Dow lost 33, advancers slightly ahead of decliners & NAZ fell 21. The MLP index added 3 to 140 & the REIT index was off 2 to the 368s. Junk bond funds crawled higher & Treasuries were sold. Oil climbed back to the 45s & gold rose 11 to 1830.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
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Pres-elect Biden said he will not immediately remove the Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese exports. Instead, Biden said upon assuming office he plans to review the phase one trade deal that Pres Trump inked with China nearly one year ago. The deal, signed at the beginning of Jan, requires China to purchase some $200B in additional US goods over the course of 2 years – a commitment that Beijing is nowhere close to meeting. "I'm not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs," Biden said. "I’m not going to prejudice my options.” Relations with China deteriorated under Trump, who made it a campaign priority to shrink the trade disparities between the US & its allies. For nearly 2 years, the world's 2 largest economies engaged in a tit-for-tat trade war until Trump & Chinese Pres Xi Jinping signed a partial trade deal in Jan. Under the agreement, the White House left in place a 25% tariff on about $250B in Chinese products. Biden said he wants to conduct a full review of the existing agreement with China before making any decisions & consult with America's traditional Asian & European allies to "develop a coherent strategy." “The best China strategy, I think, is one which gets every one of our – or at least what used to be our – allies on the same page. It’s going to be a major priority for me in the opening weeks of my presidency to try to get us back on the same page with our allies," he said. The pres-elect said his goal is to pursue trade policies that "actually produce progress on China's abusive practices," including intellectual property theft, dumping products, illegal subsidies to corps & forcing "tech transfers" from US companies to their Chinese counterparts.
Biden says he won't immediately remove Trump's tariffs on China
Private payrolls grew at their slowest pace since Jul amid a deceleration in large business hiring for Nov, ADP's monthly payrolls report said. Companies hired 307K workers last month, well below the 475K estimate. The total represented a decline from the upwardly revised 404K in Oct & is the smallest gain since the 216K increase in Jul. The revision added 39K to the original estimate from Oct, making the Nov miss not as bad as it appears. The Labor Depat on Fri is expected to report that the economy in Nov added 440K jobs, down from the 638K in Oct. Private payrolls are estimated to grow by 590K with a decline of about 93K Census workers during the survey period subtracting from the headline number. Most of the hiring in the ADP report came from firms with 50-499 workers, which added 139K jobs. Small companies added 110K while big business trailed with just 58K after adding 116K in Oct. “While November saw employment gains, the pace continues to slow,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, VP & co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Job growth remained positive across all industries and sizes.” As usual, service industries provided the bulk of jobs, with 276K. Leisure & hospitality, which has been battered during the pandemic, added 95K workers despite increasing restrictions placed on bars & restaurants as coronavirus cases continue to climb.
Hiring falls off in November to slowest rate since July
Main Street has been clamoring for a new round of federal relief, with 83% of small business owners in the latest CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Confidence Survey saying they would support a new economic stimulus package to help individuals & businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. After months of stalled talks between Capitol
Hill & the White House & as coronavirus cases reach daily new highs,
Congress unveiled a new stimulus proposal that seems tailored to meet
the dire needs of small businesses across the country, though it was quickly shot down by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In
what would be a boon for small business owners, a key aspect of the new
proposal is the allotment of $288B in small business aid & to
renew this summer's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which the survey
results indicate is the leading hope for small business owners
struggling to keep the lights on even if their doors are still closed
due to the virus. 40% of small business owners support an
extension or expansion of the PPP, making this proposal the only one
that receives more support among small business owners than among the
general public. The PPP provided funds to businesses that could prove they maintained
their payrolls despite business closures & general drop in demand
earlier this year. Hiring & retaining workers is always a challenge
for small business owners, but it has been especially so in the
pandemic. In the latest update of the quarterly tracking survey,
conducted Nov 10-17 among more than 2K small business owners
nationwide, about 1 in 5 say they've had to furlough or lay off
some or all employees as a result of the coronavirus. Of those who have
furloughed or laid off staff members, a majority (58%) have already
hired some or all of their workers back, 23% haven't yet but expect to
hire all or some of their workers back & 19% expect those departures
to be permanent. Those layoffs have been particularly
concentrated by industry, with, for example, 33% of small business
owners in the accommodation & food services industry but just 10% of
those in the real estate industry saying they’ve had to resort to
layoffs & furloughs to deal with coronavirus-related business setbacks
this year.
83% of small biz owners want another round of stimulus from Washington: Survey
The ADP jobs report showing the economy is moving forward in smaller steps was not encouraging for investors. Much of the service industry, a major part of the economy, is still hurting. But the work with new vaccines is going well & the popular averages are close to record highs.
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