Oil prices have been choppy overnight, since API reported a big surprise crude build,
with WTI hovering around $68. China's factory activity and the OPEC+
meeting over the weekend in Vienna to discuss the group’s production
policy are weighing on traders' minds, as US debt ceiling doubts fade.
“Today
the market will look to US weekly inventory data and in particular the
pace of Strategic Petroleum Reserve selling last week,” said Jens
Pedersen, director of oil and commodities research at Danske Bank.
“Oil
prices are stabilizing after better-than-expected Chinese PMIs and a
halt in the recent dollar rally,” he added, referring to the purchasing
managers’ index, a measure of economic activity.
The big question is whether the official data will confirm API's big build...
API
Crude +5.2mm (-5.1mm exp)
Cushing +1.777mm
Gasoline +1.89mm (-900k exp)
Distillates +1.849mm (+500k exp)
DOE
Crude +4.49mm (-5.1mm exp)
Cushing +1.63mm
Gasoline -207k (-900k exp)
Distillates +985k (+500k exp)
The
official inventory data confirmed API's report that crude stocks rose
significantly last week - after the massive draw the prior week. Cushing stocks rose for the 6th straight week. Gasoline stocks fell very modestly...
Source: Bloomberg
For the 9th straight week, the Biden admin drained the SPR last week...
Source: Bloomberg
US crude production remains flat at cycle highs despite the ongoing slide in rig counts...
Source: Bloomberg
WTI rallied up to $69 ahead of the official inventory data and extended those gains...
Finally,
we note that US demand for oil and diesel was more robust in March than
previously thought, but remained below levels seen at the same time a
year ago.
By the end of the day Tuesday, the plummet in Target’s share prices reached the longest losing streak the chain has suffered in almost five years.
Target’s
share prices have fallen for eight straight days, plunging another
3.66% on Tuesday reaching $133.88 as the store has lost a staggering $12
billion in market value in the last 14 days to rest at $61.85 billion
in the wake of a consumer boycott triggered by its LGBTQ merchandise.
“What
you’ve seen in recent days went well beyond discomfort, and it has been
gut-wrenching to see what you’ve confronted in our aisles,” Target CEO
Brian Cornell stated to employees last week, adding there were “two
guiding principles when it came time for us to act: do all we can to
keep our team safe, and do all we can to honor our commitment and
connection to the LGBTQIA+ community.”
As far back as 2014, Target announced it would no longer divide certain products by gender.
In
2016, Target introduced a gender-neutral line for children and also
asserted they would allow transgender people to use whatever bathroom
they preferred, prompting criticism. Target then spent $20 million to
put private bathrooms in their stores.
The
vice president for brand management at Target also serves as treasurer
of an LGBT group that has received millions of dollars in donations from
Target and urges schools to adopt policies to help trans and nonbinary
school students hide their “gender identity” from their parents.
Target made
“emergency” calls in Mid-May to managers and senior directors at the
store after the company faced backlash for its Pride collection, which
included “tuck-friendly” female swimwear and other products, according
to a source inside the company.
The calls
were to direct some stores to make their Pride products display less
prominent in order to avoid a “Bud Light situation,” a Target insider told Fox News.
“We
were given 36 hours, told to take all of our Pride stuff, the entire
section, and move it into a section that’s a third the size. From the
front of the store to the back of the store, you can’t have anything on
mannequins and no large signage,” the insider reportedly said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) faced a handful of enraged constituents during a Friday night town hall in Queens.
Some New Yorkers in attendance took issue with the congresswoman’s soft stance on illegal immigration,
raising the debt ceiling, and her support of seemingly endless U.S.
funding for Ukraine. One man wearing a shirt with a Cuban flag on it and
holding an American flag in his hand got up and walked toward the
stage, shouting “American citizens before migrants!”
“Where
are you on the migrant issue? You’re absent!” the man shouted as he was
escorted out of the hall by security. Before being forced out of the
room as most of the crowd booed him, the man got five more words in:
“You’re a piece of s***!”
The second-term socialist Democrat laughed off the incident, but she received more pushback as the night went on.
While
discussing the ongoing debt-ceiling negotiations between the White
House and Republican leadership, Ocasio-Cortez said, “We should
eliminate the debt limit in the United States,” a remark met by a
mixture of cheers and boos. One man in the audience expressed his
frustration with the congresswoman’s comment by pointing out that she
supports the U.S. sending billions of dollars to Ukraine.
“$100
billion for Ukraine that you voted for!” he said. The man was met with
shouts from someone else in the crowd who told him it wasn’t his turn to
speak.
Another person at the town hall held signs
that read: “America First: Vetted & Legal Migrants Only” and “Stop
Funding Ukraine.” Others displayed signs saying, “AOC Stop Crying” and
“AOC An Obvious Criminal.”
Ocasio-Cortez
has faced angry people who have questioned her support of funding
Ukraine in the past. In October, two people attending her town hall confronted her and accused her of supporting nuclear war.
“Why are you playing with the lives of American citizens?” he pressed. “You’re playing with our lives!”
“You voted to mobilize and send money to Ukrainian Nazis,” Jose Vega yelled. “You’re a coward!”
My friend @Noggatone and I confronted Congresswoman @AOC
on her support for Nuclear War and Ukrainian Nazis. I call her out for
being a coward in the face of the party that will push us all into
Nuclear war right now. Will she stand up like @TulsiGabbard and fight for peace? pic.twitter.com/aQiQvQSWIN
The U.S. Marshals Service announced this week that 225 missing or
endangered children were recovered as part of a 10-week, multi-state
effort dubbed “Operation We Will Find You.”
In a news release
on May 24, the federal law enforcement agency said the children include
runaways as well as abductees by non-custodial individuals.
The operation, described by the agency as an effort focused on areas
with high clusters of critically missing or endangered children,
resulted in the safe location of 56 children and the recovery of 169
children. The children were found in areas both inside and outside the
United States.
The youngest child who was rescued during the multi-agency effort was
just six months old, the agency revealed. Additionally, of the missing
children recovered, 62 percent were found within a week of the U.S.
Marshals Service assisting with the investigation.
Meanwhile, U.S. Marshals also noted that 42 children were found
outside of the city they went missing in, with 10 of those children
being located in Mexico. Additionally, a number of teenage
girls—described by the agency as possible victims of human
trafficking—were located in the Los Angeles County, San Bernardino
County, and Riverside County areas from March 1 to May 15 as part of the
nationwide sting operation, according to a separate May 24 news release.
Data released by the agency shows that 86 percent of the children
were endangered runaways, 9 percent were family abductions, and 5
percent were considered otherwise missing.
Also as part of the operation, U.S. Marshals arrested a “Top 15 Most
Wanted” couple after they fled from Washington state to Mexico with
their five children—who they had taken into hiding. Investigators said
charges for individuals taken into custody include sex offender
violations, as well as “other related charges.”
Members of the U.S. Marshals Service monitor an area in New York City on April 2, 2015. (Victor J. Blue/Getty Images)
“The U.S. Marshals Service is fully committed to the important
mission of protecting the American people, especially our most
vulnerable population—our children,” Ronald Davis, director of the
federal law enforcement agency, said in a statement.
“The results of this operation underscore that commitment, but also
highlight the necessity of these critical efforts,” he continued. “Our
continued success can only be achieved through our collaboration with
state and local law enforcement agencies, and partnership with NCMEC.”
The operation was largely conducted in federal districts across the
United States, including the District of Columbia; Maryland;
Massachusetts; South Carolina; New Orleans; San Antonio; Detroit;
Yakima, Washington; Orlando, Florida; Los Angeles; eastern Virginia;
northern Ohio; Guam; Puerto Rico; and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Most Challenging Cases
The agency noted that the missing or endangered children were
regarded as some of the “most challenging recovery cases” in the area
largely due to indications of “high-risk factors such as victimization
of child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sexual abuse, physical
abuse, and medical or mental health conditions.”
A total of 28 cases, meanwhile, were handed to law enforcement
agencies for further investigation into crimes such as drugs, weapons,
sex trafficking, and sex offender violations, according to the agency.
Law enforcement reported allegations of human trafficking in over 40 of
the cases the U.S. Marshals Service assisted with.
“Operation We Will Find You is a great example of how the U.S.
Marshals Service continues to prioritize child protection,” NCMEC
president and chief executive Michelle DeLaune said. “NCMEC is proud of
our long-standing partnership with the USMS and commends them and the
participating state and local agencies who helped recover the 225
endangered missing children.”
Since the passage of the “Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act” in
2015, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) in partnership with the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) recovered over 3,100
missing children, Davis said.
The 2015 law enhances law enforcement’s tool kit to recover
endangered missing children regardless of whether a fugitive or sex
offender was involved.
“The U.S. Marshals Service established a Missing Child Unit to
oversee and manage the implementation of its enhanced authority under
the act,” the agency stated.
Any information about missing or endangered children should be
reported to local police offices or to the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children at 1-800-The-Lost. Information about violent
fugitives can be provided to the U.S. Marshals Service at (504)
589-6872, via email at usms.wanted@usdoj.gov, or with the USMS tips app.
Crimestoppers GNO may also be contacted with tips at (504) 822-1111.
