Markets rise after substantially selling last week

Dow advanced 273, advancers over decliners about 2-1 & NAZ went up 48.  The MLP index lost 1+ to the 282s & the REIT index added 2 to the 431s.  Junk bond funds slid a little lower & Treasuries continued to be sold, raising yields.  Oil plunged 4+ to the 67s & gold was flat at 2754 (more on both below).

Dow Jones Industrials 

McDonald's (MCD), a Dow stock & Dividend Aristocrat, Quarter Pounder burgers will return to roughly 900 restaurants this week after the fast-food giant pulled the menu item linked to a deadly E. coli outbreak.  Affected restaurants, roughly 1/5 of the company's US footprint, will be serving the Quarter Pounder burgers without slivered onions for the foreseeable future as health authorities continue their investigation into the source of the outbreak.  That change will affect restaurants in Colorado, Kansas & Wyoming & portions of Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma & Utah.  “The issue appears to be contained to a particular ingredient and geography, and we remain very confident that any contaminated product related to this outbreak has been removed from our supply chain and is out of all McDonald’s restaurants,” Cesar Pina, chief supply chain officer for MCD North American operations, said in a letter sent to the company's US system.  The Colorado Dept of Agriculture's testing did not detect E. coli in samples of the beef patties taken from restaurants in the area, according to Pina.  The agency isn't planning further tests of the company’s beef.  Health authorities have honed in on slivered onions used in the Quarter Pounders as the likely suspect for the outbreak.  The Food & Drug Administration is still investigating if onions produced by Taylor Farms are responsible.  MVD has stopped using Taylor Farms as a supplier for the ingredient indefinitely.  The stock rose 1.99.

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers to return to restaurants affected by E. coli

Apple (AAPL), a Dow stock, released iOS 18.1, an update that includes the company's artificial intelligence, called Apple Intelligence, for the iPhone 16 & iPhone 15 Pro. It also released software updates for iPad & Mac with Apple Intelligence.  The release is a critical milestone for AAPL, which is relying on the feature launch to power its marketing campaign for the iPhone 16 lineup released last month.  It is also AAPL's answer to questions about its AI strategy.  AAPL has taken a different path with its device-based AI than its megacap rivals, which are focused on cloud-based AI systems powered by Bs of $s of Nvidia (NVDA) chips.  Apple Intelligence is limited to start.  The first wave of AAPL Intelligence features includes writing tools that can proofread or rewrite text, new features that can remove objects from photos & a feature that can summarize a stack of notifications into a single message.  This release includes improvements to Siri, including a new look that makes the entire screen glow around the phone's edges.  Siri can answer questions about AAPL products, including troubleshooting, & has more natural voices.  However, the update does not let Siri take actions inside of apps, which is expected in another update next year.  Plus, another update with ChatGPT integration & image-generation abilities is also scheduled for later this year as part of iOS 18.2.  Some investors believe Apple Intelligence could drive a major upgrade cycle & cement AAPL as the leader in daily usage of cutting-edge AI.  The stock rose 1.79.

Apple releases Apple Intelligence. Here’s how to get it on your iPhone

Oracle (ORCL) announced it intends to join a new federally-backed medical network that will make it easier for clinics, hospitals & insurance companies to share patient data.  The network, called the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), launched in Dec. ORCL, which acquired the medical records giant Cerner for $28B in 2022, is the latest major vendor to support TEFCA, joining its chief rival Epic Systems.  ORCL needs to be approved to join TEFCA, but its interest in doing so helps to bolster the nascent network's credibility.  It also suggests that TEFCA may succeed in ushering in a new standard for data-sharing practices across the health-care industry.  Sharing medical records between different hospitals, clinics & health-care organizations is a notoriously complex process.  Health-care data is stored in a variety of formats across dozens of different vendors, making it difficult for doctors & other providers to easily access all the relevant data about their patients.  “This is just a natural next step,” Seema Verma, exec VP & general manager of ORCL Health & Life Sciences, said.  “We are not into information blocking. We don’t have that reputation.”  ORCL's competitor, Epic, has long been accused of dragging its feet around interoperability efforts, & Oracle has not been afraid to call the company out.  In a May blog post, Ken Glueck, exec VP at ORCL, wrote, “Everyone in the industry understands that Epic CEO Judy Faulkner is the single biggest obstacle to EHR [electronic health record] interoperability.”  Several companies & organizations have previously tried to streamline health-care information exchange, but TEFCA was designed to help bring all of these players together on a national scale.  The network's ultimate goal is to finally standardize the legal & technical requirements for sharing patient data.   ORCL stock fell 1.07.

Oracle applies to join Epic and others in new federal medical record network

Gold's record rally took a breather as Treasury yields & the $ gained the upper hand, while investors awaited a series of US economic data due this week for cues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate outlook.  Spot gold fell 0.2% to $2743 an ounce.  Bullion hit a record high of $2758 last Wed.  US gold futures settled almost unchanged at $2755.  Yields on benchmark 10-year Treasuries rose to a 3-month high.  The $ index was on track for its best month since Apr 2022, making gold less attractive for overseas buyers.  With the Nov 5 US election approaching, VP Kamala Harris & former Pres Donald Trump are caught in a knife-edge battle to win over some of the more competitive states.  The market also awaits a slew of data this week, including ADP employment on Wed, US Personal Consumption Expenditures on Thurs & Fri's payrolls report.

Gold Eases as Treasury Yields Rise, Focus on US Data

Oil prices tumbled 6%, more than $4 a barrel, after Sat's retaliatory strike by Israel against Iran's military bypassed oil & nuclear facilities, not disrupting energy supplies.  Brent futures settled at $71.42 a barrel, down $4.63 (6.1% )& US WTI crude futures finished at $67.38 a barrel, down $4.40 (6.1%).  Both Brent & US West Texas Intermediate crude futures hit their lowest since Oct 1 at the open.  Last week, the benchmarks gained 4% in volatile trade on uncertainty over the looming US election & the extent of Israel's expected response to the Iranian missile attack of Oct 1.  On Sat, scores of Israeli jets completed 3 waves of strikes before dawn against missile factories & other sites near Tehran & in western Iran, the latest exchange between the Middle Eastern rivals.  The attacks were more tailored toward military targets, easing fears that Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities or oil infrastructure.  The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries & its allies in OPEC+ kept oil output policy unchanged last month, including a plan to start raising output from Dec.  The group will meet on Dec 1 ahead of a full meeting of OPEC+.

Oil Falls 6% on Reduced Risk of Wider Middle East War

US stocks climbed as Middle East war fears cooled & ahead of a busy week packed with Big Tech earnings, an inflation update & a crucial monthly jobs report.  Meanwhile oil was hit with heavy selling after Israel's attack on Iran, taking it to a about a 4 year low.  The rise in interest could be troubling for the stock market going forward.