Dow sank 151, advancers over decliners 4-3 & NAZ was off 38. The MLP index crawled higher to the 179s & the REIT index dropped a big 10 to 471. Junk bond funds remained higher & Treasuries were in demand. Oil fell 1+ to below 68 & gold finished up chump change at 1794 (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)
REP. LEE ZELDIN: Reps are pretty united against the $3.5T bill altogether. The question for the Dems is whether or not they could put together the votes to get anything done. As you've pointed out pretty well on your program, you have a lot of proposals here to generate more revenue. The high-profile items, including increases on the corp tax rate, increasing the individual tax rate, going after US companies with foreign earnings & whether or not the Dems, the end of the day, can put together the votes to get something done. It's tough with a 50-50 Senate. And if Joe Manchin & Sinema others want to hold the line, the votes just aren;t there. Right now, the House Dem caucus is split. You have most of the far-left elements insisting that in order for them to vote for the $1.5T bill, it has to be tied to the $3.5T bill. And then you have a few moderate holdouts insisting that the $1.5T bill will be brought up separately.
Zeldin says if Manchin, Sinema 'hold the line' on $3.5T bill, ‘votes just aren’t there’
Pres Biden will outline a broad plan later today to increase Covid-19 vaccine rates in the US as cases plateau at a high number, pressuring private employers to immunize their workforce as well as mandating the shots for federal workers, contractors & employees of health-care facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding. The nation is reporting an average of 151K new cases per day, according to Johns Hopkins University, hovering around levels seen in late Jan. The country is reporting an average of about 1500 Covid deaths per day, in line with numbers seen last Mar when the US was coming down from its winter surge. Biden will discuss a 6-part plan intended to get more people vaccinated, allow schools to reopen safely, increase testing, improve care for patients & boost the economic recovery, according to details released by the White House. The exec order will also extend to contractors that work with the US gov, impacting 2.1M employees. Biden previously ordered all federal employees to prove their coronavirus vaccination status or submit to a series of rigorous safety protocols. Biden is also expected to ask the Dept of Labor to put out a rule for employers with more than 100 employees to have a vaccine or testing requirement. He is also expected to announce a requirement for health care facilities with Medicare & Medicaid funding to have staff fully vaccinated. Biden additionally plans to call on all schools to set up regular testing when Covid is spreading in a community for students, faculty & staff who aren't fully vaccinated, according to an administration official.
Biden to detail new six-pronged plan to increase U.S. Covid vaccination rates, fight virus
General Motors (GM) is extending downtime at a Michigan plant that produces its Chevrolet Bolt EV as it works with battery supplier LG Chem to fix manufacturing defects that cause some cars to catch fire, leading to a massive recall to fix the problem. The
automaker said Orion Assembly will be down the weeks
of Sep 13 & Sep 20. The plant has been shuttered since Aug 23 as a
result of a battery pack shortage related to the recall. Officials continue to work with LG Chem
to rectify the issues & increase production of the new modules. The manufacturing problems occurred at LB Battery Solution's plants
in South Korea & Michigan. GM said the issues involve 2 “rare
manufacturing defects” — a torn anode tab & folded separator — that
when present in the same battery cell increase the risk of fire. The automaker has confirmed fires in at least 12 vehicles. The automaker asked owners last month to change settings on the vehicles to reduce the fire risk as part of the recall. One of the most recent reportedly occurred last week involving a 2017 Bolt EV. GM
last month expanded an initial recall of select model years to all Bolt
EVs, including a recently released larger version of the Bolt EUV. The automaker expects to spend about $1.8B to replace potentially defective battery modules in the vehicles. GM said it is pursuing reimbursement commitments from LG Chem. GM stock fell 53¢.
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GM extends shutdown of Bolt EV production amid recall and battery fires
Gold futures finished highe, after spending much of the session seesawing between gains & losses, as investors weighed a drop in weekly jobless claims to their lowest since the pandemic began & news that the ECB will slow asset purchases. The $ saw relatively steady trading & Treasury yields weakened after the ECB Pres Christine Lagarde said that a decision to slow the pace of asset buying under the ECBs pandemic emergency program didn't amount to tapering. She said the central bank was merely recalibrating the its stimulus efforts. The ECB said the Governing Council judges that favorable financing conditions can be maintained with a moderately lower pace of net asset purchases under the PEPP than in the previous 2 qtrs. Dec gold tacked on $6 (0.4%) to settle at $1800 an ounce, following declines in each of the 2 previous sessions. The yellow metal scored a slight haven bid late yesterday after the release of the Federal Reserves Beige Book indicated that economic growth was slowing amid the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19. Data released from the Labor Dept showed Initial jobless claims fell 35K to 310K last week. That's the fewest claims since the pandemic struck in Mar 2020. Employment data has become a key measure of investors bets on the pace of the US's recovery from the COVID pandemic, with the Fed setting the stage for the eventual reduction of accommodative measures that were put in place to provide much-needed liquidity to financial markets at the height of the distress caused by the deadly pathogen. However, those measures are viewed by a number of Fed officials as no longer needed. Even so, Atlanta Fed Pres Raphael Bostic said that its not likely the central bank will announce a decision to taper at its meeting this month.
Gold futures finish higher to reclaim the key $1,800 mark
Oil futures ended lower, pressured by reports that China plans a release from its crude-oil reserve, in a move to ease commodity inflation. A slow post-hurricane recovery in Gulf of Mexico energy output, however, raised expectations of larger drawdowns for US petroleum supplies in the coming weeks, as the most recent data revealed a drop of more than 7M barrels in gasoline inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for Oct fell $1.16 (1.7%) to settle at $68.14 a barrel. Nov Brent crude, the global benchmark, declined by $1.15 (1.6%) at $71.45 a barrel. The Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement estimated 76.5% of oil & 77.3% natural-gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remains shut in. Hurricane Ida, a deadly & powerful storm is also forcing the closure of refineries, several of which have reopened. The Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.5M barrels last week. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla, storage hub edged up by 1.9M barrels for the week.
Oil prices end lower, pressured by reports that China plans a release from its crude reserve
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