Dow dropped 179, decliners slightly ahead of advancers & NAZ went up 12. The MLP index fell 1+ to 150 & the REIT index crawled up 1 the 375s. Junk bond funds drifted lower & Treasuries rose in price. Oil fell 1 to the low 52s & gold was off 10 to 1855 (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)
Senate Reps slammed Pres Biden's $1.9T coronavirus relief bill this week, warning the measure will not get 60 votes, as House Dems forge ahead with a planned vote at the beginning of Feb. GOP lawmakers, worried about the nation's surging deficit, say Biden's proposal is too expensive & comes too soon on the heels of the $900B aid package that Congress passed in Dec. Unless the Biden administration makes significant changes to the measure, it will almost certainly fail to meet the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the upper chamber. “I don’t think it can get 60," Senate Minority Whip John Thune said. "Because even the people on our side that would be inclined to want to work with the administration on something like that, that price range is going to be out of range for them. Absent some change and economic conditions, etc., I think that would be a very heavy lift.” Sen Roy Blunt said that while he supports some elements of the package, he believed the proposal in its entirety would be unlikely to pass. “I suspect the whole package is a non-starter, but it’s got plenty of starters in it,” Blunt said.
GOP senators slam Biden's $1.9T relief proposal as Pelosi aims for Feb. vote
There is “some evidence” a new Covid variant first identified in the UK could be more deadly than the original strain, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. “We’ve been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant — the variant that was first discovered in London and the southeast (of England) — may be associated with a higher degree of mortality,” Johnson told a news conference. He added that all the evidence suggests the vaccines from Pfizer (PFE)-BioNTech (BNTX) & AstraZeneca (AZN)-Oxford University, the 2 currently being used in the UK, remain effective against both the old & new variants of the virus. The evidence is still at a preliminary stage & it's being assessed by the New & Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, which advises the British gov. The variant, known as B.1.1.7, has an unusually high number of mutations & was already associated with a more efficient & rapid transmission. Scientists first detected this mutation in Sep. It has since been found in at least 44 countries, including the US, which has reported its presence in 12 states. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention warned that the modeled trajectory of the variant in the US “exhibits rapid growth in early 2021, becoming the predominant variant in March.” The UK's chief scientific advisor, Patrick Vallance, said there is now early evidence that there's an increased risk for those who have the new variant, compared with the old virus. “If you took ... a man in their 60s, the average risk is that for 1,000 people who got infected, roughly 10 would be expected to unfortunately die with the virus. With the new variant, for 1,000 people infected roughly 13 or 14 people might be expected to die,” Vallance added. He described the data as not being strong yet & highlighted more concern regarding other Covid variants found in Brazil & South Africa.
Boris Johnson says some evidence new Covid variant in the UK may be more deadly
Gold futures settled lower, as the $ strengthened after losses this week, but prices for the precious metal tallied their largest weekly gain since mid-Dec. Feb gold lost $9 (0.5%) to settle at $1856 an ounce, after trading as low as $1836. Gold saw a weekly gain of 1.4%, the first in 3 weeks & largest weekly climb since the period ending Dec 18. US economic data were upbeat, likely dulling some haven demand for gold, with the IHS Markit PMI indexes for the service & manufacturing sides of the economy both improving this month. The index for services, such as banks, hospitals & retailers — by far the largest sector of the economy — rose to a 2-month high of 57.5 in Jan from 54.8 in the prior month. The index for the smaller, but still sizable US manufacturing sector, climbed to a record 59.1 from 57.1.
Gold prices settle lower, but tally their largest weekly gain since mid-December
Oil futures declined, pulling US prices lower for the week, after US gov data revealed an unexpected weekly rise in domestic crude supplies. A resurgence of COVID-19 infections in China & Southeast Asia also raised concerns about near-term oil demand. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that US crude inventories rose by 4.4M barrels last week. The data defied expectations for an average decline of 2.5M barrels forecast. The American Petroleum Institute on Wed reported a 2.6M-barrel increase. The EIA data, however, also showed crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla., storage hub declined by 4.7M barrels for the week. West Texas Intermediate crude for Mar delivery fell by 86¢ (1.6%) to settle at $52.27 a barrel, with the contract down about 0.3% for the week. Based on last Fri's settlement for the Feb contract, which expired on Wed, prices lost 0.2% for the week. Global benchmark Mar Brent crude fell 69¢ (1.2%) at $55.41 a barrel, with prices holding on to a gain of around 0.6% for the week. On the demand side of the equation, COVID-19 cases have reappeared in China with 103 new infections, marking an 11th day with more than 100 confirmed infections & forcing a lockdown for the first time in months. Meanwhile, Hong Kong on Friday announced its first lockdown, a move reminiscent of the measures used to combat the outbreak of SARS 20 years ago. Concerns about fresh outbreaks in the region are amplified since it comes just ahead of Lunar New Year festivities, a popular holiday in Asia. The ECB yesterday warned that the eurozone could be headed for a double-dip recession if lockdowns persist, which could hurt energy uptake.
Oil prices decline as U.S. crude supplies rise, COVID-19 flare up dulls demand outlook
Dow Jones Industrials
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