Fogbow

Wall Street Sees Nothing but Good News, Even When It’s Bad
With expectations that interest rates will stay down and government spending will stay up, the stock market has learned to live with the pandemic, even as cases increase.

By Matt Phillips
Aug. 31, 2021 Updated 5:43 p.m. ET

Bad news doesn’t seem to bother Wall Street these days.

Deaths and hospitalizations related to the coronavirus are soaring, and many businesses have shelved plans to return to the office. Staffing shortages and supply-chain bottlenecks linger, while consumer confidence has fallen.

And yet, the stock market continued its quietly remarkable year in August, posting its seventh straight monthly rise. The S&P 500 index is up over 20 percent for 2021 and has more than doubled in value since it hit bottom in March 2020. The market has closed at a record high 53 times — the most by this point of the year since 1964, according to LPL Financial.

It’s an ascent that looks out of step with the reality of the virus in many parts of the country, but most investors are confident of two things: The Federal Reserve will keep interest rates at rock-bottom levels, possibly for years to come, and the federal government won’t be shy about spending heavily to keep the recovery going.

“I hate to say it,” said Ed Yardeni, a longtime market analyst and president of the stock market research firm Yardeni Research. “But it looks like we’re learning to live with this virus, and the market certainly has.”



https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/busi ... ecord.html

RTH10260 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 31, 2021 9:00 pm and you don't even need the fromer doubled impotus for the rise

And yet, the stock market continued its quietly remarkable year in August, posting its seventh straight monthly rise. The S&P 500 index is up over 20 percent for 2021 and has more than doubled in value since it hit bottom in March 2020.

bob wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 3:33 am

And yet, the stock market continued its quietly remarkable year in August, posting its seventh straight monthly rise. The S&P 500 index is up over 20 percent for 2021 and has more than doubled in value since it hit bottom in March 2020.

So refreshing to have a president who doesn't constantly take credit for the markets' rise (and is silent during their lows).

Slim Cognito wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 4:23 pm The market was edging back up, then the Jackson Hole Symposium happened and now it's cratering again. My retirement is in the market, but I trust my broker. My investments are on the safe side, but (putting on tinfoil hat) is this just part of the ups and downs of the market or is Big Bidness trying to keep Joe's ratings down before November?

Trafigura hands out $1.7bn in dividends on profits fuelled by Ukraine war
Commodity trader posted record profits of $7bn after ‘exceptionally strong’ year

Alex Lawson Energy correspondent
Thu 8 Dec 2022 15.41 GMT

The commodities trading firm Trafigura is to hand more than $1.7bn (£1.4bn) to its top traders and shareholders after the energy crisis, fuelled by the war in Ukraine, led to a surge in profits.

Trafigura, one of the world’s largest specialist commodity traders, posted a record $7bn net profit in its last financial year, more than the previous four years combined after making gains from the market volatility caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Its chief financial officer, Christophe Salmon, hailed an “exceptionally strong year”, as profits more than doubled and revenues grew to $318.5bn in the year to 30 September, up from $231.3bn a year earlier.

The $1.71bn payout to its 1,100 shareholders, including top employees, equates to about $1.56m a head if shared equally. That’s an increase of about 35% compared with 2021’s dividend of $1.12bn to around 1,000 top traders and investors.

Trafigura said its structure incentivised top traders. “Our shareholder model encourages our senior employees to take the long view and think hard about risk, business continuity and the future performance of the company,” it said.

The profits also underscore the huge gains made by commodities traders as a result of uncertainty in energy markets since the start of the war as well as fears over a global recession.





https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... kraine-war