Dow fell 36, decliners modestly of ahead advancers 5-4 NAZ rose 124. The MLP index was even in the 198s & the REIT index rose 1 to 464. Junk bond funds did little & Treasuries dropped in price. Oil was up chump change in the 82s & gold slid 1 to 1766 (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)
China's economy hit its slowest pace of growth in a year in Q3, hurt by power shortages, supply chain bottlenecks & major wobbles in the property market & raising pressure on policymakers to do more to prop up the faltering recovery. Data released today showed gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.9%
in Jul-Sep from a year earlier, the weakest clip since Q3-2020 & missing forecasts. The world's 2nd-largest
economy is facing several major challenges, including the China
Evergrande Group debt crisis, ongoing supply chain delays & a
critical electricity crunch, which sent factory output to its weakest
since early 2020, when heavy COVID-19 curbs were in place. "The domestic economic recovery is still unstable and uneven," said
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) spokesperson Fu Linghui at a
briefing. China's economy had staged an
impressive rebound from last year's pandemic slump thanks to effective
virus containment & hot overseas demand for the country's manufactured
goods. But the recovery has lost steam from the blistering 18.3% growth
clocked in Q1 of 2021. "In response to the
ugly growth numbers we expect in coming months, we think policymakers
will take more steps to shore up growth, including ensuring ample
liquidity in the interbank market, accelerating infrastructure
development and relaxing some aspects of overall credit and real estate
policies," said Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics. A poll of analysts had expected GDP to rise 5.2% in the Q3.
China's economy stumbles on power crunch, property woes
American Plastic Toys CEO John Gessert predicted that this year's higher prices — which have increased in the high single-digit to low double-digit percentages — may still be around into late 2022. Gessert said that he does not think inflation will prove to be transitory, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell has predicted. While acknowledging price pressures & wage inflation have been more persistent than he previously thought, Powell said he generally believes they will abate eventually as the initial boost of Covid-dampened business activity normalizes & supply chain bottlenecks ease. “It’s not going to be transitory because ... I can’t imagine going back to the people that have stuck with us and saying, ‘OK, we’re going to take $1 out of your hourly wage.’ I just don’t see wage inflation retreating anytime soon,” Gessert added. While the company isn't too affected by current supply chain snags, Gessert said, the worker shortage is so bad that the company has had to turn down orders because there weren't enough employees to fulfill them. “I couldn’t in good conscience accept additional orders when I had to really work and do everything I could possibly to satisfy the orders that we’d already booked ... six months ago in some cases,” he ontinnued. Demand for toys has gone up as parents looked to ensure their children had entertainment at home during coronavirus lockdowns. Orders are piling up on trucks with no one to transport them. “We have some loads that have been actually on the truck for almost a week waiting for logistic companies, transportation companies to turn those loads,” he said, adding the worker shortage is the worst the company has seen in more than 30 years. The price hikes have put a strain on profit. “That’s a little bit of a puzzle when you have to go back to retailers and offer them an item that used to retail for $20 or $25 and it’s now retailing for $30 or $35, maybe even $40, depending on their margin requirements,” said Gessert.
CEO of maker of U.S.-manufactured toys sees higher inflation persisting in late 2022
Gold futures settled with a loss for a 2nd straight
session, pressured by a rise in bitcoin & some strength in Treasury yields but a retreat in most global stock markets helped to
limit price losses for the precious metal. Chinese economic data & growing market acceptance that the Federal
Reserve will begin tapering its bond purchases by the end of the year
have weighed on the markets as well. Dec gold
fell $2 to settle at $1765 an ounce,
following a 0.6% weekly gain on Fri, which represented the steepest
weekly climb since the week ended Sep 3. The price move for bullion comes even as stocks around the globe were mostly lower. The economy of one of the biggest buyers of gold also revealed further
evidence of its retrenchment, weighing on precious metal values. GDP
data showed that China's economy grew 4.9% in Q3 from a year prior, down steeply from the Q2's 7.9%
rate. Trading in precious metals come as the 10-year Treasury note yield was staging a new assault on 1.6%, around its highest level since
Jun. The $ traded nearly flat for the session.
Gold futures stretch losses to a second straight session
Oil futures took a split path, with the global benchmark ending lower for the first time in 3 sessions & the US benchmark significantly paring early gains after both touched multiyear highs. Lofty prices for crude raised the potential for demand destruction in the energy market. Chinese economic data showed the world's 2nd-largest economy grew 4.9% over a year earlier in Jul-Sep, down from the previous qtr's 7.9%, restrained by a slowdown in construction activity & curbs on factory output as a result of energy shortages. West Texas Intermediate crude for Nov tacked on 16¢ to settle at $82.44 a barrel after trading as high as $83.87 — a level last seen in 2014. Dec Brent crude, the global benchmark, declined by 53¢ (0.6%) at $84.33 a barrel. Brent traded as high as $86.04 a barrel, not far off its Sep 2018 high of $86.74 — a push above that level would see Brent also trading at a 7-year high. Crude has rallied this month, driven by worries over tightening supplies as soaring prices for coal & natural gas lead power generators, particularly in Asia, to begin burning oil. The Energy Information Administration reported that US coal-fired electricity generation is poised to mark their first annual increase since 2014, up 22% this year from last year, citing the rise in natural-gas pries.
Brent oil futures mark first loss in 3 sessions; natural-gas prices end at a more than 3-week low
There was not very much happening in the stock market today & the news tended to be negative. When China is hit with a slowdown, that spells more problems for business around the world.
Dow Jones Industrials
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