Short Term
Stimulus optimism rally fades as stocks go into last hour of trading
The Standard & Poor's 500 was up by as much as 1.42% at 1:48 p.m. New York time today on hope that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin would agree on a stimulus deal by Pelosi's deadline of the end of today for passing a bill by the...
Another day, another high for infections in U.S. coronavirus surge
On Friday, the daily total for new coronavirus cases in the United States hit 70,450. That's the highest daily figure since July 24. Â At least nine states set single-day case records on Friday: Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, North Dakota, Indiana, New...
At 898,000 this week’s initial claims for unemployment worse than expected
The number of new unemployment claims in regular state-run programs rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 898,000. That's up 50,000 for the prior week and the biggest increase in first-time unemployment claims since August. The economy has clearly stalled with new...
Oil prices stall as Norway settles oil workers strike
Even as Hurricane Delta bears down on the Gulf Coast, oil prices fell today on news that oil workers in Norway had settled a strike that had shut down about 8% of the country’s production. The settlement will restore production at six fields already shut down by the...
Are tech stocks the new hedge against slow economic growth?
The economic news today was at best "not terrible." Initial claims for unemployment for the week showed a job market recovery that has stalled. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi adjourned their talks for another day without bridging the...
Friday’s job report for September already has one strike against it.
And while I'm speaking of news flow that could determine the stock market trend, I'd be remiss if I didn't mentioned the monthly jobs report for September that's due for release on Friday, October 2. That report will start with one piece of bad news already baked in....
Stocks lose much of early enthusiasm but still finish in the green
Stocks moved up modestly this morning (modest considering the damage down in the last few days) with the Standard & Poor's 500 up 0.99% at 1 p.m. New York time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ahead 0.94%, and the NASDAQ Composite gaining 1.16%. The move seems to...
Why did stocks plunge today? How about doubts on the Powell Put
I've argued that there are two giant bets that support stock prices at recent historic levels. One is the Vaccine Put, the belief in the delivery--and relatively soon too--of a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine that will let economies around the world return to...
Looks like no government shutdown on September 30: House passes stopgap funding bill that has Senate and White House agreement
Tuesday night the House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating through December 11. The House vote was 359-57 and the legislation now goes to the Senate for a vote before the end of the fiscal year on September 30 forces a...
Stocks take a while but deliver expected bounce today
This morning it looked like we might not get the bounce I expected today after the Monday morning sell off and Monday afternoon recovery. The NASDAQ, dominated by the big tech names most likely to bounce today, started Tuesday off in a mild downturn. As of 11:07 a.m....
Pfizer to deliver first vaccine efficacy results as soon as September 27–but what, if anything, will they mean?
Pfizer (PFE) and its partner BioNTech (BNTX) plan to take a first look at the efficacy results from their 44,000 personal vaccine trial as soon as September 27. But that first look will be after just 32 coronavirus infections have accumulated in the two companies'...Jim’s Stock Alerts
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