Dow rose 188 (350 below session highs), advancers over decliners better than 3-1 & NAZ gained 160. The MLP index recovered 13+ to the 84s & the REIT index bounced back 4+ to the 281s. Junk bond funds saw some buying at there depressed levels with high yields & Treasuries were in strong demand, bringing lower yields on the 10 year Treasure, Oil shot up 4+ to the 25s (still depressed) & gold was steady at 1477 (more on both below).
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](https://www.kitco.com/images/live/gold.gif?0.2180338269244485)
A newly coronavirus test reportedly takes only 4 hours for patients to get results. The diagnostic test, developed at the Univ of North Carolina Medical Center at Chapel Hill's Clinical Microbiology & Molecular Microbiology Labs, was first available for use starting on Mon. Melissa Miller, director of the Clinical Microbiology & Molecular Microbiology Labs, said esults for the COVID-19 tests are available within hours. “It takes four hours from the time we get the swab until we can have a result for the test,” she said. Miller & her team started developing the test on Jan 31 & had they found something that worked by mid-Feb. However, the UNC team had to wait another month for FDA approval. “I suspect we could have tested between 2 and 3,000 patients during the time we were just checking boxes for the FDA,” Miller said. “There’s been a gross delay. I am a bit angry about it because I feel like we are capable of doing this testing. We could have been serving the public prior to now.” Now that the tests are available to the public, Miller said they expect to be able to test 300 patients a day. According to the press release, the tests will be available for inpatients at UNC Medical Center, UNC REX Hospital, UNC Health affiliate hospitals & a few UNC Health clinics. “The ability to conduct in-house testing is a crucial step in our response to COVID-19,” Dr Wesley Burks, UNC Health CEO & School of Medicine dean said. “Our ability to test patients and receive results in a matter of hours will help us to better understand the spread of the virus in our state and, most importantly, allow us to quickly move to treat positive patients and provide relief to patients who test negative.”
Pres Trump said that he would not oppose barring companies that receive federal assistance during the coronavirus pandemic from conducting stock buybacks. “It takes many many people in this case to tango, but as far as I’m concerned conditions like that would be okay with me,” Trump said during press conference when pressed on whether he would support a provision forbidding stock buybacks in a bailout bill. Trump said he was “never happy” with stock buybacks, but that it was difficult to prevent companies from doing them. “It’s very hard to tell them not to, but I would tell them not to, I would say I don’t like it,” he added. The comments come as the White House & Congress are hammering out the details of a stimulus package expected to top $1T in spending. US airlines, which are at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak as bookings crumble & cancellations outpace bookings, are seeking more than $50B aid, including direct grants from the gov.
Gold prices recovered some ground, settling modestly higher a day after falling to the lowest levels of the year, as govs & central banks moved to support the global economy, which has suffered under the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent losses in global equities had triggered forced liquidation & a surge in the $. Gold for Apr settled at $1479 an ounce (up $1.40), after posting a decline of over 3% a day earlier. Late Wed, the Federal Reserve announced a new Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, or MMLF, to assist money-market funds in meeting demands for redemptions by households & other investors. Meanwhile, the ECB launched a new program that would allow it to buy €750B ($820B ) in gov & private sector bonds as well as commercial paper. Separately, the Bank of England cut its bank rate by 15 basis points to 0.1%.
Gold prices recover from lowest levels of year
Oil prices bounced off their lowest levels in 20 years today, as investors absorbed a huge influx of central bank & gov support measures against economic fallout from the coronavirus & Russia indicated it would like to see higher prices. The front-month Apr West Texas Intermediate crude contract, the US benchmark, rose $3.07 (15%) to $23.44 a barrel. Yesterday, the contract plunged more than 24%, to settle at $20.37 a barrel, for the lowest finish since 2002. Global benchmark May Brent crude rose $1.19 (4.8%) to $26.07 a barrel. Yesterday, the contract fell $3.85 (13%) to finish at $24.88 a barrel, for its lowest settlement since 2003. The Federal Reserve late yesterday announced more moves to stabilize US financial markets rocked by the sudden pullback of economic activity stemming from the deadly coronavirus outbreak. The Fed widened support to include money market mutual funds. And the ECB launched a fresh, expanded plan to buy up to €750B ($820B) in gov & private sector bonds & commercial paper by the end of the year. That's days after last week's stimulus efforts by the central bank. Australia's central bank cut its interest rates for a second time in Mar.
Oil prices stage rebound after days of relentless selling
There was selling in the first hour of trading. Buyers returned around midday & the averages were in the black during the PM. While market breadth was good, it was not spetacular. Investors are trying to understand what is going on in this turbulent market. The Dow remains down a whopping 9K from its record high in the last month. That's hard for anybody to understand.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
A newly coronavirus test reportedly takes only 4 hours for patients to get results. The diagnostic test, developed at the Univ of North Carolina Medical Center at Chapel Hill's Clinical Microbiology & Molecular Microbiology Labs, was first available for use starting on Mon. Melissa Miller, director of the Clinical Microbiology & Molecular Microbiology Labs, said esults for the COVID-19 tests are available within hours. “It takes four hours from the time we get the swab until we can have a result for the test,” she said. Miller & her team started developing the test on Jan 31 & had they found something that worked by mid-Feb. However, the UNC team had to wait another month for FDA approval. “I suspect we could have tested between 2 and 3,000 patients during the time we were just checking boxes for the FDA,” Miller said. “There’s been a gross delay. I am a bit angry about it because I feel like we are capable of doing this testing. We could have been serving the public prior to now.” Now that the tests are available to the public, Miller said they expect to be able to test 300 patients a day. According to the press release, the tests will be available for inpatients at UNC Medical Center, UNC REX Hospital, UNC Health affiliate hospitals & a few UNC Health clinics. “The ability to conduct in-house testing is a crucial step in our response to COVID-19,” Dr Wesley Burks, UNC Health CEO & School of Medicine dean said. “Our ability to test patients and receive results in a matter of hours will help us to better understand the spread of the virus in our state and, most importantly, allow us to quickly move to treat positive patients and provide relief to patients who test negative.”
American college makes coronavirus testing breakthrough
Pres Trump said that he would not oppose barring companies that receive federal assistance during the coronavirus pandemic from conducting stock buybacks. “It takes many many people in this case to tango, but as far as I’m concerned conditions like that would be okay with me,” Trump said during press conference when pressed on whether he would support a provision forbidding stock buybacks in a bailout bill. Trump said he was “never happy” with stock buybacks, but that it was difficult to prevent companies from doing them. “It’s very hard to tell them not to, but I would tell them not to, I would say I don’t like it,” he added. The comments come as the White House & Congress are hammering out the details of a stimulus package expected to top $1T in spending. US airlines, which are at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak as bookings crumble & cancellations outpace bookings, are seeking more than $50B aid, including direct grants from the gov.
Trump says he is ‘OK’ with forbidding buybacks as condition of corporate bailouts
Gold prices recovered some ground, settling modestly higher a day after falling to the lowest levels of the year, as govs & central banks moved to support the global economy, which has suffered under the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent losses in global equities had triggered forced liquidation & a surge in the $. Gold for Apr settled at $1479 an ounce (up $1.40), after posting a decline of over 3% a day earlier. Late Wed, the Federal Reserve announced a new Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, or MMLF, to assist money-market funds in meeting demands for redemptions by households & other investors. Meanwhile, the ECB launched a new program that would allow it to buy €750B ($820B ) in gov & private sector bonds as well as commercial paper. Separately, the Bank of England cut its bank rate by 15 basis points to 0.1%.
Gold prices recover from lowest levels of year
Oil prices bounced off their lowest levels in 20 years today, as investors absorbed a huge influx of central bank & gov support measures against economic fallout from the coronavirus & Russia indicated it would like to see higher prices. The front-month Apr West Texas Intermediate crude contract, the US benchmark, rose $3.07 (15%) to $23.44 a barrel. Yesterday, the contract plunged more than 24%, to settle at $20.37 a barrel, for the lowest finish since 2002. Global benchmark May Brent crude rose $1.19 (4.8%) to $26.07 a barrel. Yesterday, the contract fell $3.85 (13%) to finish at $24.88 a barrel, for its lowest settlement since 2003. The Federal Reserve late yesterday announced more moves to stabilize US financial markets rocked by the sudden pullback of economic activity stemming from the deadly coronavirus outbreak. The Fed widened support to include money market mutual funds. And the ECB launched a fresh, expanded plan to buy up to €750B ($820B) in gov & private sector bonds & commercial paper by the end of the year. That's days after last week's stimulus efforts by the central bank. Australia's central bank cut its interest rates for a second time in Mar.
Oil prices stage rebound after days of relentless selling
There was selling in the first hour of trading. Buyers returned around midday & the averages were in the black during the PM. While market breadth was good, it was not spetacular. Investors are trying to understand what is going on in this turbulent market. The Dow remains down a whopping 9K from its record high in the last month. That's hard for anybody to understand.
Dow Jones Industrials
No comments:
Post a Comment