Dow went up 4, advancers modestly ahead of decliners & NAZ recovered 76. The MLP index added 3+ to the 181s & the REIT index dropped a big 6+ to the 421s. Junk bond funds had limited buying & Treasuries crawled higher in price. Oil climbed to the 66s & gold added 8 to 1784.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
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Pres Biden said the US would soon be entering a “new phase” of the country’s vaccination campaign once the most eager Americans have received a shot. Biden set 2 new goals for Jul 4: Getting 70% of US adults to receive at least one dose of a Covid vaccine & having 160M adults fully vaccinated. The country would hit those goals by mid-Jun if the current vaccination rate held steady between now & then, but the pace of daily inoculations has been falling for weeks, down 35% from peak levels a few weeks ago. US case counts fell further to an average of 48K per day over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention data show the US is reporting an average of 2.2M daily vaccinations over the past week, down from a peak of 3.4M on Apr 13. The pace of individuals receiving their first vaccine doses has fallen even more steeply, indicating that there are fewer people initiating a vaccination program About 56% of those aged 18 & older have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, with nearly 41% fully vaccinated. While Biden's 70% target is for the country as a whole, a few states have already crossed the threshold.
U.S. cases, vaccinations continue to drop as White House sets new inoculation goal
Private job growth accelerated in Apr but fell a bit short of expectations, according to a report from payroll processing firm ADP. Companies added 742K workers for the month, a jump from Mar's upwardly revised 565K but a bit shy of the 800K forecast. Leisure & hospitality, the sector hurt the most by pandemic-related business lockdowns, led growth with 237K new positions. The industry is still about 3M shy of where it was before the pandemic but has been adding jobs steadily since federal &d state govs have been relaxing restrictions. Trade, transportation & utilities also was a major contributor, adding 155K new jobs, while professional & business services contributed 104K & education & health services increased 92K as students headed back to in-school learning. Services typically account for the bulk of job growth & that was true again in Apr as the sector added 636K positions. However, goods-producing industries had a strong month as well, adding 106K jobs as manufacturing saw 55K new hires, construction was up 41K & natural resources & mining payrolls grew by 10K. From a business size perspective, gains were broad based. Companies with 500 or more employees led with 277K, followed by small businesses with fewer than 50 employees at 235K & medium-sized firms with 230K.
Private payrolls show big gain in April but short of expectations, ADP says
General Motors (GM) reported Q1 results that blew away earnings
expectations, saying it expects a strong H1 of the year despite
the global semiconductor chip shortage that has caused factory closures. EPS was $2.25 vs $1.04 expected & sales were.$32.5B vs $32.7B expected. GM
reaffirmed its earnings expectations for the year, guiding toward the
high-end of its range. The company forecast $10-11B ($4.50-5.25 per share), in adjusted pretax profits, & adjusted
automotive free cash flow of $1-2B for 2021. The
forecasts factored in the potential impact of the chip shortage,
including a hit of $1.5-2B to earnings & a decrease
of $1.5-2.5B to its free cash flow. CEO Mary
Barra said while the company will have production downtime in Q2, it expects “to have a strong first half” of about $5.5B
in pretax & adjusted earnings. Barra said Q2 is expected to be GM's weakest of the year
followed by a recovery in semiconductor supply during H2. The stock rose 2.01.
If you would like to learn more about GM, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/GM?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
GM expects strong first half of year despite chip
The malaise in the stock market drags on as earnings have not been inspiring for investors. There are fears that the virus may strike back in May with its new strain. India's woes continue. And worries about higher interest rates are not going away. Traditionally, May has been a weak month for stocks,
Dow Jones Industrials
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