U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Fall, Ease Worry of Worsening Market
By Reade Pickert Continuing claims also decline while remaining elevated California, Florida among states with drops in initial claims (Bloomberg) — Applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. declined last week by more than projected, easing concerns of a renewed downturn in the labor market after several large states reported a pickup in coronavirus cases. Initial jobless […]
JPMorgan’s Kolanovic Says S&P 500 Could ‘Easily’ Reclaim Record
By Lu Wang Relative valuation, fund positioning bode well for stocks Strategist says investors are mispricing virus, election risks (Bloomberg) — The earnings season will kick off this month and may be the worst since the global financial crisis. Time to sell stocks? Not yet, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Marko Kolanovic. While profit expectations have […]
Months of Trial and Error in the ICU Offer Clues on How to Save Covid Patients
Sanja Jelic’s worst day in almost two decades as a critical care doctor in New York City was April 6. Faced with an unmanageable influx of coronavirus patients at Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s step-down unit, an intermediate care ward, Jelic made an unorthodox decision: she asked those struggling to breathe to roll onto their […]
Wall Street jumps on strong services sector, hopes of China recovery
U.S. stocks rose sharply on Monday as a rebound in U.S. services industry activity in June and expectations of a revival in China’s economy boosted optimism, helping investors look past a surge in new coronavirus cases in the United States. A non-manufacturing activity index jumped to a reading of 57.1 last month, the highest since […]
Bloomberg Intelligence: ISM Non-Manufacturing Index
The ISM non-manufacturing index confirmed that the economy is bouncing back fast, which supports risky assets, despite the worrying news on public health. The 57.1 reading in the service index implies real GDP growth of 2.9%, according to the ISM. If we look at the historic relationship between the SPX 500’s earnings estimate and the weighted composite ISM […]
Dr. Scott Gottlieb says he thinks the worst of the U.S. coronavirus epidemic ‘will be over by January’
The worst of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak will end by January either with a vaccine or because enough people in the country will have already been infected and have some immunity to it, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Thursday. The restrictions and guidance implemented to curb the spread […]
Oil demand to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, Goldman says, but unlikely to peak this decade
Analysts at Goldman Sachs expect global oil demand to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, citing a pick-up in commuting, a shift to private transportation and higher infrastructure spending. In a research note published Thursday, analysts at the U.S. investment bank estimated global oil demand would decline by 8% in 2020, rebound by 6% in […]
Record jobs gain of 4.8 million in June smashes expectations; unemployment rate falls to 11.1%
Nonfarm payrolls soared by 4.8 million in June and the unemployment rate fell to 11.1% as the U.S. continued its reopening from the coronavirus pandemic, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting a 2.9 million increase and a jobless rate of 12.4%. The report was released a day earlier […]
U.S. manufacturing activity hits 14-month high
U.S. manufacturing activity rebounded in June, hitting its highest level in more than a year as the broader economy reopened, but rising COVID-19 infections threaten the recovery. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Wednesday its index of national factory activity jumped to a reading of 52.6 last month from 43.1 in May. That […]
June private payrolls rose 2.37 million and there was a big positive revision for May, ADP says
Companies in June continued to bring workers back from their pandemic furlough as the national economy slowly came back to life. Private payrolls grew by 2.369 million for the month, a bit lower than the 2.5 million expectation from economists surveyed by Dow Jones, according to a report Wednesday from ADP and Moody’s Analytics.