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WTI crude oil futures prices fell below zero because of low liquidity and limited available storage (4/22/2020)

On Monday, April 20, 2020, New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil front-month futures prices fell below zero dollars per barrel (b)—at one point, trading at -$40.32/b (Figure 1)—and remained below zero for part of the following trading day. Monday marked the first time the price for the WTI futures contract fell below zero since trading began in 1983. Negative prices in commodity markets are very rare, but when they occur they typically indicate high transactions costs and significant infrastructure constraints. In this case, the WTI front-month futures contract was for May 2020 delivery, and the contract was set to expire on April 21, 2020. Unless they have made other arrangements ahead of time, market participants that hold WTI futures contracts to expiration must take physical delivery of WTI crude oil in Cushing, Oklahoma. Typically, most market participants close any futures contracts ahead of expiration through cash settlement in order to avoid taking physical delivery, and only about 1% of contracts are physically settled. The extreme market events of April 20 and April 21 were driven by several factors, including the inability of contract holders to find other market participants to sell the futures contracts. In addition, in this case, the scarcity of available crude oil storage meant several market participants sold their futures contracts at negative prices, in effect paying a counterparty to close out of the contracts. ...




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How this startup built and exited to Twitter in 1,219 days

By the summer of 2016, Marie Outtier had spent eight years as a consultant advising media agencies and martech companies on marketing growth strategy. Pierre-Jean “PJ” Camillieri started as a music software engineer before joining one of Apple’s consumer electronics divisions. Inspired by Siri, he left to start Timista, a smart lifestyle assistant. When the […]




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Poynter Institute launches WhatsApp chatbot to debunk coronavirus-related hoaxes

You can now debunk thousands of coronavirus-related hoaxes with a few texts on WhatsApp . Poynter Institute, a non-profit organization that supports journalism, today launched a bot on the Facebook -owned service that will allow people across the globe to debunk over 4,000 hoaxes surrounding the pandemic such as whether the infectious disease originated in […]




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Twitter rolls out changes to threaded conversations following tests in its prototype app, twttr

Twitter announced today it’s introducing a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make it easier to understand who you’re replying to and how the conversation is flowing. The company will also test putting engagement actions — including likes, Retweet and reply icons — behind an extra tap to make replies […]




ed

Facebook’s redesign goes live with simplified navigation and dark mode

After months of testing, Facebook’s redesign is finally official. Announced last year at F8, the more minimalist approach to its desktop design has been rolled out in waves. In March, the company added an option to try out the new version. Users could switch back and leave feedback for why they had done so. This […]















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'Walked all night on tracks, left behind as I couldn't keep up' says Aurangabad tragedy survivor; 16... - Firstpost

  1. 'Walked all night on tracks, left behind as I couldn't keep up' says Aurangabad tragedy survivor; 16...  Firstpost
  2. Sorry, we have run out of all words today  Mumbai Mirror
  3. NHRC issues notice to Maharashtra govt over deaths of migrant workers in Aurangabad train mishap, seeks det...  Zee News
  4. 16 walking home to MP fall asleep on rail tracks, run over in Maharashtra  The Indian Express
  5. Tragedy on tracks  The Indian Express
  6. View Full coverage on Google News







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Riyaz Naikoo’s killing a shock, says Hizbul Mujahideen boss Syed Salahuddin - Hindustan Times

  1. Riyaz Naikoo’s killing a shock, says Hizbul Mujahideen boss Syed Salahuddin  Hindustan Times
  2. Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin claims responsibility for Handwara attack, says `India has upper ha...  Zee News
  3. DSP among six injured in Budgam as cops, residents clash over lockdown violation  Times of India
  4. View Full coverage on Google News





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HuffPost is reportedly on the auction block

Late last night the Financial Times reported that HuffPost, arguably one of the crown jewels of Verizon Media Group’s remaining network of media properties (which includes TechCrunch), is up for sale. Verizon has been shedding media properties in a retreat from the strategy that it had begun to execute with the acquisition of AOL for […]




ed

Some tech I loved is getting worse and I’m mad

Time is supposed to make technology better. The idea is simple: With more time, humans make newer, better technology and our lives improve. Except for when the opposite happens. Google is a good example of this. I’ve been harping on the matter for a while now. Google mobile search, in case you haven’t used it […]




ed

Unicorn fever as One Medical’s IPO pops 40% after conservative pricing

Shares of One Medical are worth $19.50 this morning after the venture-backed unicorn priced its IPO at $14 per share last night. The company opened at $18 before rising further, according to Yahoo Finance data. At its current price, One Medical is worth about 40% more than its IPO price, a strong debut for the […]




ed

Yahoo Mobile is a $39.99 unlimited phone and data plan

As a cell phone plan, Yahoo Mobile seems pretty straightforward — there’s just one pricing tier, where you pay $39.99 per month for unlimited calls, data and mobile hotspot usage. But you may be wondering why Yahoo is getting into the phone business. It makes more sense when you recall that Yahoo is owned by Verizon, […]





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Estonian fintech askRobin scores $1.7M to bring ‘fair credit’ to emerging markets

AskRobin, an Estonia-founded fintech that operates a financial services marketplace for “underbanked” customers in Latin America, has picked up $1.7 million in funding. The seed round is backed by VC funds Change Ventures, Vereeni Early Stage Fund, BENE Asia Capital, and Lemonade Stand. In addition, a number of tech entrepreneurs from Estonia participated, such as […]




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Banked picks up £2.35M seed to use open banking for account-to-account payments

Banked, a London-based fintech using open banking to enable account-to-account payments at checkout (and beyond), has raised £2.35 million in further seed funding. The round was led by Force Over Mass, with participation from previous investors Backed and Acrew Capital, along with a number of high-net-worth individuals, such as Paul Forster (co-founder of Indeed.com). It […]




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Stilt, which provides financial services for immigrants, raises $7.5 million seed round

Stilt, a Y Combinator alum that provides financial services for immigrants without Social Security numbers or credit reports, announced today that it has closed a $7.5 million seed round. It also launched FDIC-insured pre-approved global bank accounts today. The startup has raised equity from investors including Liron Petrushka; Hillsven Capital; Streamlined Ventures; Gokul Rajaram; Bragiel […]




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Released 4/1/2020


Summary Excerpt:

U.S. Heating Oil and Propane Prices
(Dollars per Gallon) 3/30/2020

Heating Oil Residential
2.421 .. U.S.
2.440 .. East Coast
2.010 .. Midwest
Heating Oil Wholesale
1.172 .. U.S.
1.172 .. East Coast
1.192 .. Midwest
Propane Residential
1.869 .. U.S.
2.544 .. East Coast
1.460 .. Midwest
2.119 .. Gulf Coast
1.616 .. Rocky Mountain
Propane Wholesale
0.433 .. U.S.
0.530 .. East Coast
0.389 .. Midwest
0.389 .. Gulf Coast
0.399 .. Rocky Mountain

U.S. Distillate and Propane/Propylene Stocks
(Millions of Barrels) 3/27/2020

122.2 ... Distillate Stocks
64.668 .. Propane/Propylene Stocks

U.S. Distillate and Propane/Propylene Production and Demand
(Millions of Barrels per Day) 3/27/2020

Distillate
4.966 ..Production
3.907 ..Demand
Propane/Propylene
2.100 ..Production
1.352 ..Demand




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Unemployment Surged to 14.7 Percent in April

The U.S. lost a record 20.5 million jobs over the past month.



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Skip a Trip to the Market. Get 18 Bottles of Wine Delivered for Less Than $10 Each.

Taste your way around the world's finest wine regions with this sampler pack.




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Germany ditches centralized approach to app for COVID-19 contacts tracing

Germany has U-turned on building a centralized COVID-19 contacts tracing app — and will instead adopt a decentralized architecture, Reuters reported Sunday, citing a joint statement by chancellery minister Helge Braun and health minister Jens Spahn. In Europe in recent weeks, a battle has raged between different groups backing centralized vs decentralized infrastructure for apps […]




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Fairphone teams up with /e/OS on a box-fresh ‘deGoogled’ handset

The makers of the world’s most ethical smartphone, the Fairphone 3, have teamed up for a version of the device with even less big tech on board. The Netherlands-based device maker has partnered with France’s /e/OS to offer a “de-Googled” version of its latest handset, running an Android AOSP fork out of the box that’s […]




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Index and Credo lead a $2.75M seed in anti-fraud tech, Resistant AI

Prague based Resistant AI has nabbed a $2.75M seed round. The security startup’s machine learning technology is designed to be deployed on top of AI systems used for financial decision making to protect customers in markets such as financial services and ecommerce from attacks such as targeted manipulation, adversarial machine learning and advanced fraud. The […]




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NHS COVID-19: The UK’s coronavirus contacts-tracing app explained

The UK has this week started testing a coronavirus contacts-tracing app which NHSX, a digital arm of the country’s National Health Service, has been planning and developing since early March. The test is taking place in the Isle of Wight, a 380km2 island off the south coast of England, with a population of around 140,000. […]




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Need Help Telling Your Startup Story? This Illustration Kit Is on Sale for $100 Off.

Make your web content pop with beautiful illustrations.




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Stop Wasting Email Sends on Non-Verified Addresses. This Tool Promises 99 Percent Deliverability.

Run more effective email marketing campaigns and hit more leads with a verified list.




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This Smart, AI-Powered Stock Photo Library Helps You Find the Perfect Image

Regardless of your industry, JumpStory has assets for you.




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How to Build an Online Community of Like-Minded Entrepreneurs

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U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide fell by 2.8% in 2019, slightly below 2017 levels

U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions declined by 2.8% in 2019 to 5,130 million metric tons (MMmt), according to data in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Monthly Energy Review. CO2 emissions had increased by 2.9% in 2018, the only annual increase in the past five years. Because of continuing trends in how much energy the U.S economy uses and how much CO2 that energy use generates, energy-related CO2 emissions in 2019 fell more than energy consumption, which declined by 0.9% in 2019, and gross domestic product, which increased by 2.3% in 2019.




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McDonald's Is Set to Lose $3.4 Billion in Value After the CEO Was Fired Over a Relationship With a Subordinate

McDonald's on Friday fired its CEO, Steve Easterbrook, for violating its policy of having a relationship with an employee.



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24 Top-Ranked, Affordable Franchises You Can Buy for $25,000 or Less

These low-cost franchises are worth your time, energy and investment.




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Have You 'Immunized' Your Franchise Portfolio Against the Coronavirus?

For franchises, a blend of concepts, geography and margins are key to surviving economic downturns.




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The Top 11 Companies in the Franchise 500, Ranked From Cheapest to Most Expensive

Which of the Entrepreneur Franchise 500 entries is the cheapest, and which is most expensive?




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Why Marketing Activities and Tracking Will Help Your Ageless Startup Succeed

Find out how to let the world know what you're doing with these easy-to-follow tips.




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From a Crisis of Conscience to Consumer Packaged Goods Success

Adnan Durrani, the CEO and founder of Saffron Road Foods, talks about finding a niche in the food industry after being disillusioned by his experiences while working on Wall Street.




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Meet Omaze, the Celebrity-Endorsed Juggernaut That Has Raised Over $100 Million for Charity

Co-founder Matt Pohlson is just getting started.



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