Dow finished up 9 & close to session lows, decliners over advancers 5-4 & NAZ was up 27, good enough for another record. The MLP index added 1+ to the 192s & the REIT index was 1+ to 448. Junk bond funds fluctuated & Treasuries were a tad lower. Oil crawled higher in the 73s & gold fell 15 to 1764 (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)
Pres Biden is hitting the trail this week to drum up support among the American people for the bipartisan infrastructure deal reached last week, selling the local economic benefits of the $973B plan that will invest in the nation's crumbling roads & bridges. Biden will travel to Wisconsin to deliver a speech during which he's expected to highlight the $48.5B included in the framework for public transit – funding intended to reduce both commute times & emissions. The pres also plans to travel to Mich on Sat. The bipartisan measure – which includes more than $500B in new funding over the next 5 years – will allocate Bs to other "core" infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, broadband internet & electric utilities. The plan will be funded from a variety of sources, including reducing the IRS tax gap, redirecting unused federal unemployment money from the 26 states that are prematurely ending the relief program & repurposing other COVID-relief measures. "This infrastructure bill, you know, it signals in the world that we can function, we can deliver," Biden said. "We can do significant things and show that America is back." The proposal will not raise the gas tax or taxes paid by Americans earning less than $400K a year – a selling point that Biden also intends to hammer home today.
Biden to push bipartisan infrastructure deal in Wisconsin after botched rollout
Consumer confidence increased for a 5th straight month in Jun & returned to levels last seen before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Consumer Confidence Index this month rose 7.3 points to 127.3,
the highest since Feb 2020, The Conference Board reported. The
Present Situation Index, which is based on consumers' assessment of
current business conditions & the labor market, increased to 157.7
from 148.7 last month. The Expectations Index, which measures consumers'
short-term outlook for income, business & the job market, jumped to
107.0 from 100.9 the prior month. "Consumers’
assessment of current conditions improved again, suggesting economic
growth has strengthened further in Q2," said Lynn Franco, senior
director of economic indicators at The Conference Board. The
percentage of consumers who said business conditions are "good" rose to
24.5%, up from 19.9% last month. Additionally, 54.4% of consumers said
jobs are "plentiful," up measurably from 48.5% in May. Short-term
outlooks for business conditions & financial prospects also increased. However, optimism for the labor market in the short term was mixed. Just
25.7% of consumers expected more jobs to be available in the months
ahead, down from 27.7%, while 16% said there would be fewer jobs,
declining from 17.5% last month. The rebound in consumer confidence echoes the strong beliefs chief executives have about the economy. 75% of CEOs believe there will be "strong" or "very strong" growth over the next 12 months, according to a survey conducted by advisory firm Deloitte.
Consumer confidence snaps back to pre-coronavirus levels
Eli Lilly (LLY) CEO David Ricks said he welcomes new competition from Walmart (WMT), a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, even as the retailer undercuts the drugmaker's prices on fast-acting insulin. WMT announced that it will sell a lower-price version of the notoriously expensive diabetes drug, starting this week. “Any
efforts to smash through that and deliver better value to patients, I’m
for,” Ricks responded. Insulin has become a focal point in lawmakers' debate over soaring drug
prices — especially since it is a 100-year-old medication & one that
can be lifesaving for Ms of Americans diagnosed with diabetes. LLY is among the companies that have faced pushback for its prices by
politicians on both sides of the aisle. Ricks said the company's leaders “welcome anyone who wants to lower the price of insulin” — including the big-box retailer. “We
always look at new solutions ourselves, and this is an interesting
development and we’ll look at further options,” he added. “If we can
reach one more patient with more affordable insulin, we’re going to try
to do that.” Ricks
said LLY continues to seek ways to reduce costs for people with
diabetes. He pointed to 2 related efforts: The launch of a ½-price,
generic version of insulin, called insulin lispro, in early 2019 & the cap on out-of-pocket cost for insulin at $35 per month, which began as many Americans struggled with finances during the coronavirus pandemic. The stock rose 1.29.
If you would like to learn more about LLY, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/LLY?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Eli Lilly CEO says drugmaker will keep looking for ways to cut insulin costs
Gold futures finished sharply lower, but avoided a more pronounced decline for the commodity that saw it tumble by as much as 1.7% at the session's nadir. Weighing on bullion was a pickup in yields for gov debt & firmness in the $. A stronger greenback can make $-pegged precious metals more expensive to overseas buyers, while higher bond yields can raise the opportunity costs of buying Treasuries versus gold which doesn't offer a yield. Aug gold slumped $17 (1%) to end at $1763 an ounce after touching an intraday low at $1750 & after bullion climbed 0.2% yesterday. At the height of yesterday's selling, bullion was on track for the worst monthly decline, down over 8% in Jun to date, since 2013. Investors remain focused on the Federal Reserve's outlook for inflation in the recovery phase of the US economy from COVID-19. The outlook for gold is complicated by the Fed's view that higher inflation is temporary & a rise in interest rates will only happen slowly & probably not until late 2022. Gold tends to benefit from rising inflation & lower interest rates.
Gold sinks 1% and falls to mid-April low
Oil futures ended a choppy session with small gains, after flipping between positive & negative territory, as investors monitored a pickup in the spread of the delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 & awaited an OPEC+ decision on whether to further lift curbs on crude production. West Texas Intermediate crude for Aug rose 7¢ to finish at $72.98 a barrel. Sep Brent crude the global benchmark, rose 14¢ to end at $74.28 a barrel. Aug Brent rose 8¢, to $74.76 a barrel. The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending that fully vaccinated people continue to wear face masks in public, breaking with the guidance offered by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The WHO is concerned about the rapid spread of the highly infectious delta variant of the virus, with cases rising around the world, leading to renewed travel restrictions. Meanwhile, the decision by OPEC+ — made up of members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries & its allies, including Russia — is expected Thurs & remains the key event of the week. Members expected to further ease output curbs beginning in Aug by around 500K barrels a day. Ahead of Thurs's virtual gathering of oil ministers, a panel of experts, known as the OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee met today. The expert consultations produced no unanimous recommendations. Traders will also be watching private industry data on weekly US crude inventories later today, followed by more closely followed data from the Energy Information Administration tomorrow. The forecast for EIA data is US crude inventories fell by 4.7M barrels last week.
Oil ekes out gains as investors assess demand outlook
This was a choppy day for stocks with little getting accomplished. Biden is trying to unscramble his comments about the infrastructure package. It still faces an uncertain future with both houses being about evenly split.
Dow Jones Industrials
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