MARKET MOVERS

  • George Soros reveals a stake in Rivian. According to a filing with the SEC on Friday, Soros Fund Management bought nearly 20 million shares of Rivian last quarter, worth about $2 billion at the time, while trimming positions in Amazon and Alphabet as well as selling part of its stake in the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 ETF.

  • Major US–Canada border crossing reopens after being blocked by protesters. Traffic resumed on the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit, Michigan, after Canadian police officers made arrests to clear the protest blockage. Several other crossings, including one connecting Surrey, British Columbia to Blaine, Washington, remained closed on Monday. Read more here.

  • Investors rush to US oil and gas bonds as energy prices boost finances. Funds now hold overweight positions in high-yield energy bonds compared to a benchmark index, according to Bank of America Global Research. This means that, instead of simply trying to track the proportion of energy sector bonds in the index, investors are choosing to own much more. Read more here.

  • There's a widening gap between housing starts and housing completions taking place. Until those two start coming back together again or we see those completions start to rise and catch up with housing starts, everything is going to remain elevated as far as the prices go. Meanwhile, the supply of housing materials is improving. Everything is available now but at a price and that also makes housing prices elevated.  Source(36:42)

  • Waning stockpiles drive a widespread global commodity crunch. Shortages are hitting everything from energy to agriculture. It’s especially acute for metals and in futures markets, where some spot prices, meaning immediate delivery, are now higher than prices for contracts for future delivery. Traders are basically paying big premiums to secure supplies immediately. All these shortages will, of course, likely mean higher prices. Source(8:26)

WHAT TO WATCH

  • Rolls-Royce expects a fully-electric small aircraft by 2025. The first commercial application of P-Volt, a battery-electric system developed by Rolls-Royce, will have about 600-kilowatt hours of power, which will enable flying six to eight people as far as 80 nautical miles. That range will keep improving with better battery technology and eventually extend to 400 kilometers (250 miles) in the 2030s.

  • Water is one of the hottest commodities of the next three decades, says Morgan Stanley. Water demand is forecast to rise by roughly 30% by 2050. Tension over access to sufficient water by industry, agriculture, and municipalities could lead to increased scrutiny, greater regulation, and ultimately higher costs, the firm said, which is where companies using technological innovations to cut usage comes in. Read more here.

  • Discover Financial Services will soon give U.S. merchants the option to accept payments from shoppers’ bank accounts—no card needed. The card company is partnering with fintech firm Buy It Mobility Networks Inc., whose technology allows consumers to pay directly from their checking accounts using merchants’ apps. The companies are expected to announce the partnership later this week. Read more here.

  • Block will use an energy-efficient crypto-mining chip built by Intel to accelerate its blockchain ambitions. Intel's senior vice president of accelerated computing systems, Raja Koduri, said in a company blog post that Intel has developed an energy-efficient crypto-mining chip, which it calls an "accelerator," that has "over 1000x better performance per watt" compared to graphics processors.

  • Tech giants are 'sunsetting', according to strategists. The world is set to transit from second-generation technologies to third-generation, says Viktor Shvets of Macquarie bank. Large consumer tech platforms such as Facebook and Amazon are in the “sunsetting” phase. Headwinds may include major economies of scale, as well as significant political and social pressure.
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