MarketWatch: U.S. stocks end mostly lower as Nasdaq falls 1%; Dow ekes out gain
U.S. stocks closed mixed Monday, with equities losing steam in the final 15 minutes of trade....
U.S. stocks closed mixed Monday, with equities losing steam in the final 15 minutes of trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 0.08% rose about 27 points, or 0.1%, to end near 32,224, after trading almost 300 points higher earlier in the session, according to FactSet data. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.39% shed 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -1.20% closed down 1.2%, as investors focused on inflation, recession concerns and a string of disappointing economic data in the U.S., Europe and China. The New York Fed's Empire State business conditions index, a gauge of manufacturing activity in the state, plummeted 36.2 points to negative 11.6 in May. Treasury yields also slumped on Monday as investors flocked to the debt for safety, with the 10-year rate down 5.5 basis points at 2.877%, off a high of 3.124% earlier in May. Bond prices and yields move in the opposite direction.
Soaring oil and gas prices help Russia more than triple its current account surplus to $96 billion, its largest in 28 years
Russia has a current account surplus of $95.8 billion so far in 2022, the central bank...
Russia has a current account surplus of $95.8 billion so far in 2022, the central bank said, helped by surging prices for oil and gas exports paired with cratering imports amid Western sanctions. This year's surplus is more than triple the $27.5 billion in the same span last year and is the highest since 1994.
Western sanctions have yet to fully deter global customers from buying Russian oil. While the European Union has publicly condemned the Kremlin for its war in Ukraine, it has yet to impose an oil embargo and remains Russia's top export market. Meanwhile, China and India have stepped up purchases of Russian oil.
Last week, the International Energy Agency said Russian oil export revenue is up 50% since the start of 2022 with the Kremlin generating close to $20 billion per month in sales.
MarketWatch: U.S. COVID cases are at their highest level since November
COVID cases continued to rise across the U.S. on Monday and were trending at the highest levels...
COVID cases continued to rise across the U.S. on Monday and were trending at the highest levels seen since late November around the time that South African scientists first identified the highly transmissible omicron variant which quickly became dominant around the world.
Since then, the BA.2 variant of omicron, and two other subvariants named BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1, have helped spread infections.
The U.S. is averaging 90,423 cases a day, up 60% from two weeks ago, according to a New York Times tracker. Cases are higher in nearly every state, but the Northeast and Midwest are being particularly hard hit with case reports in both regions now higher than they were at the peak of last summer’s delta surge.
Diamondback and Rattler Midstream announce acquisition in all stock transaction
In deal news, Diamondback Energy, Inc. and Rattler Midstream LP announced that, on May 15, 2022, they...
In deal news, Diamondback Energy, Inc. and Rattler Midstream LP announced that, on May 15, 2022, they entered into a definitive agreement for Diamondback to acquire all of the publicly held common units representing the limited partner interests in Rattler not already owned by Diamondback and its subsidiaries. The agreement provides for an all-stock transaction whereby each public unitholder of Rattler would receive 0.113 of a share of common stock in Diamondback in exchange for each Rattler common unit owned, an exchange ratio that implies a premium of 17.3% for Rattler common units based on the closing prices of Rattler’s common units and Diamondback’s common stock as of May 13, 2022, and a premium of 9.3% based on Rattler’s and Diamondback’s 30 day volume-weighted average trading price as of the same date.
