Tag Archives: Oil-prices

Financial dissatisfaction hits a 50-year high in the United States of America

President Joe Biden tweeted this on Monday: «At the time I took office about 16 months ago, the economy had stalled and COVID was out of control. Today, thanks to the economic plan and the vaccination plan that my Administration put into action, America has achieved the most robust recovery in modern history.»

At the same time, we see that 83% of Americans describe the state of the economy as poor or not so good, according to a poll by Wall Street Journal. Biden`s poll numbers are also below those of Donald Trump. Not only that.

Another poll shows that 35% of Americans are not satisfied with their financial situation, which is the worst result in 50 years.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Biden often said that Trump was the worst president in history and an existential threat to the nation`s democracy. I wonder what he is saying about himself right now? It must be a bitter pill for an anti-Trump politician like Biden to be outclassed by the 45th president.

On April 2, Biden`s approval rating was 40% while Trump`s was at 50% the same day in 2018. Instead of gaslighting voters, Biden should clean up the messes and fix the inflation asap.

Trump`s vision was lower taxes, but president Joe Biden turned that upside down. People are paying more tax under Biden, than under Trump. On top of that, people must pay more money for their products, which is a hidden tax and makes people`s money less valuable.

Higher gas prices are good for oil companies but very bad for people and the economy. In the long run, it could kill the economy, and today, gas prices in the U.S hit a new record high of $4,91 a gallon (average price). In California, the price is $6,37 a gallon. People don`t like it, but Biden says everything is fine.

Something must be wrong here because there is a huge disconnect between president Biden and the people. And that isn`t good for the democrats at all. If this continues, GOP can win big in the mid-term election in November.

Another poll shows that the GOP is in the best midterm position in 80 years (2 pts lead), according to CNN.

Not even Liberal Media is ignoring Biden`s crisis anymore. They are also lukewarm on his potential second term.

Earlier today, Biden tweeted this: «The fact is America is in a stronger economic position today than just about any other country in the world. Independent experts have even projected that the U.S economy could grow faster than China`s economy this year. That hasn`t happened since 1976».

People`s lives are worse under Biden than under Trump. But people voted for Biden. They asked for it. They got what they asked for. Higher taxes, and inflation. President Joe Biden is the most popular president in U.S history. He got more votes than Obama and Clinton.

On the day he was inaugurated, Biden said; «Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of cause, the cause of democracy. The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.»

The love for Joe Biden was huge in the Hate Trump Media, on the day Biden was inaugurated. «The reason Biden has to do this is that he`s just so incredibly popular,» Don Lemon said on CNN at that time. «The lights from Lincoln Memorial were like Joe Biden`s arms stretching out to all American,» CNN said.

Axios said at that time in January 2021, Biden is charting an economic policy that was visible to the left of Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama. Biden proposed a $1,9 trillion economic stimulus plan and a $15 minimum wage at that time, and employers, employees, and economists warned it will kill millions of jobs.

We are living in times with a lot of challenges, and more trouble is on the way. Famine is probably the most serious one. Chairman and Chief Executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Jamie Dimon, said a few days ago that we all must brace for U.S economic «hurricane» due to inflation. Earlier he said storm clouds looming over the U.S economy, but he has changed the rhetoric.

Right now, it`s kind of sunny, and things are doing fine, but the hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way, Dimon said. We just don`t know if it`s a minor one or Superstorm Sandy, he added.

The Fed is under pressure with inflation that is more than three times its 2% target, and that has caused a jump in the cost of living for Americans. It faces the difficult task of dampening demand enough to curb inflation while not causing a recession.

Dimon urged the Fed to take forceful measures to avoid tipping the world`s biggest economy into a recession.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shinybull.com. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Shinybull.com nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities, or other financial instruments. Shinybull.com and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

Leave a comment

Filed under Politics

Inflation soared to 4,2% in April of 2021

Inflation soared to 4,2% in April of 2021, and that`s a big jump from 2,6% in March. The stock market declined while the inflation rate came in well above market forecast of 3,6%, and this is the highest reading since September 2008.

The biggest increases were recorded for gasoline (49,6% vs 22,5% in March), fuel oil (37,3% vs 20,2%) and used car and trucks (21% vs 9,4%). It`s interesting to see the inflation slowed for food (2,4% vs 3,5%).

The jump in inflation is the highest in 13 years, and Wall Street sent the stock down on Wednesday in a broad market sell-off. Tech stock were hit hard as higher interest rates are threatening to undermine the valuations of those companies.

Nasdaq is down about -5% so far this week, but the European markets ended higher on Wednesday as stocks in Europe recovered from a global sell-off sparked by concerns that rising inflation will prompt central banks to tighten monetary policy sooner and more abruptly than expected.

Federal Reserve`s vice chair, Richard Clarida, had some dovish comments, and that helped calm nervous markets. He said that the twin shocks of a disappointing payroll report and higher inflation in April hadn`t changed the central bank`s view on maintaining its current ultra-accomodative policy.

To contact the author: post@shinybull.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shinybull.com. The author has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information provided; however, neither Shinybull.com nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities, or other financial instruments. Shinybull.com and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

Leave a comment

Filed under Politics, Stock market

The World`s biggest oil producer

The United States has surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world`s biggest oil producer in 2014. The oil shale revolution has started to change the economy as the U.S produced 90% of the energy it consumed last year.

India has recorded the highest growth in energy consumption among major economies.

BP said the U.S shale revolution helped it overtake Saudi Arabia as the world`s biggest oil producer and surpass Russia as the world`s largest producer of oil and gas.

 

crude-oil

 

On the other hand, Chinese growth in consumption slowed to its lowest level since 1998 as the economy rebalance away from energy intensive sectors, though China remained the world`s largest growth market for energy.
The United States produced 15,9 percent more oil in 2014 at 11,6 million barrels of oil per day to topple Saudi Arabia`s 11,5 million bpd production, according to BP Plc`s Statistical Review of World Energy released today.
Russia was placed third with 10,8 million bpd oil production.
The United States surpassed Russia as the world`s largest producer of oil and gas, and they produced 1,250,4 million tons of oil and oil equivalent natural gas last year. This compared with Russia`s 1,062 million tons of oil equivalent. According to BP, world primary energy consumption slowed markedly, with growth of just 0,9 percent last year, a lower rate than at any time since the late 1990`s.
BP Group Chief Executive Bob Dudley said: “The eerie calm that had characterised energy markets in the few years prior to 2014 came to an abrupt end last year. However, we should not be surprised or alarmed.”
“These events may well come to be viewed as symptomatic of a broader shifting of the tectonic plates that make up the energy landscape, with significant developments in both the supply of energy and its demand. Our task as an industry is to meet today’s challenges while continuing to invest to meet tomorrow`s demand, safely and sustainably,» he added.

 

It seems like Saudi Arabia has a new strategy. They are pumping more oil despite weak oil prices, and their acute pressure to cut production is off. The heavyweight of OPEC is less concerned about the price of crude oil, and more concerned about delivering fuel to its growing economy.

Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are also drilling at record rates, while Iraq is shrugging off widespread civil conflict to increase production. Even Iran is preparing plans to develop more oil fields. The surging output has taken much of the mystery out of what the delegates of the 12 OPEC countries will do when they assemble in Vienna this week to set production levels for the next six months.

The oil prices is stable at around $60 a barrel, and OPEC has already pushed the cartel`s output 3 percent above the current target, and production appears to be heading even higher. Saudi Arabia was the primary force that made OPEC the swing producer in global markets, for decades.

«Is Saudi Arabia still willing to play the swing producer and juggle the whole domestic economy, refineries, power plants, desalination, petrochemicals, just to meet the expectations of either OPEC or no-OPEC producers? The answer is no, obviously not,» said Sadad Ibrahim al-Husseini, a former executive vice president for Saudi Aramco, the state oil company.

After Saudi Arabia`s production peaked in 1980, it cut supplies later in the decade and again in the 90`s to top up prices. The Saudis followed the same playbook when oil prices briefly sank during the 2008 global financial crisis and the economy slump the next year.
When political turmoil rocked Libya, another producer, during the Arab Spring, Saudi Arabia increased production to keep markets and its own revenue stable.

Energy consumption in Saudi Arabi is growing and its growing at an average of 6 percent over the last decade, while any shift to nuclear power or renewable sources like solar has been slow.

«No cut is coming,» said Rene G. Ortiz of Ecuador, a former secretary-general of OPEC. «Each and every country, and particularly the Saudis and the other monarchies of the gulf, will protect their market share and increase their market share as much as possible,» he said.

Chesapeake Energy Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp are both shale drillers. They both spent about $120 billion last year in the U.S, and the surge in output and a slowdown in the demand have pushed crude oil prices down.
The number of rigs drilling in shale fields are down by half from an October peak, BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said.

«The shale revolution hasn`t run out of steam in the U.S,» Dudley said.

 

 


Click the link below and check out the Fan Fund

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fan-fund-tickets-15580655159


 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shiny bull. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Shiny bull nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Shiny bull and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. UA-63539824-1.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Commodities, Energy

OPEC meeting in Vienna on thursday

OPEC is having a very important meeting on thursday and that can move the oil markets. The 12-member group is bickering over who should cut oil output, and by how much in order to pump up the prices. The meeting in Vienna is the groups most watched session in many years.

gspen

The U.S oil shale revolution is a game changer. (Read my article titled; American shale revolution – from January 27, 2014). The oil supply have increased and the oil prices is declining, and that have opened up the market. Countries that once had to submit to OPEC`s prices can now look for other suppliers. The oil king is about to lose.

China has for a long time been at the mercy of OPEC for twenty years, and the economic giant imports about 7 million barrels of oil per day, while the U.S imports about 8 million barrels of oil per day.

China`s demand for oil will continue to increase as its population is growing and so are the demand for oil-related items such as cars, plane traffic and motorcycles. As the U.S oil shale production makes the country more self-reliant, China has become more important to OPEC.

OPEC has a monopoly on the market and China pay about 10% more for the oil than the market price. As the oil prices plunge, many other suppliers in other countries will vie to undercut that monopoly. OPEC is slowly losing its second biggest customer as China now can pursue oil from countries outside of OPEC such as Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and some countries in Africa.

This is just the beginning. China bought a lot of oil from Colombia this year, and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (SNP) processed oil from Brazil`s Ostra field for the first time earlier this year. OPEC`s shipment to China fell 11% and the average cost per barrel was 10% lower.

China`s oil production and oil refining companies will benefit from the changing import sources. They`re already bumping up their refining capacity and shooting for a 20% increase in the next 5 years, and there`s a little doubt that China will purchase more crude oil from Russia as the West deepens their economic sanctions. The sanctions on Russia have led to increase China`s purchases from its communist brethren by about 60% in September.

WTIC

The energy sector is the worst performing sector in the S&P 500 this year, but the shift started years ago, so what we see today should not be a surprise for some one. It started in 2008 when Crude oil peaked at $147 a barrel, but the oil price have plummeted to about $73 a barrel now.

The energy sector has been the leading sector since 2000, but today its the worst performing sector beaten by the health care sector. I talked about the health care sector at the beginning of this year and I said I expected that sector to be a great investment opportunity.

Read my article from January 8, 2014, titled; Health-care bull. I told you to keep an eye on the health-care sector. I also said that the oil price is a risky bet, and that the oil price can plunge and Opec can face huge problems.

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Shiny bull. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Shiny bull nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Shiny bull and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

Leave a comment

Filed under Commodities