Dow rose 327, advcancers over decliners 4-1 & NAZ gained 203. The MLP index added 2+ to the 118s & the REIT index jumped 8+ to the 360 from optimism about opening the economy. Junk bond funds rose & Treasuries were a bit lower. Oil fluctuated in the 37s & gold went up 19 to 1967 (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)
Coronavirus cases continued to grow over the
weekend in nearly a dozen US states as Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's
leading infectious disease expert, warns about the nation's worrying
level of new infections. Covid-19 cases were growing by 5% or
more, based on a weekly average to smooth out daily reporting, in 11
states as of Sun, according to data collected by
Johns Hopkins University, an increase from 8 states on Fri. The
states were Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Nebraska,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin & Wyoming. Wisconsin hit a record high in its average of daily new cases,
reporting 1353 new infections, a roughly 32% increase from a week ago. Kansas & Montana both hit record highs for new
deaths. The new data comes 2 days after Fauci, director of the
National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases, said current data
on the US Covid-19 outbreak is “disturbing,” While cases are growing in 11 states, the overall daily average of new
cases in the US is declining. Over the past 7 days, the country
has reported an average of about 34K new cases per day, down more
than 15% compared with a week ago. That's far lower than the roughly 70K new cases a day
the US was reporting weeks ago. disagreeing with Pres Trump, who said the US outbreak was “rounding the corner.”
Coronavirus cases are growing in 11 U.S. states as Fauci warns of ‘disturbing’ data
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that lawmakers should not allow fears over the size of
the nation's deficit or the Federal Reserve's balance sheet to delay
additional Covid-19 relief. Mnuchin, who with White House chief of
staff Mark Meadows has led the administration's Covid-19 relief
negotiations, said the economic crisis warrants extraordinary stimulus
from Congress & the Fed. “Now is not the time to worry about shrinking the deficit or shrinking the Fed balance sheet,” Mnuchin said. “There was a time when the Fed was shrinking the
balance sheet and coming back to normal. The good news is that gave them
a lot of room to increase the balance sheet, which they did.” “And
I think both the monetary policy working with fiscal policy and what we
were able to get done in an unprecedented way with Congress is the
reason the economy is doing better,” he added. Mnuchin's comments
critiqued his fellow Reps who argue that improving jobs data &
strong housing figures relax the need for additional spending to combat
the impact of the coronavirus. The cumulative federal budget deficit for the first 11 months of
fiscal year 2020 was $3T, according to the Congressional Budget
Office, a byproduct of intensified gov spending to get the
economy thru the pandemic-associated shutdown. Mnuchin, who
argues that more stimulus is needed to help the US economy, said
that “we are rebounding in a very, very significant way.”
‘Now is not the time to worry’ about the fiscal deficit or the Fed’s balance sheet, Mnuchin says
Eli Lilly (LLY) said its rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib shortened
the time taken to recover from Covid-19 in hospitalized patients when
taken in combination with Gilead Science' (GILD) antiviral remdesivir. The drug, which is branded as Olumiant, in combination remdesivir
showed a roughly one-day reduction in median recovery time versus
patients treated with remdesivir alone. Based
on the results from the trial, which tested more than 1K patients,
LLY plans to discuss the potential for an emergency use
authorization (EUA) with the Food & Drug Administration. Remdesivir
is at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 after the drug was
granted an EUA in May after trial data showed the antiviral drug helped
shorten hospital recovery time. The drug, which has been licensed by LLY from Incyte (INCY), could potentially help suppress a potentially lethal immune response to Covid-19 called “cytokine storm.” The stock rose 85¢.
If you would like to learn more about LLY, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/LLY?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Eli Lilly’s rheumatoid arthritis drug helps recovery in coronavirus patients
General Motors (GM) will reveal the GMC Hummer EV – its first all-electric pickup – in Oct, roughly a year ahead of
it arriving in dealer showrooms to compete in what's expected to be the
industry's newest, hotly contested segment. The Hummer EV pickup will be the first vehicle to feature the automaker’s next-generation Ultium battery system. It will compete against a host of electric pickups expected from Tesla (TSLA), Ford (F) & several start-up companies. The
Hummer is expected to be among the first to market in the unproven
segment as the Detroit automakers attempt to retain leadership positions
for US pickup sales, which the companies have dominated for a
century. The amount of competition expected for electric pickups is not
representative of the segment's sales in the coming years, according to
IHS Markit. The industry research firm forecasts electric vehicle sales
will only be 8%, or 1.3M, of the US market in 2025. Electric pickups are expected to be a subsection of that. The Hummer EV pickup, GM says, will feature a “crab mode” that allows it
to rotate all 4 wheels at once, allowing the truck to almost move
diagonal. The company released a short teaser video of the feature today with the announcement of the vehicle’s scheduled debut in Oct. The stock added 71¢.
If you would like to learn more about GM, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/GM?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
General Motors to unveil Hummer EV pickup with ‘crab mode’ in October
Gold futures climbed to tally their largest one-day gain of the month so far, as weakness in the $ & low gov bond yields helped to keep the precious metal trading in a range that some market experts see as forming a bullish pattern. Equity markets have drawn some optimism from hope of a vaccine for COVID-19, a bearish factor for bullion, but anticipation about coming volatility from presidential election in Nov also has buttressed gold buying. Gold rose $15 (0.8%) to settle at $1963 an ounce, following a 0.7% weekly gain for the yellow metal. Prices based on the most actively traded contracts saw their strongest single-session percentage & $ gain so far this month. Looking ahead, investors will be watching for a fresh policy update from the Federal Reserve at the conclusion of its 2-day policy meeting on Wed. Further signals that the central bank will keep rates lower for longer will add fuel to the bullish thesis for gold..
Gold prices tally best one-day gain since August as dollar weakness buttresses bullion
Oil futures ended lower, undercut by continued demand worries, as OPEC further reduced its outlook for demand growth, as well as the potential for more oil from Libya. A storm in the Gulf of Mexico, however, has prompted shutdowns among energy platforms & rigs in the region, limiting losses for oil & lifting prices for natural gas. West Texas Intermediate crude for Oct fell 9¢ to end at $37.24 a barrel, while the global benchmark, November Brent declined by 22¢ (0.6%) at $39.61 a barrel. OPEC, in its monthly report, said it now expects 2020 oil demand to contract 9.5M barrels a day to 90.2M barrels a day, versus its previous call for a 9.1M barrel-a-day fall. It also lowered its outlook for demand growth in 2021, citing the lingering effects of the coronavirus. Also weighing on prices was a report that Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar plans to halt a blockade of the oil-exporting nation's ports. Some Gulf of Mexico oil producers are idle idling production as they prepared for Hurricane Sally. As of today, the National Hurricane Center forecast that the hurricane will approach southeastern Louisiana this evening & make landfall tomorrow night. with “life-threatening” flash flooding likely along the central Gulf Coast. Oil production in the Gulf of Mexico today was down by 21.4% & 25.3% of natural-gas production has been shut in, according to the Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement.
Oil ends lower on weak demand outlook, but storm disruptions to Gulf output limit losses
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