AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)

Fed Governor Waller backs quarter-point interest rate hike at next meeting

General Motors (GM) plans to invest nearly $1B in 4 US plants to support production of components for electric vehicles as well as its next generation of V-8 engines, signaling gas-powered trucks & performance cars are here for the foreseeable future.  The $918M investment is despite the automaker’s plans to exclusively offer all-electric consumer vehicles by 2035.  It's the latest example of legacy automakers such as GM having to balance their current lineup of vehicles with emerging EVs.  “Our commitment is to an all-EV future, no doubt about it,” Gerald Johnson, global head of GM's manufacturing said.  “We know that has a horizon and between here and there, there are a lot of internal combustion engine customers that we don’t want to lose.”  A majority of the investment, $579M, will go toward preparing GM's Flint Engine Operations plant in Michigan for the automaker's 6th-generation family of small-block V-8 gas engines.  The engines are used in some of the automaker's most highly profitable products, such as its full-size pickup trucks & SUVs.  They've also been used in some Cadillac & Chevrolet performance cars.  The stock fell 38¢.
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GM to invest $918 million in new V-8 gas engines and EV components

Western forces agreed increases to their military support for Ukraine, but Germany wavered on further EU tank deliveries despite mounting calls from Kyiv & fellow allies.  “Today, we can all not yet say when a decision will be made about Leopard and what this decision will look like,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said at Germany's Ramstein Air Base held with several defense leaders from across the world, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.  He stressed that he intends for Berlin to be prepared if & when a decision is taken on Leopard 2 tanks.  He added that he instructed an inspection of the German Leopard 2 inventories, both in military & in domestic industry stocks, ahead of a prospective decision.  “We are not really hesitating we are just very carefully balancing all the pros and contra [cons] — we are not talking just about delivering anything to anybody, this is a new kind of measure we would choose, so we have to be careful because we have a duty to look carefully and intensively at what might be the consequences for anybody in that conflict,” he said.  This is Pistorius' 2nd day in office, following the abrupt resignation of his predecessor Christine Lambrecht, who suffered intense domestic & intl scrutiny over her ability to lead Berlin's efforts in the war in Ukraine.  Ukraine has repeatedly asked for battle tanks from its Western allies, with Germany’s Leopard 2 units being of particular interest. Ukrainian Pres Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted that receiving supplies of Western tanks must outpace another Russian attack.  Officials in Berlin seem to fear that supplying the arms could escalate hostilities with Moscow, which has already accused the West of fighting a “proxy war” against Russia in Ukraine.  In the hours before the meeting, the Kremlin said that Western tanks for Ukraine would “change nothing” & would not stop Russia from achieving its goals.  Pistorius insisted that Germany is not alone in holding out on the tanks supply decision.  “I must say there is very clearly no unanimous opinion. The impression that has occasionally been made that there is a closed coalition and Germany stands in the way of this is wrong. There are many allies who say we share the opinion that I explained here today again, there are good reasons for the delivery and there are good reasons against it,” he added.

Germany holds out on Ukraine tanks supply decision despite mounting calls

Gold futures rose to tally a 5th weekly climb in a row.  This year, the hot money has run into gold, as well as Shanghai futures & options, betting that prices will keep surging on chatter over heavy central-bank demand, plus the strong household buying expected in China for the Lunar New Year holidays.  However, a pullback in gold could very well come next week, when China's Spring Festival will shut both Shanghai's gold & its futures exchanges.  That will remove a big chunk of physical demand as well as leveraged speculation from the market.  Gold for Feb rose $4 to settle at $1928 an ounce.  For the week, prices for the most-active contract rose 0.3%.

Gold Futures Post a 5th Straight Weekly Climb

Oil futures rose, with US prices posting a gain for a 2nd straight week.  The Energy Information Administration reported an 8.4M-barrel weekly rise in US crude inventories, following an even larger 19M-barrel increase a week earlier.  Nonetheless, the market managed to largely discount the move once again, signaling an expectation that refinery runs will pick up in the weeks ahead, as well as some longer-term confidence in Chinese demand growth and global economic conditions.  On the contract’s expiration day, US benchmark WTI crude for Feb rose 98¢ (1.2%) to end at $81.31 a barrel, with prices for the contract up 1.8% for the week.  The new front-month contract, Mar added $1.03 (1.3%) to settle at $81.64.

Oil futures end higher, with U.S. prices up a second week

Dow Jones Industrials