Posted on

Pfizer begins trials testing third dose of Covid vaccine

Despite the 95 percent effectiveness at preventing coronavirus infection after two doses of its vaccine, Pfizer is now seeing what a third dose might do. The company announced Thursday that a booster dose is being studied among people who received their first doses of the vaccine more than six months ago. In an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the hope is that a third dose will boost the immune response even higher, offering better protection against variants.

“We believe that the third dose,” Bourla said, “will raise the antibody response 10- to 20- fold.”

The new study will monitor the safety and efficacy of a third dose in two age groups: those 18 to 55 and those 65 to 85. The participants come from a group of people who were among the first to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine: people who volunteered for Pfizer’s initial Phase 1/2 clinical trial, which began in May. During that trial, participants received two doses of the vaccine three weeks apart. The same dose interval is what’s currently recommended. The third shot will be exactly the same as what participants got a year ago. Pfizer also plans to begin testing whether a modified version of the vaccine works well against the variant from South Africa. Indeed, as SARS-CoV-2 changes, the vaccines may have to be tweaked. The Food and Drug Administration issued guidance Monday saying vaccine manufacturers may be able to ease away from lengthy clinical trials to prove safety and effectiveness for vaccines that have been tweaked to account for variants. That’s not unlike how the flu shot changes from year to year, accounting for the strains most likely to infect people.

“Every year, you need to go to get your flu vaccine,” Bourla said. “It’s going to be the same with Covid. In a year, you will have to go and get your annual shot for Covid to be protected.”

That suggests that even when the pandemic ends, Covid-19 may be here to stay. Ongoing studies of re-engineered vaccines are necessary to understand when boosters may be needed, outside experts said. “You need to cast a wide net to find Goldilocks,” said John Grabenstein, a former executive director of medical affairs for vaccines at Merck and a former Defense Department immunologist. “You want to look at shorter intervals, you want to look at longer intervals, to determine when is the best time, if needed, to re-vaccinate.” So far, evidence suggests that the existing Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine remains effective against variants first identified in the U.K., Brazil and South Africa. Bourla said the company’s goal if and when another variant emerges is to pivot and tweak the current vaccine within 100 days. Moderna, which makes a similar Covid-19 vaccine, announced Wednesday that it had also started studying the effects of adding a third dose to its regimen and has developed a version of the vaccine designed to target the variant from South Africa. Nick Note: The beauty of the new mRNA technology is its easy to tweek the vaccine to give protection from new variants. And besides its profitable as hell. My back of the match book calculation syas coronavirus vaccines are a band new 100 billion dollar a YEAR business. And the mRNA vaccines will give complete protection with buster shots.

Posted on

Tesla makes more money on bitcoin than on cars

https://youtu.be/ZO7f4hECX0g?t=154

Tesla is likely to have made a larger profit from its bitcoin investment in January than it did from selling electric cars in the whole of last year as the value of the cryptocurrency went through $1 trillion yesterday.  Assuming that the electric carmaker holds as many bitcoins today as it did on January 31, it has made a paper profit of about $930 million, more than the $721 million profit it reported for 2020. Much has been made about the hefty sum that Tesla Inc. has invested in bitcoin, a speculative asset that has only been around since 2009. However, early estimates from prominent technology analyst Dan Ives sees the investment by the electric-vehicle maker, headed by outspoken Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, already minting a digital paper profit of at least $1 billion, as the price of the asset soars to records. “Based on our calculations, we estimate that Tesla so far has made roughly $1 billion of profit over the last month…To put this in perspective,

Tesla is on a trajectory to make more from its Bitcoin investments than profits from selling its [electric vehicle] cars in all of 2020,” wrote Wedbush’s prolific analyst Dan Ives,

Earlier this month, Tesla Inc. TSLA, +6.18% became the latest and most well-known major corporation to take a stake in bitcoin, underscoring the increasing acceptability of the crypto. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, on Feb. 8, in a public filing said that it purchased $1.5 billion of bitcoin BTCUSD, +1.24% and that it expects to begin accepting payment in the cryptocurrency for its products in the future. The move by Tesla to invest in bitcoin was seen as further confirmation of the legitimacy of the nascent asset that didn’t exist until about 12 years ago. On Friday, bitcoin’s price soared to a record around $54,000 and breached a total market valuation of $1 trillion, further bolstering the perception of the crypto as a legitimate asset if not a nascent one. n\On Saturday, a single bitcoin extended its gain to a record at $57,492, according to CoinDesk. Bitcoin prices are up over 90% so far in 2021, according to FactSet data. By comparison, gold GC00, -0.27%, considered a rival to bitcoin, is down by about 6% in 2021. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.35% has gained nearly 3% thus far in the year, the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.14% has climbed about 4% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.99% has advanced 7.7% over the same period. Tesla’s stock, by the way, has climbed over 11% since the start of the year. The Wedbush analyst said it isn’t clear if Tesla’s bitcoin move is a stunt, aligned with the perception of Musk as an iconoclast, but still believes that it is likely that other corporations may be compelled to follow suit and swap some of their cash for bitcoins in the future. “We still expect less than 5% of public companies will head down this route until more regulatory goal posts are put in place around the crypto market, which is clearly starting to gain more mainstream adoption in 2021 and we believe will have a seismic impact for blockchain, payments, banks, and semis in the years to come,” Ives wrote.  Nick Note: Elon Muskrat is the greatest snake oil sale man of our times. Its a freeging computer battery car. And everyone and their dog will soon be making them. And the people who are gearing up are experts at making cars. Tesla will lead the coming wipeout. For now he is making money on bitcoin another scam. He is losing a bundle on the rattle paddle piece of shit rich boy status machine. You can not drive them unless you fancy getting stuck on a country road…..

Posted on

Wall Street closes higher as Dow hits record high

Dow ends shy of 32,000 milestone, books record as Powell testimony awakes bulls on Wall Street

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday closed at a record, just shy of the 32,000 milestone, after Federal Reserve officials helped calm frayed market nerves after a run-up in bond yields briefly unsettled the bullish investing mood that’s prevailed for weeks on Wall Street. Chairman Jerome Powell’s second day of dovish testimony helped give a boost to major benchmarks and the Fed’s No. 2, Richard Clarida, said the economy is primed to show big improvement this year, owing to more Americans getting vaccinated and the passage of fiscal-spending packages.

  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.35% rose 424.51 points, or 1.4%, to close at a record 31,961.86, its 10th of the year.
  • The S&P 500 SPX, +1.14% advanced 44.06 points, or 1.1%, to end at 3,925.43, extending its win streak to a second day.
  • The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.99% added 132.77 points, up 1%, finishing at 13,597.97 to snap a 2-day losing streak.

The Dow on Tuesday erased a loss of more than 360 points to eke out a positive finish, while the S&P 500 snapped a five-day losing streak and the Nasdaq Composite trimmed a loss of nearly 4% to end the session only 0.5% lower. The bulls were back in charge on Wall Street.

Fed Chair Powell said the focus remains on helping the economy heal from the pandemic, and that the time isn’t right to worry about the growing national deficit or climbing bond yields, helping stocks extend gains.

“The time to give priority to those concerns isn’t now,” Powell told a House committee on Wednesday, during his second day of testimony to Congress on the outlook for the economy and the central bank’s monetary policy. Meanwhile, Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday that the downside risk to the outlook for the economy in 2021 has diminished amid “the development of several effective vaccines and the passage by the Congress in late December of a package of fiscal relief measures.” Bond yields edged higher again Wednesday, while stocks shrugged off earlier losses. “What Powell has been saying is that bond yields are rising for the right reason,” said Patrick Leary, chief market strategist and senior trader at broker-dealer Incapital, pointing to improved economic data and optimism around the ramping up vaccine rollout. Powell’s second day of testimony reiterated themes from Tuesday, namely that the economy remained far off the Fed’s employment and inflation goals, while giving no indication a spike in bond yields would prompt the central bank to begin tapering its asset-buying program. Fears the Fed could move to scale back stimulus sooner than anticipated had been blamed for the stock market’s recent wobble, which hit highflying, tech-oriented and growth shares hardest, while stocks more sensitive to the economic cycle benefited. Fed Gov. Lael Brainard on Wednesday also emphasized the need for continued fiscal and monetary support for the U.S. economy, which she said remains far from achieving the central bank’s employment and inflation goals, in lecture at Harvard. Nick Note: Do not miss the boat. The biggest stock market rally ever is coming… the vaccines work and the captives will be set free. So for balls to the walls speculates its party time.  Sleepy ETF traders you are getting set for the biggest wipeout ever… after the last leg of this mindless rally… Do you not get it the markets has got to move against you so you can get your positions. this game is losing money till  the markets gets the news you see but  its not seeing yet. this is speculating and you can expect big draw downs. Investing is a steady up move if you only want to make 2 or 3% on your money

 

Posted on

n boost for COVID-19 battle, Pfizer vaccine found 94% effective in real world

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The first big real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing COVID-19, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies. Up until now, most data on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty over how results would translate into the real world with its unpredictable variables. The research in Israel – two months into one of the world’s fastest rollouts, providing a rich source of data – showed two doses of the Pfizer shot cut symptomatic COVID-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much. The study of about 1.2 million people also showed a single shot was 57% effective in protecting against symptomatic infections after two weeks, according to the data published and peer-reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. The results of the study for the Clalit Research Institute were close to those in clinical trials last year which found two doses were found to be 95% effective.

“We were surprised because we expected that in the real-world setting, where cold chain is not maintained perfectly and the population is older and sicker, that you will not get as good results as you got in the controlled clinical trials,” senior study author Ran Balicer told Reuters. “But we did and the vaccine worked as well in the real world.”

“We have shown the vaccine to be as effective in very different sub-groups, in the young and in the old in those with no co-morbidities and in those with few co-morbidities,” he added. The study also suggests the vaccine, developed by U.S drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, is effective against the coronavirus variant first identified in the UK. Researchers said they could not provide a specific level of efficacy, but the variant was the dominant version of the virus in Israel at the time of the study. The research did not shed light on how the Pfizer shot will fare against another variant, now dominant in South Africa, that has been shown to reduce the efficacy of other vaccines. Of the nine million people in Israel, a nation with universal healthcare, nearly half have received a first dose, and a third have received both doses since the rollout began on Dec. 19. This made the country a prime location for a real-world study into the vaccine’s ability to stem the pandemic, along with its advanced data capabilities. The study examined about 600,000 vaccinated people against the same sized control group of unvaccinated people. Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital also collaborated. “This is more great news, confirming that the vaccine is around 90% effective at preventing documented infection of any degree of severity from 7 days after the second dose,” said Peter English, a British government consultant in communicable disease control. “Previous recently studied papers from Israel were observational studies. This one used an experimental design known as a case-control study … giving greater confidence that differences between the groups are due to their vaccination status, and not to some other factor.” The study published on Wednesday was the first analysis of a national COVID-19 vaccination strategy to be peer-reviewed. It also offered a more detailed look at how the vaccine was faring at weekly intervals, while matching people who received the shot to unvaccinated individuals with similar medical histories, sex, age and geographical characteristics. Other research centres in Israel, including the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Israel Institute of Technology have shared several studies in recent weeks that show the vaccine to be effective. At least three studies out of Israel have also suggested the vaccine can reduce coronavirus transmission, but the researchers have cautioned that wider studies must be conducted in order to establish clear-cut conclusions. The Weizmann Institute’s latest data shows a dramatic drop in illness – which began this month with the first age group vaccinated, the over-60s – has now extended to the two subsequent groups to have completed both doses. As infections have fallen in Israel, the country has eased its third national lockdown and reopened swathes of its economy including malls, shops, schools and many workplaces in the past two weeks. Recreational venues such as theatres, gyms and hotels opened on Sunday, but are open only to those deemed immune – holders of a “Green Pass”, a health ministry document available for download only by people seven days after their second dose or people who have recovered from COVID-19. The vaccine’s efficacy does not mean the country will be pandemic free any time soon. Like elsewhere in the world, a large proportion of the population are under 16 – about a third in Israel – meaning that they cannot yet get vaccinated as there have not been clinical trial results for children. “This is definitely not the end of the pandemic,” said Eran Kopel, an epidemiologist at Tel Aviv University. “Once there is a safe vaccine for the children in Israel and all over the world we can then start to say that we could be approaching herd immunity.” Nick Note: My job is to get their ahead of time. See its called FUTURES trading. Not CNN bizz news dick head NOW trading via consensus opinion……And to do this you need to be able to hit the reset button when ever is necessary. You guys get stuck on average points…. Get stuck on spreading…. shit all over yourself as you watch profits disappear. ALL ALL ALL ALL are the nature of successful trading…..AND MY TRADING THESE PAST TWO YEARS HAVE BEEN THE BEST EVER. In a word flexibility is the is key. Here is an example of a reset button  type change. Our in depth on the spot analysis has changed. See we have a team of staff to gather information not CNN pull you dick publishing corporate spin press releases but boots on the ground. And we have no rules in gathering information. Including sitting on McDougals chest to get him to confess to the Clinton White Water story., Whatever it takes and i mean whatever it takes. At the start of this plague we had staff in London (Mosh, Dennis, Sarah, Anna and Musa) and that is how (along with my dream) we first reported this plague  and realized the Chinese were sending infected (mostly asymptomatic people) the world over to spread the plague. When the vaccines were first announced we were skeptical….. We used people in Belgium and Israel and consultants to get a understanding of the technology. Traditional hollowed out Monkey DNA infused Johnson vaccine. Versus the mRNA Pfizer. We were soon convinced the new technology RNA vaccine was the way to go. As we continued to collect information we put boots on the ground in Israel which is light years ahead of the world on the Pfizer vaccine. What you may not know Israel swooped in paid 5 times the going rate for the vaccines to be able to inoculate their  entire population. Its cheaper to vaccinate your population and open up your economy…. Then issue trillions in happy checks to try and mitigate the damage. Its cheaper to put new tires and fix the brakes on your car as versus repairing it after the wreck. SO we followed the money in this case the vaccines. We soon learned that the Pfizer mRNA technology something new was the way to go and urged our loyal members to get the shot. Now all our concerns have been proven to be nonstarters. The vaccines work they will stop ALL variants of the coronavirus with booster shots just like the yearly flue jab…. but much safer. So that caused a rethink and a reset button moment. And i am now of the opinion the coronavirus will be defeated and the global economy will open. So that means party on the WORLDS stock markets…… Creating a bubble that will give us the biggest wipeout ever. But between now and then its party time on Wall Street

Posted on

Fed’s bank transactions system suffers outage

(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve began restoring some services Wednesday afternoon following widespread outages across several key payment systems operated by the U.S. central bank. “A Federal Reserve operational error resulted in disruption of service in several business lines,” Jim Strader, a spokesman for the Richmond Fed, said in an e-mailed statement. “We are restoring services” In a posting on its website at 2:46 p.m. the Fed said it was taking steps to ensure the resilience of its services but urged customers to double check that any messages they had sent or received had been reconciled. ©2021 Bloomberg L.P. Nick Note: The system is under stress…. This might be a sign of bigger problems.. I am on it!

Posted on

Powell: US may need 3 years to reach 2% inflation

WASHINGTON — It may take more than three years to reach the Federal Reserve’s inflation goals, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Wednesday, a further signal the U.S. central bank plans to look beyond any post-pandemic spike in prices and leave interest rates unchanged for a long time to come. “We are just being honest about the challenge,” Powell told the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee when asked about Fed projections that inflation will remain at or below the central bank’s 2% target through 2023. The Fed has said it will not raise interest rates until inflation has exceeded 2% and “we believe we can do it, we believe we will do it. It may take more than three years.” Nick Note: All this talk about rising inflation causing the Fed to raise rates is beyond stupid. Reality is the vaccines work and the economy is opening back up with the most accommodating Fed i have ever seen….. and a great big 2 trillion stimulus bill is weeks away. Set the captives free… to shop, travel, eat out and vacations galore…… And companies will see the cash pour in for as long as it lasts…..

Posted on

Yesterday Dow turns positive after 360-point loss

The Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced back from steep losses and closed the session in the green on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell relieved some of the concerns about higher interest rates and inflation. The blue-chip Dow wiped out a 360-point loss and closed 15.66 points higher, or 0.1%, at 31,537.35. The S&P 500 also reversed a 1.8% loss and ended the day 0.1% higher at 3,881.37.The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.5% to 13,465.20 after dropping as much as 3.9% earlier. At its session low, the tech-heavy benchmark fell below its 50-day moving average, a key technical indicator, for the first time since Nov. 3 on an intraday basis. The intraday turnaround came after Powell said in his testimony to Congress that inflation is still “soft” and the economic outlook is still “highly uncertain,” easing fears of a policy change by the central bank. “The economy is a long way from our employment and inflation goals, and it is likely to take some time for substantial further progress to be achieved,” the Fed chief said in prepared remarks for the Senate Banking Committee. Inflation fears have risen in recent weeks amid a sharp rise in bond yields as policymakers debate another round of economic relief. Investors worry that a spike in prices due to federal stimulus could force the central bank to raise short-term borrowing costs. “The Fed is focused on employment and seems very willing to absorb higher inflation and excesses in financial market that brings financial instability in hopes of getting there,” Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, said in a note. “But, as seen in the long end of the yield curve, the markets have a say here too and they are speaking loudly. Hopefully at some point Fed officials will listen.” High-flying tech stocks, which came under pressure amid higher interest rates, pared losses after Powell’s remarks. Tesla closed 2.2% lower after sliding as much as 13% earlier. The electric car maker suffered a 9% decline in the previous session. Apple’s stock dipped just 0.1% after falling 6% earlier. Energy and financials — two of the best-performing sectors this year — once again supported the market Tuesday as investors snap up names they think will benefit from an economic recovery. The energy sector gained 1.6%, bringing its 2021 rally to nearly 27%.

Jonathan Golub, Credit Suisse’s chief U.S. equity strategist, believes cyclical stocks will lead the market to new highs in the rest of the year on the back of earnings upside and optimism on the economic reopening.

“Rising rates — a benefit to Financials — and copper and oil prices — a boon for Industrials, Energy, and Materials — further augment this favorable backdrop,” Golub said in a note Tuesday.

Credit Suisse upped its S&P 500 year-end target to 4,300 from 4,200 previously. The new forecast represents a 11.5% rally from here.

Small caps were the relater underperformer with the Russell 2000 dropping 0.9% Tuesday, paring its February gained to 7.6%. These beaten-down value shares have been outperforming the S&P 500 in 2021 amid optimism toward the vaccine rollout and the economic reopening. Nick Note: Yes i do see the future and i stuck to my guns in the sell off. I so said that their was a reflation AND NO inflation. and yesterday i stood aside told you do nothing and watched the spot NADSQ 100 plunge to 12760 (panic liquidations of the stupid money) to only reverse. As i write this the spot market is at the 13260 level. A 500 point reversal. So the range was from a 13800 high bases our trades to say 1000 point drop. And almost half of this drop has reversed and it was a brilliant call to hold and add more. Now if your trading as you should andinstead  back your bet when your panicked … well you know the rest. For the record in our CFD account we bought MORE yesterday at 13,009,  13,094,  13,209 bringing our average down to 13,548. Our OTE  loss is 202,487. when you subtract the previous booked profits of 126,000 our net loss is only 76,487. And when the market goes up only 300 more points the loss is erased. So if you could not follow this i urge you to sign up to CFD trading self directed… I have a few slots left.  By the way documents are at the printer and should be with you for your OK soon. WHICH MEANS THE HARD PART HAS BEEN COMPLETED THE STRUCTURES WE NEED ARE IN PLACE…. ALL THAT IS LEFT IS THE PAPER WORK!

And for the record i declared the bottom yesterday and sent you several push notifications that said “The Bottom IS In” then followed up with a message “Buying My Own Bullshit…..I have to buy” and my next message “I buy bottoms” So tell me did any other swinging Dick or Hot Pussy tell you about the bottom? Did you see any headline anywhere? Why don’t you get you head out of  your ass and switch your liars, thieving futures account to a self directed CFD trust so you can stop the fucking? A few slots left and when they are done i can not tell you when i can open it up again…..

Posted on

Powell doesn’t see how spending burst can push inflation

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that he doesn’t see how a burst in fiscal support or spending could lead to high inflation in the United States.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell underscored the U.S. economy’s ongoing weakness Tuesday in remarks that suggested that the Fed sees no need to alter its ultra-low interest rate policies anytime soon. “The economic recovery remains uneven and far from complete, and the path ahead is highly uncertain,” Powell said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee.

Powell’s comments are in contrast to the increasing optimism among many analysts that the economy will grow rapidly later this year. That outlook has also raised concerns, though, about a potential surge in inflation and has fueled a sharp increase in longer-term interest rates this year.

Most economists say they think the Fed’s continued low rates, further government financial aid and progress in combating the viral pandemic could create a mini-economic boom as soon as this summer. Powell acknowledged the potential for a healthier economy. But he stressed the personal hardships caused by the pandemic, especially for unemployed Americans. “As with overall economic activity, the pace of improvement in the labor market has slowed,” Powell said. “Although there has been much progress in the labor market since the spring, millions of Americans remain out of work.” Powell’s focus on the economy’s challenges reflects his reluctance to send any signal that the Fed is considering pulling back on its efforts to boost economic growth and hiring. The Fed cut its benchmark short-term interest rate to nearly zero last March in response to the pandemic recession. It is also purchasing $120 billion a month in bonds in an effort to hold down longer-term rates. Powell reiterated that those purchases will continue until “substantial progress” has been made toward the Fed’s goals of low unemployment and stable inflation at about 2% annually. The economy may improve rapidly later this year, Powell said, “but the job is not done yet, the job is not done.” Powell also downplayed concerns about rising longer-term interest rates and potentially higher inflation, which some analysts worry will result from a burst of spending and growth if the pandemic is brought under control later this year. The Fed chair also refused to endorse or condemn President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic rescue package, which is beginning to make its way through Congress. When asked by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., if he would “be cool” with Congress approving or voting down Biden’s proposal, Powell said, “By either being cool or uncool, I would have to be expressing an opinion. … which I’m not doing.” Powell has previously endorsed government spending in general to offset the impact of the recession. The Fed chair also acknowledged that prices could rise later this year if Americans engage in a burst of spending as the coronavirus comes under control. But Powell emphasized that he doesn’t expect sustained price increases. Inflation has been held down for decades by greater international competition, growing online commerce, and other trends that take time to change, he said. “I do not expect that we’ll be in a situation where inflation rises to troublesome levels,” Powell said. Powell’s remarks to the Banking Committee are coming on the first of two days of semiannual testimony to Congress that is required by law. On Wednesday, he will testify to the House Financial Services Committee. His testimony comes as the economy is showing gradual improvement in key areas, with manufacturing and retail sales rebounding despite a stagnant job market. Still, the steady rise in interest rates has unsettled the stock market. On Monday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index tumbled a steep 2.5% as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note surged to nearly 1.37%. At the start of the year, the 10-year yield was below 1%. Powell attributed that increase to optimism about a potential acceleration in growth. “In a way it’s a statement of confidence on the part of markets that we will have a robust recovery,” Powell said. Rising rates typically reflect optimism that the economy is poised to expand more quickly. But they can also weaken growth, especially if the Fed were to respond to rising inflation by raising its benchmark rate faster than markets expect. For now, interest rates remain, by historical standards, exceedingly low. As recently as the fall of 2018, for example, the 10-year yield briefly topped 3%. But especially since the pandemic recession paralyzed the economy last spring, the economy and the markets have drawn strength from near-record-low borrowing rates. Many analysts are bullish about the prospects for this year, once more vaccines are administered, the pandemic is brought under control and further government rescue aid works its way through the economy. On Monday, Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America, raised her forecast for growth this year to 6.5%. That would be the strongest calendar year economy growth since 1984. Still, the job market remains essentially stalled, with employers adding an average of just 30,000 jobs a month in the past three months. The economy is still about 10 million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level.

Posted on

Dollar bounces off six-week low as traders prepare for Powell

 

LONDON (Reuters) – The dollar rebounded off six-week lows on Tuesday as investors’ focus shifted to how U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell might respond to resurgent inflation expectations, while commodity-linked currencies hovered near multi-year highs. The recent rise in inflation expectations as investors bet on a post-pandemic economic recovery and the so-called “reflation” trade has lifted U.S. government bond yields. That had fed through to a higher dollar until earlier this month when the greenback resumed its decline. Analysts expect Powell, who testifies before Congress at 1500 GMT, to provide some reassurance that the Fed will tolerate higher inflation without rushing to raise rates. That might calm bond markets and eventually weigh on the dollar, they said. “Mr. Powell will very likely reiterate that the Fed is a long way from meeting its goals and that it will likely take some time before “sufficient progress” has been made to taper its bond purchase program,” UniCredit analysts said. The dollar index was last at 90.143, up 0.1% on the day, having earlier fallen to 89.941, its weakest since Jan. 13. Positioning data shows investors overwhelmingly betting that a U.S. dollar, which has been dropping since last March, will keep falling as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nick Note: Powell will do his job ans sooth the markets in today’s testimony

Posted on

No fundamental shift in inflation expectations – Fed’s Barkin

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin said on Monday that he doesn’t see a fundamental shift in inflation expectations in the United States. Barkin noted that profound disinflationary pressures exist but that the Fed has shown it has tools to counter an undesirable increase in inflation. Last summer, the Fed changed its monetary policy from target inflation of 2% to an inflation target of 2.5% on average. Nick Note: the pandemic is over and the economy is back. And we will enter a deflation. the stimulus and psychology of set the captives free will create the greatest spending orgy ever. And stock market rally. The Fed Chairman is due to give his semi annual testimony tomorrow and the markets will hang on his every word.