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Wednesday February 18, 2015

// February 18th, 2015 // Comments Off on Wednesday February 18, 2015 // Daily News

Oil falls toward $61 as rally’s sustainability in question

Oil fell more than $1 toward $61 a barrel on Wednesday, failing to build on gains of over 1 percent in the previous session as analysts said a recent rally was overblown.
“The lack of follow-through higher yesterday is a worry and there’s plenty of reason to be neutral here and observe carefully,” PVM Oil Associates director and technical analyst Robin Bieber said.
Oil prices have risen more than 35 percent since hitting an almost six-year low of $45.19 in January, in an ascent fueled by lower industry spending and falling U.S. rig counts.
Benchmark Brent crude futures were down $1.03 at $61.50, having fallen to a low of $61.11 earlier in the session. U.S. crude traded at $52.89 a barrel, down 64 cents.
“The contracts will look very fragile and accident-prone if one or two more contracts fail to hold key support,” Bieber said.
Volumes were significantly reduced in early trading as several Asian countries started the Lunar New Year holidays, which last for the rest of the week.
BNP Paribas analysts said the recent surge in prices was premature given record-high U.S. crude stocks.
“U.S. refinery outages, through seasonal maintenance and industrial action, will weaken U.S. crude demand, exacerbating the crude stock excess in the near term,” oil strategists Gareth Lewis-Davies and Harry Tchilinguirian said in a note to traders.
U.S. commercial crude oil stockpiles are already at their highest since records began and are expected to have risen again last week by 3.1 million barrels, a preliminary Reuters survey showed on Tuesday.
U.S. stocks data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due later on Wednesday.
Instability in the Middle East helped support the market, however, and Commerzbank analysts said prices could turn positive later on Wednesday following the prior session’s 2015 high of $63.
“Yesterdays price response shows that oil prices still want to climb,” senior oil and commodities analyst Carsten Fritsch said. “Brent … is profiting from the renewed shift in focus towards supply risks.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on Tuesday for a United Nations resolution mandating an international coalition to intervene in Libya against Islamic State militants.

Today’s Inspiration

“I” Problems

by Joyce Meyer – posted February 18, 2015

Now Miriam and Aaron talked against Moses [their brother] because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Has he not spoken also by us?
– Numbers 12:1-2

Moses’ sister, Miriam, and his brother, Aaron, complained to God about the Ethiopian woman their brother had married during his forty years of exile. But that was not the real issue. The real problem was revealed when they asked, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Has he not spoken also by us?”

That’s the big “I” problem, also known as the issue of pride. That’s one way Satan gets into our lives, divides us, confuses us, and causes us to fight among ourselves.

In the incident cited above, the issue wasn’t whether God spoke through them or only through Moses. It was their way of calling attention to themselves and yearning for recognition. But their plan backfired on them. If you read the entire account, you will find that God punished Miriam with leprosy and she had to stay outside the camp for a week.

There’s another interesting note: She held them back from moving forward. So Miriam was shut up without the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought in again (v. 15).

What we need to recognize about pride-one of Satan’s most powerful tools-is that while it may actually attack only one or two of us, it affects everyone. When someone stands up and says, “I am special,” the unspoken message is: “But you…you’re not special like me.” That’s when jealousies and anger erupt, and the devil is the only one who is happy.

Here’s another example. A few months ago, I saw a brief review of a college football game on the evening news. The running back stood just over the goal line, jumping up and down and screaming, “I’m the best! I’m the best!”

I’m sure he was excited because he had won the game. Or had he? What he didn’t seem to grasp was that he had only carried the ball over the line, scoring the winning points. His teammates, however, had thrown him the ball and blocked other players from tackling him. His statement would have been more accurate had he said, “We’re the best!”

This illustrates a dangerous attitude. Much of the time, we are only too eager to take all the credit. Too many people act as if they are solely responsible for their gifts and abilities (see 1 Corinthians 4:7). What they (and all of us) need to realize and focus on is that God alone gives us all of the talents, abilities, and gifts that we need to succeed in life. He is the giver we are just the recipients.

Whenever we excel in any area, it is because God has equipped us with the necessary abilities. God expects us to utilize our gifts and become better at the things we do, but we must never forget that He is the one who gives the talent. If we’re high-minded or think more highly of ourselves than we should, we tend to look down on others. This is the sin of pride, and no one appreciates it. We all back away from proud people because they not only elevate themselves, but they arouse negative feelings in the rest of us, especially if we have any issues of insecurity or inferiority.

To win over the big “I” problem, we must remind ourselves of this simple fact: Everything we are and everything we have comes as a gift from God. If we stay focused on that fact, pride will find no place in our hearts.

Patient and loving God, forgive me when I’ve taken credit for my talents and my abilities. Help me now and every day to thank You for the gifts and abilities that You have so generously placed in me. I ask this in the name of my Savior, Jesus. Amen.

From the book Battlefield of the Mind Devotional by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2006 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved

Friday February 6, 2015

// February 6th, 2015 // Comments Off on Friday February 6, 2015 // Daily News

What investors are looking for in the jobs report

With oil stabilizing, a mixed earnings season ending and Greece concerns abating, Friday’s monthly jobs report is a key indicator for the U.S. economy.
Consensus expects creation of 230,000 nonfarm payrolls in January, with an unemployment rate holding steady at 5.6 percent and wage growth of 0.3 percent. Last month, a 0.20 percent decline, or a 5-cent drop, in hourly earnings jarred markets.
The total nonfarm payroll accounts for about 80 percent of the workers who produce the entire gross domestic product of the United States.
Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Goldman Sachs expects unemployment of 5.5 percent and wages to grow 0.4 percent, noting in a report that “calendar distortions and an unusual pattern of holiday retail hiring likely accounted for most of the downside surprise.”
However, Goldman analyst David Mericle said this week’s economic indicators argue for a weaker report overall, with expectations of nonfarm payrolls below consensus at 210,000.
More importantly, the firm expects wage growth to increase by 2.75 percent in 2015, above last year’s 1.7 increase but “still well below the 3 to 4 percent wage growth that Fed Chair Janet Yellen has identified as normal.”
Besides positive wage growth, JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade, wants to see jobs growing in manufacturing, other than the typically strong job growth sectors of bars and restaurants.
Most analysts are looking beyond the actual figures to the overall trends that signify a strengthening economy.
“We are now in the longest stretch of uninterrupted job growth of 51 months,” said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James.
Weekly jobless claims came in less than expected on Thursday, adding to the economic growth narrative.
The number of planned layoffs by U.S. employers rose to a nearly two-year high of 53,041 jobs in January, according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The 63 percent increase from the previous month came mostly from hits to the energy sector from low oil prices.
A greater-than-expected trade deficit of $46.6 billion—the largest since November 2012—will likely weigh on U.S. GDP growth, which initially came in at a disappointing 2.6 percent for the fourth quarter last Friday.
U.S. stocks closed up more than one percent on Thursday, posting the first gains for the year. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 211.8 points, or 1,20 percent, at 17,884.88, with Pfizer and DuPont leading gains as all blue chips advanced. The S&P 500 closed up 21.01 points, or 1.03 percent, at 2,062.52 with materials leading gains across all sectors. The Nasdaq closed up 48.39 points, or 1.03 percent, at 4,765.10.

Today’s Inspiration

Make Adjustments

by Joyce Meyer – posted February 06, 2015

Adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence).
– 2 Peter 1:5

Sometimes we have to make a few adjustments in our lifestyle to follow wisdom. We may have to say no to too much activity. He¬brews 11:1 teaches that faith is the assurance of things we do not see now. But, like God, we can call “those things that be not, as though they are” (see Romans 4:17). This spiritual principle applies in the negative realm as well as in the positive realm. So we may need to make some adjustments to the things we say.

If you feel that it is hard to get up in the morning, don’t say, “I am too tired.” Get all of that weak, tired, wimpy, quitter, give-up talk out of your vocabulary. Instead, say, “Because the Lord is my strength, I can do whatever I need to do today.”