Market Update:

US Markets have been up and down today opening with big gains followed by paired losses and now the Dow is heading back up at +~125 points for the day.

US Stocks Near Session Lows As Early Surge Is Pared; DJIA Rises 43

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–U.S. stocks moved off their highs and approached session lows as investors took a second look at central banks’ effort to pump dollars into the European banking system, a move that underscored those banks’ borrowing troubles.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 43 points, or 0.4%, to 111289 as 11 a.m. EDT approached, shedding more than half the market surge that followed word of the move. Financial and industrial stocks led the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index to a gain of 5 points, or 0.4%, to 1194. The Nasdaq Composite added 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2577.

Before the start of trading, the European Central Bank said it had decided in coordination with the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank to conduct three so-called dollar-liquidity operations with a three-month maturity covering the end of the year.

Investors cheered the move, putting the market on track for its fourth-straight winning session. But traders said that the paring of early gains reflected a more sober view of banks that are struggling under the weight of Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis.

“The market upon a little more serious reflection is saying, ‘This doesn’t change the fundamental fact that a lot of European banks are pretty much broke,’” said John Brady, vice president at MF Global. “There’s nothing to address the value of the sovereign bonds on European banks’ balance sheets.”

The tone had been more cautious earlier, after a handful of discouraging U.S. economic data points. Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the latest week rose to 428,000, compared with expectations for a reading of 415,000.

In addition, the Empire State Manufacturing Index for September, an indicator of New York-area manufacturing activity, worsened to -8.82, compared with expectations of a reading of -4.

Also, the consumer-price index for August showed an inflation rate of 0.4%, and 0.2% when adjusted to strip out prices of food and energy. Economists had expected results of 0.2% and 0.2%, respectively.

“The news is so bad on the jobs front [that] a lot of people are worried about the specter of stagflation rising again,” said Brett Hammond, senior economist at TIAA-CREF. “I think we definitely have the ‘stag-’ but I don’t see the ‘-flation’ part.”

At 10 a.m., EDT, data showed that an index on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area remained in negative territory, but improved from a sharp contraction in August.

General Electric gained 1.8% and J.P. Morgan Chase added 1.7% to lead the blue-chip Dow.

Gold futures slid to about $1,781 an ounce as investors backed away from haven assets. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note jumped to 2.0679% in recent action. Crude-oil futures rose near $90 a barrel. The U.S. dollar lost ground against the euro but gained versus the yen.

In corporate news, shares of UBS dropped 10% after the Swiss banking giant said it would likely post a third-quarter loss after a staff member racked up as much as $2 billion in losses through unauthorized trading.

Elsewhere, Netflix slid 14% after the video-rental company lowered its estimate of third-quarter domestic subscribers, but said it remained convinced that splitting streaming and DVD-by-mail into two distinct services was the right strategic choice.

Vivus added 8.3%. The drug developer said that the Food and Drug Administration agreed to allow it to resubmit early an application to market Qnexa, a drug for the treatment of obesity.

Supervalu rose 3.9% and Whole Foods Market gained 1.8% after Deutsche Bank analysts launched coverage of the supermarket chains’ stocks, making positive comments on both companies’ earnings prospects… Read the full article

Major Media Headlines:

• The head of the World Bank says the global economy has entered a danger zone. (Reuters) – Media Digest
• Reuters poll: economists think there is a one-in-three chance the economy will hit a recession. (Reuters) - Media Digest
• Facebook delays its IPO until late 2012. (Reuters) - Media Digest
• Gulf drilling increases again. (WSJ) - Media Digest
• New companies cut start-up staffs in half. (WSJ) - Media Digest

Oil Today:

Oil is recovering some, but still hovers right below $90/barrel.

Oil rises as concerns ease for eurozone

NEW YORK — Oil climbed near $90 per barrel Thursday on some potentially positive developments in Europe.

The European Central Bank said it will provide banks with enough cash to make lending easier. The ECB coordinated its efforts with the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank to offer three-month dollar loans to banks through the end of this year.

Fears of a Greek bankruptcy also subsided as France and Germany reaffirmed their support for the country, insisting that it remains an “integral” part of the eurozone. Greece relies on emergency funds from the European Union.

The news pushed the dollar lower. And oil, which is priced in U.S. currency, tends to rise as the dollar falls and makes barrels cheaper for investors holding foreign money.

Benchmark crude added 77 cents to $89.68 per barrel in New York while Brent crude jumped $2.75 to $112.40 in London.

“It’s a dose of good news,” independent analyst Jim Ritterbusch said. He warned, however, that Europe is far from solving its myriad economic problems. Investors still worry that Greece’s financial troubles will spread to its neighbors and further slowdown a eurozone economy that consumes almost 18 percent of the world’s oil.

Thursday’s announcements out of Europe outweighed a slew of troubling economic reports released in the U.S.

The government said the number of people applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week to the highest level in three months. And industrial production ticked up 0.2 percent last month, lower than July’s 0.9 percent increase.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia also said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region contracted in September for the third time in four months.

U.S. drivers continue to pay much more this year for gasoline. At $3.623 per gallon, retail gasoline is 89.2 cents higher than it was last year. The Oil Price Information Service estimates that Americans will pay a record $492 billion for gasoline in 2011.

In other commodities trading, heating oil rose 7.1 cents to $3.016 per gallon and gasoline futures increased 5.69 cents to $2.7827 per gallon. Natural gas fell 12.1 cents to $3.918 per 1,000 cubic feet. Source

Weather Updates

National Hurricane Center

Tropical Activity

Atlantic:

Tropical Storm Maria hasn’t had any major changes and continues on projected course. Maria should become a weak hurricane.

Contact Sun Coast Resources to find out how we can keep you going during and after the storm with 24/7 Emergency Fueling Services!

Email or call toll-free at 800-677-3835 *490! Get ready for the incoming storms!

National Weather Conditions

National Weather Service

The wide-spread freeze warnings have subsided and are now in small areas like the Great Lakes area, Southern Oregon, and Northern Pennsylvania.

Texas is still suffering from wildfires all over. There is elevated fire risk in Northeast Texas and East Louisiana in the Shreveport area.

There are flooding issues in Nebraska, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. Click on the map to take a closer look at your area.

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Market Update:

Wall street opened up, but has since dropped on data suggesting poverty in the US hitting a 52-year high as the economy continues to worsen. The Dow index is down ~100 points at ~11,006 in mid-morning trades.

Nearly 1 in 6 Americans in poverty, Census says

The ranks of the nation’s poor have swelled to a record 46.2 million — nearly 1 in 6 Americans — as the prolonged pain of the recession leaves millions still struggling and out of work. And the number without health insurance has reached 49.9 million, the most in over two decades.

The figures are in a Census Bureau report, released Tuesday, that offers a somber snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for last year when joblessness hovered above 9 percent for a second year. The rate is still 9.1 percent at the start of an election year that’s sure to focus on the economy and President Barack Obama’s stewardship of it.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent, from 14.3 percent the previous year, and the rate from 2007-2010 rose faster than for any similar period since the early 1980s when a crippling energy crisis amid government cutbacks contributed to inflation, spiraling interest rates and unemployment. For last year, the official poverty level was an annual income of $22,314 for a family of four.

Measured by total numbers, the 46 million now living in poverty are the most on record dating back to when the census began to track in 1959. The 15.1 percent tied the level of 1993 and was the highest since 1983. Read the full article

Major Media Headlines:

• Moody’s cuts ratings of France’s Credit Agricole and Societe Generale as Greek debt trouble spreads. (Reuters) – Media Digest
• The number of U.S. poor reached 42 million last year. (Reuters) - Media Digest
• U.S. household income falls to 1996 levels. (WSJ) - Media Digest
• Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) shows its new version of Windows, which is meant to more effectively compete with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). (WSJ) - Media Digest
• Obama to propose cuts in Medicare and Medicaid as part of new budget proposals. (FT) - Media Digest

Oil Today:

Oil is hovering just below $90/barrel.

BP Shares Surge on Oil Spill Report

A government report is now spreading the blame for a series of failures leading to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill between BP(BP_) and its contractors, prompting the British oil giant’s shares to spike in the premarket trading.

BP shares were rising 4% to $37.90 after the Wall Street Journal reported that while the report blames BP for trying to cut costs and save time without considering the consequences, it also points the finger at a Transocean(RIG_) drilling rig crew for continuing its work on the Macondo Well despite numerous signs of danger and trouble.

Furthermore, according to WSJ, the report said the main cause behind the accident was a failure of the cement at the bottom of the well to prevent oil and gas from flowing up.

Services company Halliburton(HAL_) would be a key culprit behind this failure, as it was in charge of the cementing process.

Still, the report finds that TransOcean wasn’t at fault for failing to maintain the blowout preventer, according to WSJ.

The government report could be released as early as Wednesday and is expected to contain 50 recommendations for changes to offshore oil work, according to WSJ.

The Macondo Well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico led to one of the worst environmental tragedies in the U.S. history and resulted in the death of 11 men in April 2010.

– Written by Andrea Tse in New York.

 

Weather Updates

National Hurricane Center

Tropical Activity

Atlantic:

Tropical Storm Maria hasn’t had any major changes and continues on projected course.

Contact Sun Coast Resources to find out how we can keep you going during and after the storm with 24/7 Emergency Fueling Services!

Email or call toll-free at 800-677-3835 *490! Get ready for the incoming storms!

National Weather Conditions

National Weather Service

North Central US states are facing freeze warnings and freeze watches through the entire area. Conditions are probably dangerous for driving. There are also some winter weather conditions in Colorado.

Texas is still suffering from wildfires all over. In the Austin area alone, over 1,400 homes have been burned down. Relief efforts are booming and many are answering the call for help.

There is still a tropical storm warning off the Florida coast as Maria passes by. Click on the map to take a closer look at your area.

Subscribe to this blog on the right and get the Daily Weather and Energy Newsletter instantly in your inbox!

Market Update:

Wall St opens flat on uncertainty

Oil Today:

Oil hovers near $90 amid lower demand forecasts

Oil prices rose to near $90 a barrel Tuesday as a weaker dollar and expectations of falling U.S. stockpiles of crude and gasoline outweighed fresh forecasts of fragile global demand.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for October delivery was up $1.47 to $89.66 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude rose 95 cents to settle at $88.19 on Monday.

In London, Brent crude for October delivery was up 9 cents at $112.34 on the ICE Futures exchange.

A weaker dollar contributed to higher oil prices by making crude cheaper for investors holding other currencies.

After falling earlier in the session, the euro recovered to $1.3684 from $1.3666 late Monday in New York, while the dollar dipped to 76.94 Japanese yen from 77.25 yen.

“Oil markets are still showing relative strength. Not only has crude virtually escaped the downward pull of financial markets in past weeks, but it has actually profited from the short-term recovery tendencies,” said analysts at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “The latest strength is all the more remarkable given that international oil agencies have now also confirmed that the fundamental climate is clouding.”

Investors are also awaiting fresh information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.

Data for the week ending Sept. 9 is expected to show draws of 2.9 million barrels in crude oil stocks and of 400,000 barrels in gasoline stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its report on oil stocks later Tuesday, while the report from the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration , the market benchmark , will be out on Wednesday.

Inventories likely fell due to production and transport disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico caused by Tropical Storm Lee, which hit the region earlier this month.

A recent pledge by the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep lending rates low for the next two years has also helped bolster commodity prices.

“Crude still appear to be supported by oil’s long-term appeal as an asset class amid additional stimulus efforts that include a sustainable low interest rate environment beyond next year,” Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report.

A slowing global economy limited crude’s gains.

The International Energy Agency On Tuesday adjusted downward its prediction of how much more global oil demand there will be this year and next on falling expectations of economic growth.

The Paris-based IEA cut its 2011 demand forecast by 200,000 barrels a day, to 89.3 million barrels a day, while in 2012 daily demand is expected to total 90.7 million barrels, 400,000 barrels less than its expectations a month ago.

Crude production in Libya is expected to speed up over the coming months, with the IEA envisioning exports at 250,000 barrels a day by the end of the year and rising to as much as 850,000 barrels a day by the end of 2012.

Before the fall of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, Libya was exporting 1.2 million barrels a day to IEA members.

“The prospects for partial restoration of Libyan hydrocarbon supplies in the short term have improved following the fall of Tripoli to rebel forces,” the IEA said in its monthly oil market report. “Damage to production facilities, pipelines, refineries and ports, although believed comparatively light, will need to be fully assessed, and security on the ground assured before major increases in production can be expected.”

The fresh IEA forecast closely reflected the expectations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which also cut its figures for world oil demand because of slumping global economic growth.

In other Nymex trading for October contracts, heating oil rose 0.05 cent at $2.9480 per gallon and gasoline futures gained 1.85 cents to $2.7567 per gallon. Natural gas for October delivery was up 1 cent to $3.895 per 1,000 cubic feet. Source

Weather Updates

National Hurricane Center

Tropical Activity

Atlantic:

The only active storm right now is Tropical Storm Maria, who is turning northeast towards Bermuda. Maria’s strength should stay down in the TS range.

Contact Sun Coast Resources to find out how we can keep you going during and after the storm with 24/7 Emergency Fueling Services!

Email or call toll-free at 800-677-3835 *490! Get ready for the incoming storms!

National Weather Conditions

National Weather Service

Minnesota and the Dakota’s are facing widespread Freeze watches at the moment. There are flood watches and flash flood watches in Southern California/Arizona.

Texas is still suffering from wildfires all over. There is a tropical storm warning off the Florida coast as Maria passes by. Click on the map to take a closer look at your area.

Subscribe to this blog on the right and get the Daily Weather and Energy Newsletter instantly in your inbox!

Market Update:

European debt is weighing down on US markets. I’ve added an article that describes the situation well. The Dow is down ~47 points at ~10,944 in mid-morning trades.

Greek default fears mount, markets tumble

FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) — Indications Germany is preparing for a default by Greece added to turmoil in European credit markets on Monday, while global equities sold off sharply as investors weighed the potential damage to the region’s banking system. German Economy Minister Philip Roesler told German newspaper Die Welt that an “orderly default” by Greece can’t be ruled out, while news reports last week and over the weekend said the German government has made preparations to help shore up its banking sector in the event of a Greek default.

Greek credit default swaps now point to a 97% chance of default, while already sky-high two-year yields continued to rise. Banking shares tumbled, with French banks dropping sharply on fears of potential downgrades by ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service amid concerns over exposure to Greek debt. Read Europe Markets “Investors currently value European banks at levels last seen when Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed” in 2008, said Stephen Pope, managing director of Spotlight Ideas, a London consulting firm. “One cannot overstate the fear that over a Greek default” and a subsequent escalation of debt contagion fears. The euro, which until last week had proven relatively insulated against sovereign debt turmoil, extended a slide versus major rivals to hit a 10-year low versus the Japanese yen. The shared currency traded at ¥104.95 in recent action, down 0.5% after trading as low as ¥103.88. The euro EURUSD +0.47% tested the $1.3500 area versus the dollar, but bounced back on short covering to trade at $1.3618 in recent trade, up 0.1% from Friday.

Safe-haven flows sent the two-year German bund yield to a record low. The yield traded at 0.381% in recent action, according to data from electronic trading platform Tradeweb. The Greek two-year yield rose, topping 66%. Italian and Spanish government bond yields rose, with the 10-year Italian yield rising by around 15 basis points to 5.46%. That pushed the yield premium over 10-year German bunds to around 3.73 percentage point from around 3.69 percentage points Friday.

The ECB has been seen as an aggressive buyer of Spanish and Italian debt since restarting its controversial bond-buying program in early August. The move helped bring 10-year yields down from more than 6%. But the plan drew objections within the ECB and was tied by news reports to the decision Friday by Executive Board member Juergen Stark to resign from the central bank.

Preparations for default have probably been long in the works, but strategists said non-payment is looking increasingly likely even as Greece scrambled to cover a shortfall in its deficit target by announcing on Sunday a new, two-year property tax designed to raise €2 billion. The latest moves come after a team from the International Monetary Fund, European Union and European Central Bank abruptly left Athens earlier this month before completing their fifth quarterly review of the country’s compliance with the terms of last year’s €110 billion bailout.

The team is set to return to Athens later this month, but failure to approve dispersal of the latest tranche of aid would likely force Greece to default. Greek officials say they have sufficient funds to meet obligations until October. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has taken a hard line on the review of Greek finances, insisting last week that the next tranche can’t be paid without a positive report.

Given such circumstances, it would be no surprise that German officials have been making plans in the event of a default, strategists said. Meanwhile, the turmoil at the European Central Bank has added to jitters. Carl B. Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y., said the resignation could point to internal discussions within the ECB over how to respond to a banking crisis.

Such an outcome would leave the ECB with no choice but to pump up its balance sheet, creating cash reserves to support banks, which would fly in the face of the view of Stark and other German policy makers that central banks should never print money under any circumstances, Weinberg said. “The combination of Greek economic and fiscal mismanagement and German intransigence adds up to an intractable situation in euro land,” Weinberg wrote. “The price will be a banking crisis of historic proportions, and a knock-on economic depression.” Others argued all isn’t lost. Economists at Barclays Capital said Greece’s weekend pledge to impose may not be enough to allow Greece to reach its projected primary surplus in 2012, but “in our view the approval of these measures is likely to satisfy the troika on filling the identified fiscal gap.” Source

Oil Today:

Oil is flat today, hovering at ~$87.20/barrel.

Libya refinery attacked amid revival talk

Muammar Gaddafi forces attacked an oil refinery on Monday in an apparent attempt to disrupt the revival of the oil-based economy.

Fifteen guards were killed and there was no damage to the refinery, which is the country’s largest.

A Libyan official said over the weekend that oil production would resume on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Interim oil and finance minister Ali Tarhouni said on Saturday that production will resume in three to four days and that the OPEC member country is set to reach full pre-war output levels within a year. Source

 

Weather Updates

National Hurricane Center

Tropical Activity

Atlantic:

The Atlantic has calmed down some, with Nate and Katia fading off.

Tropical Storm Maria is turning earlier than Irene did and as such will evade the US coastline. Good news for the recovery efforts going on there.

Contact Sun Coast Resources to find out how we can keep you going during and after the storm with 24/7 Emergency Fueling Services!

Email or call toll-free at 800-677-3835 *490! Get ready for the incoming storms!

National Weather Conditions

National Weather Service

Fires seem to be the primary issue around the country today and this month. Texas is still plagued by fires in central and eastern areas. Red flag warnings are scattered in Oregon, Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, and Florida. There are extreme fire dangers alerts in South Dakota and Montana.

There is a severe thunderstorm warning in Arizona and flash flood warning in California. There is a tropical storm warning along the Florida/South Carolina coastline. Click on the map to take a closer look at your area.

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