Dow shot up 299 to session highs on buying in the last hour of trading, advancers over decliners 3-2 & NAZ rose 107, The MLP index was fractionally lower to 137 & the REIT index went up 1 to the 339s. Junk bond funds went up & Treasuries crawled higher in price. Oil climbed to almost 39 & gold lost 2 to 1772 (but still elevated). 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 majority of businesses that shut down during the coronavirus pandemic remained closed in Jun as the outbreak of the virus continued to ravage the nation's economy, according to new data published by Yelp. Nearly 140K Yelp-listed businesses that had closed at the beginning of Mar were still closed on Jun 15, the findings show. A large percentage of that group, 41%, has shut for good, according to Yelp. The data indicates that only 20% of businesses have reopened since Apr, when 175K were closed -- even as states begin to gradually loosen restrictions implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Although the closures are widespread across businesses, a few industries saw the biggest hits. Shopping & retail saw the highest number of total closures at 28K, followed by restaurants (24K), beauty (15K) & fitness (5.5K). Combined, those industries accounted for more than 72K closures in Jun. "Retail was by far the hardest hit, experiencing the highest number of total closures, with the average daily rate continuing to increase since March," the report said. Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago & Dallas were the cities with the highest number of business closures as of Jun 15. Meanwhile, protests against racial injustice & police brutality across the country coincided with a surge of interest among Americans in supporting black-owned businesses, the report found. Since May 25, there has been an 18 fold surge in searches for black-owned businesses, compared with 3 weeks prior. The highest number of searches was in DC, followed by Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan & Georgia.
Texas, the 2nd-largest US. state, is pausing its reopening plan as coronavirus cases rise, Gov. Greg Abbott announced. Businesses that are currently allowed to be open may remain open. "The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses," the governor said. "This temporary pause will help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state for business." The state announced an all-time high of 5.6K new COVID-19 cases yesterday & hospitalizations there have set record highs for 13 straight days. Abbott urged Texans to wear a mask, wash their hands & practice social distancing. "The more that we all follow these guidelines, the safer our state will be and the more we can open up Texas for business," he said. Investors have been eyeing virus hotspots in the South & West, with states like Arizona, California, Mississippi & Nevada joining Texas in setting single-day records. New York, New Jersey & Connecticut today began requiring visitors from Texas & 8 other states to self-isolate for 14 days. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that shutdowns could return in some parts of the country. "There are spikes in hot spots. There's no doubt about that," Kudlow said. "And there will be shutdowns in individual places or certain stores. We are keeping a very close eye on this."
Any policy changes that hot spot states like Texas & Florida decide to implement now likely won't affect the spread of the coronavirus for weeks to come, former Food & Drug Administration Commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb said. Due to the lag in how long it takes once someone is infected to develop symptoms, get tested & receive results, a confirmed case today could reflect an infection that occurred up to 3 weeks ago, Gottlieb said. He added that even if states currently struggling with outbreaks implemented more stringent measures, cases would continue to rise for some time. “I think it’s going to be difficult now to get this under control,” Gottlieb said. “Whatever these states do right now is really going to help them in about two weeks, maybe a little bit longer than that. Whatever policy decisions they made a week or two ago, that’s what we’re seeing flow through right now.” California, Florida & Texas all reported record high single-day jumps in new cases on yesterday. California reported 7149 new cases yesterday, bringing the state's total to 190K, according to the state's health department. Florida reported 5508 new cases, shattering the previous record single-day increase & bringing the state's total to 109K, according to the state's health department. And Texas reported 5.5K new cases, bringing its total to 126K confirmed cases. In New York City, which had been the epicenter of the US outbreak, officials issued a stay-at-home order on Mar 20. But daily new cases did not peak until Apr 6, when the city reported 6376 new cases, according to the city's health department. “So we know that there’s a delay between the implementation of policy and actually affecting the scope of the epidemic,” Gottlieb said. “The next week or two is largely baked in terms of what impact you can have on it from policy, so they need to start thinking a little bit longer term, where they think they’re going to be in two weeks based on the current trajectory and start implementing policy to try to affect that.” Governors in Florida & Texas, as well as some other states that have reported signs of an expanding epidemic, have expressed doubt about ordering businesses to close again or placing more restrictions on individuals. Neither Texas nor Florida has implemented statewide mask mandates, but both recently allowed local & city officials to issue such orders for their residents. “They’re not going to shut down their economies. It’s very clear,” Gottlieb said. “They’re going to weather this, but they need to look at some selected shut downs of congregate settings like, perhaps, bars.” While national attention remains on the states reporting the largest spikes in new cases, Gottlieb said outbreaks now appear to be worsening in several other states as well, including Georgia, Alabama & Arkansas. Officials in those states might begin to implement restrictions again if their hospital systems begin to face pressure. “This isn’t just confined to a handful of states anymore,” he said. “When the hospitals start to get pressed, they’re going to press policymakers to try to take steps to mitigate the burden on the health-care systems.”
No quick fixes to stop the virus spikes in Florida and Texas, Gottlieb says
Orders for durable goods such as autos surged in May after historic declines in the early spring when the US was locked down, but manufacturers are likely to struggle to make a more rapid recovery amid a fresh outbreak of the coronavirus & a depressed global economy. Orders jumped 15.8% last month, the gov said. The forecast called for a 10.3% increase in goods meant to last at least 3 years. The rebound in manufacturing & other key parts of the economy suggests the US may have already exited what could turn out to be the shortest and deepest recession in American history. Yet orders had tumbled 18% in Apr & almost 17% in Mar, so manufacturers have lots of ground to make up. It’s won’t be easy, economists say. The US is expected to experience big hiccups as employees & companies grope for ways to return to work safely amid on ongoing viral outbreak. A new wave of cases in the states that reopened earliest could even sidetrack the fledgling recovery. Orders for automakers, whose bookings fell by 2/3 in Mar & Apr, climbed 28% last month, although they still remain well below pre-crisis levels. Aircraft manufacturers, mainly Boeing (BA), a Dow stock, also saw good news of sorts. The giant manufacturer basically reported zero new orders in May, but cancellations declined. That accounted for almost ½ the increase in durable-goods orders last month. The airline industry remains mired in a deep slump, though. If cars & planes are stripped out, orders grew a much smaller 4%. Bookings rose 9.1% for metals & 7.4% for fabricated parts. Orders barely rose for computers & heavy machinery. A key measure of business investment, known as core orders, edged up 2.3% last month. These orders exclude defense & transportation. Already weak before the pandemic, business investment is likely to remain low until companies get a better sense of how rapidly the economy is recovering & to what extent customers come back. The first phase of the recovery got off to a pretty good start, but that may have been the easy part. The economy was all but certain to get a big boost when states reopened & that's exactly what happened. The next phase may prove more troublesome, especially after a fresh outbreak of coronavirus cases in states that were among the first to reopen. Customers could become hesitant again to venture out & further gov restrictions could restrain the recovery.
U.S. durable-goods orders rebound 15.8% in May, but manufacturers face long struggle
Gold futures tallied a 2nd loss in a row, as some strength in the $ put pressure on #-denominated prices for the metal, but a rise in new cases of COVID-19 in the US & other countries, & the potential for another round of business shutdowns to avoid the spread, kept gold prices higher for the week so far. A sharp rise in cases in several US states in particular created uncertainty about restarting businesses and the shape of the economic recovery from the downturn induced by measures to curtail the spread of the contagion. Prices for haven gold, however, have declined despite that uncertainty. Aug gold fell $4 (0.3%) to settle at $1770 an ounce, after declining 0.4% yesterday. Prices yesterday settled at the highest for a most-active contract since 2012. For the week, gold futures are looking at a 1% weekly gain thus far.
Oil futures settled higher after posting 2 consecutive sessions of declines, but worries about the daily rate of increase in new coronavirus cases in the US & other countries is taking a toll on expectations for demand for crude & keeping prices lower for the week. Some improvement in US economic data & comments from a White House officials helped to calm traders' nerves over the short-term prospects for the economy. Orders for durable goods in the US jumped 15.8% in May, better than the 10.3% rise expected. Weekly initial jobless claims, meanwhile, fell slightly to 1.48M from 1.54M a week earlier. Against that backdrop, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for Aug tacked on 71¢ (1.9%) to settle at $38.72 a barrel, following a nearly 5.9% decline yesterday, which marked its lowest finish for a front-month contract in a week. Global benchmark Brent oil for Aug rose 74¢ (1.8%) to reach $41.05 a barrel after receding 5.4% yesterday to the lowest level since Jun 15. For the week, WTI is seeing a drop of 2.6% so far, while Brent has declined 2.7%.
Oil prices settle higher after 2-session drop, but demand worries persist on coronavirus flare-up
Stocks traded higher in a choppy trading day, amid a rally in the financial sector, ahead of a key update of the banking sector. Investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve releasing stress-test results for the major banks while stocks are struggling to overcome the reality of new coronavirus cases against a marginal improvement in economic data & a rollback of red tape by financial regulators. Tomorrow should be an exciting day for stocks.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
A majority of businesses that shut down during the coronavirus pandemic remained closed in Jun as the outbreak of the virus continued to ravage the nation's economy, according to new data published by Yelp. Nearly 140K Yelp-listed businesses that had closed at the beginning of Mar were still closed on Jun 15, the findings show. A large percentage of that group, 41%, has shut for good, according to Yelp. The data indicates that only 20% of businesses have reopened since Apr, when 175K were closed -- even as states begin to gradually loosen restrictions implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Although the closures are widespread across businesses, a few industries saw the biggest hits. Shopping & retail saw the highest number of total closures at 28K, followed by restaurants (24K), beauty (15K) & fitness (5.5K). Combined, those industries accounted for more than 72K closures in Jun. "Retail was by far the hardest hit, experiencing the highest number of total closures, with the average daily rate continuing to increase since March," the report said. Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago & Dallas were the cities with the highest number of business closures as of Jun 15. Meanwhile, protests against racial injustice & police brutality across the country coincided with a surge of interest among Americans in supporting black-owned businesses, the report found. Since May 25, there has been an 18 fold surge in searches for black-owned businesses, compared with 3 weeks prior. The highest number of searches was in DC, followed by Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan & Georgia.
Coronavirus pandemic still keeping nearly 140,000 businesses closed, report shows
Texas, the 2nd-largest US. state, is pausing its reopening plan as coronavirus cases rise, Gov. Greg Abbott announced. Businesses that are currently allowed to be open may remain open. "The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses," the governor said. "This temporary pause will help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state for business." The state announced an all-time high of 5.6K new COVID-19 cases yesterday & hospitalizations there have set record highs for 13 straight days. Abbott urged Texans to wear a mask, wash their hands & practice social distancing. "The more that we all follow these guidelines, the safer our state will be and the more we can open up Texas for business," he said. Investors have been eyeing virus hotspots in the South & West, with states like Arizona, California, Mississippi & Nevada joining Texas in setting single-day records. New York, New Jersey & Connecticut today began requiring visitors from Texas & 8 other states to self-isolate for 14 days. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that shutdowns could return in some parts of the country. "There are spikes in hot spots. There's no doubt about that," Kudlow said. "And there will be shutdowns in individual places or certain stores. We are keeping a very close eye on this."
Lone Star State pauses reopening as virus spikes, governor urges caution
Any policy changes that hot spot states like Texas & Florida decide to implement now likely won't affect the spread of the coronavirus for weeks to come, former Food & Drug Administration Commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb said. Due to the lag in how long it takes once someone is infected to develop symptoms, get tested & receive results, a confirmed case today could reflect an infection that occurred up to 3 weeks ago, Gottlieb said. He added that even if states currently struggling with outbreaks implemented more stringent measures, cases would continue to rise for some time. “I think it’s going to be difficult now to get this under control,” Gottlieb said. “Whatever these states do right now is really going to help them in about two weeks, maybe a little bit longer than that. Whatever policy decisions they made a week or two ago, that’s what we’re seeing flow through right now.” California, Florida & Texas all reported record high single-day jumps in new cases on yesterday. California reported 7149 new cases yesterday, bringing the state's total to 190K, according to the state's health department. Florida reported 5508 new cases, shattering the previous record single-day increase & bringing the state's total to 109K, according to the state's health department. And Texas reported 5.5K new cases, bringing its total to 126K confirmed cases. In New York City, which had been the epicenter of the US outbreak, officials issued a stay-at-home order on Mar 20. But daily new cases did not peak until Apr 6, when the city reported 6376 new cases, according to the city's health department. “So we know that there’s a delay between the implementation of policy and actually affecting the scope of the epidemic,” Gottlieb said. “The next week or two is largely baked in terms of what impact you can have on it from policy, so they need to start thinking a little bit longer term, where they think they’re going to be in two weeks based on the current trajectory and start implementing policy to try to affect that.” Governors in Florida & Texas, as well as some other states that have reported signs of an expanding epidemic, have expressed doubt about ordering businesses to close again or placing more restrictions on individuals. Neither Texas nor Florida has implemented statewide mask mandates, but both recently allowed local & city officials to issue such orders for their residents. “They’re not going to shut down their economies. It’s very clear,” Gottlieb said. “They’re going to weather this, but they need to look at some selected shut downs of congregate settings like, perhaps, bars.” While national attention remains on the states reporting the largest spikes in new cases, Gottlieb said outbreaks now appear to be worsening in several other states as well, including Georgia, Alabama & Arkansas. Officials in those states might begin to implement restrictions again if their hospital systems begin to face pressure. “This isn’t just confined to a handful of states anymore,” he said. “When the hospitals start to get pressed, they’re going to press policymakers to try to take steps to mitigate the burden on the health-care systems.”
No quick fixes to stop the virus spikes in Florida and Texas, Gottlieb says
Orders for durable goods such as autos surged in May after historic declines in the early spring when the US was locked down, but manufacturers are likely to struggle to make a more rapid recovery amid a fresh outbreak of the coronavirus & a depressed global economy. Orders jumped 15.8% last month, the gov said. The forecast called for a 10.3% increase in goods meant to last at least 3 years. The rebound in manufacturing & other key parts of the economy suggests the US may have already exited what could turn out to be the shortest and deepest recession in American history. Yet orders had tumbled 18% in Apr & almost 17% in Mar, so manufacturers have lots of ground to make up. It’s won’t be easy, economists say. The US is expected to experience big hiccups as employees & companies grope for ways to return to work safely amid on ongoing viral outbreak. A new wave of cases in the states that reopened earliest could even sidetrack the fledgling recovery. Orders for automakers, whose bookings fell by 2/3 in Mar & Apr, climbed 28% last month, although they still remain well below pre-crisis levels. Aircraft manufacturers, mainly Boeing (BA), a Dow stock, also saw good news of sorts. The giant manufacturer basically reported zero new orders in May, but cancellations declined. That accounted for almost ½ the increase in durable-goods orders last month. The airline industry remains mired in a deep slump, though. If cars & planes are stripped out, orders grew a much smaller 4%. Bookings rose 9.1% for metals & 7.4% for fabricated parts. Orders barely rose for computers & heavy machinery. A key measure of business investment, known as core orders, edged up 2.3% last month. These orders exclude defense & transportation. Already weak before the pandemic, business investment is likely to remain low until companies get a better sense of how rapidly the economy is recovering & to what extent customers come back. The first phase of the recovery got off to a pretty good start, but that may have been the easy part. The economy was all but certain to get a big boost when states reopened & that's exactly what happened. The next phase may prove more troublesome, especially after a fresh outbreak of coronavirus cases in states that were among the first to reopen. Customers could become hesitant again to venture out & further gov restrictions could restrain the recovery.
U.S. durable-goods orders rebound 15.8% in May, but manufacturers face long struggle
Gold futures tallied a 2nd loss in a row, as some strength in the $ put pressure on #-denominated prices for the metal, but a rise in new cases of COVID-19 in the US & other countries, & the potential for another round of business shutdowns to avoid the spread, kept gold prices higher for the week so far. A sharp rise in cases in several US states in particular created uncertainty about restarting businesses and the shape of the economic recovery from the downturn induced by measures to curtail the spread of the contagion. Prices for haven gold, however, have declined despite that uncertainty. Aug gold fell $4 (0.3%) to settle at $1770 an ounce, after declining 0.4% yesterday. Prices yesterday settled at the highest for a most-active contract since 2012. For the week, gold futures are looking at a 1% weekly gain thus far.
Gold prices end lower for a second session, but hold onto a week-to-date gain
Oil futures settled higher after posting 2 consecutive sessions of declines, but worries about the daily rate of increase in new coronavirus cases in the US & other countries is taking a toll on expectations for demand for crude & keeping prices lower for the week. Some improvement in US economic data & comments from a White House officials helped to calm traders' nerves over the short-term prospects for the economy. Orders for durable goods in the US jumped 15.8% in May, better than the 10.3% rise expected. Weekly initial jobless claims, meanwhile, fell slightly to 1.48M from 1.54M a week earlier. Against that backdrop, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for Aug tacked on 71¢ (1.9%) to settle at $38.72 a barrel, following a nearly 5.9% decline yesterday, which marked its lowest finish for a front-month contract in a week. Global benchmark Brent oil for Aug rose 74¢ (1.8%) to reach $41.05 a barrel after receding 5.4% yesterday to the lowest level since Jun 15. For the week, WTI is seeing a drop of 2.6% so far, while Brent has declined 2.7%.
Oil prices settle higher after 2-session drop, but demand worries persist on coronavirus flare-up
Stocks traded higher in a choppy trading day, amid a rally in the financial sector, ahead of a key update of the banking sector. Investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve releasing stress-test results for the major banks while stocks are struggling to overcome the reality of new coronavirus cases against a marginal improvement in economic data & a rollback of red tape by financial regulators. Tomorrow should be an exciting day for stocks.
Dow Jones Industrials
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