Morning Briefing
November 27, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
It was a short session today, the Friday after Thanksgiving, on Wall Street but that didn’t stop the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the NASDAQ Composite from setting new all-time records. The S&P 500 closed up 0.24%. The NASDAQ Composite finished ahead by 0.92%. Volume, as you might expect, was relatively light–just 60% of the average daily volume this year. That didn’t prevent some really big moves today. But, by and large, these moves didn’t take place where you might have expected.
November 25, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
The number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment in regular state unemployment programs climbed by 30,000 in the week ended November 21, the Labor Department reported today, November 25. For the week initial claims in state programs rose to a seasonally adjusted 778,000. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected 730,000 new claims for the week. This is the second straight week for an increase in new claims for unemployment and adds to other data showing the U.S. economy is slowing under the impact of a new surge in coronavirus infections and a rising number of restrictions on economic activity as states attempt to slow the spread of the virus.
November 24, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term, You Might Have Missed |
Is this as good as it gets? That’s an important question today as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes up 1.54% to 30,045.84, the first close above 30,000 ever. Other indexes were just as strong. The Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 1.62% by the close. The NASDAQ Composite was up 1.31% and the NASDAQ 100 was ahead 1.46% at the end of the session. The Russell 2000 small cap index ended the day ahead 1.78%. It’s not hard to see why stocks and investors are so ebullient: There’s just so much good news.
November 23, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Saying on Sunday that the coronavirus surge in Nevada is running at wildfire levels, Governor Steve Sislak announced new restrictions to start on Tuesday and that will run for three weeks. The new rules will require casinos, amusement and theme parks, arcades, bars, and restaurants to reduce their capacity to 25% from the current 50%. What I think is most interesting to investors, though, is the reaction of stocks with Las Vegas exposure to the news.
November 20, 2020 | Morning Briefing |
This morning on my way back from the farmers’ market, I passed a Whole Foods Market selling small Christmas trees for my “holiday table.” It’s November 20. Thanksgiving is NEXT week. You may be noticed other signs of retailers jumping the seasonal gun.
November 18, 2020 | Morning Briefing |
At 1 p.m. today, November 18, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 0.05% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 0.06%. Supporting even these meagre gains was positive news from Pfizer that it had concluded trials of its coronavirus vaccine and would be submitting an application for an Emergency Use Authorization to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration within a few days. By the close of the day’s session, however, news of a continuing rise tide of infections and announcements of more closings around the country had extinguished most of the earlier upward momentum.
November 16, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Today Moderna (MRNA) announced that its coronavirus vaccine was 94.5% percent effective. Last Mond... To subscribe to JAM you need to fill in some details below including, ahem, some info on how you'll pay us. A subscription is $199 (although if you're subscribing...
November 12, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
New claims for unemployment in regular state-run programs fell to an adjusted 709,000 in the week en... To subscribe to JAM you need to fill in some details below including, ahem, some info on how you'll pay us. A subscription is $199 (although if you're subscribing...
November 11, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Yesterday, technology stocks that took it in the neck on Tuesday bounced back strongly. The Standard... To subscribe to JAM you need to fill in some details below including, ahem, some info on how you'll pay us. A subscription is $199 (although if you're subscribing...
November 10, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
If you remember, my "calendar" listed a short-term post-election rally to be followed by a downward ... To subscribe to JAM you need to fill in some details below including, ahem, some info on how you'll pay us. A subscription is $199 (although if you're subscribing...
November 9, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
Pfizer (PFE) announced today that preliminary data show that the coronavirus vaccine that i... To subscribe to JAM you need to fill in some details below including, ahem, some info on how you'll pay us. A subscription is $199 (although if you're subscribing with one...
November 6, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The U.S. economy added 638,000 jobs in October, a slight drop from September, when the economy added 672,000 jobs.
The job gains were enough to push the official unemployment rate down to 6.9% from 7.9% in September.
The U-6 unemployment rate, which unlike the official rate includes discouraged workers who have stopped looking for work and workers in part-time jobs who would like full-time work fell to 12.1% from September’s 12.8%.
And this month’s drop in the unemployment rate wasn’t driven by workers leaving the workforce.The labor participation rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 61.7%, still a low rate on historical standards.
So why didn’t the market move up and strongly on the news?
