1) A massive winter storm system, a polar vortex, will bring sever winter storm conditions with ice, snow, and very low temperatures to millions of Americans from Texas to New Jersey. Some of the worst weather will be in portions of Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky where an ice storm is expected with accumulations exceeding a half inch in some locations. This will likely lead to hazardous travel conditions with accidents, power outages and scattered tree damage. All of this promises huge economic losses for the people and local governments. Plus, there has already been loss of life and no doubt more will unfortunately will be lost.
2) NASA’s experimental ‘RainCube’ satellite is now dead. In mid-2018, NASA launched a tiny CubeSat as a proof of concept experiment to study weather on Earth. The objective was to see if compact satellites could return ‘science-quality data’ at a much lower cost than much larger conventional weather satellites. The RainCube satellite not only outlived its designed three-month lifespan, but it returned a wealth of data that proved useful for researchers. The CubeSat is just the size of a shoebox. RainCube’s mission was to study weather on Earth and show scientists what a tiny satellite could do. It completed its three-month mission… and then another three more months… and then three more. Finally, in late December of 2020, the test satellite died, having outlived and outperformed its design several times over.
3) Bank of America forecast the US dollar will strengthen throughout 2021 for 5 key reasons. 1- After several actions to pump dollars into the US economy, the Federal Reserve is starting to end its ultra-easy money policy and purchases of less assets. 2- Stimulus boost with an additional $1.9 trillion dollar stimulus proposal in a bid to supercharge the US economic recovery. 3- Faster growth with the global economy expected to rebound in 2021with the US growth to handily outpace that of the EU. 4- Dollar shorts as the market continues to short the dollar despite the currency’s recent rally. 5- Return of the safe haven as reversal stands to push more investors into cash positions and away from the risk of the markets. The peak in the market is expected this first quarter with a 10% market correction forecasted to arrive sometime this year and shake investors’ appetite for stocks.
4) Stock market closings for – 11 FEB 21:
Dow 31,430.70 down by 7.10
Nasdaq 14,025.77 up by 53.24
S&P 500 3,916.38 up by 6.50
10 Year Yield: up at 1.16%
Oil: down at $57.92