Week of Jan 19 2018 Weekly Recap & The Week Ahead
“By living the philosophy that my winners are always in front of me, it is not so painful to take a loss.” – Marty Schwartz
1. Ford Ups Electrification Investment to $11B — Ford will significantly increase its planned investments in EVs to $11B by 2022 and have 40 hybrid and fully electric vehicles in its model lineup. “We’re taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we’re electrifying them,” Chairman Bill Ford told reporters. Ford (NYSE:F) also showed off its 2019 Ranger, after pulling the midsize pickup off the market in North America eight years ago.
2. China Crackdowns on Crytocurrency — South Korea stating a ban on trading was now “a live option” and China reportedly raising the bar on its cryptocurrency crackdown. Bitcoin dropped eventually tumbling to under $11,000 for the first time since Dec. 6 from the high of nearly $20,000. PBOC Vice Governor Pan Gongsheng says authorities should ban centralized trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services.
3. U.S. Plans New Nuclear Weapons — the Pentagon is planning to develop more “low-yield” nuclear warheads and a sea-based nuclear cruise missile, according to a leaked draft of the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review. It follows reports that Russia has developed an unmanned underwater nuclear drone that has a range of 10,000 kilometers and can carry a 100-megaton nuclear warhead. Companies affected are: BW, HON, ACM, JEC, SAIC, OA, COL, LMT, BA, NOC, GD, AJRD, HII.
4. U.S. Considers ‘fine’ on China for IP Theft — the U.S. is considering a major “fine” as part of a probe into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property. “We’re talking about big damages,” President Trump told Reuters. “We’re talking about numbers that you haven’t even thought about.” American businesses claim to have lost billions of dollars to Chinese firms that force them to turn over intellectual property as part of the price of doing business in the country.
5. US World’s Next Largest Oil Producer According to IEA — the IEA said in the latest monthly report that “2018 promises to be a record-setting one for the U.S.,”. “Relentless growth should see the U.S. hit historic highs above 10M barrels a day [in production], overtaking Saudi Arabia and rivaling Russia during the course of 2018 – provided OPEC and non-OPEC restraints remain in place.”
Majority of company earnings will be announced next week.
The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:
Tags: Earnings Calendar