In April 1999, the total US oil and gas rig count was 488, today, after dropping 9, the total rig count is 480- an all-time record low (since records began in 1975). Oil rigs dropped 3 to 386 (lowest Since Dec 09), the 12th weekly drop in a row (16th of 17 and 17th and 26th of the last 28 weeks). With production up last week, it remains to be seen when the rig count matters once again.
A record low in total oil and gas rigs... (-6 in oil, -3 in gas)
Gold is up 19% year-to-date, by far the best performing asset-class, making this the best start to a year since 1974.
"Negative rates in Japan and Europe coupled with weak global growth have prompted a surge in interest," notes one trader as Gold-backed exchange-traded funds saw a record inflow of $7.2bn in February, surpassing the previous high set in 2009, according to BlackRock.
Submitted by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners,
Authored by Attain Capital, via Valuewalk.com,
While many investors may be breathing a sigh of relief thanks to the bounce off the February low, with the S&P up 11% since the start of February – it’s still not all lollipops and rainbows out there in market-land. There’s some worrying undercurrents that could spell more trouble ahead, not to mention pros like Jeff Gundlach claiming there’s just 2% of upside in the S&P 500 and 20% downside.
After January's record-smashing CNY3.4 trillion (half a trillion dollars!) surge in aggregate credit expansion in China, the post-lunar-new-year hangover hit hard in February as credit growth tumbled 77% from Janaury's level to just CNY780 ($112bn). This is the weakest February loan growth since 2011. Drastically missing expectations, and following authorities comments on the need to "monitor" excess credit growth, all categories of total social finance registered a sharp drop.