I’m back in the saddle again after a fantastic Symposium event in Las Vegas! I hope you had a good week in the meantime.
This morning, stocks are relatively muted after a mixed session Friday. Most other markets are largely flat, too, including precious metals, Treasuries, and crude oil. The dollar is higher.
On the news front...
Credit concerns continue to grow in China after a key financial conglomerate reportedly failed to make payments to investors. Zhongzhi Enterprise Group Co. is a $138 billion asset manager that appears to be struggling to make payments due on high-yield investment products. Its woes are surfacing several days after one of China’s biggest real estate developers, Country Garden Holdings Co., began sliding toward default. China’s stock market and China’s currency fell further in the wake of the news.
Oil companies are flush with cash, thanks to last year’s price run up and a recent, renewed bounce. The question is, what will they do with it? This Wall Street Journal story talks about the choices “Big Oil” executives will have to make: Give more money back to investors or ramp up drilling and production. It’s definitely worth a read.
Turns out it’s not good for business when your cars catch on fire. Or at least that’s the point Nikola Corp. (NKLA) is proving today. Shares of the EV maker plunged after it announced a truck recall and halted vehicle sales due to a string of battery fires.
