Dow went up 42, advancers over decliners 2-1 & NAZ gained 75. The MLP index inched higher in the 175s & the REIT index rose 2 to 511. Junk bond funds were about even & Treasuries saw limited buying. Oil climbed in the 76s & gold crawled up 2 to 1808.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
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The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week amid an increase in new COVID-19 cases. Applications for initial jobless claims
totaled 198K, down from a revised 206K the prior week, according
to Labor Dept. The forecast was expecting 208K claims. Continuing
claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting
benefits, fell to 1.7M, a decline from the prior week. There
were about 11M job openings in Oct, up from 10.6M
in Sep, according to the Labor Dept. By comparison, there
were about 7.4M unemployed workers that month — meaning there are
nearly 4M more available jobs than there are workers.
Initial jobless claims total 198K, continuing claims hit new pandemic low
US Covid cases have hit their highest level of the pandemic as 2 highly infectious variants circulate throughout the country & health officials urge Americans to get vaccinated & boosted against the virus. Nationwide daily new cases were at a record 7-day average of more than 265K, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, surpassing the previous high mark of 252K average daily cases set on Jan 11. The fresh pandemic peak comes as the delta & omicron variants are spreading simultaneously. The previously dominant delta variant was already driving US case counts higher this fall before the emergence of omicron, which is contributing to a near-vertical rise in daily new cases. About 75K Americans are hospitalized with Covid-19 & the country is reporting more than 1500 daily deaths. Though both figures are rising, they are lower than when the last daily case record was set nearly a year ago, before Covid vaccinations were widely available. Hospitalizations topped 137K at that point, according to a 7-day average of data from the Dept of Health & Human Services, & Johns Hopkins data shows the average death toll was more than 3200 per day. Roughly 62% of the US population is fully vaccinated & omicron represented 59% of sequenced Covid cases while delta represented 41% last week.
U.S. Covid cases rise to pandemic high as delta and omicron circulate at same time
The US 10-year Treasury yield dipped but held above the 1.5% threshold. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 1.9 basis points to 1.524% while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond edged down less than 2 basis points to 1.934%. Yields move inversely to prices & 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%. Jobless claims last week came in lower than expected discussed above. Investors continue to monitor the potential threat of the omicron Covid-19 variant on economic growth. Covid cases have hit their highest levels of the pandemic in the US. Nationwide daily new cases were at a record 7-day average of more than 265K. However, some developments with the omicron Covid variant have steadied investor sentiment. Dr Anthony Fauci predicted that the latest wave of the coronavirus pandemic may hit its peak in the US by the end of Jan. Fauci also said early studies suggest the omicron variant, while highly transmissible, causes less severe illness than the delta strain of the coronavirus. “All indications point to a lesser severity of omicron versus delta,” Fauci said.
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield holds above 1.5%
Dow Jones Industrials
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