Dow went up 20 (close to session lows), advancers over decliners about 5-4 & NAZ climbed 108. The MLP index rose 4 to the 205s & the REIT index rose 3+ to the 461s for another record. Junk bond funds hardly budged & Treasuries saw more buying. Oil is back over 70 & gold added 3 to 1898 (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)
India's daily reported death toll from the coronavirus crisis reached a record high, with more than 6K people succumbing to the disease. That surpassed a record number of daily fatalities reported by the US this year. India's health ministry data showed 6148 Covid-related deaths were recorded over a 24-hour period, as daily reported cases remained below 100K for the 3rd consecutive day. The fatalities rose after one of India's poorest states, Bihar, revised its total Covid-19 related death toll on Wed from about 5400 to more than 9400, accounting for people who died at home or in private hospitals. India is fighting a devastating 2nd wave of outbreak that started in Feb & accelerated in Apr & early May, which overwhelmed the country's health-care infrastructure. The sector struggled with shortages of beds, oxygen & medication while many doctors & other health-care workers succumbed to the disease. While cases peaked in early May, gov officials have sounded the alarm over a potential 3rd wave that could hit the country later this year. Experts say that ramping up the vaccination program is the way forward for India, both to bring its economy out of the Covid crisis & to mitigate the effects of a 3rd wave. But the rollout, which began in Jan, faced problems including a vaccine shortage, resulting in less than 5% of the population so far receiving both doses. The gov estimates that more than 2B doses of vaccine could be available by Dec as more vaccine candidates are expected to receive regulatory approval. Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week said that India will provide free Covid-19 vaccines to all adults. India has reported more than 29M cases & over 353K deaths since the pandemic began last year.
India reports more than 6,000 daily Covid deaths — highest ever in the world
The net worth of US households climbed to new heights as 2021 began & the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic began to fade. Thanks largely to a surge in the stock market,
the total balance sheet for households & nonprofits rose to $137T in Q1, a 3.8% gain from the end of 2020,
according to Federal Reserve data. Of that total, $3.T came from equity holdings, while $1T was due to the continued escalation in real estate values. The S&P 500 gained 7% for the qtr as investors anticipated rising corp earnings & accommodative fiscal & monetary policy while also placing speculative bets on meme stocks. From
a historical perspective, household net worth has nearly doubled from
its level of a decade ago as the nation was still escaping the throes of
the last recession. Household debt totaled $17T for the qtr, growing at 6.5% rate that was the fastest pace going back to 2006. The
gain in household value came as the growth rate in total private &
gov debt slowed to 5.8% from 6.3% in Q4-2020, & was much lower than in Q1 of last year. That was when
gov spending pumped Ts into the economy & triggered
debt growth at a 10.8% level, followed by a 25.6% increase in Q2. Federal gov debt increased 6.5% in Q1, well below the 10.9% rate in Q4-2020 but
still enough to push the total debt level to just below $28T at
the end of the qtr. State & local gov debt rose at a 3.8%
rate, compared with 1.6% in the previous qtr. After slowing considerably in H2-2020, business debt picked up again, rising at 4.4% pace.
Household net worth climbs to $136.9 trillion, thanks to stock market gains
Top US & Chinese commerce officials spoke by telephone & agreed to promote healthy trade & cooperate over differences, China's commmerce ministry said, the latest high-level exchange as the countries spar over disagreements. Both sides recognize the importance of business exchanges & will keep lines of communication open, the Chinese statement said after Commerce Minister Wang Wentao spoke with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. "They agreed to promote the healthy development of trade and investment and cooperate in a pragmatic way to handle their differences," the Chinese ministry said. Earlier this month, Chinese Vice Premier Liu spoke with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, & late last month he held a similarly "candid" exchange of views with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai. The world's 2 biggest economies are at loggerheads on a variety of fronts, with the Senate this week approving a sweeping package of legislation intended to boost the country's ability to compete with Chinese technology, drawing strong criticism from Beijing. Yesterday, however, Pres Biden withdrew a series of Trump-era exec orders that sought to ban new downloads of the popular Chinese-owned WeChat & TikTok, & ordered a Commerce Dept review of security concerns posed by those apps & others. In an editorial today, official China Daily said that the US technology legislation is "really deployment for Cold War."
China, US commerce chiefs to cooperate on handling differences, Beijing says
Gold futures settled modestly higher as gov data showing that the pace of US inflation climbed to a 13-year high in May prompted prices to tally a 2nd straight gain. The US consumer price index jumped 0.6% last month, marking the 4th large gain in a row. The rate of inflation over the past year escalated to 5% from 4.2% in the prior month. That put it at the highest level since 2008. Aug gold edged up chump change to settle at $1896 an ounce, following a limited rise yesterday. Gold prices traded briefly lower after the inflation data, but moved up as Treasury yields weakened. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell to as low as 1.47%, its lowest level since early Mar. The $, meanwhile, held ground above 90. Gold markets have struggled to gain sustained altitude above a psychologically important price at $1900 an ounce. A slide in bond yields & a weak $ has intermittently served as support for the yellow metal, but uncertainty about the path of inflation has made for turbulent trade. Meanwhile, the ECB left its benchmark rates unchanged, as expected, but said that it could recalibrate its asset-purchase program to help continue to support financial markets in the eurozone.
Gold settles up for a second session as pace of U.S. inflation hits 13-year high
Oil futures ended higher, with US prices back above $70 a barrel as traders digested the latest data on domestic petroleum supplies & demand. Yesterday the US gov reported a weekly jump in gasoline inventories & a fall in implied demand for the fuel, pressuring West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices for the session. Today though, oil prices traded mostly higher, after seeing a brief drop toward the session lows around the time news related to Iranian sanctions emerged. A report said that the Biden administration lifted sanctions on more than a dozen former Iranian officials & energy companies. Talks between world powers & Iran, in an effort to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, however, are ongoing. WTI crude for Jul rose 33¢ (0.5%) to settle at $70.29 a barrel after trading as low as $68.68. Front-month prices marked a more than 2-year high, settling at a level not seen since Oct 2018. Aug Brent crude, the global benchmark added 30¢ (0.4%) at $72.52 a barrel, the highest since May 2019. The Energy Information Administration yesterday reported a 5.2M-barrel fall in domestic crude inventories last week, but also said gasoline stocks climbed by 7B barrels. Meanwhile, the amount of finished motor gasoline supplied for that week, a proxy for demand, fell by 666K barrels to 8.5B barrels a day. In a monthly report released, OPEC left its forecast for growth in oil demand this year unchanged. It expects demand to grow by 6M barrels a day, with total oil demand at 96.6B barrels a day. US oil futures had lost ground yesterday & Brent had settled unchanged for the session.
Oil ends higher, with U.S. prices back above $70 a barrel
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