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Stock Market on Its Way to Highs: Will Tech Earnings be the Catalyst?

The next couple of weeks should prove to be an exciting time for the stock market. Technology stocks will be dominating the earnings calendar, with Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Meta Platforms (META) reporting on the week of July 24. Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) will report the following week. Given that tech stocks have driven the broad market rally, a lot is riding on their earnings. If earnings come in strong, the upside momentum could continue, but any sign of weakness, either from the numbers or guidance, could result in a pullback in the stock market.

Stay on top of earnings season by visiting the StockCharts Earnings Calendar. From Your Dashboard or Charts & Tools, scroll down to the Summary Pages and click on Earnings Calendar. Click on Upcoming Earnings and see which companies are reporting earnings.

A Technical Look at the Nasdaq 100 Index

Let’s take a look at the weekly chart of the Nasdaq 100 index ($NDX). The index has gone up almost 50% in 2023 so far. The chart below shows that $NDX has broken through most resistance levels and is on its way to its all-time high. The September 2021 high is the last resistance level the index has to push through; next week’s earnings report could be the deciding factor.

CHART 1: WEEKLY CHART OF NASDAQ 100 INDEX ($NDX). The index has bounced off the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level. Will it push through its September 2021 high and reach a new high?Chart source: StockCharts.com (click chart for live version). For educational purposes.

Looking at the Fibonacci retracement levels from the 2020 low to the 2021 high, you can see that $NDX bounced off the 61.8% retracement level. For the most part, the various Fib retracement levels have acted as support and resistance levels during the upward move. Now it’s almost at its high. So will $NDX reach a new high in 2023?

If you look at the daily chart, $NDX has stayed above its 21-day exponential moving average (EMA) since mid-March 2023, except for a couple of times when it briefly dipped below it. If earnings from the Tech companies aren’t so great, then we could see a repeat of the counter trend move after Tesla (TSLA), Netflix (NFLX), and Taiwan Semiconductors (TSM) reported earnings. If $NDX falls below its 21-day EMA, you can expect a significant pullback in Tech stocks. But if earnings come in strong and the 21-day EMA holds, be ready for more upside.

CHART 2: DAILY CHART OF THE NASDAQ 100 INDEX. The 21-day EMA could act as a first support level, and if the index falls below it, expect a significant pullback. But if earnings come in strong, then there could be further upside.Chart source: StockCharts.com (click chart for live version). For educational purposes.

Looking at the Year-to-Date PerfChart of the five Big Tech stocks reporting earnings, META is the clear winner and GOOGL is the laggard.

CHART 3: PERFCHART OF MSFT, GOOGL, META, AMZN, AND AAPL. META is the clear winner in the group.Chart source: StockCharts.com. For educational purposes.

If you look at the price charts of all five stocks using the layout feature in StockChartsACP (see below), you can see that META and AMZN are struggling to hold on to the support of the 21-day EMA, AAPL and MSFT are hanging on above their 21-day EMA, and GOOGL is trading below its 21-day EMA and 50-day simple moving average (SMA).

CHART 4: COMPARING META, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, AND AAPL. The 21-day EMA is an important support level for these stocks. A close below that level could mean further pullbacks ahead.Chart source: StockChartsACP. For educational purposes.

Since Tech stocks have seen a significant rise in their value, it’s possible they may be overvalued. But with AI in the picture, it could mean more upside moves, especially if the integration of AI works in their favor.

Then There’s the Fed

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, there’s a 98.9% chance the Fed will raise interest rates by 25 basis points on July 26. Core inflation still has to drop by more than two percentage points to reach the 2% goal the Fed is trying to achieve. When Fed Chairman Jerome Powell takes the podium on Wednesday, investors will be eager to hear if past interest rate hikes have weaved into the economy, and what it would take to reach the 2% inflation goal.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot to focus on next week—earnings and interest rates. Will Tech stocks propel the equity market higher despite economic uncertainties? It’ll be a week you don’t want to miss.

End of Week Wrap Up

US equity indexes mixed; volatility down

$SPX up 0.03% at 4536.32, $INDU up 0.01% at 35228.48; $COMPQ down 0.22% at 14032.81$VIX down 2.64% at 13.62Best performing sector for the week: EnergyWorst performing sector for the week: Communication ServicesTop 5 Large Cap SCTR stocks: Super Micro Computer (SMCI), NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), DraftKings (DKNG), Coinbase Global (COIN)

On the Radar Next Week

Big Tech Earnings. Some companies reporting next week: Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL). Other companies reporting include Verizon (VZ) Coca-Cola (KO), AT&T (T), Boeing (BA), McDonalds (MCD), Chipotle (CMG), Ford (F), and many more.June New Home SalesFed Interest Rate DecisionFed Press Conference

Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The ideas and strategies should never be used without first assessing your own personal and financial situation, or without consulting a financial professional.

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California is Going to Drop a Liquidity Bomb on The Stock Market

Starting on Jan. 8, 2023, much of California experienced flooding and mudslides due to much greater-than-normal rainfall. As a result of those weather events, the IRS announced that an extension would be granted to most Californians (ones who live in affected counties, which was most of them) for not just filing their Form 1040 tax returns, but also for paying any remaining 2022 taxes.

This is a big deal financially for the U.S. Treasury Department, because California is by far the largest taxpaying state. According to Moneyrates.com, Californian taxpayers account for 15% of total tax receipts, in spite of having just under 12% of the U.S. population. There are more millionaires and billionaires in California than in other states. So if some portion of Californians get to delay paying their 2022 taxes, that can amount to a lot of money.

You can see that effect in this week’s chart above. The month of April usually is the largest month of the year for federal tax receipts, as taxpayers reach the deadline for paying taxes owed in the prior year. Those payments get added to the normal payroll deductions, which wage earners have taken from their pay every month.

April 2022 saw a big surge in tax payments, in part because the stock market was up so nicely in 2021 and thus there were a lot of capital gains taxes to pay. The Fed’s quantitative tightening in 2022 knocked down stock market performance, and so there were not as many capital gains that stock traders had to pay taxes on in April 2023 with their tax returns. But April 2023 also saw Californians who owed taxes for 2022 get to sit on that money and not send it to Uncle Sam. So the April 2023 total of $638 billion that Uncle Sam collected was down 26% from April 2022.

In some recent years, when interest rates were almost nothing, it did not matter much if you paid early or late. But now, when investors can earn more than 5% annual yield on T-Bills, it pays a lot more to refrain from sending your money to the IRS. And Californians who can manage such a delay appear to be doing so.

And it is not just the Californians’ annual tax payments. Because most Californians got to delay filing their 2022 taxes, that also means that they get to delay the calculation of what their 2023 quarterly estimated payments are going to have to be. According to the IRS announcement, “The Oct. 16, 2023, deadline also applies to the quarterly estimated tax payments, normally due on Jan. 17, April 18, June 15, and Sept. 15, 2023. This means that individual taxpayers can skip making the fourth quarter estimated tax payment, normally due Jan. 17, 2023, and instead include it with the 2022 return they file, on or before Oct. 16.”

So an unknown number of Californian tax filers are going to have a big tax bill coming due on Oct. 16, 2023, as they have to file their 2022 returns, plus put together what would have been all of their quarterly estimated payments that they have not had to make thus far during 2023. That is going to be one giant windfall in October 2023 for the Treasury Department.

But here is why this event matters to the rest of us. Those California late payers are going to have to raise the money to make sure that their big October 2023 checks to the IRS clear. That is going to mean selling some stock, cashing out of money market funds, shifting money from savings to checking, and otherwise generally sending waves through the banking system to get their money organized so that they can cover those deferred payments. Writing a check to the IRS means that a bank then has to cover that check and move money all around the system as the IRS cashes those checks.

The entire financial system has grown accustomed to that type of turbulence taking place in April every year. But this anomalous Oct. 16 for rich taxpayers in the most populous state is a non-standard type of ripple in the liquidity stream.

It is not clear exactly when this liquidity wave is going to go through the banking system, because different taxpayers have different needs for selling stock or otherwise moving money around. But the effect of these Californian taxpayers doing these money movements is going to be amplified by the normal late summer to autumn seasonal weakness.

Even in the bullish third year of a presidential term, which is what we are in now, there is a period of seasonal weakness lasting from July to October. How weak the market is during that period varies among the past presidential terms, but it is possible that those California tax payers may start to see their July gains slipping away during the slide into October, and they decide to sell stocks early to raise the money they need for their big upcoming tax payment October 16.

There is no way to quantify how much of an effect this will have, as we cannot see into the hearts and the bank accounts of all of those delayed filers in California. But it is going to have some meaningful effect that is an irregular feature of the normal calendar for banking and liquidity. By late October, all of the dust should have settled, and all of that moving around of money to cover tax payments will have simmered down, so stocks can get back to their normal seasonal strength starting by late October.

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GNG TV: Industrial “Go” Trends are a Big Help to a Bull Market

The Home Construction Index (ITB) has been in a solid “Go” trend since June moving within a rising trend channel, and correcting today to the lower bound. In this edition of the GoNoGo Charts show, Tyler Wood, CMT talks through the tenets of trend — after showing how GoNoGo Charts provides an objective rules-based methodology for buying pullbacks in rising securities based on momentum resurgence.

This video was originally recorded on July 20, 2023. Click this link to watch on YouTube.

Learn more about the GoNoGo ACP plug-in with the FREE starter plug-in or the full featured plug-in pack.

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Use These Indicators To Help With Exits

When investors get attracted to one industry, the move can be relentlessly good. Over the years, we have seen semiconductors, software, IT security, cloud, payment systems, or EV’s all go on significant runs to name a few examples.

I doubted home builders as the mortgage rates continued to climb. The reality is the demand for these shares has been insatiable. This table is the year-to-date move in the home builders. Remarkable! Check out the % change column!

Below, I have assembled charts of some of the homebuilders.

The SCTR (StockCharts Technical Ranking) proprietary StockCharts indicator can make outperformance really clear. I think it is worth commenting on how helpful this can be.

The SCTR ranking on every one of these home builder stocks has been pinned at the top. I like to draw a line on the SCTR at 75%. My logic for that line is that when stocks are above it, they are in the top quartile of positive price action compared to their peers.

Eventually the group will break down. How will we know? Eventually, they will no longer outperform. One of the longest periods of outperformance shown by the SCTR was on Tesla at 15 months as an example. It is rare air when a stock holds up for more than three quarters.

On each chart, I’d like to highlight a few reasons to look at the SCTR, as well as other indicators.

1) The SCTR will drift below 75, but it is usually a late indicator for showing when the run in the stock is over. When the group starts to underperform that is a very good clue that the stocks could start to perform in line with the $SPX, but more likely falls to underperformance. Eventually momentum investors will sell the average performance and move to stronger stocks. This change of ownership can create weakness in the chart.

2) My purple area chart shows the relative strength (RS) compared to the $SPX. When a run is over, this indicator will start to break trend first. The trend line break is a clue that the outperformance is changing. As the indicator starts to break to three month lows, it is more of a concern.As this happens, I like to have a strategy for taking profits. If all the stocks start to break the $SPX RS trend, it is worth trying to figure out if any of the big winners should continue to be held. The goal is to get out near the top, not round trip the gains by stubbornly holding on.

3) The moving averages are currently under the price action on all these charts. Eventually the prices will start to drift below the moving averages. This is a more traditional approach of looking for price weakness.

4) The PPO on the daily chart will start to spend time below zero. I haven’t put the weekly charts in this article, but when the weekly PPO’s start to drift below zero, it’s a better clue that the miraculous run is ending.

I’ve posted the charts with little commentary and let the trends on the charts speak for themselves. The stocks all pulled back this week but is this the end of the run? All the charts are holding above important trend lines and bull market characteristics but a few are starting to test some of the trend lines.

One of the home builder CEO’s sold $50 Million in stock in July. Do they see something we don’t see yet? My suggestion would be to watch what investors do. It will be subtle but it will eventually happen. I definitely don’t want to waiting for earnings to slow. The stock will be off 50% by then.

These indicators help me keep the majority of my profits when trends change. I hope you’ll find some of these clues helpful. If you click on the charts, you can see all the settings I use. If you come back to this article in a few weeks or months, you’ll be able to see how the trend changes near the end.

DR Horton

DHI

Beautiful uptrend from bottom left to top right. Still holding the up trend.

Hovnanian

HOV

Long trend still holding.

KB Homes

KBH

Long trend is still intact.

Lennar

LEN

Lennar is still holding the long trend.

Pulte Group

PHM

Long term trend is still intact.

Taylor Morrison Home Corp

TMHC

Beautiful long trend. The PPO is making lower highs on every rally so losing some of the momentum.

Toll Brothers

TOL

Short term trends breaking but longer term trend is still intact.

You can click on these charts in a few weeks and see if conditions are changing.

One of the reasons we focus on the performance within an industry group is to help us see changes in market rotation. Within the Osprey Opportunities section of the Osprey Strategic website, we post charts within different themes to help our clients find excellent setups.

In the book StockCharts for Dummies, I focused on different methods to see relative strength. You might like this as a resource book that explains relative strength.

Below is a sample picture of the Osprey Opportunities page for our members. Each image links you into a chartlist of stocks with nice setups based on a theme or industry group.

If you like the work we do, I’d welcome the opportunity to show you what our members see. You can try out our offering at Osprey Strategic for just $7. We do broad market analysis, macro themes, individual industries, currencies, commodities, bonds, equities and a small but informative amount on Crypto.

Have a great weekend!

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FTX lawyers accuse Sam Bankman-Fried of financing his criminal defense with $10 million in misappropriated funds

Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of failed crypto exchange FTX, was sued in Delaware bankruptcy court on Thursday by his ex-company’s lawyers, who accuse him and members of his leadership team of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars.

The lawyers are seeking to recover funds from Bankman-Fried and former executives of FTX and sister hedge fund Alameda Research. One way the attorneys for the bankrupt exchange say Bankman-Fried pilfered money was through a $10 million gift to his father, distinguished legal scholar Joe Bankman.

Much of that $10 million gift was routed from FTX to Bankman-Fried’s Morgan Stanley and TD Ameritrade accounts around January 2022, the lawsuit alleges. The complaint claims those proceeds are now paying for Bankman-Fried’s criminal defense bills.

A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.

Bankman-Fried was indicted on fraud and bribery charges as well as campaign finance violations after FTX filed for bankruptcy late last year. His exchange, once valued at $32 billion, collapsed almost overnight after liquidity dried up and customers demanded withdrawals that the company couldn’t meet.

Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty. His trial is expected to begin later this year.

Lawyers for FTX have been in search of the company’s remaining assets in an effort to recover as much money as possible for creditors.

More from CNBC

Federal Reserve officially launches new FedNow instant-payments service Why Tesla investors should care about Elon Musk’s multiplying ventures These non-tech stocks are ‘back from the dead.’ Here’s where we stand

FTX and Alameda executives Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh are co-defendants in the case, alongside Bankman-Fried.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Billionaire who visited Epstein island pours thousands into coffers of vulnerable Dem Senate races

FIRST ON FOX: The Democrat tech billionaire who helped rehab Jeffrey Epstein’s image and visited his island has poured thousands in donations into several vulnerable Senate races across the country.

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman recently gave the maximum donations of $6,600 each to the campaigns of Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.

All three races are considered battlegrounds going into Election Day 2024. 

News of the donations come after the Wall Street Journal reported in May that Hoffman visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island, called Little St. James, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, on at least one occasion in 2014.

Hoffman and the now-deceased convicted pedophile were planning to return to the island in November 2014, and then travel to Boston, the report said. It’s unclear what the intent was for those planned trips, but the report also revealed Hoffman was planning to stay at Epstein’s luxury Manhattan townhouse in December 2014 after a late arrival in New York City.

Hoffman also sent the maximum $6,600 donation on June 14 to the campaign of California Democrat Will Rollins, who is again trying to grab a congressional seat after a narrow loss during the 2022 elections, Fox News Digital reported Tuesday. 

Fox News Digital also reported this week that the Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee authorized by the Biden campaign, received a whopping $699,600.00 donation from Hoffman on April 26 and a maximum donation of $6,600 went directly to Biden’s campaign.

Hoffman recently made headlines in June after Biden attended a fundraiser the billionaire hosted on behalf of the Biden Victory Fund at the private residence of Shannon Hunt-Scott and Kevin Scott in Los Gatos, California.

Hoffman told The Journal in May it ‘gnaws at’ him that his association with Epstein ‘helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors.’ 

‘My last interaction with Epstein was in 2015. Still, by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice,’ Hoffman said in 2019. ‘For this, I am deeply regretful.’

The 2015 interaction was when he invited Epstein to a Silicon Valley dinner with tech industry leaders.

In September that same year, Hoffman attended a state dinner hosted by then-Vice President Biden at the White House in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Fox News Digital has previously reported that Hoffman’s money also goes into nontraditional groups that aren’t mandated to report their funding and often operate in the shadows. He was forced to issue an apology in 2018 for funding a group that falsely tried to give an impression that the Russian government was supporting Alabama Republican Roy Moore in a 2017 special Senate election.

Biden has benefited from Hoffman’s lavish spending on campaign contributions, donating $1.5 million to a super PAC that supported Biden’s candidacy in the 2020 election as well as the maximum individual dollar amount allowed to Biden’s campaign, according to FEC records.

Such spending can come with certain perks – such as access. According to White House visitor logs, Hoffman visited the White House five times last year. One of the visits appears to have been for the state dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron. The other four trips were for meetings with Madeline Strasser, who at the time advised then-White House chief of staff Ron Klain; Kimberly Lang, who at the time was the executive assistant to Biden’s national security adviser; and Jordan Finkelstein, a special assistant to Biden and chief of staff to the president’s senior adviser.

Hoffman and the campaigns for Tester, Rosen, and Casey did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Fox News’ Joe Schoffstall, Aaron Kliegman and Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.

Jessica Chasmar is a digital writer on the politics team for Fox News and Fox Business. Story tips can be sent to Jessica.Chasmar@fox.com.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Streaming has surpassed cable as America’s most-watched viewing platform

Streaming services now command a greater share of viewers than cable, data published by Nielsen show.

That means apps like Netflix and other streaming platforms capture 38% of all television viewing, compared with 31% for traditional cable, the data show.

In a sign of streaming’s rapid rise, as recently as May 2021, the shares were 26% for streaming and 39% for cable.

But as of June, YouTube alone comprised nearly 9% of all TV usage, while Netflix captured 8.2%.

Netflix on Wednesday touted the overall jump in streaming as a percentage of all TV viewing in its quarterly letter to shareholders.

‘Consumers have so many amazing entertainment choices — from movies and TV shows to sports and news to gaming and social media just to name a few,’ the company said. ‘We expect that competition will remain intense, including within streaming.’

Netflix shares fell in Thursday trading as it reported weaker-than-expected revenues. Still, at least one analyst, Bank of America’s Jessica Reif Ehrlich, said she considers Netflix stock a ‘buy,’ with a share price that is likely to increase in the coming years.

‘Within the media ecosystem, we believe (Netflix’s) depth/breadth of content positions them well to withstand the production reductions,’ Reif Ehrlich wrote.

The news comes as the entertainment industry has slowed dramatically because of an ongoing stalemate between production studios and the writers and actors who help create content. The Writers Guild of America and film and TV performers represented by the SAG-AFTRA union are striking as they seek better compensation and stronger protections for their work.

It’s the first time since 1960 that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have engaged in a strike at the same time.

It remains to be seen what impact the work stoppages will have on the entertainment industry going forward but, at least for now, streaming platforms like Netflix have still managed to enjoy some wins.

Netflix announced it added 5.9 million new subscribers globally in the second quarter following its crackdown on password sharing. The company said it expected to gain about that much in the next quarter as well.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Biden serves word salad at ‘kitchen table’ economics speech

President Biden stumbled over his words Thursday during a speech at the Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, where he took credit for low unemployment and decreasing inflation.

The president approached the podium with pep in his step to address a crowd of union supporters about the apparent successes of ‘Bidenomics’ — perhaps too much so as he spoke energetically but seemed to trip over his words.

‘I often say, and I mean this sincerely, Wall Street — good folks down there — but they didn’t build the middle class. They didn’t build America. The middle class was built by the middle class,’ Biden said, fumbling his oft-repeated line that the middle class built the American economy and ‘unions built the middle class.’

The president spoke quickly, assuring his audience in one breath that he’s a ‘capitalist’ while disparaging the ‘trickle-down’ policies of Republican presidents with another.

‘I watched my dad growing up, and not a whole lot of benefit trickled down on his kitchen table as a consequence of trickle-down economics,’ Biden said. Then he became incoherent.

‘To what everyone from Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal has become my change, my different philosophy, they, I don’t think they started off trying to be complimentary because they started calling it ‘Bidenomics,’’ the president said. ‘And our plan is working, Bidenomics.’

It’s not immediately clear what the president intended to say. The White House did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

However, the president in recent weeks has embraced the media-coined term as a catch-all descriptor for his economic policies. Despite polls showing voters aren’t convinced the economy is improving, Biden delivered a full-throated defense of Bidenomics, claiming credit for 13 million new jobs created since he assumed office.

‘Unemployment is below 4%, the longest stretch of unemployment below 4% in the last 50 years,’ Biden said.

‘Unemployment’s down, but to the surprise of a lot of economists, so is inflation,’ he added. ‘You got to cut wages for hard-working folks? You got to have unemployment up in order for inflation to come down? Well, guess what, I never bought that.’

Biden also said his policies have slashed the federal deficit by $1.7 trillion, that the Inflation Reduction Act made the ‘largest investment to combat climate’ anywhere in the world (at a $368 billion price tag), and he promised that building green infrastructure would lead to more good-paying union jobs.

Republicans fired back at some of these claims, with the RNC observing on Twitter that prices rose 16.6% since Biden took office and inflation has yet to meet the Federal Reserve’s target rate. Biden took office in January 2021 with inflation just over 1%, which rose to 9.1% by June 2022 and has since dropped to under 4%.

Fact-checkers have also pushed back on the president. In June, Biden made the same claim about cutting the deficit by $1.7 trillion, which The Washington Post rated ‘highly misleading’ as others also scrutinized the claim.

Voters also have their doubts; Biden had a 60% disapproval rating on the economy in Fox News’ June poll, which was a 7% improvement from the prior year.

But the president’s argument is whatever progress there has been in his first term needs to be continued as he campaigns for a second. 

‘I’m not here to declare victory. We got a long way to go in the economy,’ Biden said. ‘I’m here to say we have more work to do. We have a plan that’s turning things around pretty quickly. Bidenomics is just another way of saying ‘restore the American dream.’’

Fox News’ Lawrence Richard and Patrick Hauf contributed to this report.

Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to chris.pandolfo@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Biden admin unveils sweeping new actions increasing costs for oil, gas leasing

The Biden administration proposed new rules that would make oil and gas leasing on public lands more costly for developers, but which it said would ‘ensure fair return to taxpayers.’

The proposed rules, unveiled Thursday by the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), revise a number of financial requirements for onshore fossil fuel leasing including bonding requirements, royalty rates and minimum bids. The administration explained the changes would increase taxpayer returns, while disincentivizing speculators or ‘less responsible actors.’

‘The Interior Department has taken several steps over the last two years to ensure the federal oil and gas program provides a fair return to taxpayers, adequately accounts for environmental harms, and discourages speculation by oil and gas companies,’ said DOI Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Laura Daniel-Davis. ‘This new proposed rule will help fully codify those goals and lead to more responsible leasing and development processes.’

‘This proposal to update BLM’s oil and gas program aims to ensure fairness to the taxpayer and balanced, responsible development as we continue to transition to a clean energy economy,’ added BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning. ‘It includes common sense and needed fiscal revisions to BLM’s program, many directed by Congress.’

Under the proposal, the lease bond oil and gas developers are required to pay will be hiked from $10,000 to $150,000 and statewide from $25,000 to $500,000, the DOI said. The DOI said the current bonding requirements, established in 1960, are outdated and don’t cover potential federal costs to reclaim a well if companies don’t meet reclamation requirements.

In addition, minimum royalty rates developers must pay on their leases will be increased to 16.67% from 12.5%. And the national minimum bid for a lease will be bumped up from $2 per acre to $10 per acre and will rise with inflation after 10 years.

The proposal also includes an annual rental fee of $3 per acre for the first two years, $5 per acre for the following 6 years and $15 per acre for every following year. Finally, the rules would codify a new fee of $5 per acre for expressions of interest.

While environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers were quick to applaud the announcement Thursday, Republicans and fossil fuel industry groups blasted it for introducing new barriers to domestic oil and gas production.

‘Responsible development of federal lands is critical for meeting the growing demand for affordable, reliable energy while reducing emissions,’ Holly Hopkins, the vice president of upstream policy at the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement. 

‘Amidst a global energy crisis, this action from the Department of the Interior is yet another attempt to add even more barriers to future energy production, increases uncertainty for producers and may further discourage oil and natural gas investment,’ Hopkins continued. ‘This is a concerning approach from an administration that has repeatedly acted to restrict essential energy development.’

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member John Barrasso, R-Wyo., added the Biden administration will put Wyoming oil and gas workers on the unemployment line ‘with the stroke of a pen.’

‘The president has vowed to end drilling on federal lands. This rule confirms it’s a vow he intends to keep,’ he said. ‘Last year, the onshore oil and gas leasing program returned more than $43 to American taxpayers for every dollar spent. This destructive and punitive rule will end up costing the taxpayers far more than it helps them.’

Thomas Catenacci is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Republicans demand answers on shifting White House message on Biden’s role in Hunter’s business

EXCLUSIVE: Top House Republicans said Thursday that there has been a ‘clear shift’ in messaging from the White House on President Biden’s involvement in son Hunter’s foreign business dealings, and they are demanding to know whether that shift indicates the president knew more than he let on.

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith wrote a letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, to White House Counsel Stuart Delery on Thursday afternoon to seek clarity on this shifting message.

‘President Biden and official White House spokespersons have said repeatedly that the president had no knowledge of his son’s business, nor did he discuss business with his son,’ they wrote. But they pointed to a June 29 statement released by White House spokesperson from the White House Counsel’s Office Ian Sams, which they said seemed to move the goalposts.

On that day, Sams said, ‘As we have said many times before, the president was not in business with his son.’

‘This statement deviates from previous White House statements and brings forward concerns that the president knew of his son’s foreign business deals,’ the GOP lawmakers wrote.

The White House has previously said the president never spoke to his son about his business dealings and had no knowledge of them. The president himself has also denied ever having spoken to his son about his business dealings or being involved in them.

As a result of this apparent messaging shift, the four GOP lawmakers asked the White House to answer a series of questions, including whether the White House is ‘now admitting President Biden knew of and was involved in Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings,’ how many of those foreign business deals he was ‘aware of,’ what President Biden’s involvement was, and whether he was ‘financially compensated for his involvement.’

The lawmakers pointed to their committee investigations into Biden’s ‘potential connections to certain international and domestic business transactions and practices, as well as misconduct by the Department of Justice in [interfering] with the investigation into the tax crimes of Hunter Biden.’

They said the Biden family received payment ‘without any apparent legitimate services rendered,’ which they say raises ‘significant concerns pertaining to ethics and national security laws.’

The lawmakers also pointed to an uncovered WhatsApp message from 2017 in which Hunter Biden allegedly told a Chinese business associate from Chinese energy company CEFC that he and his father would ensure ‘you will regret not following my direction.’

‘I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,’ Hunter Biden told Henry Zhao, the director of Chinese asset management firm Harvest Fund Management, in the message provided by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley.

‘And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction,’ Hunter Biden added.

The lawmakers also asked if the Justice Department ‘has an open investigation regarding the uncovered WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to a CEFC China Energy official.’

‘The American people must have confidence that the President of the United States is not compromised by foreign interests,’ they wrote.

They gave the White House counsel until July 27 to provide answers. The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

Brooke Singman is a Fox News Digital politics reporter. You can reach her at Brooke.Singman@Fox.com or @BrookeSingman on Twitter.

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