US benchmarks seeing red at lunch as traders still wait for stimulus deal; oil prices rise

US benchmarks seeing red at lunch as traders still wait for stimulus deal; oil prices rise

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12.40pm: US stocks seeing red US benchmarks were lower at the mid-day point, having been higher in early trade on Friday as traders still await a conclusion to the US stimulus package saga. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 141 at 30,161. The S&P 500 lost over 16 points at 3,706. The tech heavy Nasdaq lost nine points at 12,755. Conversely, the crude price was on bit of a tear again. US benchmark crude - West Texas Intermediate (WTI)  was up 1.28% at U$ 48.98 a barrel, or US£0.62. "Oil continues to show a greater degree of bullishness than equities, enjoying another healthy bounce this afternoon," noted Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG. "The commodity has made up plenty of lost ground since late October, Joe Biden’s win paradoxically being a good thing since it signals a more stringent approach to new oil production in the US. "Meanwhile, hopes of resurgent demand show no sign of abating, helping to bolster the one-way direction seen over the past six weeks." 10.45am: Proactive North America headlines: AEX Gold Inc (LON:AEXG) (CVE:AEX) expands exploration licence at Anoritooq project, Greenland Vuzix Corp's (NASDAQ:VUZI) (FRA:V7XN) M400 Smart Glasses used by Envirotainer in remote training as its containers ship COVID-19 vaccines Empower Clinics Inc (CSE:CBDT) (OTCQB:EPWCF) (FRA:8EC) set to acquire Momentum Health and its seven clinics in Greater Toronto area Nano One Materials Corp (CVE:NNO) (OTCPINK:NNOMF) (FRA:LBMB) and global auto manufacturer to jointly evaluate its cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries Ceylon Graphite Corp (CVE:CYL) (OTCMKTS:CYLUF) (FRA:CCY) bolsters team with 'respected practitioners' in the Sri Lankan graphite space Antibe Therapeutics Inc (TSX:ATE) (OTCQB:ATBPF) (FRA:4B7) plans to unify the intellectual property ownership of its drugs and platform EdtechX Holdings (NASDAQ:EDTXU) says it listed a second SPAC IPO, EdtechX Holdings Acquisition Corp II on Nasdaq on Friday, December 11 CleanSpark Inc (NASDAQ:CLSK)  announces a 122% jump in 2020 revenue, a triple-digit increase for the third consecutive year Loop Insights  Inc (CVE:MTRX) (OTCQB:RACMF) says NCAA found Venue Bubble effective after using the company's venue-tracing solution Gold Resource Corporation (NYSEAMERICAN:GORO) approves spin-off of Fortitude Gold; declares record, distribution dates   10.30am: US stocks lower US stocks quickly retreated from modest opening gains on Friday, dropping back from record highs as traders cautiously awaited coronavirus stimulus package news ahead of a weekend deal deadline. After around an hour of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 150 points, or 0.5%, at 30,151.45, while the S&P 500 also shed 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1%. Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex commented: "Congress still hasn’t been able to pass the vastly-reduced stimulus bill – $908 billion against the $2.2 trillion discussed prior to the election – due to disagreements over whether or not the Federal Reserve should be prevented from using certain emergency lending programs in the future. "Senators ostensibly have until Friday evening to hash out their issues. However, Mitch McConnell, has said that they will keep talking over the weekend and extend the funding deadline if needed." 8.00am: Tenative gains expected US markets are expected to make a tentative start on Friday as traders await the outcome of negotiations over the US$900bn coronavirus (COVID-19) fiscal stimulus bill. The Dow Jones Industrials Average was expected to open just 13 points higher at 30,316 while the S&P 500 is on course to edge 3 points higher to 3,725. But the Nasdaq Composite was seen opening 9 points lower at 12,753. “Investors are willing to believe that more fiscal stimulus will arrive; it’s just a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’. The current state of the US economy clearly warrants more financial support. Thursday’s initial jobless claims were worse than expected, while US consumers evidently reined in their spending in November. The pandemic is still claiming lives at an alarming rate and the total number of US Covid-19 cases has now exceeded 17 million,” said Han Tan, a market analyst at FXTM. “The fresh injection of government funds into the economy would serve as justification for the already-lofty valuations in US equities. The longer risk assets are made to wait, the bigger the concern of a pullback as fiscal stimulus ‘fatigue’ sets in,” the FXTM analyst suggested. On the subject of US COVID-19 cases, there were 223,000 new cases reported yesterday but stripping out the surge in cases in California, US cases fell by 7.9% from a week earlier, said Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics. “Test positivity remains elevated, but it has peaked, and we expect to see a modest but clear decline over the next few days before the holidays throw the numbers into chaos again. The positivity rate clearly was pushed higher by travel and socialising over Thanksgiving, and another increase in early January is a good bet,” Shepherdson postulated. In the US stock market, media group Vivendi could be in focus after it said it would sell off another tenth of its subsidiary Universal Music Group to consortium spearhead by Chinese holding company Tencent. As for US macroeconomic data, economists are bracing themselves for current account data for the third quarter to reveal the largest deficit since the gloomy days of the credit crunch in 2008. On the other hand, the Conference Board’s Leading Indicator for November is expected to post a seventh consecutive month of expansion. “Neither report is likely to move markets, leaving investors focused on any signs of progress in negotiations to agree a fiscal stimulus package that would be acceptable to Congress,” said Daiwa Capital Markets. Five things to watch on Friday: Tesla’s grand entrance into the S&P 500 from next Monday is expected to be preceded by a huge trade, with an unprecedented $80 billion of the electric car maker’s stock changing hands by the end of the session on Friday. Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it found malicious software in its systems related to a massive hacking campaign disclosed by U.S. officials this week, adding a top technology target to a growing list of attacked government agencies. Google faced its third major lawsuit in two months on Thursday as 38 U.S. states and territories accused the $1 trillion company of abusing its market power to try to make its search engine as dominant inside cars, TVs and speakers as it is in phones. US  banks would have no longer than 36 hours after finding a cybersecurity breach to flag the issue to their regulators, under a new rule proposed Friday by US banking regulators which would direct banks to notify their primary regulator as soon as possible after a breach is discovered that could impair services or the organization itself. In addition, the rule would direct third-party service providers to promptly tell client banks of any breaches that would impair their services. The chief executive of United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint rocket venture between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, said it expects to receive two new rocket engines from billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin by next summer.

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