Dow went up 128, advancers over decliners 5-2 & NAZ gained 184. The MLP index crawled higher in the 216s & the REIT index added 1+ to the 483s. Junk bond funds were little changed & Treasuries saw more buying, bringing lower yields. Oil rose 1+ to 102 & gold gained 5 to 1981.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
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Wholesale prices surged again in Mar as strong consumer demand,
pandemic-related supply chain snarls & the Russian war in Ukraine
continued to fuel the highest inflation in decades. The
Labor Dept said that its producer price index, which
measures inflation at the wholesale level before it reaches consumers,
surged 11.2% in Mar from the year-ago period. On a monthly basis,
prices grew by 1.4% – an uptick from Feb, when the gauge increased
by 0.9%. The forecast expected producer
inflation to rise by 10.6% on an annual basis & 1.1% from the previous
month. Core inflation at the wholesale level, which excludes the more
volatile measurements of food & energy, increased 0.9% for the month,
following a 0.2% increase in Feb. Over the past 12 months, core
prices were up 7.0%. Diesel
fuel prices, which soared 20.4% in the month, led the cost increases in
Mar. Over ½ of the broad-based increase in Mar can be traced to a
5.7% jump in prices for energy costs, the Labor Dept said. Overall, prices for goods jumped 2.3% last month, while prices for services moved up 0.9% in Mar. The surge in wholesale prices comes on the heels of a separate Labor Dept report
released yesterday that showed consumer prices climbed 8.5% in Mar
from the previous year, the biggest increase since 1981. Consumers are paying more for everyday necessities, including food, gasoline & cars. The data will also have major implications for the Federal Reserve,
which has taken a more hawkish approach to fight inflation in recent
months. Policymakers raised rates by a 0.25 percentage point in Mar & have since signaled support for a faster, ½-point increase at
their May meeting.
Wholesale prices surge to highest level on record
JPMorgan (JPM), a Dow stock, said that Q1 profit fell sharply from a year
earlier, driven by increased costs for bad loans & market upheaval
caused by the Ukraine war. EPS fell 42% from a year earlier to $2.63. Adjusted EPS $2.76, which excludes the 13¢ impact tied to
Russia, exceeded the $2.69 estimate. Revenue
dropped a more modest 5% to $31.6M, exceeding the
estimate, helped by better-than-expected trading
results. The qtr illustrated how quickly events have changed the industry's outlook. A year ago, CEO Jamie Dimon predicted a long-running economic expansion & banks were reaping benefits as Bs of $s in loan loss
reserves were released. Now, amid rampant inflation & the worst
European conflict since World War II, Dimon called attention to the
possibility of a recession ahead. Dimon said he built up credit reserves because of "higher
probabilities of downside risk" in the US economy, specifically from
the impact of high inflation & the Ukraine conflict. "We
remain optimistic on the economy, at least for the short term – consumer
and business balance sheets as well as consumer spending remain at
healthy levels – but see significant geopolitical and economic
challenges ahead due to high inflation, supply chain issues and the war
in Ukraine," Dimon added. The stock fell 3.97.
If you would like to learn more about JPM click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/JPM_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f
JPMorgan Chase reports $524 million hit from market dislocations caused by Russia sanctions
Covid infections are rising again in the US with outbreaks in New York City & DC resulting in senior gov officials coming down with the virus as the more contagious omicron BA.2 subvariant sweeps across the country. BA.2 now represents of 86% of new cases, almost completely displacing the earlier version of omicron that fueled the unprecedented winter surge, according to Covid surveillance data. The BA.2 subvariant is 30-80% more transmissible than the earlier omicron, BA.1, according to studies from the UK & Denmark. The US reported a daily average of about 29K new infections as of Sun, a 10% increase over the prior 2 weeks. However, infections & hospitalization are still more than 90% below the peak of the omicron surge in Jan. Though infections are rising, most counties still have low levels of Covid transmission & hospitalizations, which means people who live in those areas don't need to wear masks indoors under CDC public health guidance. White House chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci said this week that Covid will continue to circulate in communities for the foreseeable future & people will have to make individual decisions about the risk they're willing to take based on their age & health status. “What we’re hoping happens, and I believe it will, is that you won’t see a concomitant comparable increase in severity in the sense of people requiring hospitalizations and deaths,” Fauci said. CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky has previously said there's high enough level of immunity in the US population from vaccines & prior infections to provide some protection against BA.2. The BA.2 subvariant is even more dominant in the Northeast, where it’s driving a significant outbreak. BA.2 represents 92% of new cases in the region that includes New York & New Jersey. New York City is reporting about 1887 new infections a day on average as of Sat, a 52% increase over the past 2 weeks, according to data from the city's health department.
Covid outbreaks in New York and D.C. infect senior officials as BA.2 sweeps U.S.
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