Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — With October retail sales data out in an hour or so of earnings from Walmart, the spotlight will now be on the U.S. customer. Home Depot (NYSE:). The market accepts that the Infrastructure Bill’s final version contained some possibly burdensome reporting requirements. This causes cryptocurrencies and other currencies to tumble. Elon Musk still sells Tesla stock (NASDAQ:), but Michael Burry seems to have stopped. International Energy Agency acknowledges the trend towards oil and sterling surges following strong U.K. labor figures that put back a December rate increase. This is what you should know about financial markets Tuesday 16th November.

1. Retail day

Is the U.S. consumer mood strong heading into the holidays? We’ll find out at 8:30 AM ET (1330 GMT), when data for October are reported. Analysts anticipate a 1.2% increase in September which will be the largest monthly change since March when most lockdown restrictions were lifted by the U.S.

There’s an implicit tension between that forecast and the University of Michigan’s index, which at the start of this month. The fact that retail sales have increased in part due to higher prices can partially explain it. Tyson Foods On Monday, (NYSE:) became the latest company in its industry to announce blandly to its customers.

The earnings data from will most likely reflect the nationwide data, which both report in early stages.

2. Musk sells well, but Burry takes the plunge.

According to late-night filings, Elon Musk sold Tesla stock even though he was not selling any more. Following the exercise of options to acquire 2.1million shares at $6.24 each, Musk purchased 934,091 shares. The total value was approximately $930million.

On the difference between exercise price, market value and income tax, he is required to pay.

Premarket, Tesla stock dropped 1.2% However, there’s one less person selling the stock – Michael Burry of ‘The Big Short’ fame, whose Scion Capital hedge fund has closed its short position on both Tesla and Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment, apparently after tiring of ‘being right too early’.

3. Stocks set for flat opening after Biden-Xi call

After Monday’s lackluster performance, U.S. stocks will open flat again after another day of confusion. Although there was some good mood music from President Joe Biden’s telephone conversation with Xi Jinping, it did not contain any hard news.

They were actually flat by 6:15 am ET. Contracts and were also down less than 0.1% at that time.

Stocks that will be of interest to investors in the future include NetEase, a Chinese gaming company (NASDAQ:), and Walmart. According to The Wall Street Journal, NetEase has revived plans to IPO its music business. The company’s earnings fell somewhat short of expectations but revenue came in ahead of forecasts.

4. Crypto declines upon realizing reporting requirements for infrastructure bill

The market digested harsh reporting requirements regarding the receipt and transfer of cryptocurrencies, which led to cryptocurrencies being sold all over the place.

This bill requires that all digital asset transactions exceeding $10,000 in value must be reported to IRS. It will raise administrative costs for many cryptocurrency brokerages and inhibit the trading of illicit goods or services, which generates the majority of crypto demand.

Bitcoin had fallen 8.6% to $60,284 at 6:25 AM ET. It was previously as low as $58,655. a drop of 10%, 14%, and 9.2% respectively.

Back in the world of real currencies, sterling perked up after strong U.K. labor market data put the prospect of a rate hike at the Bank of England’s next meeting back on the agenda.

5. The IEA reports that oil is bearish shows the strength of its economy. API inventories due

Overnight, crude oil prices rose despite new indications suggesting that global supply and demand balance may be shifting in consumers favor.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global oil supplies are expected to increase by 1.5 million barrels per hour over the remaining two months. This is due in part because of an additional 400,000 barrel-aday U.S. crude production. It also assumes that OPEC and its allies pump the volumes that they have promised to pump – despite the bloc missing its targets for the last two months.

At 6:25 am ET, January’s futures contract was at $80.13/barrel, up 0.5%, and at $82.56/barrel, up 0.6%. The American Petroleum Institute’s weekly inventory data are due at 4:30 PM ET, as usual.