“Amateurs think about how much money they can make. Professionals think about how much money they could lose.” – Jack Schwager

1. U.S. Proposed Sale from Strategic Oil Reserve to Reduce Global Oil Supplies — the U.S. Department of Energy is offering 11M barrels of crude for sale from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve ahead of sanctions on Iran that are expected to reduce global oil supplies and increase prices. The SPR was established in the 1970s after the U.S. economy was paralyzed by an oil embargo. As recently as 2011 it contained 727M barrels in caverns along the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
2. JPMorgan to Unveil New Investing App — JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) is rolling out a digital investing service next week that comes bundled with free or discounted trades, a sophisticated portfolio-building tool and no-fee access to the bank’s stock research. “You Invest,” more than two years in the making, has a distinct advantage over many competitors: JPMorgan already has financial ties with half of American households.
3. Hospitals Shut At a Rate of 30 Annually — U.S. hospitals have been closing at a rate of about 30 a year, according to the American Hospital Association, and patients living far from major cities may be left with even fewer hospital choices as insurers push them toward online providers like Teladoc (NYSE:TDOC) and clinics such as CVS’s MinuteClinic (NYSE:CVS). The next year to 18 months could see a further increase in shutdowns, with the risks coming following years of mergers and acquisitions.
4. China Retaliates Against New U.S. Tariffs — a fresh round of U.S. tariffs on $16B worth of Chinese imports kicked in at last week, prompting Beijing to retaliate with its own levies on American goods worth the same amount. The world’s two largest economies, which are in the midst of trade talks, have now slapped tit-for-tat duties on a combined $100B of products since early July, with more in the pipeline. Economists reckon that every $100B of imports hit by tariffs would reduce global trade by around 0.5%.
5. SEC Dismisses More Bitcoin ETFs — the SEC has once again thwarted an attempt to build a bitcoin ETF, rejecting applications for nine separate bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds. Cboe Global Markets (NASDAQ:CBOE) and NYSE Arca (NYSE:ICE) would have listed the products. The commission leaned on the same reasoning as for the earlier rejections, mainly that there aren’t enough protections against fraud and market manipulations.
6. U.S.-China Trade Talks End with No Major Progress — Mid-level trade talks between the U.S. and China ended without any formal signs of progress, although Chinese officials said they plan to keep the lines of communication open. Sources indicated the two sides mainly swapped talking points without getting any detailed negotiations. Representatives from the U.S., European Union, and Japan plan to meet in Washington to extend talks on how to leverage the World Trade Organization and other ways pressure can be exerted on China.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

“Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered.” — unknown

1. Strong Start to Holiday Sales Season — Cyber Monday hit record revenues of $6.59B, making it the largest U.S. online sales day ever, in the latest report released. In comparison, Black Friday and Thanksgiving Day brought in $5.03B and $2.87B respectively. The internet holiday shopping season has so far (Nov. 1-27) driven a total of $50B in revenue, a 16.8% increase.
2. Bitcoin Shoots for $11,000 — a day after breaking above the $9,000 level, bitcoin has cracked $11,700, boosted by growing signs of mainstream adoption. About 100,000 Coin-base accounts were added over the Thanksgiving holiday, while CME will list bitcoin futures in the second week of December.
3. Samsung Develops Graphene-Based Battery, Quicker Charge than Lithium — Samsung Electronics has successfully developed a graphene-based battery that would take just 12 minutes to be fully charged, compared to current lithium-ion batteries, which take about an hour. Graphene has been dubbed a “miracle material” in the global electronics industry given its strength, electrical conductivity and elasticity.
4. OPEC/Russia Agree on Oil-Cuts Extension to End of 2018 — OPEC agreed to extend its oil-production cuts to the end of 2018. OPEC and other oil exporters led by Russia have kept 1.8 million barrels a day off the market since January, helping to boost crude prices about 40 percent from the lows of the year. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih told reporters “My preference is to go for nine months, we will meet again in June and we look at not only how we have done in first half of the year, but also our outlook for third and fourth quarters of 2018 and act accordingly.”
5. Amazon is in Exploratory Talks with Generic-Drug Makers — Amazon has held preliminary talks with makers of generic drugs about its potential entry into the pharmacy space, according to CNBC. The conversations, including with generics giants Mylan and Sandoz, a unit of Novartis. Stocks of drug distributors and others in the pharmaceutical supply chain, such as pharmacies and pharmacy benefits managers, have been pressured by the specter of Amazon entering the space.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: