Dow gained 263, advancers over decliners 2-1-& NAZ dropped 159. The MLP index added 4+ to the 124s & the REIT index rose 5+ to the 368s. Junk bond funds remained in demand & Treasuries drifted a little lower in price. Oil went up 1 to the 41s & gold bounced back 21 to 1875 (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)
Regardless of who controls the Senate next year, Reps & Dems will have the same leaders they do now. The Senate GOP unanimously reelected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as the caucus leader. Likewise, all Senate Dems chose Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to head their caucus. The election results have not yet indicated who will enter the next Congress with a Senate majority. Reps & Dems will both come out of the 2020 election with at least 48 Senate seats, a net gain of one Dem. At least one outstanding race, & potentially 2, in Georgia will get decided by a runoff in Jan. Dems entered Election Day with hopes of flipping the Senate, which would give the party unified control of gov. Joe Biden will win the White House & Dems will keep their House majority. Holding the Senate would give Reps a buffer against Dem priorities.
McConnell, Schumer reelected as party leaders with Senate control undecided
The global tally of confirmed cases of the coronavirus illness COVID-19 climbed above 51 with new cases racing across the US & Europe as more localities opted to impose restrictions on movement to curb the spread. The US counted 130K new cases yesterday & at least 745 people died. The US has averaged 116K cases a day in the past week, up 64% from 2 weeks ago. Cases are rising in 47 states & at least 12 set records yesterday. Per capita new case numbers are highest in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa & Wisconsin, filling hospitals & raising concerns that health systems will be overwhelmed as winter sets in. More than 10M Americans have been confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 and 238K people have died, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. There are currently 59K COVID-19 patients in US hospitals, according to the COVID Tracking Project, the highest number since Jul 25 & up 70% from a month ago. North Dakota is at 89% capacity, according to its state health dept, while South Dakota is at about 64% capacity.
Gold futures settled higher, with the precious metal logging a partial recovery a day after suffering the sharpest daily drop in 7 years. The yellow metal’s recent decline was prompted by a Pfizer (PFE)-BioNTech (BNTX) report that their experimental coronavirus vaccine showed 90% efficacy in a Phase 3 study. However, bullion investors may be reasoning that the commodity fell too sharply & that some of the supportive elements that have helped buttress gold over the past several weeks & months persist. Dec gold rose $22 (1.2%) to settle at $1876 an ounce, after tumbling 5% yesterday, to mark the biggest percentage drop for a most-active contract since 2013.
Gold prices end higher a day after sharpest daily drop in 7 years
Oil prices rose as hopes that a COVID-19 vaccine could be
on the horizon outweighed the expected negative impact on fuel demand of
new lockdowns to curb the virus. Brent crude futures rose 53¢ (1.3%) to $42.93, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude futures settled up $1.07 (2.7%) to $41.36. Both
contracts jumped 8% yesterday, in their biggest daily gains in more
than 5 months, after drugmakers Pfizer (PFE) & BioNTech (BNTX) said an
experimental COVID-19 treatment was more than 90% effective based on
initial trial results. Mass rollouts, however, are likely to be months away & subject to regulatory approvals. Prices were also boosted by comments from Saudi Arabia's energy
minister, who said OPEC & its allies (OPEC+) could tweak
their supply cut pact if demand slumps before the vaccine is available. OPEC+
agreed to cut supply by 7.7M barrels per day from Aug thru
Dec & then ease the cuts by around 2M bpd in Jan. The negative impact that renewed lockdowns in Europe are having on fuel
demand, as well as rising Libyan production, kept prices in check. Libyan production has risen above 1M bpd in recent days from 100K bpd in early Sep.
Oil gains more than 2% as vaccine hopes outweigh lockdown impact
EU regulators have filed antitrust charges against Amazon (AMZN), accusing the e-commerce giant of using data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants using its platform. The EU's exec commission, the bloc's top antitrust enforcer, said that the charges have been sent to the company. The
commission said it takes issue with AMZN's systematic use of
non-public business data to avoid “the normal risks of competition &
to leverage its dominance" for e-commerce services in France &
Germany, the company's 2 biggest markets in the EU. The EU started looking into AMZN in 2018 & has been focusing on its dual role as a marketplace & retailer. In
addition to selling its own products, the US company allows 3rd-party retailers to sell their own goods thru its site. Last
year, more than ½ of the items sold on AMZN worldwide were from
these outside merchants. Exec VP Margrethe
Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition, said it’s not a
problem that AMZN is a successful business but “our concern is very
specific business conduct which appears to distort genuine competition.” AMZN faces a possible fine of up to 10% of its annual worldwide
revenue, which could amount to Bs of $s. The company rejected
the accusations. “We disagree with the preliminary assertions of
the European Commission and will continue to make every effort to ensure
it has an accurate understanding of the facts,” the company said. The company can, under EU rules, reply to the charges in writing & present its case in an oral hearing. The stock dropped 108 (3%)..
If you would like to learn more about AMZN, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/AMZN?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
EU files antitrust charges against Amazon over use of data
The tech giants have been the darling for investors this year because they are making so much money. Meanwhile govs are having a tough time financially. It makes sense there will be more attempts for govs to share in the profits at tech companies. Tech investors are nervous & the once sexy tech shares have been out of favor this month. However, the Dow is doing very well despite the selloff late in the day yesterday. At the close today, the Dow is close to the record close made last Feb.Dow Jones Industrials
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