Premarket action on Monday had the three major U.S. indexes trading mixed. The Dow Jones industrials were up 0.04%, the S&P 500 up 0.03% and the Nasdaq 0.14% lower.
At Sunday’s meeting of OPEC+ oil ministers, the cartel agreed to cut production by 1 million barrels a day in July. The cut may or may not be extended through the rest of the year.
The cartel and its partners, primarily Russia, cut production by 1.6 million barrels a day in April and have agreed to reduce production to around 40.5 million barrels (from about 41.4 million) beginning in January and lasting through 2024. The cut announced Sunday will be absorbed primarily by Saudi Arabia, the only OPEC member capable of turning that much production on or off at will.
Crude prices need to be in the $80-per-barrel range in order for Saudi Arabia to balance its national budget and generate funds to support aggressive plans to wean its economy off oil.
Russia has agreed to reduce its output to around 9.8 million barrels a day in 2024. Whether that occurs remains to be seen. At the beginning of May, the country’s seaborne shipments were about 900,000 barrels a day higher than they were in December. The country’s oil minister claims that pipeline shipments (which are not publicly reported by Russia) have declined to offset the increase in seaborne shipments. The Russians are likely to be lying because they need the revenue from oil sales to fund their invasion and war with Ukraine.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) begins its Worldwide Developer Conference Monday at 1:00 p.m. ET. The big reveal at the WWDC, as the conference is known, is a mixed-reality headset that Apple has spent years developing and is reportedly going to sell for around $3,000.
In his weekly newsletter for subscribers, Bloomberg’s Mark Gorman noted that he expected the product to be a “flop” from a unit sales platform. Then he writes:
While it might take three or five years for a headset to become a hit, it’s hard to bet against the company’s marketing, engineering and sales prowess. If anyone can make this product category a success, it’s Apple.
Follow-on products are expected to include a Pro version and a lower-cost version in 2024 or 2025.
Apple is also expected to announce new Mac laptops, desktops and software updates for the Watch, the iPad, the iPhone and the Mac.
Good news for Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW). The cybersecurity company is replacing Dish Network Inc. (NASDAQ: DISH) on the S&P 500 index.
All 11 market sectors closed higher on Friday. Materials (3.37%) and industrials (2.96%) had the day’s largest gains. Communications services (0.10%) and technology (0.51%) posted the day’s smallest gains. The Dow closed up 2.12%, the S&P 500 up 1.45% and the Nasdaq up 1.04% on Friday.
Two-year Treasuries added 17 basis points to end Friday at 4.50%, and 10-year notes rose by eight basis points to close at 3.69%. In Monday’s premarket, two-year notes were trading at around 4.56% and 10-year notes at about 3.76%.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded up about 2.3% at $73.40 a barrel, and Brent crude traded up about 2% at $77.70 a barrel. Brent has not traded above $80 a barrel since late April.
Originally published at 24/7 Wall St.
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