Dow declined 382 (off session lows), decliners over advancers 5-2 & NAZ pulled back 189. The MLP index fell 1 to the 137s & the REIT index plunged 12+ to 361. Junk bonds funds continued to be sold while Treasuries were steady. Oil dropped 1 to the 47s without an agreement on production cuts by OPEC+ & gold rocketed ahead 51 to 1946 (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)
Moderna (MRNA) is increasing its Covid-19 vaccine production this year, upping the minimum number of doses it
expects to make by 20% to 600M. The company is working to produce up to 1B doses of its Covid
vaccine this year. The US is on track to secure 100M shots by the end of Mar & additional 100M by
Jun. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) granted its coronavirus vaccine emergency authorization for people 18 & older in the US in Dec & MRNA has started the drug's initial rollout. The
federal gov has agreed to buy 200M doses of its
vaccine with the option to secure an additional 300M. MRNA's Covid-19 vaccine, which uses new mRNA technology & requires 2 doses given 4 weeks apart, has also been authorized
for use in Canada. The company has agreed to supply that country with 40M doses of its vaccine with the option to provide an additional 16M. “Our
effectiveness in providing early supply to the U.S. and Canadian
governments and our ability to increase baseline production estimates
for 2021 are both signals that our scale up of mRNA vaccine production
is a success.” chief of technical operations, Juan Andres, said. The stock rose 7.26 (7%) in a down market.
If you would like to learn more about MRNA, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/MRNA?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Moderna increases minimum 2021 Covid vaccine production by 20%
The COVID-19 death toll in the US has surpassed 350K as experts anticipate another surge in coronavirus cases & deaths stemming from holiday gatherings over Christmas & New Year's. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows the US passed the threshold yesterday. More than 20M people in the country have been infected. The US has begun using 2 coronavirus vaccines to protect health care workers & nursing home residents & staff but the rollout of the inoculation program has been criticized as being slow & chaotic. Multiple states have reported a record number of cases over the past few days. Mortuary owners in hard-hit Southern California say they're being inundated with bodies. The US by far has reported the most deaths from COVID-19 in the world, followed by Brazil, which has reported more than 195K deaths.
U.S. coronavirus death toll tops 350,000, with another surge anticipated
Construction spending rose 0.9% in Nov as builders raced to erect more new homes, reflecting a surge in demand from buyers taking advantage of ultra-low interest rates or leave cities for more space during a pandemic. The increase was the 5th in 6 months since the economy reopened in May. The forecast called for a 1.1% advance. Outlays on new homes climbed 2.6% in Nov as builders sought to bring more units to the market to meet a surge in sales. It was the 6th straight increase. Spending on new homes has shot up 16.2% in the past year, a surprisingly development that points to rapidly shifting attitudes toward home ownership during a pandemic. In the last 6 months alone, spending has soared by a 48% annualized pace. One thing that could slow the market: rising prices. The cost of buying a home climbed to the highest level in 6 years. Yet outlays on all other forms of construction, both commercial & gov funded, fell 0.6% in Nov. New construction has tumbled on hotels, offices, commercial buildings, energy-producing platforms & manufacturing plants given the uncertainties unleased by the coronavirus. Many offices are now virtually empty, for instance, while hotel occupancy sits near record lows. Spending in Oct, meanwhile, was revised up to reflect a 1.6% gain instead of 1.3% as initially reported. The housing boom is likely to face more resistance from rising prices, cold in winter months & the record surge in coronavirus cases. Yet demand & sales are expected to keep rising as the economy recovers from the pandemic & a demographic shift intensifies.
Construction spending rises again in November on surge in demand for new homes
Gold futures rose 3% to start the new year, after putting in the best annual return in a decade, with the move for bullion to its highest finish since Nov coming as the $ sank to around a 2½-year nadir. The US saw at least 201K new COVID-19 cases yesterday & at least 1353 people died. In the last week, the US has averaged 213K cases a day, down 1% from the average 2 weeks ago. Against that backdrop, gold futures for Feb advanced a whopping $51 (2.7%) to settle at $1946 an ounce. Based on the most-active contract, prices scored their highest finish in 2 months & their largest one-day percentage gain since Apr. Prices for gold eased back a bit from the highest levels after US data revealed a rise in the Markit manufacturing PMI to 57.1 in Dec from 56.5, with the improvement in the reading helping to dull some haven demand for the precious metal. Nov construction spending, meanwhile, was up by a better than expected 0.9%. Gold rose 0.5% last week & 6.3% in Dec, & nearly 25% in 2020, with gains slowed to a mere 0.3% rise in the last 3 months of 2020.
Gold prices up nearly 3% to mark highest finish since early November
Oil futures finished lower after OPEC & its allies failed to reach an agreement on production policy & said they would reconvene their meeting tomorrow. The majority of the group of producers, known as OPEC+, favor a rollover of current output levels, but Russia & Kazakhstan want to see an increase of 500K barrels per day in Feb. Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that while the vaccines were a “very welcome sign” for the oil market, OPEC & its nonmember allies must be cautious as global demand remains very short of where it was at the beginning of 2020, & the new variant of the virus is an “unpredictable” development. An earlier meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee ended with no final recommendation on what production policy should be followed. West Texas Intermediate crude for Feb fell 90¢ (1.9%) to settle at $47.62 a barrel. Mar Brent crude, the global benchmark, declined by 71¢ (1.4%) at $51.09 a barrel. OPEC+ in Dec voted to relax curbs by 500K barrels a day beginning on Jan 1 to 7.2M barrels a day. Members are expected to reach an agreement on whether to keep, reduce or increase production. Meanwhile, the US saw 201K new Covid 201K cases yesterday & at least 1353 people died. In the last week, the US has averaged 213K cases a day, down 1% from the average 2 weeks ago. Analysts note that numbers are often undercounted at the weekend because staffing at many centers is reduced. There are currently a record 125K COVID-19 patients in US hospitals. The rollout of vaccines in the US fell significantly behind schedule. The Trump administration had set a goal of administering 20M doses of the vaccine before the end of 2020. In the end, fewer than 2.8M doses had been administered as of Dec 31. Crude prices were down significantly for 2020 after demand was crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic. WTI ended 2020 down 20.5%, while Brent crude declined 21.5%.
Oil ends lower with OPEC+ to resume output talks Tuesday
Coronavirus continues to fight back hard as its influence around the globe keeps spreading. The vaccines are good news but their influence will be limited until a large number of people get their shots. Meanwhile, uncertainties in DC are getting a lot of attention. There was buying in the last ½ hour of trading.
Dow Jones Industrials
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