Market And Energy News, T+20, February 9, 2017

Mid-Morning

 

All three indices (S&P 50, Dow Industrials, NASDAQ) hit all-time record highs.

EIA: US energy trade with Mexico -- US export value more than twice the import value in 2016!  The graphic at the link is quite extraordinary.

BHP Billiton approves $2.2 billion share of its investment in second phase of the Mad Dog oilfield; 140,000 bopd; to come on-line in late 2021. Making America great again.

OXY: not sure why all the excitement for OXY. Huge EPS miss reported today. See below.

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Opening

American Airlines CEO "boycotts" President Trump's meeting with airline CEOs on airline security. Says he had a scheduling conflict.

Jobs: first time claims plunge unexpectedly. Okay. Bloomberg headline: US jobless claims unexpectedly fall to lowest since November. The Trump enthusiasm continues.

• econoday
• forecast: 250,000
• actual: 234,000
• huge, unexpected drop; -12,000
• below 300,00: longest streak since 1970; 101-week stretch
• the previous record: 161-week period that ended in April, 1970; stretched back to 1967
• four-week average: 244,250; lowest point since 1973

Louisiana pipeline would create 4,000-plus jobs -- Rigzone:

• Bayou Bridge Pipeline
• joint venture: Phillips 66, Energy Transfer Partners (ET), and Sunoco Logistics Partners -- formed in mid-2015
• would deliver heavy and light crude oil from terminals in Nederland, TX, to Lake Charles, LA
• first phase completed last spring (2016)
• second phase: seeking US Army Corps of Engineers approval: 163 miles eastward from Lake Charles to St James in the New Orleans area -- in the vicinity of extensive terminal and refining infrastructure
• expansion would span much of South Louisiana
• spur more than $829 million in new economic activity
• create more than 4,000 jobs
• generate more than $400 million in new wages

WTI: $53/13 -- very surprising after "build" data yesterday. Tea leaves suggest OPEC will extend duration of production cut. Previously reported.

Equity markets: all up in early trading.

• AAPL: flat to slightly negative
• BRK-B: melting up
• CVX: melting up
• SRE: melting up
• OXY huge miss on EPS; but beats on revenues: EPS loss of 13 cents vs 3 cents forecast; revenues came in at $2.826 million, marginally beating the forecast of $2.806 million.

Mid-morning trading: Dow 30 closing in on a triple-digit gain today; NASDAQ will have its 21st record high close since Trump was elected president.

S&P 500 hits an all-time intra-day high. Trump rally continues.

Amazing: