Biden plans to ban offshore oil and gas drilling in some areas by invoking a 1953 law that would require the incoming Trump administration to get Congress to reverse it in order to allow drilling there.
South Korean police failed in their efforts to arrest the nation’s former president, who has refused to submit to questioning over his imposition of martial law. The arrest attempt was thwarted by protesters and the ex-leader’s security staff in an hourslong standoff.
GM and Ford reported their best annual sales of new vehicles in the US since 2019 when the pandemic and a resulting drag on auto supply chains began, per CNBC.
Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit claiming Siri eavesdropped on iPhone users even if they never uttered the phrase “Hey, Siri.”
Oil heads for weekly gains on colder weather, Chinese policy support
OIL prices rose on Friday (Jan 3), closing the week higher...
OIL prices rose on Friday (Jan 3), closing the week higher on the back of cold weather in Europe and the US as well as additional economic stimulus flagged by China.
Brent crude futuressettled higher by 58 cents at $76.51 a barrel, the highest level since Oct 14. US West Texas Intermediate crudesettled up 83 cents to US$73.96, the highest level since Oct 11.
Brent notched a 2.4 per cent weekly gain, while WTI climbed nearly 5 per cent.
Signs of Chinese economic fragility heightened expectations of policy measures to boost growth in the world’s top oil importer.
“China just is unceasing at this point in terms of their announcements about trying to stoke economic activity, and the market’s taking note of that,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York.
U.S. stocks close higher Friday but S&P 500 still down for the week
The U.S. stock market rebounded Friday, but the rally...
The U.S. stock market rebounded Friday, but the rally failed to land the major indexes in positive territory for the week after a rough transition into 2025.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8% on Friday, while the S&P 500 rose a sharp 1.3% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.8%, according to preliminary data from FactSet. The S&P 500 finished the holiday-shortened week without a so-called Santa Claus rally.
For the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.5%, the Dow retreated 0.6% and the Nasdaq fell 0.5%, according to the preliminary FactSet data. Next week, investors will be paying close attention to the U.S. jobs report due out on Jan. 10.