Dow slid back 85, advancers over decliners 3-2 & NAZ shot up 201. The MLP index rose 4 to the 166s & the REIT index lost 1 to the 402s. Junk bond funds fluctuated & Treasuries were sold. Oil dropped 1+ to the 59s & gold rebounded 22 to 1708 (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 Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took an early swipe at Pres Biden's soon-to-be-announced infrastructure overhaul, decrying the “massive” tax increases in the roughly $2T plan & fretting about its impact on the national debt. McConnell, who has opposed prior attempts to pass new infrastructure spending thru the Senate, said he was unlikely to support Biden's ambitious new proposal. “It’s like a Trojan horse,” McConnell said. “It’s called infrastructure, but inside the Trojan horse it’s going to be more borrowed money, and massive tax increases on all the productive parts of our economy.” The Rep leader said that if the plan is “going to have massive tax increases & Ts more added to the national debt, it’s not likely” he would support it. He also said that Biden called him yesterday to brief him on the plan. It's just the 2nd time the 2 men have spoken since Biden's inauguration. Biden shortly is set to travel to Pittsburgh, known as “the Steel City” for its once-towering status as a leading manufacturing hub, to detail his plan to update US infrastructure & create jobs. The White House says the legislation is just the first part of a double-barreled, multitrillion-dollar economy recovery plan. The 2nd leg of the plan, which will involve huge investments in health care & child care, is likely to be revealed later in Apr. The infrastructure plan includes about $2T in spending over 8 years. The legislation would raise the corp tax rate to 28% from 21%, which, in concert with other proposed reforms, would fund the new spending over 15 years, the White House said. Biden's plan would also raise the global minimum tax rate for multinational corps to 21% & eliminate a current tax exemption on profits on foreign investments.
McConnell slams tax hikes in Biden infrastructure bill, signals he will oppose itGold futures ended higher, with prices recovering recent losses that dragged prices to a more than 3-week low, but the precious metal still suffered its biggest quarterly loss since Q4-2016. The front-month Apr gold contract tacked on $29 (1.8%) to end at $1713 an ounce. That followed 1.7% slump for the precious metal yesterday, which sent prices to their lowest finish since Mar 8, which is now the most active, rose $29 (1.8%) to end at $1715. Prices based on the most-active contract saw a monthly loss of 0.8%. For the qtr, it was down 9.5% — the largest quarterly percentage loss since Q4-2016. Today, gold prices were up as investors parsed US private-sector employment data, ahead of a key jobs report due later this week. Commodity investors also await details on an infrastructure plan from Pres Biden, which could deliver another boost to the pandemic-stricken US economy. A private-sector report from ADP, ahead of the closely followed Labor Dept data due on Fri, showed that the US added 517K jobs in Mar, marking the biggest gain in 6 months as a decline in coronavirus cases allowed more businesses to reopen or expand hours. The private-sector report delivers further evidence of a strengthening US economy that is being powered by a massive $1.9T federal aid package & rollout of COVID vaccines.
Gold posts biggest quarterly loss since 2016
Demand for mortgage applications fell 2.2% in the past week, according to the Mortgage Banker's Association's (MBA) latest survey. A combination of rising mortgage rates & higher home prices is denting demand. Even the refinancing market took a 3% hit over the prior week. “Record-low inventory is pushing home-price growth at double the rate from a year ago, and even above the 10% growth rates seen in 2005," said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate VP of economic & industry forecasting. "The housing market is in desperate need of more inventory to cool price growth and preserve affordability,” he added. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage declined 3 basis points to 3.33%, which is still almost ½ a percentage point higher than at the beginning of the year. “Higher mortgage rates continue to shut down refinance activity, as the pool of borrowers who can benefit from a refinance further shrinks," added Kan. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2% from one week earlier. The survey covers over 75% of all US retail residential mortgage applications. It has been conducted weekly since 1990.
Housing market thirsty for inventory, mortgage applications fall
The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in the UK is starting to become the predominant strain in many regions of the US, the head of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) said. The variant, known as B.1.1.7, now accounts for 26% of Covid-19 cases circulating across the nation, CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky told reporters. It is the predominant strain in at least 5 regions, she added. The UK identified B.1.1.7, which appears to be more deadly & spread more easily than other strains, last fall. It has since spread to other parts of the globe, including the US, which has identified almost 12K cases across 51 jurisdictions, according to the CDC. Florida has the most confirmed cases of the new variant, according to a map of the CDC data, followed closely by Michigan, Wisconsin & California. Public health officials say they are working as quickly as possible to identify more cases. Walensky said she expects to see more infections in the US due to the transmissibility of the B.1.1.7 variant. She urged the public to continue pandemic safety measures, such as washing hands, wearing masks & practicing social distancing. Her comments come 2 days after she issued a dire warning to reporters when she said that she worried the nation is facing “impending doom” as variants spread & daily Covid-19 cases begin to rebound once again, threatening to send more people to the hospital. “I’m going to pause here, I’m going to lose the script, and I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom,” Walensky said. “We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope, but right now I’m scared.”
CDC director says UK variant becoming predominant strain in many parts of U.S.
The US' Covid-19 cases are trending upward again, with nationwide infection levels far below Jan's peak of about 250K new cases per day but approaching numbers seen during the summer surge when average daily case counts reached nearly 70K. In an effort to speed up the vaccination campaign, many states are expanding eligibility guidelines for who qualifies to get a shot. Dr Scott Gottlieb said that the initial period of expanded eligibility may leave some Americans frustrated. “Some states are willing to make a broader population eligible to be vaccinated and tolerate the fact that the first two or three weeks of that are going to be messy,” Gottlieb added. “Once a state opens eligibility wide open, a lot of people are going to complain that they’re going onto the website and can’t get an appointment. It’s going to take a couple weeks to work that excess demand off.” About 67K daily new coronavirus cases are being reported in the US, based on a 7-day average of data from Johns Hopkins University. That figure has been trending upward, raising concerns about a potential “fourth wave” of infections. The daily death toll has fallen significantly from its winter peak but remains elevated at nearly 1K per day. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 550K Covid deaths have been reported in the US.
U.S. Covid cases rise as vaccinations pick up amid expanded eligibility
Oil futures settled lower as uncertainty continued to surround the outlook for energy demand, with Mohammad Barkindo,
secretary general of OPEC calling the economic environment "challenging." However, prices ended higher for the qtr as traders bet that the
OPEC & its allies (OPEC+) will agree tomorrow to
extend production curbs. West Texas Intermediate crude
for May lost $1.39 (2.3%) to $59.16 a barrel. Prices based on the front-month contracts fell 3.8%
for the month, but gained nearly 22% for the qtr.
Oil prices settle lower for the session, gain more than 20% for the quarter
For the month Dow rose all of 50, but is still under 33K. The first ½ of the month saw gains, then it was choppy. There is a lot of uncertainty about the new spending bill. It's easy to find experts (?) who like it or don't like it. And it faces a tough fight in the Senate. In the meantime, the virus is not giving up its fight.
Dow Jones Industrials
