Dow was up 30, advancers over decliners continued more than 2-1 & NAZ added 77 to close over 15K. The MLP index rose 1+ to 175s & the REIT index fell 2+ to 461s. Junk bond funds little changed & Treasuries drifted lower. Oil jumped 2 to the 67s & gold went up 2 to 1808 (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)
The Biden administration froze Afghan gov reserves held in US banks on Sun, blocking the Taliban from accessing Bs of $s shortly after the group seized the capital city of Kabul, leaving the US-backed gov in collapse. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen & officials in the Treasury Dept''s Office of Foreign Assets Control made the decision. The State Department was also involved in discussions over the weekend, with White House personnel are monitoring the developments. "Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban," an administration official said. The Afghanistan Central Bank holds total assets of about $10B assets – $7B of which are stashed with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. The Taliban yesterday tapped Haji Mohammad Idris as acting governor of the bank to help restore the nation's war-crippled economy, with gov workers unpaid, businesses closed & the growing cost of necessities like food & fuel. The move – which is designed to cut off the Taliban from Bs of $s in US-based reserves – is the first in a number of critical decisions facing the Biden administration as it grapples with the Taliban's return to power. Afghanistan, already one of the poorest countries in the world, is heavily dependent on American aid. Asked last week what actions the US intends to take to ensure the safety of women in Afghanistan, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said "there are obviously issues related to sanctions."
Biden admin freezes $7B in Afghan reserves, limiting Taliban cash access
The Taliban said that the group will not allow Afghan nationals to leave the country & opposes any extension of evacuation flights, a development that comes one week before US & coalition forces are slated to depart Afghanistan. “We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. “They [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” he said, adding that evacuations carried out by foreign forces after Aug 31 would be a “violation” of a Biden administration promise to end the US military's mission in the country. “The way to the airport has been closed now. Afghans are not allowed to go there now, foreigners are allowed to go but we have stopped Afghan nationals to go because the crowd is more, there is danger that people will lose their lives, there might be a stampede,” he added. Pres Biden has previously said he may consider extending the departure date past Aug 31 but has yet to do so.
Taliban will no longer allow Afghans to go to Kabul airport for evacuation, spokesman says
Sales of new single-family homes ticked up 1% in Jul to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 708K, according to the Census Bureau & Dept of Housing & Urban Development. Still, the rate was
27.2% below the Jul 2020 estimate of 972K. The forecast was expecting 700K new homes sold. The Jun reading was revised higher by 25K to 701K. New
home sales, which account for about 10% of the housing market, had
previously fallen for every month in 2021 as buyers had grappled with a
shortage of inventory & record-high prices. Prices continued
higher last month as the median sales price of new houses sold during
the month reached $390K, similar to the number. A year ago, the
median price was $337K. The increase in new home sales comes a
day after existing home sales last month rose more than expected to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.99M. Total housing inventory rose for a 6th straight month in Jul,
climbing 7.3% to 1.32M units, according to the National
Association of Realtors. Still, that was 12% below the year-ago level of
1.5M.
New home sales unexpectedly rise in July
Unvaccinated people are about 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19 than those who are fully vaccinated, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). The new study, published in the CDC’s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, also found that unvaccinated people were nearly 5 times more likely to be infected with Covid than people who got the shots. The results are based on data from Los Angeles County between May 1 & July 25. “These infection and hospitalization rate data indicate that authorized vaccines were protective against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 during a period when transmission of the Delta variant was increasing,” the agency wrote. The data is in line with comments from federal & state health officials, who have been saying for weeks that millions of unvaccinated Americans have been putting themselves at serious risk of the delta variant, the most contagious coronavirus strain yet. CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said the data shows that “if you are not yet vaccinated, you are among those at highest risk.” “Do not underestimate the risk and serious consequences of this virus,” she added during a White House briefing on the pandemic. “Vaccines are the best tool we have to take charge of this pandemic.”
CDC study shows unvaccinated people are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid
Gold futures settled higher, extending their gain from a day earlier when prices got a boost from a weaker $ to post their first finish above the key $1800-an-ounce mark for the first time in nearly 3 weeks. Investors are waiting for the the annual Jackson Hole central bankers monetary-policy symposium where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Fri may indicate that the central bank will slow monthly purchases of Treasuries & mortgage-backed securities that had helped to prop up financial markets during the worst of pandemic in the spring of 2020. Dec gold rose $2 to settle at $1808 an ounce, following a more than 1% gain for bullion yesterday. Prices posted their 2nd finish in a row above $1800, at the highest settlement for a most-active contract since Aug 5. A weaker $ can make assets priced in the currency, like gold, appear more attractive to overseas buyers.
Gold futures settle higher, holding ground at a nearly 3-week
Oil futures extended a recovery from last week's rout to a 2nd session, buoyed by signs the spread of the coronavirus delta variant may be abating in China. Also, a fire on an oil platform in Mexico knocked around a qtr of that nation's daily crude output offline, contributing to oil's gains. West Texas Intermediate crude for Oct rose $1.90 (2.9%) to settle at $67.54 a barrel, after jumping more than 5% yesterday as prices broke a 7-day losing streak. Oct Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose $2.30 (3.4%) at $71.05 a barrel. Prices for the front-month WTI and Brent contracts settled at more than one-week highs. China yesterday reported zero new COVID-19 cases for the first time since Jul, after taking aggressive steps to contain the spread of the disease when a cluster of infections was found last month in the eastern city of Nanjing. A fire Sun on an offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico operated by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) killed 5 workers, injured 6 & resulted in the shutdown of 125 wells. The shutdown took 421K barrels a day of production offline, equivalent to around a qtr of Mexico's output.
Oil scores back-to-back gains as demand worries fade, fire causes Mexico production outage
Dow Jones Industrials
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