What's moving markets today
Texas shatters 45-year oil record by pumping 1.5 BILLION barrels in 2018
Texas, the epicenter of the shale boom, is gushing with oil.
Production in the Lone Star State soared by 22% to 1.54 billion barrels in 2018, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association.
That shatters the previous Texas record of 1.28 billion barrels set in 1973.
The spike in Texas' oil production has been driven by the Permian Basin, the shale hotbed located in West Texas and New Mexico. Rapid technological improvements in drilling have morphed the Permian into one of the world's largest and most important oilfields.
It's been a boon to the Texas economy. The report said that the oil and gas industry supported a total of 352,371 direct jobs in Texas last year, up by 26,706 from 2017. And these jobs pay "extremely well," with an average annual wage of $130,706 -- more than double the state's average private-sector salary.
Groupon slips after earnings
Not even Tiffany Haddish, the company's hilarious spokesperson, could help Groupon's fourth quarter.
Groupon's (GRPN) shares slid 12% after it posted mixed earnings yesterday.
- What's good: It beat on revenue by raking in nearly $800 million. But that was still below the same quarter a year ago.
- What's bad: Basically everything else. Earnings per share missed analysts' expectations and its profits decreased. Also, the number of people using Groupon in North America decreased nearly 3% compared with same quarter a year ago.
Dish keeps shedding satellite subscribers
The number of people paying for Dish Network's old-fashioned satellite service keeps dwindling, the company reported this morning:
- 1.4 million subscribers ditched Dish's satellite service compared to the same quarter a year ago, bringing the total number of subscribers to 9.9 million.
- Dish's streaming service, Sling TV, gained roughly 200,000 subscribers year-over-year.
- The company's quarterly revenue slid 5%.
Shares of Dish (DISH) fell as much as 18% in premarket trading.
CNN's parent company, AT&T, owns Dish rival DirecTV, which is also losing subscribers.
Heineken's non-alcoholic star
Shares in Heineken (HEINY) shot up as much as 5% in Amsterdam after the world's second largest brewer reported earnings.
The Dutch company, which owns brands like Sol, Tiger and Amstel, reported sales growth of 6% for 2018, with its flagship Heineken brand posting its strongest results in a decade.
The company also touted a strong performance from its non-alcoholic beer, Heineken 0.0.
Heineken made a huge bet on China in August, buying a 40% stake in China Resources Beer, the maker of Snow. The transaction is currently awaiting regulatory approval.
Markets gain on Washington optimism
US stock futures are pointing higher as investors find reasons to be optimistic about developments in Washington.
President Trump said yesterday he would be willing to stretch his March 1 deadline for reaching a deal with China if it appears the two sides are close to an agreement.
And while Trump expressed his displeasure at a border security deal struck by congressional negotiators that would avoid a US government shutdown, he stopped short of rejecting the agreement.
The Dow closed 1.5% higher on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 gained 1.3% and the Nasdaq added 1.5%.