Dow went up 22, decliners over advancers about 5-4 & NAZ was off 62. The MLP index declined 2+ to the 189s & the REIT index fell 2+ to the 477s. Junk bond funds crawled higher & Treasuries were sold, bringing higher yields. Oil slid lower in the 82s & gold dropped a huge 27 to 1775.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
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The core personal consumption expenditures index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, continued to climb at the fastest annual pace on record in Sep.
Core
PCE, which excludes food & energy prices, last month rose 3.6% year
over year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Core prices
have accelerated by that amount for 4 straight months. Prices
rose 0.2% from Aug, slowing from the 0.3% rise in each of the
previous 2 months. Prices increased by 0.5% in Jun & 0.6% in May. The forecast expected core prices to rise 3.7% annually & 0.2% month over month. Overall, the personal consumption expenditures price index rose 4.4%
year over year & 0.3% in Sep. In Aug, prices increased at a
4.2% annual pace & 0.3% month over month. Higher prices have
for the past several months been working their way thru the US
economy as companies look to offset increased costs due to supply chain
disruptions & labor & materials shortages. Both the Biden administration & the Fed have in recent weeks become more reluctant to use the term "transitory" when describing inflation as being temporary. "I think it’s still fair to use [‘transitory’] in the sense that even
if it doesn’t mean a month or two, it means a little bit longer than
that," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. "I
think it conveys that the pressures that we’re seeing are related to a
unique shock to the economy," she added. "As the United States recovers
and as vaccinations proceed globally, and the global economic activity
revives, that pricing pressure will ease."
Fed's inflation measure holds at record annual pace for fourth straight month
The Congressional Progressive Caucus got the best of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi & Pres Biden yet again yesterday after the pair pushed for a vote on the infrastructure bill before Biden's climate summit in the UK. next week. The caucus forced the House to put off a vote on the bill, after doing exactly the same thing last month. The group & Chair Rep Pramila Jayapal are demanding more progress on the passage of Dems' reconciliation spending plan before they will let the bipartisan infrastructure bill pass. They say they don't trust that Senate moderates really support it. "The reality is that while talks around the infrastructure bill lasted months in the Senate, there has only been serious discussion around the specifics of the larger Build Back Better Act in recent weeks, thanks to the Progressive Caucus holding the line and putting both parts of the agenda back on the table," Jayapal said. "Members of our Caucus will not vote for the infrastructure bill without the Build Back Better Act. We will work immediately to finalize and pass both pieces of legislation through the House together," she added. But Jayapal & her members also endorsed the framework for a reconciliation bill that Pres Biden released yesterday, which would cost $1.75 trillion. $1.75T is an exorbitant amount of money. But it's ½ of the $3.5T progressives were pushing for at the beginning of the reconciliation process. And some progressives had their sights set even higher, on a bill that might cost $6T or more.
Progressives block infrastructure vote again, but endorse reconciliation framework
Exxon (XOM), a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, said that Q3 profit was the highest in years as
improving demand, higher commodity prices & streamlined operations
boosted results. EPS was $1.58 during the
period on an adjusted basis, which was ahead of the $1.56 expected. Revenue totaled $73.8B,
short of the $76.4B expected.“ All
three of our core businesses generated positive earnings during the
quarter, with strong operations and cost control, as well as increased
realizations and improved demand for fuels,” Darren Woods, XOM's CEO said. Cash flow from operating activities reached $12.1B, funding
capital investments, debt reduction & the company's div. Earlier
this week the company announced its first div hike in more than 2
years. The oil giant said that starting in 2022 it plans to
begin a share repurchase program of up to $10B over the
following 12-24 months. During the latest qtr XOM spent $3.9B on capital &
exploration productions, with oil-equivalent production standing at 3.7M barrels per day. The stock rose 63¢.
If you would like to learn more about XOM, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/XOM?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Exxon posts highest quarterly profit in years, but revenue disappoints
Traders are mulling over the new data on inflation while the massive Congressional spending bills continue in limbo. Earnings reports have been fairly good, but the threat of higher inflation & interest rates is spooking investors with the popular stock averages at record levels.
Dow Jones Industrials
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