Equities and the Economy:

• Friday was the Dow’s best day of the year.
• For the week major indexes unchanged.

U.S. equities had a great day on Friday with the Dow rallying 176 points, 0.9%, and back over 20,000 ending at 20,061. The S&P 500 closed 16 points higher, 0.7%, at 2,297 and the Nasdaq rose 24 points, 0.4%, finishing at 5,660. The financial sector was the big gainer rising 2% with the impetus being President Trump signing an executive order directing the Treasury secretary to review the Dodd-Frank legislation which put increased restrictions and regulations on financial institutions. As I mentioned on Friday, also supporting the market was the Labor Department’s January jobs report showing a whopping 227,000 jobs added in the month. All that said, Friday’s move just got us back to flat for the week with the three indexes basically unchanged over the period.

This morning the indexes are waffling around unchanged.

Oil

• More of the same.
• $53 a magnet.

While oil prices climbed marginally on Friday with WTI rising 29¢ to $53.83 and Brent closing up 25¢ at $56.81, $53 is still a magnet. We’ve been trading around that level since early December. It was surprising to me that even with the additional sanctions on Iran for launching a ballistic test missile and President Trump tweeting “Iran is playing with fire” oil prices didn’t rise simply due to a greater geopolitical risk premium.

The rig count continues to materially increase. On Friday Baker Hughes reported the oil rig count increased last week another 17 rigs. There was no increase in natural gas directed rigs. There are now rigs working on finding oil which is the highest level since October 2015! This morning prices are slightly lower down 46¢.

Courtesy of MDA Information Systems LLC

Natural Gas

• Weather continues to slaughter the bulls.
• Prices down almost 50¢ in past 7 days.

In the winter it’s always all about the weather and with literally no cold forecasted through February 20th the bulls are penned and the bears are feasting. On Friday the March contract got bludgeoned closing down 12.4¢, 3.9%, at $3.063. Day after day the weather forecast comes out with a sea of red which is just bringing in more sellers. This morning’s forecast is for the eastern ¾ of the country to have materially above normal temperatures. This puts us to February 20th and we’re getting to the end of winter. Natty is down 1.9¢ as I write close to a 2.5 month low.

Elsewhere

Congratulations to the New England Patriots on an incredible comeback victory yesterday at Super Bowl LI. So how amazing was it? There were 24 new records and 7 tied! Now that’s amazing!

Records set:

Most games- 7, Tom Brady
Most games, Head Coach – 7, Bill Belichick
Most games won, Head Coach – 5, Bill Belichick
Most points, game – 20, James White
Most passes, career – 309, Tom Brady
Most passes, game – 62, Tom Brady
Most completions, career – 207, Tom Brady
Most completions, game – 43, Tom Brady
Most passing yards, career – 2,071, Tom Brady
Most passing yards, game – 466, Tom Brady
Most touchdown passes, career – 15, Tom Brady
Most receptions, game – 14, James White
Most games, team – 9, New England
Largest deficit overcome, winning team – 25 points, New England
First ever Super Bowl overtime game
Most first downs, game, team – 37, New England
Most first downs, game, both teams – 54, New England vs. Atlanta
Most first downs passing, game, team – 26, New England
Most first downs passing, game, both teams – 39, New England vs. Atlanta
Most offensive play, game, team – 93, New England
Most passes, game, team – 63, New England
Most completions, game, team – 43, New England
Most passing yards, game, team – 443, New England
Most passing yards, game, both teams – 682, New England vs. Atlanta

Records tied:

Most games won – 5, Tom Brady
Most touchdowns, game – James White
Most two-point conversions, game, team – 2,New England
Most two-point conversions, both teams – 2, New England
Most two-point conversions, game -1, James White; Danny Amendola
Most sacks, game (since 1982) – 3, Grady Jarrett
Most first downs by penalty, game, team – 4, New England