Dow shot up 327, advancers over decliners 4-1 & NAZ soared 223. The MLP index added 1 to the 116s & the REIT index advanced 7 to the 358s. Junk bond funds crawled higher & Treasuries inched higher in price. Oil was steady in the 37s & gold jumped 21 to 1969.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
| CL=F | Crude Oil | 37.31 | -0.02 | -0.1% |
| GC=F | Gold | 1,968.60 | +20.70 | +1.1% |
Pfizer (PFE) CEO Albert Bouria said that it is a “likely scenario” that the company's
coronavirus vaccine could be distributed to Americans before the new
year if it's proven by federal regulators to be safe & effective. "I
cannot say what the FDA will do, but I think is a likely scenario and
we are preparing for it," Bourla said. “We started already manufacturing and we have already
manufactured hundreds of thousands of doses, so just in case we have a
good study readout, conclusive and FDA, plus the advisory committee
feels comfortable, that we will be ready." Though Bourla said the studies show that there's "a good chance that we will know if
the product works by the end of October," he noted that distribution
before the end of the year ultimately comes down to if & when
regulators like the Food & Drug Administration issue a license. PFE's vaccine candidate, which is being developed in partnership
with BioNTech, is moving to its Phase 3 trial & is expected to reach
its initial enrollment target of 30K participants by next week. The stock rose 86¢.
If you would like to learn more about PFE, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/PFE?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Pfizer CEO reveals when COVID vaccine could be distributed to Americans
A top House Rep introduced legislation that would create a temporary payroll tax holiday from Sep 1 to Dec 31, essentially giving all American workers a 4-month pay raise. Rep Kevin Brady, House Ways & Means ranking member proposed the Support for Workers, Families & Social Security Act,
which would reduce the 6.2% payroll levy (FICA taxes) to zero in
the final months of the year, including for the self-employed. “The
essential workers who keep this country running through the pandemic
deserve a pay raise,” Brady said. “This bill
forgives the payroll taxes deferred by Pres Trump to help working
families, many of whom now rely on a single paycheck.” To ensure the holiday would not hurt the Social Security trust fund, the
bill would make transfers from the general fund to offset the reduced
tax revenue. At the beginning of Aug, Pres Trump signed an exec
action allowing the payroll tax to be deferred for workers earning less
than $104K annually ($4K biweekly) from Sep 1 thru the end
of the year. But come next year, employers are obligated to start
recouping what is owed. The measure, which Trump said could
provide some financial salve to workers & households struggling as a
result of the coronavirus-ravaged economy, came amid a congressional stalemate over another emergency aid package. He's indicated that he
wants to "terminate" the tax so that workers are not required to pay
back the money at a later point.
House bill would create temporary tax break for American workers
OPEC has cut its forecast for oil demand growth this year, citing a
weaker-than-expected recovery in India & other Asian countries, &
warned risks remain “elevated and skewed to the downside” for H1-2021. In a closely-watched monthly report, the group of oil-producing nations downwardly revised its
outlook for global oil demand to an average of 90.2M barrels per
day in 2020. That's down 400K bpd from the previous month's estimate & reflects a contraction of 9.5M bpd year-on-year. The
report comes as energy market participants become increasingly
concerned about a faltering economic recovery & stumbling fuel demand
in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The Middle
East-dominated group, which consists of some of the world's largest oil
producers, said it had revised oil demand in OECD countries up
by around 100K bpd due to less-than-expected declines in all
sub-regions during Q2. However, oil demand was
revised down by 500K bpd in the non-OECD region due to weaker oil
demand performance in Asia, particularly in India. Looking ahead,
OPEC said the negative impact on oil demand in Asia was expected to
persist thru H1-2021. “Additionally,
risks remain elevated and skewed to the downside, particularly in
relation to the development of Covid-19 infection cases and potential
vaccines,” the group said. “Furthermore,
the speed of recovery in economic activities and oil demand growth
potential in Other Asian countries, including India, remain uncertain,”
it added. As such, OPEC now expects global oil demand to grow by
6.6M bpd to an average of 96.9M bpd next year. This
updated forecast was also 400K bpd lower than its previous estimate.
OPEC cuts 2020 oil demand forecast, trims 2021 outlook on pandemic fallout
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