Dow dropped 24, advancers over decliners about 3-2 & NAZ was off 13. The MLP index rose 2+ to the 185s & the REIT index fell 1 to the 462s. Junk bond funds were mixed & Treasuries had some purchases. Oil slid into the 71s & gold gave back 1, falling to 1800.
AMJ (Alerian MLP index tracking fund)
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New hone sales unexpectedly fell in Jun as buyers grappled with record high prices. Sales of new single-family homes last month fell 6.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 676K, according to the Census Bureau & Department of Housing & Urban Development. The rate was 19.4% below the Jun 2020 estimate of 839K & the forecast was expecting an increase to 800K. Last month's reading was revised lower by 45K to 724K. New home sales, which account for about 10% of the housing market, have fallen every month in 2021.
New home sales unexpectedly fall in June
Another high-level meeting between US & Chinese officials — this time in the Chinese city of Tianjin, just outside of Beijing — concluded today with criticism from both sides. Before the talks even ended, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng told US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman the 2 countries’ relationship “is now in a stalemate and faces serious difficulties.” “Fundamentally, it is because some Americans portray China as an ‘imagined enemy,’” the ministry's release said. “We urge the United States to change its highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy.” The statement said, however, that China still wanted to work with the US on the condition leaders “change course” & adhere to Chinese interests. State news agency Xinhua said Xie subsequently told media the Chinese side presented the US with 2 lists, one of “errors” it needed to address & the other of issues Beijing considered important. The first list called for the US to withdraw its extradition request of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou<, lift sanctions on Chinese officials, remove visa restrictions on Chinese students, stop suppressing Chinese companies, among other requests. When asked about the lists on a call with reporters following the meeting, senior US administration officials did not name the items, but said generally that both sides raised issues & the US planned to follow up with the Chinese concerns.
Tense U.S.-China meeting ends, Beijing official says relations are in a ‘stalemate’
Dr Scott Gottlieb said he expects rising US coronavirus cases, linked to the highly transmissible delta variant, to start declining in the next 2-3 weeks, pointing to the UK's fall in infections as evidence for what may play out in America. England's experience during the pandemic has been viewed a harbinger for the US & other countries, offering insight into how new strains of the virus may spread later on. “I think the more observable trend is what’s going on in the United Kingdom, where cases are clearly coming down at this point. There’s a very clear trend down. It seems like they’ve peaked,” Gottlieb added. The UK's 7-day average of new infections reached roughly 47K on Jul 18, after a steady increase beginning in late May, according to gov data. Cases have started to fall in recent days, with 29K being reported yesterday. “If the U.K. is turning the corner, it’s a pretty good indication that maybe we’re further into this than we think and maybe we’re two or three weeks away from starting to see our own plateau here in the United States,” said Gottlieb, who led the Food & Drug Administration commissioner from 2017-2019. One reason for Gottlieb's view is the coronavirus testing landscape in the US is different than it was at earlier stages in the pandemic. For example, he said the results of at-home testing that’s now available may not be reported to health authorities, so “we’re not capturing all of our positive tests.” “A lot of the people who are becoming symptomatic are becoming more mildly symptomatic because they’re younger people or they’re people who have been vaccinated and just become asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. So those people aren’t presenting for testing,” added Gottlieb. According to Johns Hopkins University data, the weekly average of new daily Covid infections in the US is nearly 52K, up 61% from a one week ago. As recently as Jul 5, the nation's 7-day average of new daily infections was just below 12K.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb says U.S. delta-driven Covid spike could peak in 3 weeks
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