Dow lost 26, decliners over advancers 4-3 & NAZ dropped 63. The MLP index index was steady in the 152s & the REIT index fell 2 to 364. Junk bond funds inched higher & Treasuries were purchased again. Oil was about even in the 46s & gold went up 10 to 1848.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
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The Trump administration expects to distribute up to 20M doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine this year & as many as 100M doses by the end of Feb, Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said. Azar added that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) will grant emergency-use authorization for the vaccine within days & the first shot may be given as soon as Mon. "At this point, it is really a matter of working out some final details," he said. "Within the next couple of days, it ought to come out and we'll start having Pfizer ship that vaccine to where governors have told us." The news comes after an FDA advisory panel voted yesterday to endorse the 95%-effective inoculation, which cleared the way for emergency authorization & distribution. Front-line health care workers & residents at long-term care facilities are expected to be the first recipients of the vaccine after Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Director Robert Redfield last week upheld the vote of an independent panel.
First COVID vaccination in US may be given Monday: Alex Azar
After several days of increasing optimism about the prospect that Coongress could come to an agreement on a coronavirus stimulus bill, talks appeared on the edge of falling apart yesterday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell & Dems are stuck on the point of federal aid for state & local govs. "While Democrats hold the Paycheck Protection Program hostage over controversial state government bailouts, family businesses are closing their doors," McConnell said in floor remarks yesterday. "Our Democratic colleagues have not even let us pass non-controversial money to invest in vaccine distribution. Not unless the two parties settle a whole list of issues that are controversial the way they want." The signal from McConnell, likely to tamp down on optimism congressional leaders have expressed in recent days, comes as reporters were told that the bipartisan Senate coronavirus plan, sponsored by a group that includes Sens Joe Manchin & Susan Collins is just "talk."
Coronavirus relief deal talks sputter as McConnell pushes back on state aid
Almost 40% of Americans plan to spend less on gifts this holiday season than they did last year, the largest such percentage since 2013, according to the CNBC All-America Economic Survey. Just 11% plan to spend more, as Americans continue to cope with surging Covid-19 cases & widespread unemployment. The average American plans to spend $886, down 10% from their planned spending last year. Of the 800 Americans surveyed, 29% said they plan to spend less due to lost wages or income, 19% cited the coronavirus & 17% cited the poor economy. The poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%. All income groups reported planning to spend less this year compared with a year ago. When it comes to actual $s they plan to spend, the wealthiest Americans could be holding back the most. “It does seem like those Americans earning over $100,000 are holding back a little bit more than they did in 2019,″ said Jay Campbell, partner at Hart Research, which serves as the Demo pollster. Americans could be saving for a potential 2021 downturn. A 3rd of respondents said they believe the economy will get worse in the next year, double the percentage from Oct. That's despite the development & imminent deployment of a Covid vaccine. Outlook fell along party lines, though: Reps have turned negative with the election of former VP Joe Biden, while Dems have turned positive. Americans' views on the current state of the economy remain about the same as last qtr with 34% characterizing it as “good” or “excellent,” compared with 62% who call it “fair” or “poor.” While Americans plan to spend less overall this holiday season, they plan to do a lot more spending online. In a huge jump, 55% say they will do most of their shopping online, compared with 43% a year ago. It's the biggest gain in the 14 years of the survey & follows a 3-year plateau in that metric. It's also the first time more than ½ of respondents favored online shopping. Big-box stores & department stores are bearing the brunt of that shift, with both declining as top choices for shoppers.
Many Americans plan to spend less this holiday season as Covid lingers
The vaccine news to be very good while a stimulus bill remains as difficult to finalize as it has been for months. Investors continue to be optimistic, keeping the popular averages close to record highs.
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