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☆ Here are the 6 stocks we traded at the start of the second quarter — and why
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But the first week of trading of the second quarter got off to a rocky start, forcing us to recalibrate our approach to the market. But as the week progressed, stocks came under pressure amid signs the labor market is softening, fueling fresh investor fears of a recession. That prompted many investors to dump technology stocks in favor of defensive sectors like health care and consumer staples. We plan to stick with these three oil stocks, given energy prices are likely to move even higher amid ongoing geopolitical turmoil. Thursday We ended the trading week by purchasing this automation-focused industrial giant on weakness.

☆ BHP's exploration accelerator to open to uranium, lithium finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - BHP Group's (BHP.AX) programme to support promising minerals explorers will expand beyond copper and nickel to prospective uranium and lithium projects from September, the head of its Xplor program said on Wednesday. For its second year, the programme wants to receive double the number of applications at 500 from the first year as it opens up to more commodities, said Sonia Scarselli, vice president of BHP Xplor. "We will be looking not just at copper and nickel, but at uranium and lithium and so on," Scarselli told a commodities conference in Singapore. Scarselli told Reuters last month BHP saw lithium's demand-supply equation as not as fundamentally stretched as that for copper and nickel. The miner, which produces uranium as a byproduct at its Olympic Dam copper operations in South Australia, has become more vocal about the role of uranium in a new energy world.

☆ Germany's military gaps cannot be fully bridged by 2030, defence minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, April 1 (Reuters) - Germany's military cannot completely fill its existing gaps by 2030, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was quoted as saying, as Berlin seeks to revamp its armed forces after Russia's invasion of Ukraine following decades of neglect. "We all know that the existing gaps cannot be completely closed by 2030... Everyone is aware of that," Pistorius said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag newspaper published on Saturday. As federal defence minister, I cannot give everything away," he said. "If that is then set in motion at the end of the (legislative) period, then I would be satisfied," he added.

☆ Another cultish cost-saving formula gets off-track
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Jeffrey Goldfarb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Despite its multiple interpretations and approaches, success is widely gauged by a railway’s operating ratio, a simple measure of how much it spends to make a buck. Union Pacific’s peers improved similarly, indicative of the antiquated ways the industry had been deploying resources. Union Pacific also found itself unable to bring back enough furloughed workers in areas where they were most needed. “In a significant departure from the railroad industry's recent past, we deliberately moved away from a singular focus on operating ratio,” he told lawmakers. “If we wanted to drive [operating ratio] lower over time, we could,” the board wrote in a letter to shareholders in late 2021.

☆ Big Oil Eyes New Deals in North Africa Amid Rising Energy Demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Chao Deng | Benoit Faucon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

North Africa’s massive oil-and-gas reserves and its proximity to Europe make it an attractive alternative energy supplier to Russia. CAIRO—After years of underinvestment in North Africa’s energy infrastructure, global oil-and-gas giants from Halliburton Co. and Chevron Corp. to Eni SpA are ramping up their presence in the region as demand from Europe grows. Executives in the industry are betting it is worth drilling again in some of the hardest places to do business in the world as Europe increasingly turns to other sources for its energy needs after shunning its main supplier, Russia, over the invasion of Ukraine. In recent months, a string of European officials have visited the region to help advance talks over potential supply deals.

☆ This could be Big Oil's last surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The era of Big Oil could end sooner than its massive profits suggest, analysts told Insider. But the worst-case scenario for the environment — that oil and gas companies reinvest all their extra money to keep growing — isn't happening, Logan said. The role of oil and gas companies in the energy transition is an ongoing debate, analysts told Insider. The UK company cited the need for an "orderly" energy transition. And while Big Oil's finances may begin to show some cracks over the next decade, he doesn't expect them to "suffer financially" for another 25 to 35 years.

We're buying 50 shares of Emerson Electric (EMR) at roughly $80.54 and 130 shares of Halliburton (HAL) at roughly $30.20. In essence, the Oscillator measures the buying or selling pressure in the market at the current point in time. EMR YTD mountain Emerson Electric (EMR) YTD performance Emerson's stock decline has made its valuation favorable too. HAL YTD mountain Halliburton (HAL) YTD performance We understand the narrative, but the industry is still catching up from years of underinvestment and if producers want to be capital efficient, then they need to use Halliburton's technology. With HAL shares down about 28% since we sold 375 shares in mid-January, we are upgrading our rating back to a 1.

Since the crash, rail workers have staged rolling strikes demanding that the government takes action to revamp the sector. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov 1 2 3 4 5PUBLIC OUTRAGEPeople laid flowers and candles at the Athens central train station. "We want safe railways that operate," the head of a railway workers union Nikos Tsikalakis told state television. "We will not allow a lack of transparency, a cover-up, a renunciation of responsibilities and any delays to lead to oblivion," private sector union GSEE said in a statement. "The culprits must pay regardless of their rank," read a poster by public sector union ADEDY.

☆ Oil plunge is bad for energy stocks but actually good for other areas of our portfolio
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The extent of the decline in West Texas Intermediate crude — down 5.5% to under $67 per barrel — seems overdone in an energy market that remains structurally undersupplied. Bad for energy stocks For now, we're holding onto our three oil exploration and production (E & P) stocks — Coterra Energy (CTRA), Devon Energy (DVN) and Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) — because their breakeven levels are around $40 per barrel. The big question is whether the federal government will make good on its signals to replenish the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at WTI prices below $70 per barrel. In turn, higher energy costs eat into discretionary spending budgets. Now, with energy costs coming down, we would expect these input costs to subside a bit.

The profits follow similar reports in February from international peers BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron which have mostly posted record profits for last year. Aramco's capital expenditure rose 18% to $37.6 billion in 2022 and the company said it expects this year's spending to be around $45.0 billion to $55.0 billion including external investments. Aramco declared a dividend of $19.5 billion for the fourth quarter, an increase of 4% from the previous quarter. Free cash flow reached a record of $148.5 billion in 2022, compared to $107.5 billion in 2021. Prices cooled rapidly in the second half of 2022 as central banks hiked interest rates and fanned worries of recession.

☆ Saudi oil giant Aramco reports record profits in 2022, up 46% from the year before
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Dubai CNN —Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco on Sunday reported a record annual net profit of $161.1 billion for 2022, up 46% from the year earlier, on higher energy prices, increased volumes sold and improved margins for refined products. The profits follow similar reports in February from international peers BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron which have mostly posted record profits for last year. Oil prices swung wildly in 2022, climbing on geopolitical worries amid the war in Ukraine, then sliding on weaker demand from top importer China and worries of an economic contraction. Aramco’s capital expenditure rose 18% to $37.6 billion in 2022 and the company said it expects this year’s spending to be around $45.0 billion to $55.0 billion including external investments. Free cash flow reached a record of $148.5 billion in 2022, compared to $107.5 billion in 2021.

☆ Here’s our fourth-quarter earnings report card for all the stocks in our portfolio
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +20 min

Fourth-quarter earnings season is in the rearview mirror and most Club stocks reported results ahead of, or in line with, analysts' forecasts. Moreover, excluding foreign exchange fluctuations, this marked the ninth quarter in a row of 20% or better annual earnings growth. Nvidia (NVDA) reported a very strong quarter and better-than-expected guidance for the current quarter . Eli Lilly 's (LLY) fourth-quarter results came up a bit short on revenue but delivered a strong bottom line. Despite missing on top-line expectations, Wells Fargo 's (WFC) earnings came in better-than-expected, as the bank realized the benefits of higher interest rates .

☆ Why Everyone Is Moving to Florida: Jobs, Economy, Cost of Living, Taxes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Emil Skandul | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

For other states to compete, they will need to pay attention to what Florida is doing right. Floridians pay no income tax and fewer taxes overall than people in states like New York, California, or Massachusetts. But a low tax rate isn't the only thing people care about. Despite having a budget half the size of New York's and a larger population, Florida, by many metrics, is able to do significantly more with the taxes it collects. Florida is also outshining New York and other major population centers in tackling the soaring cost of housing.

[1/5] Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visits the site of a crash, where two trains collided, near the city of Larissa, Greece, March 1, 2023. Rail workers, on strike since March 2, have extended their walkout until Friday. "We could have been there, we could have been on that same train," Aria Laska, 23, told Reuters. Three more railway workers were detained and accused of disrupting public transport leading to deaths, the semi-state Athens News Agency reported. "We are together in this trial," Mitsotakis said, adding that young people and their parents had "every right to be angry".

☆ These 5 dividend-paying Club stocks are expected to grow earnings double-digits this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Wells Fargo (WFC) and Halliburton (HAL) headline a group of five dividend-paying Club stocks that are expected to post robust earnings growth this year. We wanted to see which holdings are projected to boost per-share earnings this year well above the roughly 2% earnings growth estimated for the overall S & P 500 . Investors should also pay attention to valuation, so we excluded stocks trading above the S & P 500's multiple of 18 times forward earnings. Wells Fargo Estimated 2023 EPS growth: 50.7% Dividend yield: 2.7% Forward P/E: 9.4 WFC 1Y mountain Wells Fargo's stock price over the past 12 months. The average price target from analysts who cover Morgan Stanley is about 6% above the stock's closing price of $96.06 on Tuesday.

Equinor became Europe's top natural gas supplier last year after exports from Russia were mostly choked off following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Europe cut demand, increased domestic output and imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) at huge cost in response to the drop in Russian gas supplies, which accounted for around half of the region's supply in 2021. "Trying to replace 150 billion cubic metres of (Russian) gas is a massive task. "The weather in Asia can set the gas price in Europe," Opedal said. Equinor produced over 2 million barrels of oil equivalent of oil and gas in 2022, when it reported a record adjusted operating profit of $75 billion on the back of soaring oil and gas prices.

☆ Greek workers join walkout over deadly train crash, call protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Karolina Tagaris | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ATHENS, March 8 (Reuters) - Thousands of workers will join a nationwide strike on Wednesday in protest over Greece's deadliest train disaster that killed 57 people, and mass demonstrations are expected to culminate outside parliament in Athens. Wednesday's strike, to be joined by various public sector workers, is expected to disrupt metro, tram and bus servives, and ferries will remain docked in ports as seamen join the walkout. "We will impose safe railways so that no one will ever experience the tragic accident at Tempi ever again," the main railway workers union said in a statement. ADEY, the umbrella union representing hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, also called for a day-long strike and protest over the "murderous crime". Greece sold its state-owned railway operator, now called Hellenic Train, under its international bailout program in 2017 to Italy's state-owned Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane.

☆ Thousands protest in Athens after Greece's deadly train crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Alkis KonstantinidisATHENS, March 5 (Reuters) - Clashes erupted briefly between police and a group of demonstrators in central Athens on Sunday on the fringes of a protest by thousands of students and railway workers over Greece's deadliest train crash in living memory. A small group of protesters hurled petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. The train, travelling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki, was packed with university students returning after a long holiday weekend. Railway workers' unions say safety systems throughout the rail network have been deficient for years as a remote surveillance and signalling system has not been delivered on time. Greece would soon announce action, he said, adding that Athens would seek expertise from the European Commission and other countries on improving rail safety.

ATHENS, March 5 (Reuters) - A Greek railway employee was jailed on Sunday pending trial over a deadly train crash that killed at least 57 people, as Greeks seethed with anger over the worst rail disaster in living memory. Clashes erupted between police and demonstrators in Athens on Sunday, after thousands rallied to protest over the crash. The 59-year-old Larissa station master faces multiple charges of disrupting transport and putting lives at risk. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis 1 2 3 4 5Railway workers say the country's rail network has been creaking under cost-cutting and underinvestment, a legacy of Greece's debilitating debt crisis from 2010 to 2018. Mitsotakis said on Sunday that if there had been a remote system in place throughout the rail network "it would have been, in practice, impossible for the accident to happen".

Here's an update on our energy, industrials and materials names in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust, the portfolio we use at the CNBC Investing Club. In 2022, by contrast, the priority was its variable dividend, which changed quarter by quarter depending on its financial results. The industrial company is one of our more recently added holdings. He also mentioned that Halliburton's top boss, Jeff Miller, has expressed notable conviction that the company's stock price is too cheap. The alternative would be consolidating our holdings to two oil-and-gas producers, along with Halliburton as our third energy stock.

☆ Persistent underinvestment in the oil sector will keep global supply tight, Aramco CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Chronic underinvestment in the hydrocarbons sector will keep global supply tight, the head of the world's largest oil company warned, suggesting higher future energy prices as China's reopening and the comeback of the aviation industry gather pace. Asked by CNBC's Dan Murphy about the current state of the oil market, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said, "A persistent underinvestment in oil upstream and even downstream is still there. The latest report from the IEA talks about a demand of 101.7 million barrels — going from 100 million barrels in 2022 to almost 2 million barrels more with China opening up and the aviation industry," which hasn't yet returned to pre-Covid levels. "There is a lot of potential for growth in aviation," Nasser said. Larger-than-expected U.S. fuel stocks in recent months and expectations of weaker global growth have helped lower energy prices.

☆ The 'office apocalypse' won't doom big cities — it's actually making them stronger
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Matthew E. Kahn | Christopher Okada | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

In San Francisco, tax revenue is projected to drop by as much as a billion dollars over the next six years. In order to bring in these new residents, cities will have to shift some of their priorities. Research coauthored by Steven Levitt of "Freakonomics" found that increases in violent and property crimes were correlated with city residents migrating to the suburbs. All is not lostThere's little doubt that superstar cities like New York and San Francisco have serious problems on their hands. Christopher Okada is the CEO of Okada & Company, a full-service commercial real estate brokerage and investment company in New York City.

☆ Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary says energy stocks are the new gold and touts optimism for the US economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Energy stocks are gold in the market, according to "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary. "If you didn't own energy in the last 18 months, you missed the market," he said in a recent interview. O'Leary is bullish on the market this year, despite warnings of a recession and a stock crash from commentators. He previously made the case that the US could still sidestep a recession in 2023, despite warnings of an impending downturn from other Wall Street forecasters. That's contrary to what other Wall Street experts have said, warning of an impending downturn and market crash as the economy shows signs of stress.

☆ Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas talks President Biden, infrastructure funding, and governing without gridlock at the local level: 'We've got to get stuff done'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas strives for collaboration as he works on tough policy issues. And he looks at Kansas City — whose Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII earlier this month — as an example of resiliency. What have been some of the most tangible and immediate benefits of the law for Kansas City? Mayor Lucas speaks during the Kansas City Chiefs' victory celebration in Kansas City, Missouri, on February 15, 2023. In Kansas City, we've said: "How do we keep talking to people even if everybody's mad at each other in the room?"

☆ Why a U.S. national electric grid would be great for the climate — and is nearly impossible
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

But the energy grid in the U.S. has developed over decades as a patchwork of thousands of individual utilities serving their own local regions. The Department of Energy is in the process of conducting a National Transmission Planning Study,to look into all of this. "Many mid-U.S. states have excellent wind resources, and the southwest U.S. has excellent solar resources, but the population is insufficient to use them," McCalley told CNBC. Finally, improved energy sharing would also lead to a more reliable energy grid for consumers. At the kickoff for its next round of transmission planning, MISO had a three hour planning meeting with 377 people in the meeting.

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