There are, as I have noted in the past, reasons to believe that the long-term path of oil is still upward, but more immediately there is one dominant factor that keeps adding downward pressure, large and still growing supply from North American shale producers. The second chart, directly above, indicates why American producers are pumping at a growing rate. There are reasons for that recovery, most notably the production cuts agreed by OPEC countries and others including Russia and improving global growth, but those bullish factors are now fully priced in and the effect of that is to encourage U.S. E&P companies to, to borrow a phrase, drill, baby, drill!
Boeing delivered two widebody jets to Middle Eastern airlines and won a 747 order this week, generating some cash for the fourth quarter. Chicago-based Boeing (NYSE: BA) delivered a 787-9 Dreamliner to Oman Air and a 777 freighter to Turkish Airlines. Boeing capped off the week by snaring a new order for the $387 million double-decker 747 from an unidentified buyer, according to its orders and deliveries website. The new jumbo jet order means more work for the Everett 747 manufacturing line, which Boeing said last year it might shut down. Airlines pay most of a new jet's price when they receive the aircraft, but also pay deposits when ordering. "The delivery of our first 777 freighter is a milestone

At 3:40 a.m. central time (0940 GMT) on Monday, the futures contract that expires in January was trading at $17,600. It opened at 5 p.m. CST at $15,000 and climbed as high as $18,700 in its first day of trading, according to CBOE Global Markets. The price of a bitcoin was $16,571.03 as of 3:40 a.m. (0940 GMT), according to the bitcoin exchange Coindesk.
(This is the third in a three-part series on analysts’ favorite stocks for 2018. The series began with large-cap stocks and continued with mid-cap stocks.) A year ago we listed analysts’ favorite small-cap stocks for 2017. The results are mixed. But for next year, Wall Street is even more enthusiastic about smaller companies than they were during the initial euphoria following President Trump’s election. When we pulled the list of analysts’ favorite small-cap stocks for 2017, we started with the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index SML, -0.05% and identified 24 companies with majority “buy” ratings among at least three analysts. They also had consensus price targets that showed the stocks were expected to
For years, I’ve lectured chapter and verse about the wonderfulness of Roth IRAs, and they may soon be more wonderful than ever. The quickest way to get a relatively large sum into a Roth IRA so you can start taking advantage of the wonderfulness is to convert a traditional IRA with a hefty account balance into a Roth account. Here’s the updated scoop on the conversion strategy, taking into account the possibility of tax reform. Roth conversion basics A Roth conversion is treated as a taxable distribution from your traditional IRA, because you’re deemed to receive a payout from the traditional account with the money then going into the new Roth account. So doing a conversion this year will trigger
The seminal financial event of this year, the current decade, and possibly our generation is here: Futures trading in bitcoin has begun. But the derivative that would really damp the current crypto frenzy and make digital tokens a speculator-friendly -- if not investment-worthy -- commodity, currency, tulip, or whatever, isn't futures. It's options. Options could supplement futures contracts in damping irrational exuberance for bitcoin It's hard to see how even existing futures trading rules can deal with something as volatile as bitcoin. Cboe Global Markets Inc. began offering them on Sunday, and soon they'll be available on CME Group Inc. Brokers including E*Trade Financial Corp., TD Ameritrade
Add in the $4 billion in dividend cuts and these start becoming real numbers. GE does need these cuts, though, if it hopes to maintain the reduced dividend, as 85% of its free-cash-flow is still paid out to shareholders. Speaking of dividends, GE is set to pay out $0.12 this month, so this one sets up well for a buy-write (covered call) trade into the New Year.

World stocks climbed and equity volatility neared a record low on Monday as investors focused on signs of strong economic growth ahead of a slew of central bank rate decisions, while the launch of bitcoin futures fed the market's cryptocurrency obsession. MSCI's main European Index rose 0.1 percent while the index of leading European companies gained 0.2 percent. Stealing the spotlight was the debut of bitcoin futures contracts, allowing investors to bet on the price of the cryptocurrency in one, two or three months.
Dec.10 -- Bitcoin reaches another milestone. Futures start trading on the CBOE. Bloomberg's Adam Haigh reports on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia."
UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s nearly $5 billion acquisition of physician group operator DaVita Medical Group, announced Wednesday, pales in comparison with CVS Health Corp.’s roughly $69 billion acquisition of health insurer Aetna Inc. earlier this week. But while CVS Health CVS, +2.81% is aiming to emulate UnitedHealth UNH, +1.71% by folding in health insurance with its pharmacy-benefit manager business, UnitedHealth’s acquisition shows it is one step ahead, according to Mizuho analyst Sheryl Skolnick. “So while others may look to build what UNH/Optum had, Optum moves the bar yet again, establishing itself as the leading physician platform for the transformed health care sector of the future,”
Oil halted gains near $57 a barrel as U.S. drillers expanded the crude rig count to a three-month high, potentially countering efforts by OPEC and its allies to drain a global glut. Futures were little changed in New York after climbing 2.5 percent in the previous two sessions. Drillers boosted the rig count by two to 751 for a third weekly advance, according to Baker Hughes data on Friday. OPEC-led output curbs may end earlier than scheduled if the market re-balances by June, Kuwait’s Oil Minister Issam Almarzooq said Sunday. Oil is heading for a second yearly gain as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia extend supply cuts through to the end of 2018.

NEW YORK/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Bitcoin futures jumped more than 20 percent in their eagerly anticipated U.S. debut, which backers hope will encourage wider use and legitimacy for the world's largest cryptocurrency even as critics warn of the risk of a bubble and price collapse. The launch on Sunday night may have caused an early outage of the Chicago-based CBOE Global Markets' website. On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp , bitcoin prices surged 9.6 percent to $16,100.
The prospect of tax reform has had drugmakers and Wall Street salivating for months. Repatriation of cash held outside the U.S. could be the most important part of the Republican tax bill for the sector, according to a recent Credit Suisse report, which found that American biopharma companies make up one-third of the top 30 U.S. companies with the most offshore cash. The final version of the tax bill, which could be passed by the end of the year, is expected to reduce the tax rate for repatriated offshore cash from 35% to 10% or 14% — a major tax break that could make a slew of dealmaking and share buybacks possible. The biggest potential winners are drugmakers Amgen Inc. AMGN, +0.83% ($39 billion
Broadcom Ltd. shares finished Thursday exactly where they closed on Wednesday, after an initial jump — prompted by a majority of analysts hiking price targets — fizzled out a day after the chipmaker’s strong earnings and outlook softened concerns that iPhone production snags would hamper sales growth of wireless components. Late Wednesday, Broadcom AVGO, -1.51% topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter and issued a revenue outlook well above the consensus. The company also said it was raising its “interim” quarterly dividend by 72% to $1.75 a share. Broadcom shares, which traded up as much as 4.5% earlier in the trading session, closed at $263.89 on Thursday, their same closing price on Wednesday
Valentin Marinov, managing director and head of G-10 FX research at Credit Agricole, speaks about how central bank policy is impacting major currencies.
The bitcoin (Exchange: BTC=) craze could pose a real risk to the broader market next year, Deutsche Bank warned last week, ahead of the cryptocurrency's launch on futures exchanges, scheduled to take place Sunday. Bitcoin has emerged as a financial phenomenon this year as the digital currency sees $1,000-plus swings within hours. At this juncture, as the cryptocurrency has advanced quadruple digits this year, Slok said the markets have not correctly priced in the broader impact bitcoin could potentially have.
Despite the (well-founded) protests of JPMorgan, Citigroup and other Wall Street brokers, bitcoin futures are set to go live Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. EST on the Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE). Next Sunday, December 17, the CME Group (CME) is expected to launch its own bitcoin futures. Currently, bitcoins are mainly traded on one of the many “cash” exchanges that exist around the world — even the largest of which has been subject to outages. Though bitcoin derivatives already exist (LedgerX just launched in October), bitcoin futures are expected to eventually bring the liquidity and stability demanded by large institutional traders and small retail traders alike. What happens to the price of bitcoin once bitcoin futures begin trading?
Bitcoin prices rose after futures of the cryptocurrency began trade on the Cboe Futures Exchange for the first time on Sunday evening U.S. time. The futures, which trade under the 'XBT' ticker, briefly turned negative, but quickly reversed those losses to trade at $16,860 at 9:05 p.m. New York time. That was some 9.06 percent above the opening price of $15,460 for the January contract. Among the benefits bitcoin futures will bring about to traders are improved transparency, price discovery and liquidity, according to the Cboe. Following the Cboe's launch, CME Group is set to start trading bitcoin futures one week later on Dec. 18, while Reuters has reported that the Nasdaq plans on launching
Cboe Global Markets, the Chicago-based exchange group, will be the first exchange to launch bitcoin futures on Sunday. CME Group, Cboe's cross-town rival, will launch its market later in December. The new product by Cboe will allow investors to bet on the future price of bitcoin, which skyrocketed to an all-time high above $17,000 on Thursday, according to data from Markets Insider.
Bitcoin has landed on Wall Street, and it was welcomed by traders. Cboe Global Markets Inc. started letting people buy and sell bitcoin futures Sunday evening. Though the exchange operator warned volume might be low -- new futures typically take time to build a following -- almost 600 contracts traded in the first hour. Though transactions were smooth, the start wasn’t without some drama: Cboe’s website stalled during the launch. The company said its trading systems were fine, though. As of 8:11 p.m. New York time, contracts expiring in January were priced at $16,300, or about 4.5 percent higher than bitcoin itself, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The cryptocurrency spiked by more than
Wall Street research is a confusing animal. The same stock often carries very different opinions, from various sources at exactly the same moment. That is why there are always buyers and sellers at the very same price, creating a "market price." How
It's game time for bitcoin fans. Bitcoin futures will begin trading at 6:00 p.m. EST today on the Cboe. Anticipation for the Cboe debut, followed by one on the CME Dec. 18, has triggered wild swings in bitcoin prices over the last week. Overall, trading bitcoin futures is a positive development for the cryptocurrency says the research team at Fundstrat. Here is a rundown of Fundstrat's thinking in what is yet another big moment for bitcoin. The firm sees bitcoin prices at $25,000 by the end of 2022, supported by the positive factors detailed below. Net Net This Is Great for Bitcoin's Future The introduction of derivatives lays the necessary market structure for institutions to allocate cash

The first-ever bitcoin future jumped after it began trading Sunday as the increasingly popular virtual currency made its debut on a major U.S. exchange. The futures contract that expires in January surged more than $3,000 to $18,580 eight hours after trading launched on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The CBOE futures don't involve actual bitcoin.

By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) - The newest way to bet on bitcoin will arrive on Sunday, when futures of the cryptocurrency that has taken Wall Street by a storm begin trading. The first bitcoin future trades are set to kick off at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) on CBOE Global Markets Inc's CBOE Futures Exchange. This has given an extra kick to the cryptocurrency's scorching run this year.

Kuwait's oil minister Essam al-Marzouq said on Sunday that OPEC and other oil producers will study before June the possibility of an exit strategy from the global oil supply-cut agreement. "There are still meetings every couple of months for the ministerial monitoring committee, and there will be a study formed for the possibility of an exit strategy... before June," he told reporters. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers led by Russia have agreed to extend oil output cuts until the end of 2018 as they try to clear a global oil glut while signalling a possible early exit from the deal if the market overheats.