Dow shot up 387, advancers over decliners 5-2 & NAZ jumped 197. The MLP index went up 1+ to the 111s & the REIT index slid back 1+ ot the 358s. Junk bond funds rose along with stocks & Treasuries declined in price. Oil soared 2+ to the 39s & gold gained 19 to 1919.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
|
|
Pres Trump & the team of doctors treating him for the coronavirus will decide later whether to discharge him from Walter Reed Medical Center. Trump's
possible departure could send a signal that his health is improving
following his diagnosis. “The
discharge decision will be made later today between the president and
his medical team,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said. Trump had entered the hospital just on Fri
evening, the same day he revealed that he & first lady Melania had tested positive for Covid-19. The
pres has been mostly sequestered in Walter Reed's presidential
wing since departing the White House, but has spoken out in tweets &
in videos posted to his social media. Yesterday,
Trump also made a surprise drive-by appearance outside the hospital,
where he waved from the backseat window of an SUV to his supporters who
had gathered there.
Trump and medical team will decide later Monday whether he’s discharged, chief of staff says
The huge service side of the US economy — retailers, restaurants,
banks, hospitals & the like — expanded in Sep for the 4th
month in a row & employment also grew for the first time since the
pandemic began, a survey business execs showed. An index of non-manufacturing companies rose to 57.8% last month from 56.9% in August, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). Any number above 50% means more companies are expanding. The ISM survey of senior execs asks if business has
gotten better or worse compared to the prior month, but it doesn't
reveal how much better. As the result, the relatively high level of the
index overstates how well the service part of the economy is performing. While many companies have fully reopened & are getting back
up to speed, others like restaurants & airlines continue to operate
under gov restrictions or have suffered a deep decline in
customer traffic that won't be quickly reversed. New orders and production both grew a bit faster in Sep. The index of new orders dropped rose to 61.5% from 56.8%. And the gauge for production edged up to 63% from 62.4%. The best news was employment turning positive for the first time since
Feb. The employment gauge climbed to 51.8% from 47.9%, suggesting
companies are adding more workers than they are letting go. Service-oriented businesses cut Ms of jobs earlier in the pandemic & employment remains well below precrisis levels, however. The best news was employment turning positive for the first time since
Feb.
The global tally for confirmed cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 climbed to 35.2M today, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University,
while the death toll rose to 1.04M. The US has the highest
case tally at 7.4M & highest death toll at 210M. Brazil has the 2nd-highest death toll after the US at 146K, but 3rd-highest
case tally at 4.9M. India is 2nd case tally at
6.6M, & has the 3rd-highest death toll at 103K. Mexico is 4th with 79K deaths & 9th with 762K cases. The UK has
42K deaths & 506K cases, the highest death toll in Europe & 5th-highest in the world.
Global cases of COVID-19 top 35 million, 1.04 million deaths and U.S. nears 210,000 fatalities
Investors are encouraged by improvement in Trump's health & the service sector data. They are still hoping for another stimulus bill. However, it will still take a Herculean effort to get those guys in DC to agree to anything this big.
No comments:
Post a Comment