Equities in the United States traded higher in the premarket on Monday as the country is to see its latest results in manufacturing and construction spending. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and its New York branch President John Williams will deliver speeches on the current state of the country’s economy. Meanwhile, former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb noted an improvement concerning the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.51% or 172 points higher at 4:30 am ET. At the same time, the Nasdaq 100 advanced by 0.25% and the S&P 500 went up by 0.47%. The euro gained 0.11% against the dollar, selling for $1.20334 at 4:25 am ET.
Gottlieb: US COVID-19 situation improving
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that he does not think there will be a “true fourth wave” of COVID-19 in the United States as vaccination rates accelerate. The United States in recent days hit 4 million vaccinations in a day, and the numbers are on their way up as supply increases. Gottlieb said the increasing vaccinations combined with the existing immunity from people who have already had the virus should be enough to stop a major new spike in cases. “I think that there’s enough immunity in the population that you’re not going to see a true fourth wave of infection,” Gottlieb said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “What we’re seeing is pockets of infection around the country, particularly in younger people who haven’t been vaccinated and also in school-age children,” he continued.
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb tells @FaceTheNation he doesn’t think the U.S. will experience a “true fourth wave” of the pandemic, due to vaccinations and how many people who were already infected: “There’s enough immunity in the population” https://t.co/zftpXmwAiO pic.twitter.com/bW5Qph9cZk
– CBS News (@CBSNews) April 4, 2021
Still, the country is not out of the woods yet, as new cases per day have been ticking up, reaching about 64,000 per day in the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. As more vulnerable people get vaccinated, deaths are declining, though they are still averaging about 800 people every day.
Therefore, Gottlieb and other experts are urging people not to throw out all precautions yet. “I think we should continue to be cautious,” he noted, especially given the spread of new variants that add an element of unpredictability. He wrote on Twitter that the country needs two to three more weeks before a “vaccine inflection point” where the situation more dramatically improves. “People sense that Covid risk is receding with vaccines, and they want to reclaim normalcy,” Gottlieb wrote on Twitter. “We need to issue public health guidance in a way that recognizes people’s aspirations. While we need to remain cautious a little longer, the situation should sharply improve this spring.”
We’ve prematurely pulled back from some mitigation like masks. We’re near a vaccine inflection point, but not quite there yet. We need another 2-3 weeks. Variants and surges probably delayed a return to more normalcy, but hasn’t foreclosed that opportunity. Better days are ahead.
– Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) April 4, 2021 Nick Note: The pandemic is NOT over…. BUT it is under control. An important step for your life if you have been vaccinated. AND critical for our trade strategy as the economy is opening up faster then Wall Street realizes…
Yellen: Inflation unlikely to be an issue
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday tamped down concerns that President Joe Biden’s plans for infrastructure, jobs and families will cause inflation, saying the spending will be phased in over a decade. “It’s spread out quite evenly over eight to 10 years,” Yellen, former Federal Reserve chair, said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.” She said the Federal Reserve will monitor inflation carefully and has the tools to address it if necessary. “I don’t believe that inflation will be an issue but if it becomes an issue, we have tools to address it. These are historic investments that we need to make our economy productive and fair.” Biden’s plans are paid for by a series of tax increases on the wealthiest Americans, less than 1% of the population, and on raising corporate taxes. Some Democrats have expressed concerns that the tax increases would slow economic growth. Yellen would not speculate on whether Biden would accept a bill from Congress that does not include a way to pay for the spending increases in his plans. “He has made clear that he believes that permanent increase in spending should be paid for and I agree,” she said. Nick Note: we are in a reflation nothing more. AND they are still pumping money at the fed with zero rates and 100 billion a month in bond buying. And treasury and the Biden administration is pushing for more stimuli called “public works” which really is little more then socialism, social engineering and the greeennnieewinnniee global warming insanity disguised as stimulus… It will not get very far. The party will be over come mid term elections a little over a year away. People will soon tire of all this shit as the cost of green energy hits their pocketbooks and their electric car has to constantly get towed to a charge station.
Iran says US sanctions to be lifted based on Vienna talks
Biden’s speech to Congress is a once unthinkable call for a socialist transformation
On Wednesday, Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress, on the eve of his first 100 days in office, followed the Academy Awards with a small, physically distanced gathering that, given the US president’s love of trains, might have switched to a railway station too. His 65-minute speech, the most important since his inauguration 99 days ago, could be summed up with three Bs: Big (in ambition), Boring (at times) and Bipartisan (or maybe not so much, judging by Republican grimaces). The new age was best summed up in a single image: behind “Uncle Joe”, the 78-year-old white man at the lectern, sat two women, Vice-President Kamala Harris and the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi – both from deeply liberal California. “Madam Vice-President,” Biden said. “No President has ever said those words from this podium … and it’s about time.” Harris and Pelosi exchanged glances above their masks. That led him to Wednesday night’s once unthinkable menu of grand plans for coronavirus relief, building infrastructure and helping families, measured not in billions but trillions of dollars. In the choice between going big and going bipartisan, big is winning, remaking America with government at the centre. “My fellow Americans, trickle-down economics has never worked,” he said, effectively sounding the death knell for Ronald Reagan’s low-tax logic that has been Republican religion for four decades and within which even Bill Clinton and Barack Obama operated. “It’s time to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out.” “The American Jobs Plan is a blue-collar blueprint to build America,” Biden said. “And it recognises something I’ve always said. [There are] good guys and women on Wall Street, but Wall Street didn’t build this country. The middle class built this country. And unions build the middle class.” He talked about green energy and corporate tax reform and described healthcare as “a right, not a privilege”. Democrats were delighted by it all, rising to their feet and clapping with such enthusiasm that it almost compensated for their diminished numbers. Republicans joined in when Biden warned of the threat posed by China (“deadly earnest on becoming the most significant, consequential nation in the world”) and struck some Trumpian notes about American products made in America. “There’s no reason the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing.” But they were silent, stony faced and riveted to their seats on many of the applause lines. Senator Lindsey Graham frowned, a hand to his chin. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, clapped limply if at all. Hours earlier, perhaps seeing Harris and Pelosi in his mind’s eye, McConnell had warned: “Behind President Biden’s familiar face, it’s like the most radical Washington Democrats have been handed the keys, and they’re trying to speed as far left as they can possibly go before American voters ask for their car back.” “Boring, but radical,” was the verdict of Senator Ted Cruz who, as if to prove it, looked like he was dozing off. Nick Note: Happy May day. It was the worker bees whose hands built Americas infrastructure. But that would have not been possible without the engineers, Financiers and the managers. To discourage and worse yet disparage the innovators, investors and the private side means you have a government run system that will be full of grennie winniee fairy tails, graft and waste run by the most inept corrupt idiots on the planet. This has been tried before it does not work. Its the californication of America
US closes lower as virus worries trump upbeat earnings
S&P 500 falls, still on track for third straight month of gains
US consumer confidence rises in April
Consumer confidence in the United States improved in April, the University of Michigan said in its latest preliminary survey published on Friday. The consumer sentiment index advanced by 4% on a monthly level, topping the analysts’ expectations and reaching 88.3. Compared to April 2020, the index soared 23%. Current economic conditions climbed to 97.2, after a 4.5% increase on a monthly basis, and a 30.8% surge compared to the same month the year prior. The index of consumer expectations moved up by 3.8% compared to the previous month’s figure, to amount to 82.7, which is 18% above the level reported in the fourth month of 2020. “The April survey recorded continued gains in consumer confidence due to a growing sense that the upward momentum in jobs and incomes will persist. The renewed confidence is due to record federal stimulus spending, both recently passed and proposed, as well as the positive impact from a growing share of the population who are vaccinated,” the report elaborated. Nick Note: Blazing hot. sooner or later the wooden heads will figure out this is real and stampede into the stock market
US initial jobless claims down by 13,000 to 553,000
The number of initial jobless claims in the United States for the week ending April 23 fell by 13,000 compared to the previous week’s revised figure to land at 553,000, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. The 4-week moving average was 611,750, a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week’s revised average and the lowest level since March 14, 2020. The previous week’s level was revised up by 19,000 to 566,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6% for the week ending April 17, unchanged compared to the previous week. Insured unemployment during the same week was 3,660,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level. Nick Note: talk about firing on all cylinders….. zOOOM ZOOM ZOOOOOOOM
US personal spending up 4.2% in March Personal income increased 21%
Consumer spending climbs solid 4.2% in March while incomes soar 21.1%, good signs for future economic growth
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer spending climbs solid 4.2% in March while incomes soar 21.1%, good signs for future economic growth. On the other hand, real personal spending expanded by 3.6%, failing to meet market estimates.
Personal income increased $4.21 trillion (21.1%
Slightly more than the estimates suggest. Disposable personal income (DPI) grew $4.18 trillion (23.6%) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) $616 billion (4.2%). “The increase in personal income in March largely reflected an increase in government social benefits. Within government social benefits, ‘other’ social benefits increased. The American Rescue Plan Act established an additional round of direct economic impact payments to households,” the report explained. Nick Note: if you are talking personal spending your talking AMAZON. Retail is dead in America bye bye mom and pop mall and high street shops. NOWAY! they can compete. Its the dawing of a new age……..