Dow sank 973 (finishing near session lows), there were only 199 gainers on the NYSE & NAZ sank 339. The MLP index fell 2+ to a very depressed 89 & the REIT index continued to be sold, down 21 to the 287s. Junk bond funds were sold along with stocks & Treasuries remained in heavy demand. Oil inched higher holding above 20 & gold crawled up 1 to 1597 (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)
The US continues to pump near record amounts of oil, but US gasoline demand continues to drop as the whole world sees less need for fuel. The latest weekly data from the Energy Information Administration showed the US oil industry was still pumping 13M barrels of crude oil per day, just under record production highs. At the same time, demand for gasoline fell to 6.7M barrels a day from 8.8M the week earlier. This time last year, drivers were using about 9.2M barrels a day of gasoline. US gasoline demand translates to the equivalent of 10% of global oil demand. In the past week, the US also added another 13.8M barrels of oil to inventories, a record amount, which only exacerbates the global struggle with a lack of storage space. US gasoline inventories rose 7.5M barrels last week. West Texas Intermediate was down 1.3% yesterday, at just over $20 per barrel as many in the US industry struggle to stay solvent. US production has been at the crux of the global price war, launched by Russia & Saudi Arabia early last month when Russia broke off its agreement with OPEC to limit production, & Saudi Arabia vowed to pump as much oil as it could to flood the world market. In the past month, Brent prices fell by 54% & some analysts say they will fall more as the world shuts off oil demand & producers continue to pump large volumes of oil. Pres Trump said yesterday that he discussed the oil market with Russian Pres Putin, & he is considering a 3-way discussion that would include Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump also has a scheduled meeting with 7 US industry CEOs at the White House Fri to discuss ways the gov could help the industry. The US in the past week also continued to send a large amount of oil onto the world market, with exports of 3.2M barrels a day. The world is seeing much less need for oil, as govs in Europe, India & elsewhere shutdown activity, even as China's demand recovers.
U.S. oil industry pumps near record volumes even as demand and prices collapse
Boston Federal Reserve Pres Eric Rosengren said the central bank moved rapidly to address deterioration across multiple parts of the financial market that were crippled due to the coronavirus crisis. “At the central bank we’re focused on addressing, and blunting, the economic effects of the pandemic,” Rosengren said. “The Federal Reserve has acted quickly to address spillovers from the economic disruption.” However, he said more will need to be done, particularly in Congress, which recently passed the $2T rescue CARES Act. “I think we are probably going to have to do more than what was jut in the CARES Act, but I think it was a very good start in trying to mitigate some of the costs,” Rosengren said in later remarks. He expressed particular worry about some of the more vulnerable members of society at the lower end of the economic spectrum. Legislative action should focus on “simplicity and speed” in getting help to those who need it, he added. He also said he thinks future federal steps will have to direct aid directly to states while small business also will need more help. In addition to the gov aid, he also encouraged a general community focus on nonprofit organizations like food pantries & homeless shelters. “I’m hopeful that as we are thinking about other legislative remedies that future legislation really thinks hard of how we can mitigate the effects of the pandemic on our must vulnerable populations,” Rosengren said. Even with help from Congress & the Fed, Rosengren said the coronavirus will still hit the economy, particularly employment. The Fed has taken a bevy of measures unprecedented even considering the intervention it took during the financial crisis. The moves include taking benchmark short-term interest rates to near zero, adding a new round of unlimited asset purchases, creating multiple programs aimed at keeping financial markets moving & getting money to businesses & individuals in need. One such small business lending initiative is under the direct auspices of the Boston Fed. “It was proving a challenge for the funds to sell high‐quality debt of even the strongest companies and states,” Rosengren said. “The Boston Fed opened a facility that lends money to banks, so they can buy these highly-rated assets from money market funds.” Economic activity has sputtered as public health officials instituted social distancing practices to help slow the coronavirus spread. While providing an important public service, the practice also is “distorting the credit & liquidity flows that underpin our economy, threatening the greater pain of a full‐blown financial crisis,” Rosengren said. Like other Fed officials, he predicted that the economy will suffer as the efforts to contain the virus continue.
Fed’s Eric Rosengren says the central bank ‘acted quickly’ as markets froze
Pres Trump warned Americans to brace for a "hell of a bad two weeks" ahead as the White House projected there could be 100-240K deaths in the US from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained. Public health officials stressed that the number could be less if people across the country bear down on keeping their distance from one another. "We really believe we can do a lot better than that," said Dr Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. That would require all Americans to take seriously their role in preventing the spread of disease, she said. Added Dr Anthony Fauci, the gov's top infectious disease expert, "This is a number that we need to anticipate, but we don't necessarily have to accept it as being inevitable." Trump called it "a matter of life and death" for Americans to heed his administration's guidelines & predicted the country would soon see a "light at the end of the tunnel" in a pandemic that in the US has infected about 190K & killed about 4K, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. "I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead," Trump said. "This is going to be one of the roughest two or three weeks we've ever had in our country," Trump added. "We're going to lose thousands of people." The jaw-dropping projections were laid out during a grim, 2-hour White House briefing. Officials described a death toll that in a best-case scenario would likely be greater than the more than 53K American lives lost during World War I. And the model's high end neared the realm of possibility that Americans lost to the virus could approach the 291K Americans killed on the battlefield during World War II.
'Hard days' ahead in coronavirus pandemic as Trump extends guidelines
Gold futures started the month with a loss, stretching their decline to a 4th straight session, as traders cast a wary eye on the latest US economic data amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has helped to partly support gold buying or at least limited downside for the precious metal. US economic data came in better than expected, but analysts said they don't include much of the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier today, a report on private-sector employment from Automatic Data Processing helped give gold prices a modest push higher. The report found that 27K jobs were lost in the month, smaller than forecasts for a decline of 180K, but likely a harbinger of what is to come after jobless claims last week produced a record. Separately, the ISM manufacturing index fell to 49.1% in March from 50.1%. The forecast had called for the index to drop to 44%. Jun gold fell $5 (0.3%) to settle at $1591 an ounce, marking a 4th decline in a row for the contract. Based on the most-active contracts, gold futures rose 1.9% in Mar & gained 4.8% for the qtr. Moves for gold came as global stocks were under renewed pressure amid growing concerns about the economic implications for the epidemic which are hard to fathom for investors. Yesterday, Pres Trump warned that a “very, very painful” 2 weeks lies ahead as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The White House released new projections for 100-240K deaths in the US from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social-distancing guidelines are maintained. Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases world-wide have risen to 862K, while the number of deaths have climbed to 42K, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Gold down 4th straight session as traders cast a wary eye on economic data amid coronavirus spread
Today was another dreary in what has become common in the last few weeks. To win the war with coronavirus there will be more pain over the short term. Meanwhile an exploding population of the unemployed has the potential to drag the economy into a severe recession. Matters are made worse by the crash in the oil market which impacts all economies. Oil prices are essentially at record lows, but that has been unable to boost demand which indicates how severe a recession can become. Now there is talk about a super infrastructure spending bill. Longer term, conditions will improve.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
The US continues to pump near record amounts of oil, but US gasoline demand continues to drop as the whole world sees less need for fuel. The latest weekly data from the Energy Information Administration showed the US oil industry was still pumping 13M barrels of crude oil per day, just under record production highs. At the same time, demand for gasoline fell to 6.7M barrels a day from 8.8M the week earlier. This time last year, drivers were using about 9.2M barrels a day of gasoline. US gasoline demand translates to the equivalent of 10% of global oil demand. In the past week, the US also added another 13.8M barrels of oil to inventories, a record amount, which only exacerbates the global struggle with a lack of storage space. US gasoline inventories rose 7.5M barrels last week. West Texas Intermediate was down 1.3% yesterday, at just over $20 per barrel as many in the US industry struggle to stay solvent. US production has been at the crux of the global price war, launched by Russia & Saudi Arabia early last month when Russia broke off its agreement with OPEC to limit production, & Saudi Arabia vowed to pump as much oil as it could to flood the world market. In the past month, Brent prices fell by 54% & some analysts say they will fall more as the world shuts off oil demand & producers continue to pump large volumes of oil. Pres Trump said yesterday that he discussed the oil market with Russian Pres Putin, & he is considering a 3-way discussion that would include Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump also has a scheduled meeting with 7 US industry CEOs at the White House Fri to discuss ways the gov could help the industry. The US in the past week also continued to send a large amount of oil onto the world market, with exports of 3.2M barrels a day. The world is seeing much less need for oil, as govs in Europe, India & elsewhere shutdown activity, even as China's demand recovers.
U.S. oil industry pumps near record volumes even as demand and prices collapse
Boston Federal Reserve Pres Eric Rosengren said the central bank moved rapidly to address deterioration across multiple parts of the financial market that were crippled due to the coronavirus crisis. “At the central bank we’re focused on addressing, and blunting, the economic effects of the pandemic,” Rosengren said. “The Federal Reserve has acted quickly to address spillovers from the economic disruption.” However, he said more will need to be done, particularly in Congress, which recently passed the $2T rescue CARES Act. “I think we are probably going to have to do more than what was jut in the CARES Act, but I think it was a very good start in trying to mitigate some of the costs,” Rosengren said in later remarks. He expressed particular worry about some of the more vulnerable members of society at the lower end of the economic spectrum. Legislative action should focus on “simplicity and speed” in getting help to those who need it, he added. He also said he thinks future federal steps will have to direct aid directly to states while small business also will need more help. In addition to the gov aid, he also encouraged a general community focus on nonprofit organizations like food pantries & homeless shelters. “I’m hopeful that as we are thinking about other legislative remedies that future legislation really thinks hard of how we can mitigate the effects of the pandemic on our must vulnerable populations,” Rosengren said. Even with help from Congress & the Fed, Rosengren said the coronavirus will still hit the economy, particularly employment. The Fed has taken a bevy of measures unprecedented even considering the intervention it took during the financial crisis. The moves include taking benchmark short-term interest rates to near zero, adding a new round of unlimited asset purchases, creating multiple programs aimed at keeping financial markets moving & getting money to businesses & individuals in need. One such small business lending initiative is under the direct auspices of the Boston Fed. “It was proving a challenge for the funds to sell high‐quality debt of even the strongest companies and states,” Rosengren said. “The Boston Fed opened a facility that lends money to banks, so they can buy these highly-rated assets from money market funds.” Economic activity has sputtered as public health officials instituted social distancing practices to help slow the coronavirus spread. While providing an important public service, the practice also is “distorting the credit & liquidity flows that underpin our economy, threatening the greater pain of a full‐blown financial crisis,” Rosengren said. Like other Fed officials, he predicted that the economy will suffer as the efforts to contain the virus continue.
Fed’s Eric Rosengren says the central bank ‘acted quickly’ as markets froze
Pres Trump warned Americans to brace for a "hell of a bad two weeks" ahead as the White House projected there could be 100-240K deaths in the US from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained. Public health officials stressed that the number could be less if people across the country bear down on keeping their distance from one another. "We really believe we can do a lot better than that," said Dr Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. That would require all Americans to take seriously their role in preventing the spread of disease, she said. Added Dr Anthony Fauci, the gov's top infectious disease expert, "This is a number that we need to anticipate, but we don't necessarily have to accept it as being inevitable." Trump called it "a matter of life and death" for Americans to heed his administration's guidelines & predicted the country would soon see a "light at the end of the tunnel" in a pandemic that in the US has infected about 190K & killed about 4K, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. "I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead," Trump said. "This is going to be one of the roughest two or three weeks we've ever had in our country," Trump added. "We're going to lose thousands of people." The jaw-dropping projections were laid out during a grim, 2-hour White House briefing. Officials described a death toll that in a best-case scenario would likely be greater than the more than 53K American lives lost during World War I. And the model's high end neared the realm of possibility that Americans lost to the virus could approach the 291K Americans killed on the battlefield during World War II.
'Hard days' ahead in coronavirus pandemic as Trump extends guidelines
Gold futures started the month with a loss, stretching their decline to a 4th straight session, as traders cast a wary eye on the latest US economic data amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has helped to partly support gold buying or at least limited downside for the precious metal. US economic data came in better than expected, but analysts said they don't include much of the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier today, a report on private-sector employment from Automatic Data Processing helped give gold prices a modest push higher. The report found that 27K jobs were lost in the month, smaller than forecasts for a decline of 180K, but likely a harbinger of what is to come after jobless claims last week produced a record. Separately, the ISM manufacturing index fell to 49.1% in March from 50.1%. The forecast had called for the index to drop to 44%. Jun gold fell $5 (0.3%) to settle at $1591 an ounce, marking a 4th decline in a row for the contract. Based on the most-active contracts, gold futures rose 1.9% in Mar & gained 4.8% for the qtr. Moves for gold came as global stocks were under renewed pressure amid growing concerns about the economic implications for the epidemic which are hard to fathom for investors. Yesterday, Pres Trump warned that a “very, very painful” 2 weeks lies ahead as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The White House released new projections for 100-240K deaths in the US from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social-distancing guidelines are maintained. Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases world-wide have risen to 862K, while the number of deaths have climbed to 42K, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Gold down 4th straight session as traders cast a wary eye on economic data amid coronavirus spread
Today was another dreary in what has become common in the last few weeks. To win the war with coronavirus there will be more pain over the short term. Meanwhile an exploding population of the unemployed has the potential to drag the economy into a severe recession. Matters are made worse by the crash in the oil market which impacts all economies. Oil prices are essentially at record lows, but that has been unable to boost demand which indicates how severe a recession can become. Now there is talk about a super infrastructure spending bill. Longer term, conditions will improve.
Dow Jones Industrials
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