Subpoenas served fro “improper attempts” to manipulate LIBOR….
Comments »U.K. Unemployment Rises to 8%
China Mobile Growth Slowing; Q4 Net Margins Rise 3%
More Than 200 Injured in Bahrain Clashes
Their markets are closed too, due to declared state of emergency.
Our good friends, Saudi Arabia, are likely shooting protestors in the face. However, Exxon Mobile said they were good guys, so nothing to see here.
Comments »NIKKEI Closes Up 5.68%
Big gains in Sony, Hitachi, Toyota, Honda etc.
Korea bounced by 1.7% and Australia and China were up modestly. Hong Kong was the one outlier, still sitting with minor losses. As of now, US futures are pointing to a flat to slightly down open.
Copper, gold and natural gas are up less than 1% and the dollar is modestly higher.
Crack spreads have rebounded off session lows, now down about 0.25%.
Comments »Alert: Another Earthquake Hits Eastern Japan
Flash: Radiation Levels 20x Normal in Tokyo
In a press conference just a short while ago, Governor Ishihara of Tokyo had this to say:
“I received a report this morning that there was an important change of data,” Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said at a news conference. “I heard that it will not immediately cause health problems.”
via Japan Times
Comments »Flash: Workers Abandon Fukushima Plant
NY Post is reporting workers have abandoned the nuclear power plants at Fukushima, effectively ceasing all operations.
UPDATE: workers will be allowed back on site once radiation levels drop.
Comments »Asia Sells Off on Fears of Japanese Contraction
The NIKKEI is still up 4%+. However, most Asian markets, led by Hong Kong (-0.5%) are weakening due to fears that weak Japanese end user demand will crush their economies. Most south Asian economies depend heavily on Japan, being a main destination for their low quality shit. For example, Japan makes up 13% of Thailand’s export market.
It’s worth noting, Japanese futures are up just 2%, indicating a drop of 2% is in the cards when those lazy bastards come back from lunch.
U.S. futures are down 3.80 at the moment.
Comments »Concerns Over Japan’s Nuclear Reactors Go Back As Far As The Early 1970’s
Toyota Shares Surge on Plant Reopening
Toyota cancels overtime @ U.S. plants as the reopen Japanese plants. Honda and Nissan join in the rally….
Comments »Yen Falls As Investors Bargain Hunt on BoJ’s Third Capital Injection
Flash: Tokyo Electric Indicating Down Another 25%
Shares declined by 25% yesterday and will be getting donkey punched again today, once they have the courage to resume trading.
Comments »China May Have to Import Rare Earth Minerals
Despite China having control over 95% of the market they may have to import rare earth minerals to keep up with demand according to a Chinese official….
Comments »Asian Markets and Oil Climb on Bargain Hunting
The Nikkei climbs 6.4% while other markets climb between .5-2%. Oil rebounds .8%…..
Comments »Supply Chain Disruption Rising
Japan’s Manufacturers Grew Less Pessimistic in Q1
South Korea Creates Jobs As Unemployment Climbs
Is Jensen Huang The Next CEO for Apple ?
Would he leave Nvidia ? Would NVDA get bot just to have him on board? Speculation is rising….
Comments »Japan’s Refining Capacity Still Crippled
Refining margins are up 53% since Thursday. Of Japan’s 4.3m b/d of capacity, Morgan Stanley is suggesting just 1.4m b/d is offline. Moreover, because of the extensive damage to the refineries at JX and Cosmo, supply is likely to remain offline for an extended period of time.
At the present, due to Japan’s nuclear power plants turning the Northeast corridor of its country into a wasteland, they will need to import at least 317b b/d of oil and 2.1bcm of gas. They will use said fossil fuels to restart their thermal power plants, now idle at 26% capacity (oil) and 57% (gas). In order to afford their citizens with electricity, and other such luxuries, they will likely bring capacity up to 70% and 65%, respectively.
Hence the need for foreign oil.
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