Dow dropped 72, advancers slightly ahead of decliners & NAZ declined 73. The MLP index pulled back 1+ to 140 & the REIT index was off 1 to the 317s. Junk bond funds slid lower & Treasuries were bid higher. Oil continued strong, rising to 34, & gold sank 31 to 1720.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
First-time filings for unemployment insurance totaled 2.44M last week as the tail effects of the coronavirus shutdown continued to impact the US jobs market. The forecast had been looking for 2.4M claims. The seasonally adjusted total, while still well above anything the nation had seen in pre-coronavirus America, represents the 7th straight week of a declining pace following the record peak of 6.9M in late Mar. In addition, a review from last week brought the number down substantially, from 2.98M to 2.69M. In the 9 weeks since the coronavirus-induced lockdown has closed large parts of the US economy, 38.6M workers have filed claims. The level of continuing claims painted a clearer picture of how unemployment is persisting even as states are increasingly taking steps to bring their economies back on line. The total for last week was 25.07M, an increase of 2.52M from the previous week. The 4-week moving average also increased sharply, jumping by 2.3M to just above 22M. At the state level, the biggest drop came in Georgia, which saw a decline of 66K from a week earlier. The biggest gain was in California, which saw an increase of 33K. Though the total national numbers are on the decline, the unemployment numbers remain staggering & well beyond anything the US has seen before. Along with the 25M unemployed as indicated by the continuing claims, there are another 2.23M claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program & 168K under the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment program.
Jobless claims total 2.4 million, still elevated levels but a declining pace from previous weeks
The economic fallout from the coronavirus hit the housing market hard in Apr. Sales of existing homes fell 17.8% month-to-month, & were 17.2% lower than Apr 2019, seasonally adjusted, according to the National Association of Realtors. That puts the annualized pace at 4.33M units, the slowest sales pace since 2011. These numbers are based on closed sales, not signed contracts, so they represent contracts signed in late Feb & Mar. The April drop in closings is the largest one-month decline since 2010, when the homebuyer tax credit, a federal stimulus resulting from the subprime mortgage crash, expired. “Certainly with the lock-down occurring from mid-March, and given the shakiness from the stock market in February, that hurt pending contracts, so now we are seeing an almost 20% decline in existing homes sales,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors. “April activity will be down, but what we are hearing from Realtors is they are getting busy as governors are opening the economy.” The supply of homes for sale fell 19.7% annually to 1.47M units for sale at the end of Apr, the lowest Apr inventory figure ever. Not only did potential sellers decide not to list their homes, as job losses mounted & the economy shut down, but some sellers already on the market pulled their listings. That drop in inventory pushed prices to a new record high. The median price of an existing home sold in Apr rose 7.4% annually to $287K. That record does not account for inflation, but is a nominal record-high.
Macy's (M) swung to a quarterly loss as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closing of department stores across the country. The company reported a Q1 loss of $905M-$1.1B, according to preliminary results. Net sales fell as much as 45% to $3.0-3.03B. “We closed all of our stores -- Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s & Bluemercury -- on Mar 18, which had a significant impact on our first-quarter results,” CEO Jeff Gennette said. “Looking back, our performance in February was solid and in line with our expectations, but we saw a precipitous decline in sales with the stores closure in March.” Cash & cash equivalents rose 107% to $1.52B at the end of the qtr as total debt rose to $5.66B from $4.72B . Macy's is in discussions with its banking partners for additional financing that will improve its financial flexibility. The retailer began reopening stores on May 4, & has approximately 190 Macy's & Bloomingdale's locations operating at full capacity. Another 80 stores are expected to be open for Memorial Day weekend. Macy's previously announced CFO Paula Price will step down from her role on May 31 & remain with the company as an adviser thru 2020. She will be replaced by Felicia Williams, senior VP, controller & enterprise risk officer, on an interim basis. The stock crawled up 8¢ to 5.18.
If you would like to learn more about Macy's, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/M?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
News today did not inspire investors. Unemployment claims remain dreary, although they have come down sharply from the early days of the depression. Other economic data was not encouraging & trade relations with China are still unclear. The Dow could see some profit taking after its recent rise.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
| CL=F | Crude Oil | 34.41 | +0.92 | +2.8% |
| GC=F | Gold | 1,725.20 | -26.90 | -1.5% |
First-time filings for unemployment insurance totaled 2.44M last week as the tail effects of the coronavirus shutdown continued to impact the US jobs market. The forecast had been looking for 2.4M claims. The seasonally adjusted total, while still well above anything the nation had seen in pre-coronavirus America, represents the 7th straight week of a declining pace following the record peak of 6.9M in late Mar. In addition, a review from last week brought the number down substantially, from 2.98M to 2.69M. In the 9 weeks since the coronavirus-induced lockdown has closed large parts of the US economy, 38.6M workers have filed claims. The level of continuing claims painted a clearer picture of how unemployment is persisting even as states are increasingly taking steps to bring their economies back on line. The total for last week was 25.07M, an increase of 2.52M from the previous week. The 4-week moving average also increased sharply, jumping by 2.3M to just above 22M. At the state level, the biggest drop came in Georgia, which saw a decline of 66K from a week earlier. The biggest gain was in California, which saw an increase of 33K. Though the total national numbers are on the decline, the unemployment numbers remain staggering & well beyond anything the US has seen before. Along with the 25M unemployed as indicated by the continuing claims, there are another 2.23M claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program & 168K under the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment program.
Jobless claims total 2.4 million, still elevated levels but a declining pace from previous weeks
The economic fallout from the coronavirus hit the housing market hard in Apr. Sales of existing homes fell 17.8% month-to-month, & were 17.2% lower than Apr 2019, seasonally adjusted, according to the National Association of Realtors. That puts the annualized pace at 4.33M units, the slowest sales pace since 2011. These numbers are based on closed sales, not signed contracts, so they represent contracts signed in late Feb & Mar. The April drop in closings is the largest one-month decline since 2010, when the homebuyer tax credit, a federal stimulus resulting from the subprime mortgage crash, expired. “Certainly with the lock-down occurring from mid-March, and given the shakiness from the stock market in February, that hurt pending contracts, so now we are seeing an almost 20% decline in existing homes sales,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors. “April activity will be down, but what we are hearing from Realtors is they are getting busy as governors are opening the economy.” The supply of homes for sale fell 19.7% annually to 1.47M units for sale at the end of Apr, the lowest Apr inventory figure ever. Not only did potential sellers decide not to list their homes, as job losses mounted & the economy shut down, but some sellers already on the market pulled their listings. That drop in inventory pushed prices to a new record high. The median price of an existing home sold in Apr rose 7.4% annually to $287K. That record does not account for inflation, but is a nominal record-high.
Home sales dropped nearly 18% in April, while decline in inventory pushed prices to a record high
Macy's (M) swung to a quarterly loss as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closing of department stores across the country. The company reported a Q1 loss of $905M-$1.1B, according to preliminary results. Net sales fell as much as 45% to $3.0-3.03B. “We closed all of our stores -- Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s & Bluemercury -- on Mar 18, which had a significant impact on our first-quarter results,” CEO Jeff Gennette said. “Looking back, our performance in February was solid and in line with our expectations, but we saw a precipitous decline in sales with the stores closure in March.” Cash & cash equivalents rose 107% to $1.52B at the end of the qtr as total debt rose to $5.66B from $4.72B . Macy's is in discussions with its banking partners for additional financing that will improve its financial flexibility. The retailer began reopening stores on May 4, & has approximately 190 Macy's & Bloomingdale's locations operating at full capacity. Another 80 stores are expected to be open for Memorial Day weekend. Macy's previously announced CFO Paula Price will step down from her role on May 31 & remain with the company as an adviser thru 2020. She will be replaced by Felicia Williams, senior VP, controller & enterprise risk officer, on an interim basis. The stock crawled up 8¢ to 5.18.
If you would like to learn more about Macy's, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/M?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Macy's reveals $1B loss, sales slump as pandemic shutters stores
News today did not inspire investors. Unemployment claims remain dreary, although they have come down sharply from the early days of the depression. Other economic data was not encouraging & trade relations with China are still unclear. The Dow could see some profit taking after its recent rise.
Dow Jones Industrials
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