Dow climbed 104 (inches from a record), advancers over decliners 3-2 & NAZ went up 62 to another record. The MLP index crawled up to 150 & the REIT index slid back 1+ to 370. Junk bond funds fluctuated & Treasuries were in demand. Oil remained a little lower in the 45s & gold rose 9 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)
Congress tried to scratch out an elusive coronavirus relief dea as familiar roadblocks stood in the way of aid for Americans struggling to cover food & housing costs. DC leaders hope to pass a rescue package before the end of the year after months of inaction. Failure to send more help before then could cut off unemployment benefits to about 12M & leave millions facing the threat of eviction. To strike a deal in time, Reps & Dems still need to resolve major disputes over liability protections for businesses, state & local gov relief & direct payments to Americans. Lawmakers plan to buy themselves more time to reach both pandemic aid & spending agreements by approving a one-week continuing resolution to keep the gov funded thru Dec 18. A bipartisan group has worked to craft a $908B compromise bill. The lawmakers aim to release more details about the proposal later today. While Dems have embraced the plan as a foundation for talks with Rep leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has continued to call for a roughly $500B “targeted” bill. He plans to discuss developing stimulus plans with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin & White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. A daily average Covid-19 infection rate of more than 200K has overwhelmed hospitals across the country. States & cities have implemented new economic restrictions to slow cases in an already sluggish economy where 20M people are receiving unemployment benefits.
Stimulus checks, liability are among the sticking points in Covid relief deal
The coronavirus vaccine developed by British pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca (AZN) & the University of Oxford is the first to have its late-stage trial
results independently reviewed & published in a peer-reviewed medical
journal. The study reiterated the trial findings for the vaccine that showed an average effectiveness of 70% in protecting against the coronavirus. It
also confirmed findings for the dosage regimens used in the trials: 62%
effectiveness for 2 full doses & 90% efficacy for the ½-then-full dose regimen. The
Oxford vaccinology professor who led this coronavirus vaccine project,
called it a “really good day for the U.K., this is probably the best day
we’ve had in 2020.” “Not only today are we seeing the first rollout of NHS vaccinations against Covid-19,
(but) from our side we are able to present to you our data in a full
peer-review publication with all of the information that people have
been asking us about,” said professor Sarah Gilbert. “And we
now see that the vaccine is safe, it’s highly effective and we also know
that it can be manufactured in large quantities and at a low price,”
Gilbert said, adding that it is hoped the vaccine will receive
regulatory approval “in the coming weeks.” The interim results
from the phase III trials of the Oxford-AZN vaccine were
published in The Lancet medical journal. Peer-reviewed means that
articles or studies are reviewed by other experts in the field before
being published, acting as another quality control measure for the
findings. The stock rose 46¢.
If you would like to learn more about AZN, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/AZN?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective, researchers confirm
Gold futures climbed for a 2nd straight session, as lower bond yields & the prospect of a fresh coronavirus relief package in the US combined to lift prices for bullion to their highest settlement in 3 weeks. Feb gold edged up $8 (0.5%) to settle at $1874 an ounce, after a 1.4% gain yesterday. The settlement was the highest for a most-active contract since Nov 17. Prices picked up some steam after a revision of q3 productivity costs data came in at 4.6%, down from 4.9%. Technical analysts point out that gold has drifted above a key level at $1850, which had previously been viewed as a first layer of support before the metal tumbled to a 5-month nadir, & is now seen as a level of resistance, which the yellow metal has effectively breached. Gold prices fell sharply in late Nov as the development of a successful COVID-19 vaccine undermined the case for gold as a safe haven. Today, the Food & Drug Administration said data from a trial of a coronavirus vaccine created by Pfizer (PFE) & Germany's BioNTech (BNTX) did not raise any safety concerns ahead of an advisory meeting Thurs to review the drug for possible distribution to Americans. Meanwhile, hospitalizations in the US related to COVID-19 reached a record yesterday. Separately, investors were watching developments in the UK as the threat of a market-roiling no-deal Brexit loomed. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to travel to Brussels to meet with European Commission Pres Ursula von der Leyen as negotiations continue.
Gold tallies back-to-back gains to mark highest finish in 3 weeks
Oil futures settled on a mixed note, with US benchmark prices lower but global Brent prices up for the session, as traders weighed demand prospects on the back of the rise in COVID-19 cases in the US & Europe against hope for a vaccine. Data showed that oil production from OPEC climbed to a 6-month high in Nov. West Texas Intermediate crude for Jan fell 16¢ (0.4%) to settle at $45.60 a barrel & Feb Brent crude, the global benchmark, tacked on a nickel to end at $48.84 a barrel. The US tallied 202K new cases yesterday & 1522 people died. In the last week, the US has averaged 201K cases a day & a record of 2249 deaths, beating the previous seven-day average death toll of 2232 set in Apr. There was a record of 102K COVID-19 patients in US hospitals yesterday, topping Sun's record of 101K. Much of California was under lockdown as the state implemented additional restrictions on business & consumer activity Mon in an effort to control the spread of the virus. Crude prices rallied in Nov, boosted by optimism over progress toward vaccines. Today, a survey pegged total OPEC supply last month at 25.2M barrels per day, up 670K barrels from Oct. The survey cited a “brisk recovery” in Libyan oil production & a rebound in output from the UAE for the increase. Saudi Arabia produced 9M barrels in Nov — 20K barrels per day above its quota. OPEC & allies, (OPEC+) agreed earlier this month to pare current production cuts of 7.7M barrels per day to 7.2M barrels per day starting in Jan, essentially raising their collective output by 500K barrels day. In a separate monthly report, the EIA raised its 2020 & 2021 price forecasts for WTI & Brent crude, but cut its outlook for natural-gas prices.
Oil prices end mixed as spread of COVID-19 dulls demand prospects, but vaccine offers hope
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia believes the unemployment rate will drop below 5% in 2021, acknowledging that it is a “lofty goal,” but “is attainable” because of Operation Warp Speed. “Operation Warp Speed's goal is to produce and deliver 300 million doses of safe and effective vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021, as part of a broader strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics,” according to the Dept of Health & Human Services. Scalia noted “how amazing the economy was before COVID” with an unemployment rate of 3.5% before the pandemic, its lowest level since 1969, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Scalia pointed to positive developments as it pertains to a COVID-19 vaccine, specifically that Britain Approved PFE's vaccine last week. He added that there will be “important steps taken this week in the U.S.” on the vaccine front. “I think this will go down as one of the great achievements in medical history, how quickly a vaccine was developed,” Scalia said. “That will change things even further and I think you combine that with adherence to the kinds of policies this president had, which produced that amazing economy, and I think you do get back to 5% next year.” Scalia highlighted the key points of the Labor Dept's Nov payroll report. The Nov data, reflecting payroll employment for the week ended Fri the 13th of that month, showed the US economy added 245K jobs in Nov as the unemployment rate fell to 6.7%. The forecast called for the addition of 469K jobs. Oct's initially reported gains were trimmed to 610K, down from 638K. He noted that “when we were talking back in March and April, virtually all forecasters were saying we’d be at about 12% unemployment right now, but we’re at 6.7% unemployment.” Scalia then said that the US has “made extraordinary progress,” while acknowledging that the economic recovery has “slowed a bit,” something he attributed in part to a surge in coronavirus cases in cities across the country & restrictions that have been implemented in an effort to slow the spread. Scalia added that 344K jobs were added in the private sector, which he said is an indicator of a “very strong month in ordinary times.” He acknowledged that the Nov data is “not as good as we had been doing in the months immediately before” & that “we want a quicker pace to put back all the jobs that were lost,” but pointed out that “most sectors did grow in November including about 27,000 more jobs in manufacturing, for example.” According to data, about ½ of the 22M jops lost in Mar & Apr during the pandemic have been recovered. Scalia said that the Nov data revealed slowdowns in the gov sector where census workers were lost, as well as “a slight drop” in the food & beverage industry as a result of new coronavirus restrictions in states & “maybe some people pulling away from going out” amid a rise in cases. He also noted that retail, which had been growing, “took a little bit of a drop too.”
Unemployment rate will drop below 5% in 2021: US labor secretary
All eyes are watching the goings on in DC to see what happens with the stimulus bill. The good news on the vaccine front is also getting attention while the popular averages are at or essentially at records.
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