Dow sank 303, decliners over advancers 5-4 & NAZ sank 111. The MLP index crawled up to the 148s & the REIT index added 1+ to the 377s. Junk bond funds were mixed & Treasuries are being sold. Oil rose in the 52s & gold jumped 19 to 1860 on unusual trading in the stock market.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
|
|
Homebuyers signed fewer contracts to buy existing homes in Dec, as record high prices & record low supply stood in the way of strong demand. The pending home sales index from the National Association of Realtors fell, 0.3% month-to-month, the 4th straight monthly decline. This index is a predictor of future closed sales. Pending sales were, however, 21.4% higher than Dec 2019 & this was the highest Dec reading on record. “Pending home sales contracts have dipped during recent months, but I would attribute that to having too few homes for sale,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist. “There is a high demand for housing and a great number of would-be buyers, and therefore sales should rise with more new listings.” At the end of Dec, inventory stood at just 1.07M homes for sale, down 23% year over year. At the current sales place, that represents a 1.9-month supply, the lowest number of homes since the Realtors began tracking this metric in 1982. Demand was uneven across the country, with the largest decline in sales seen in the Midwest. Sales there fell 3.6% for the month, but were up 13.9% annually. In the Northeast, pending sales rose 3.1% month to month & were 22.1% higher year over year. In the South they increased 0.1% monthly & 26.6% annually. In the West, sales were unchanged for the month & 18.9% higher compared with Dec 2019. “This elevated demand without a significant boost in supply has caused home prices to increase and we can expect further upward pressure on prices for the foreseeable future,” Yun added. The median price of a home sold in Dec (based on closed sales) was nearly 13% higher than Dec 2019 & the highest Dec price the Realtors have ever recorded.
December pending home sales drop as buyers face record high prices, low supply
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, said its single-dose coronavirus vaccine was 66% effective overall in protecting against
Covid-19. The vaccine, however, appeared to be less potent against other variants. The
Food & Drug Administration has indicated it would authorize a vaccine
that’s safe & at least 50% effective. The flu vaccine, by comparison,
generally reduces people's risk of getting influenza by 40-60%
compared with people who aren't inoculated, according to the Centers for
Disease Control & Prevention. The
level of protection varied by region, JNJ said, with the vaccine
demonstrating 66% effectiveness overall, 72% in the US, 66%
in Latin America & 57% in South Africa after 4 weeks. JNJ
said the vaccine was 85% effective in preventing severe disease 4
weeks after vaccination in all adults. The vaccine offered complete
protection against Covid-related hospitalizations 4 weeks after
vaccination. “We’re proud to have reached this
critical milestone and our commitment to address this global health
crisis continues with urgency for everyone, everywhere,” JNJ CEO
Alex Gorsky said. The stock dropped 5.74.
If you would like to learn more about JNJ, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/JNJ?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
J&J says its Covid vaccine is 66% effective, but the single shot may fall short against variants
The coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca (AZN) & the University of Oxford has been approved by Europe's drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The
EMA said it had assessed the safety & effectiveness of the
Covid vaccine & recommended by consensus a formal conditional
marketing authorization be granted by the European Commission, the EU's
exec arm. “With
this third positive opinion, we have further expanded the arsenal of
vaccines available to EU and EEA member states to combat the pandemic
and protect their citizens,” Emer Cooke, exec director of EMA, said. “As in previous cases, the CHMP has
rigorously evaluated this vaccine, and the scientific basis of our work
underpins our firm commitment to safeguard the health of EU citizens,”
Cooke said, referring to the EMA's human medicines committee. The
vaccine is already in use in the UK, having been approved at the end
of Dec, & now makes up the bulk of jabs being administered in the
country. The
approval comes at a tricky time for the EU, with its vaccination
program sluggish at best & looking very vulnerable to supply
shortages. The stock was off 56¢.
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
AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid vaccine approved for use by European regulator
These are trying times for investors with the goings on in the stock market. GameStop & Reddit are providing plenty of excitement with little guys buying & hedge funds shorting. While the trading is exciting, it's best for amateurs to watch wild price swings from the sidelines. Hedge funds are run by pros & some are getting wiped out already. So called smart investing doesn't mean much today. Meanwhile the fight against the virus currently involves a lot of struggling.
Dow Jones Industrials
No comments:
Post a Comment