Dow jumped 416, advancers over decliners about 5-1 & NAZ gained 141. The MLP index added 4+ to the 171s & the REIT index rose 5 to the 491s. Junk bond funds bounced back after yesterday's selling & Treasuries are being sold. Oil went up over 70 & gold slid back 8 to 1786.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
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The hottest inflation in nearly 4 decades is eroding wage gains for a majority of Americans working at the largest & most profitable companies in the country, according to a new analysis. The findings from the Brookings Institute, a centrist think tank, found that soaring inflation has erased at least ½ of the average wage gains for frontline workers employed by 13 of the largest & most profitable retail, grocery & fast-food companies in the US. While all but 2 of those 13 companies increased pay – sometimes significantly – for their employees since Jan 2020, inflation has risen faster. In Nov, the gov reported that consumer prices jumped 6.8% from the previous year, the fastest pace in 1982, when inflation hit 7.1%. Compared to Jan 2020, inflation has risen nearly 8%, according to the Brookings analysis. At the same time, wages have climbed much slower, at an average pace of about 3%. Without inflation, which weakened consumers' buying power, the average pay increase would have been 10%. For instance, the analysis shows that Kroger (KR) raised its hourly wages from $15 per hour in early 2020 to $16.25 per hour in Oct 2021 – a difference of $1.25 per hour in nominal terms, or about an 8% raise. But due to inflation, its employees would need to earn $16.08 in order to have the same purchasing power they did more than one year ago. That means the real price increase for its workers is just 17¢ an hour in Oct, a raise of just 1%. "Over the course of a month, this difference adds up," the analysis said. "For a full-time Kroger employee working 36 hours per week, a $1.25 per hour nominal increase equates to a monthly increase of $180. Adjusted for inflation, the real monthly pay increase for this Kroger worker is less than $25." The actual "living wage" – which allows a full-time worker in a household with 2 working adults 2 children to afford only the most basic necessities with nothing left for savings – is $17.70 per hour after adjusting for inflation.
Hot inflation erasing Americans' wage gains, analysis shows
CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said the omicron variant of the coronavirus has “over 50 mutations and because of those mutations, just being vaccinated with two doses may not be enough” ahead of the holidays. Walensky said that the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) was “examining” its definition of fully vaccinated. The agency defines full vaccination as 2 weeks after the 2nd dose of one of the 2-shot vaccines from Moderna (MRNA) or Pfizer (PFE) or 2 weeks after the one-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Even so, she said that vaccines “may not prevent infection” according to data so far & added this means people need “to continue to wear their masks to prevent the infections overall.” Omicron has become the dominant variant in the US making up 73% of all reported cases. Walensky said based on omicron's growth rate she “anticipated this number would be about this high at around this time.” The CDC director said there have been reported deaths from omicron, “although there have been a minority of them, fewer than we’ve seen for other variants so far.” Ahead of the holidays Walensky recommended for families that are gathering to get tested, “to make sure … that people are not gathering when they have a symptomatic infection.”
CDC director says initial Covid shots ‘may not be enough’ as omicron cases spike
The rapidly spreading omicron variant is now the dominant Covid strain in the US representing 73% of sequenced cases, according to the CDC. Omicron has displaced the previously dominant delta variant, which the CDC says is now an estimated 26.6% of sequenced cases last week. Just one week earlier, delta made up 87% of cases to omicron’s 12.6%. The CDC had previously published data for prior week showing that omicron represented 2.9% of cases, but has revised the estimate for that period upward. The omicron Covid-19 variant was first detected in southern Africa in late Nov & labeled a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization on Nov 26. It's not clear when exactly it first arrived in the US. Though California was first state to confirm an omicron case in the country on Dec 1, the CDC has said a patient developed symptoms earlier on Nov 15. While the variant has proven to be extremely transmissible, much remains unknown about the severity of the illness it causes. In some parts of the country, the share of omicron cases is higher than the nationwide figure of 73%. The CDC estimates it makes up more than 90% of cases in portions of the Northwest, South, Southeast & Northeast.
Omicron now the dominant U.S. Covid strain at 73% of cases, CDC data shows
Buyers have returned, bidding prices higher. However Dec has seen high volatility for the stock market & that should continue.
Dow Jones Industrials
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