Dow went up 61 (good enough for a new record), advancers over decliners 5-4 & NAZ gave back 35. The MLP index was little changed at 151 & the REIT index rose 2+ to 390. Junk bond funds fluctuated & Treasuries remained in demand. Oil continued climbing in the 58s & gold gained 5 to 1842 (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)
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell painted a dour picture on the state of US employment & said that continued aggressive policy support will be needed to fix the myriad issues still facing workers. Addressing the issue will require a “patiently accommodative monetary policy that embraces the lessons of the past” regarding the benefits that low interest rates bring to the labor market, the central bank leader said. Even though the economy has reclaimed more than 12M jobs since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Powell said the US is “a long way” from where it needs to be in terms of employment. “Fully realizing the benefits of a strong labor market will take continued support from both near-term policy and longer-run investments so that all those seeking jobs have the skills and opportunities that will enable them to contribute to, and share in, the benefits of prosperity,” he added. The chairman spoke as the pace of job creation has slowed considerably. Though the unemployment rate has fallen from its 2020 high of 14.8% to 6.3%, nonfarm payrolls rose by just 49K in Jan & fell by 227K in Dec. There are still more than 10M workers without jobs, a number that is 4.4M higher than it was prior to the pandemic in Feb 2020. Powell further said the headline unemployment rate has “dramatically understated” the true damage, including the biggest 12-month drop in labor force participation since at last 1948. “Despite the surprising speed of recovery early on, we are still very far from a strong labor market whose benefits are broadly shared,” Powell said.
Fed Chair Powell, citing bleak jobs picture, says policy will need to stay ‘patiently accommodative’
People may need to get vaccinated against COVID-19 annually, just like seasonal flu shots, over the next several years, Johnson & Johnsoon (JNJ), a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, CEO Alex Gorsky said. “Unfortunately,
as [the virus] spreads it can also mutate,” he added. “Every time it mutates, it’s
almost like another click of the dial so to speak where we can see
another variant, another mutation that can have an impact on its ability
to fend off antibodies or to have a different kind of response not only
to a therapeutic but also to a vaccine.” Public health officials and infectious disease experts have said there is a high likelihood that Covid-19 will become an endemic disease,
meaning it will become present in communities at all times, though
likely at lower levels than it is now. Health officials will have to
continuously watch for new variants of the virus, so scientists can
produce vaccines to fight them, medical experts say. Gorsky’s comment came after JNJ said it applied for an emergency use authorization from the Food & Dr[ug Administration for its coronavirus
vaccine. Unlike the other 2 vaccines, which require 2
doses given about 3-4 weeks apart, JNJ 's only requires one
dose, easing logistics for health-care providers. US officials & analysts are eagerly anticipating the authorization of its vaccine, which could happen as early as this month. Pres Biden is
trying to pick up the pace of vaccinations in the US & experts say
his administration will need an array of drugs & vaccines to defeat
the virus, which has killed more than 450K Americans over the last
year, according to Johns Hopkins University. The stock went up 52¢.
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 CEO says people may need annual Covid vaccine shots for several years
Gold futures scored a 4th straight session gain as investors assessed its prospects amid an economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Gold prices found support from weakness in the $ & expectations for another US fiscal stimulus package, which also fed hopes for an economic recovery. Gold for Apr gold rose $5 (0.3%) to settle at $1842 an ounce, after marking yesterday the highest settlement for the most-active contract finish since Feb 1. Data on US inflation showed that consumer prices rose moderately in January, up 0.3%, matching estimates after climbing 0.4% in Dec, suggesting that underlying inflation was tepid. The reading points to an annualized CPI reading of 1.4%, compared against 1.5% expected. However, many investors remain fearful that US gov spending & accommodative monetary policies will ultimately lead to a surge in pricing pressures, which could help to lift gold, which is often viewed as a hedge against inflation. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said, in a speech to the Economic Club of New York after gold futures settled, that inflation “has been much lower and more stable over the past three decades than in earlier times” & the Fed's “patiently accommodative monetary policy stance” takes this history into account.
Gold scores a 4th straight gain as platinum ends at a 6-year high
Oil futures climbedy, with a nearly 7M-barrel weekly drop in US crude supplies & expectations for another large round of gov spending prompting prices to extend a winning streak that began at the start of Feb. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that US crude inventories fell by 6.6M barrels last week. The data compared with the decline of 2.7M barrels forecast. The American Petroleum Institute yesterday reported a 3.5M-barrel decrease. The EIA data also showed crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla, storage hub edged down by 700K barrels for the week. Against that backdrop, West Texas Intermediate crude for Mar rose 32¢ (0.6%) to settle at $58.68 a barrel. The US benchmark tallied an 8 consecutive session of gains, the longest streak of increases since the 9-session climb ended in 2019,. Prices also logged their highest finish in a year Apr Brent, the global benchmark, added 38¢ (0.6%) at $61.47 a barrel, extending its winning streak to 9 days in a row — also the longest since Jan 2019..
U.S. oil prices log 8th session climb as domestic crude supplies drop by nearly 7 million barrels
Another quiet day stock for trading in the stock market. Everybody is waiting to hear about the economic relief package.
Dow Jones Industrials
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