Dow fell 31, decliners modestly ahead of advancers & NAZ tumbled 385. The MLP index was up 1+ to the 171s & the REIT index flattish at 490. Junk bond funds slid lower & Treasuries remained in demand. Oil recovered 1 to the high 71s & gold surged 33 to 1798 (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)
Covid-19 test positivity rates in New York City have doubled in just 3 days, Dr Jay Varma, a top health advisor to Mayor Bill de Blasio, tweeted. “Um, we’ve never seen this before in #NYC,” he tweeted. Positivity rates are rising as the omicron variant spreads. According to CDC data released yesterday, New York & New Jersey are the 2 states with the most rapid spread of the variant. The data shows that 13.1% of cases in the CDC region that includes New York & New Jersey are omicron, compared to a national average of 2.9%. “Omicron is here in New York City and it is spreading quickly,” Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, the commissioner of the New York City health dept said at a news conference. The variant was first detected in South Africa at the end of Nov & has quickly spread across the world. In the UK, it’s now the dominant strain & the country saw the highest daily number of new cases since the pandemic began yesterday. From Dec 9-12, the percentage of positive tests in the city went up from 3.9% to 7.8%. “This is #SARSCoV2 evading both vaccine & virus induced immunity against infection unlike any variant before,” Varma added. He noted, though, that about 67K PCR tests are administered in New York City per day, which is higher per capita than many other communities or cities across the country. Additionally, the data reported by the city has a lag of about 3 days, meaning current positivity rates could be higher and previous days' data may still be adjusted. Mayor de Blasio announced that the city will be increasing its testing capacity moving forward. “That means the mobile sites we’ve talked about, you’ll see more of those in all the five boroughs, but we will also be doubling down on our brick and mortar sites,” he said. Hours & capacity at existing fixed sites will be expanded, de Blasio said, even as new sites are added. Still, the mayor emphasized, getting vaccinated is the best way to protect against omicron & severe disease. “Don’t wait, get your booster shot right now,” he added.
Covid surge is gripping New York City ahead of the holidays: ‘We’ve never seen this before’
The omicron variant of Covid-19 replicates 70 times faster in human airways than delta, but infection in the lungs appears to be less severe compared to the original virus strain, according to a study published this week by researchers at the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Medicine. Dr Michael Chan Chi-wai & a team of researchers found that the variant replicates much faster in the bronchus, which connects the windpipe to the lungs, 24 hours after infection. Yet it reproduces more than 10 times slower in the actual human lung tissue, they said. The study is under peer review. Researchers have been publishing their findings before peer review is completed due to the urgent nature of the pandemic. Omicron's rapid replication in the airway may explain why it transmits faster than previous variants of the virus, but lower infection in the lungs may indicate that it causes less severe disease, according to the findings. “It is important to note that the severity of disease in humans is not determined only by virus replication but also by the host immune response to the infection,” Chan said. Chan noted that a highly contagious virus like omicron may cause more severe disease & death simply by spreading much faster, even though the lung infection appears not as bad. “Therefore, taken together with our recent studies showing that the omicron variant can partially escape immunity from vaccines and past infection, the overall threat from Omicron variant is likely to be very significant,” Chan cautioned. White House chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci, citing data from South Africa, said that omicron reduces the protection of Pfizer (PFE) & BioNTech's (BNTX) 2-dose vaccine against infection to 33%, compared to 80% protection before the variant emerged. However, the 2-dose vaccine is still 70% effective at preventing hospitalization, Fauci said. PFE's booster dose provides 75% protection against symptomatic disease, he added, citing data from the UK Health Security Agency.
Omicron replicates faster than delta in airways, but lung infection appears less severe, study says
Adobe (ADBE) shares plummeted after the software maker
issued a revenue forecast for the fiscal first qtr that fell well
shy of estimates. Revenue in its fiscal Q1 will
be $4.23B, trailing predictions for revenue of $4.34B. For the full year, ADBE expects sales
of $17.9B, which is below the estimate for revenue
of $18.16B. In Q4,
revenue climbed 20% to $4.1B, which beat estimates,
led by 21% growth in the company's digital media segment. However,
inflation & concerns about interest rates have led investors to put
2021 behind them & focus more on the coming year. That's drawn them
out of high-growth, high-multiple stocks & into sectors that are
generally viewed as more resistant to inflationary pressures & rate
hikes. Analyst recommendations were reduced. The stock plunged 64+ (10%).
If you would like to learn more about ADBE, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/ADBE?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Adobe plunges 10% and heads for second-worst day in past decade on weak guidance
Gold futures rallied as the $ slipped, helping lift prices to their highest finish in more than 3 weeks, a day after the Federal Reserve's policy update. The rise for bullion came despite the Fed announcing plans to more aggressively slow its bond purchases & projecting 3 interest-rake hikes next year. Feb gold rose $33.70 (1.9%) to settle at $1798 an ounce after touching an intraday high of $1800. The settlement was the highest for a most-active contract since Nov 22. Yesterday's finish was the lowest since Dec 2. The $, as measured by the ICE US dollar index, was trading 0.5% lower, while the 10-year Treasury yield was around 1.426%, down from 1.46% yesterday. In other central bank news , the Bank of England surprised the market with a 15 basis-point hike to its benchmark interest rate to 0.25%. The ECB, meanwhile, left key interest rates unchanged & reiterated that its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme will end in Mar as planned.
Gold prices rally to a more than 3-week high as U.S. dollar slips in wake of Fed decision
Oil futures rose, with investors shaking off worries about the
omicron variant of the coronavirus after upbeat data on US inventories & implied demand. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) data
showed heavy demand for oil & a big drawdown on crude
supply suggested that the omicron fears that have permeated the
marketplace since Thanksgiving Day have been way overstated. The US central bank said
it will phase out its bond-buying stimulus program by Mar, much
faster than previously planned & signaled it would raise interest
rates more aggressively to combat high US inflation. Oil prices rose in the aftermath of the announcement. West Texas Intermediate crude for Jan rose 89¢ (1.3%) to $71.76 a barrel. Feb Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 66¢
(0.9%) at $74.54 a barrel. EIA data showed US crude inventories posting a decline of
4.6M barrels for last week, the biggest weekly
fall since Sep.
U.S. oil prices rise to 3-week high as U.S. crude supplies decline and Russia-Ukraine tensions climb
After a rally in the AM, sellers were in charge in the PM. The Dow finished with a slight loss & about 300 below session highs. Tech stocks on NAZ were headily sold, hurt by the ADBE report.
Dow Jones Industrials
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