Tag: record

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World News

Britain Breaks Every day File for New Virus Instances

Britain Breaks Daily Record for New Virus Cases

LONDON — Britain reported 78,610 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the highest number of infections in a single day since the start of the pandemic, and stark confirmation that the Omicron variant is rampaging across the country.

New cases spiked by a third since Tuesday; the number is more than 10,000 higher than the previous worst day for infections, Jan. 8, when the Alpha variant was ravaging the country. The seven-day average of new cases is 65,008, a 19.1 percent increase over the previous seven-day period. Officials didn’t specify what share of the new cases might be Omicron, though they said a majority in London were from the variant.

Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, warned that further records would be broken in coming days, with the Omicron variant doubling at a rate of less than every two days in parts of the country. While the effect on hospitalization and mortality rates remains unclear, he warned that Britain’s National Health Service would face a deluge of patients simply because the growth in cases was so explosive.

“This is a really serious threat,” Dr. Whitty said at a news conference, alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the medical director of primary care for N.H.S. England, Nikki Kanani. “It is moving at an absolutely phenomenal pace.”

Mr. Johnson redoubled his campaign for people to get vaccine booster shots. About 650,000 people received shots on Tuesday, another record-breaking day. Mr. Johnson has set a goal of delivering boosters to all adults by the end of the month, a target that would require administering more than 1 million shots a day.

While Mr. Johnson did not announce any additional restrictions on Wednesday, he urged the public to be judicious in socializing during the holidays. Parliament on Tuesday passed the government’s plan to impose a system of vaccine certification to enter nightclubs and large indoor venues, though nearly 100 members of Mr. Johnson’s Conservative Party voted against the measure.

“We’re not canceling people’s parties,” Mr. Johnson said. “What we are saying is, think carefully before you go.”

The prime minister has been under fierce political pressure in recent weeks after reports that his staff held holiday gatherings at Downing Street last year, at a time when the government was instructing people not to meet with friends or even family members. A report on those allegations is expected to be released in coming days, and Mr. Johnson said he welcomed the investigation.

While there is preliminary evidence from South Africa that the Omicron variant is less severe than previous variants, Dr. Whitty cautioned against over-interpreting the data.

In Britain, 774 people were admitted to hospitals on Wednesday, a 10.4 percent increase over the last seven-day period, while 165 people died, a 5 percent decline over the seven previous days.

Omicron’s spread has been particularly dramatic in London, where the vaccination rate is lower than other parts of the country. The prime minister said hospitalization rates in London were up by a third.

“We’ve got two epidemics on top of each other,” Dr. Whitty said, “a flat Delta epidemic and a rapidly growing Omicron epidemic.”

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World News

Inventory futures are flat as S&P 500 and Nasdaq sit at a document

Stock futures are flat as S&P 500 and Nasdaq sit at a record

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, USA on Monday, August 23, 2021.

Michael Nagel | Bloomberg | Getty Images

US stock futures remained stable in overnight trading on Sunday as investors prepared for the final days of trading in August.

Dow futures only rose 11 points. S&P 500 futures were little changed and Nasdaq 100 futures traded around the flatline.

Stocks could stay in a range until the August job report released on Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones estimate that 750,000 jobs were created in August and the unemployment rate has fallen to 5.2%.

Monday and Tuesday mark the last two trading days in August. So far, the S&P 500 is up 2.6% in August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite rose 1.5% and 3.1% respectively that month.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at all-time highs on Friday as investors breathed a sigh of relief after Fed chairman Jerome Powell signaled that bonds could expire this year, but the central bank is in no rush to lock rates raise.

Powell said inflation is solidly around the central bank’s 2% target rate, one of the targets of the Fed’s dual mandate; However, the Fed chairman also explained why he continues to believe that the current rise in inflation is temporary and will eventually decline to target levels.

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Based on statements from other Fed officials, the announcement could be cut back at the Fed’s September 21-22 meeting. Powell said the central bank had “a lot of ground to overcome” in order to achieve its other goal of maximum employment.

Friday’s gains contributed to a strong week for major averages. The Dow closed 0.9% while the S&P 500 added 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.8% last week.

With the Fed’s meeting in Jackson Hole looking back, investors are now focusing on the performance of stocks for the final months of the year. The S&P 500 is up more than 20% in 2021, but the market is also absorbing top policy momentum, top profit accelerations, and top reopening momentum.

Oil futures rose slightly as the commodity reacted only minimally to Hurricane Ida. WTI crude oil futures rose 0.8%.

Cloudera and Zoom Video will report earnings after the bell on Monday.

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World News

Dow jumps 200 factors, S&P 500 hits report as Powell prepares markets for Fed’s bond taper this 12 months

Dow jumps 200 points, S&P 500 hits record as Powell prepares markets for Fed's bond taper this year

Traders work on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, USA, 19 August 2021.

Wang Ying | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

Shares rose on Friday, heading for a successful week as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell prepared the markets for the central bank to pull back on some of its monetary stimulus and said it will likely begin its monthly bond purchases in the amount of $ 120 billion this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 244 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to hit a record 4,505.16. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1% to hit a record 15,102.70.

The three most important stock averages will all close the week in the green. The Dow is up 0.9% since weekday, while the S&P 500 is up 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite is up 2.5%.

The 10-year government bond yield featured in Powell’s speech this week eased slightly after the Fed chief made it clear that rate hikes would not follow immediately after the tapering ended.

“The timing and pace of the impending reduction in bond purchases will not be a direct signal of the timing of the rate hike, for which we have formulated a different and much more stringent test,” said Powell.

Powell also said inflation is solidly around the central bank’s 2% target rate, one of the targets of the Fed’s dual mandate. However, it “has a lot of ground to overcome” to meet its other goal of maximum employment, although there has been “clear progress” along the way, Powell added. The Fed has used the phrase “significant further progress” as a measure of when it will start tightening monetary policy.

Based on statements from other Fed officials, a reduction in the announcement could be made at the Fed meeting on September 21-22.

The financial market reaction on Friday is a sign that the central bank has so far been successfully preparing investors for their monthly $ 120 billion in 2013. Markets seem relieved that the Fed is not planning to hike rates anytime soon, said Michael Arone, Chief Investment Strategist for the US SPDR business at State Street Global Advisors.

“Rate hikes are far, far away and investors are excited about them,” he said. “I think Powell deserves credit for mastering asset reductions and avoiding a tantrum. The market appears to be well prepared for the reductions to begin.”

The speech also signaled that the Fed is not nearly as nervous about prices as some in the market and in Washington, said Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge.

“Powell spends most of the speech addressing inflation concerns,” he said of the speech, adding that Powell “is addressing concerns about rate hikes and telling markets that the threshold for rate hikes is much higher than a cut.”

Cornerstone Wealth’s chief investment officer, Cliff Hodge, noted that Powell held firm to the Fed’s view that increased inflation is temporary, despite the fact that the Department of Commerce on Friday reported the largest increase in consumer spending since 1991. The PCE index rose 4.2% in July on the same date last year and 0.4% on the previous month.

“He successfully threaded the needle to communicate that the taper is likely to begin this year while reiterating the idea that the taper is not a tightening,” Hodge said. “We believe that this September, subject to further setbacks from the Delta variant, is likely to result in a number of blowout jobs and set the table for the official reduction announcement at the FOMC meeting in September.”

Energy stocks led the S&P higher after being hit hardest on Thursday. Occidental Petroleum was up 7%, Cimarex Energy was up 6% and Marathon Oil was up 5%.

Workday’s shares were up 11% after reporting strong earnings and subscription income currently, up 23% year over year. Gap rose nearly 2% after the apparel retailer’s quarterly earnings report beat sales and bottom line, while Peloton stocks fell after the exercise equipment maker’s fourth quarter financial results missed Wall Street’s estimates. The peloton fell 8%.

The three major US indices closed the regular trading session lower on Thursday. The Dow had a four-day winning streak while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both broke a five-day winning streak.

Market participants also observed new developments in Afghanistan that appeared to weigh on investor sentiment. The Pentagon confirmed Thursday that explosions near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan killed 13 US soldiers and injured 18.

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“The markets don’t like uncertainty and uncertainty in Afghanistan is high and feels like it is rising,” said Bob Doll, chief investment officer of Crossmark Global Investments.

The indices are on track to end the month higher. The Dow was up 1.4% in August. The S&P 500 is up 2.5% this month and the Nasdaq Composite is up 2.9%.

– Jeff Cox, Patti Domm, and Yun Li contributed to this report.

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World News

S&P 500 futures are flat close to report ranges forward of Fed summit

S&P 500 futures are flat near record levels ahead of Fed summit

A trader works on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York on August 20, 2021.

Andrew Kelly | Reuters

S&P 500 futures were lower Thursday after the benchmark surged above 4,500 for the first time in the previous session and ahead of the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium on Friday.

S&P 500 futures lost 0.02% and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial average futures were unchanged.

The weekly initial jobless claims totaled 353,000 as expected, the Department of Labor reported Thursday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected 350,000 Americans to register as unemployed last week, compared with 348,000 the previous week.

Economic growth in the second quarter was 6.6% according to the second estimate by the Department of Commerce on Thursday. This was a slight upward correction from the previously reported annual increase of 6.5%.

The Federal Reserve’s much-anticipated Jackson Hole Symposium will be held virtually on Friday this year, with many central bank speakers expected to make remarks to the media starting Thursday. At the event, central bankers could share their plan to curb monetary stimulus.

Esther George, president of the Kansas City Fed, told CNBC Thursday morning that “given the progress we’ve seen,” a Fed throttling is “appropriate”, although she did not specify when she thought it should begin.

“If you look at the job growth last month, the month before, if you look at the current level of inflation, I would think that the level of housing we are currently offering is probably not needed in this scenario,” she said “So I would be ready to talk about tapers sooner rather than later.”

Salesforce shares rose 2% in pre-trading hours after the software giant released second-quarter results and forecasts that beat analysts’ estimates. Ulta Beauty increased 5% due to strong results.

Zoom Video’s shares rose more than 2% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock and forecast an 18% uptrend.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 gained 0.22% to close on a record, led by stocks that are benefiting from the economic reopening such as airlines, cruise lines and financial companies. The 500-share average broke above 4,500 for the first time on Wednesday, but closed below that level. The benchmark is up 105% from its pandemic low.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.15% and also hit a record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39 points.

“While we continue to believe in the secular bull market for US stocks, we have proposed some cash in the face of lower highs (including bearish divergences) on a variety of indicators, weaker August and October seasonality, and the transition of the presidential cycle into its weakest phase in US stocks and declining signals from margin debt, “wrote Stephen Suttmeier, Technical Research Strategist at Bank of America.

The benchmark 10-year government bond yield rose as high as 1.352% on Wednesday as worries about slowing growth in the Delta variant eased, reaching its highest level since the beginning of the month when it returned as high as 1.364%.

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“The yield on 10-year government bonds has continued to rise in the last few days and has exploded in [Wednesday’s] act and send a strong message that the US Delta variant of Covid may be peaking, which should build confidence, resume economic reopening and stimulate investment flows towards small caps and cyclical stocks, “said Jim Paulsen, Chief Investment Strategist at the Leuthold Group.

Chairman Jerome Powell will make remarks at the Fed summit on Friday. In response to the pandemic, the Federal Reserve has bought at least $ 120 billion a month in bonds to curb longer-term interest rates and stimulate economic growth.

“Expect investors to keep an eye on the Fed symposium for the remainder of this week for comments on the rate hike or the timing of rate hikes,” Paulsen said. “Either unexpected comments from the Fed or a failure or success in scaling up to 4500 could add additional volatility to the equity and bond markets.”

Several companies reported quarterly earnings on Thursday, including Dell Technologies, Gap, HP and Abercrombie & Fitch.

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Health

Washington state infections and hospitalizations hit document

Washington state infections and hospitalizations hit record

An infection control nurse accompanies a patient who was born on Jan.

Karen Ducey | Getty Images

Covid-19 transmissions and hospitalizations in Washington state are at all-time highs, according to the state’s Department of Health.

On July 8, Washington recorded a Covid infection prevalence of 1 in 588 residents. Just one month later, on August 6, that number almost quadrupled to a Covid infection prevalence of 1 in 156 residents, the department said on Thursday. The latest numbers exceeded those of the state’s third wave of Covid infections in the winter of 2020.

According to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, Washington state reports a seven-day average of 38.5 daily new cases per 100,000 population, ranking 22nd among all states.

Four counties had 14-day new infection rates of 500 per 100,000 Washington residents and five counties had rates of 300 to 500 per 100,000 residents. Sixteen counties had rates from 200 to 300 and 12 counties had rates from 100 to 200. The delta variant accounts for 98% of the cases in the state.

Hospital admissions in the state also rose, with a seven-day moving average of 29 hospital admissions for Covid on June 16. The number remained relatively low through July 8, but tripled by August 6 to a seven-day moving average of 96 hospital admissions for Covid symptoms. The state found that hospital admissions for people between the ages of 20 and 30 have increased, a trend seen in hospitals across the country as most older Americans were vaccinated.

Admissions to state hospitals for the unvaccinated and over 65s are six times higher than for those who are fully vaccinated. In people aged 16 to 64, unvaccinated people are ten times more likely to be hospitalized than their vaccinated counterparts. “If the entire population were to experience the hospitalization rates currently observed in unvaccinated people, the hospital system would be completely overwhelmed,” the state health department said in a statement.

Death rates have been down since Jan.

Immunity to prior infection in the state is only 15.5%, which would leave 84.5% of Washington residents unprotected if they did not have access to Covid-19 vaccines. According to the Ministry of Health, by August 16, 71.5% of the population aged 12 and over had received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.

In the nationwide population, immunity to previous infections and vaccinations is 54.7%, an increase of only 2.8% since July 6.

“It is imperative to realize that literally any of us or our loved ones could be in need of hospital treatment in the near future,” said Acting State Science Director Dr. Scott Lindquist. “To ensure that care is available when needed, our hospitals are currently counting on each of us to be masked and vaccinated.”

CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.

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World News

Dow rises 220 factors to new report after inflation report is just not as unhealthy as feared

Dow rises 220 points to new record after inflation report is not as bad as feared

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose on Wednesday after inflation jumped, but not by quite as much as investors feared when stripping out volatile food and energy prices.

The 30-stock Dow gained 220.30 points, or 0.6%, to 35,484.97 to close at a new record. The index was lifted by names like Caterpillar and Home Depot. The S&P 500 traded up 0.2% to 4,447.70, also notching an all-time high. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded over 0.1% lower to 14,765.14.

July’s Consumer Price Index released Wednesday showed prices jumped 5.4% since last year, compared to expectations of 5.3%, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The government said CPI increased 0.5% in July on month-to-month basis.

But investors were concentrating on the core rate of inflation, which could signal inflation will remain tempered and the economy will remain strong. CPI, excluding energy and food prices, rose by 0.3% last month, below the 0.4% increase expected. Core prices still jumped 4.3% on a year-over-year basis.

“It’s encouraging to see the pace moderating a bit month over month supporting the notion that recent price increases are transitory and reopening related,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*TRADE Financial. “So while inflation continues to run hot, it’s likely that investors are already pricing it in.”

Used car prices, which investors have been watching as one sign of out-of-control inflation, rose just 0.2% in July after surging more than 10% in the prior month.

The data “should help assuage investor fears that the Fed is too laid-back about inflation pressures, ” said Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors. “The details of the data release suggest some easing in the reopening and supply-shortage driven boost to prices, and tentatively suggests that inflation may have peaked. Investors in the transitory camp will feel slightly vindicated.”

The inflation reading supported the Federal Reserve’s belief that high price pressures are “transitory” as the economic recovers from the pandemic-triggered recession.

The 10-year Treasury yield dipped amid the inflation report and a strong auction. The decline in rates accelerated after Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan told CNBC that the Fed should start tapering its bond-buying programs in October.

Oil prices dropped and then recovered after the White House called on OPEC and its allies to increase oil production to support the global recovery from the pandemic.

On Tuesday, the Dow and S&P 500 closed at record highs following the Senate passing the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The legislation earmarks $550 billion in new spending for areas including transportation and the electric grid. The Nasdaq Composite slid nearly 0.5% on Tuesday, registering its second negative session in the last three.

The march to record highs for stocks comes despite Covid case numbers rising in the U.S. and around the world.

“Widespread vaccine distribution and distancing measures have helped limit the variant’s impact, but we could still see some drag on economic growth as some restrictions are reintroduced and consumers potentially become more cautious,” said Barry Gilbert, asset allocation strategist at LPL Financial. “While we may see an increase in market volatility due to the delta variant, we believe the S&P 500 is still likely to see more gains through the end of the year.”

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— with reporting from CNBC’s Yun Li.

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Dow rises greater than 100 factors to recent file

Dow rises more than 100 points to fresh record

Shares rose Tuesday, pushing the Dow and S&P 500 to new records as investors continued to fend off rising Covid cases from the Delta variant.

A bipartisan $ 1 trillion infrastructure bill was passed in the Senate to allay concerns about a slowdown in economic growth in the wake of the pandemic. The return on the 10-year yield rallied on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 176 points to hit a new intraday high. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% after hitting an intraday high at the start of the session. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.4%.

Bank stocks rose amid the surge in bond yields, but investors gave up technology stocks as rates rebounded. Goldman Sachs was up nearly 2%. Wells Fargo and Bank of America both gained more than 1.5%. The so-called FANNG names, however, were all in the red.

Energy stocks rebounded Tuesday after spearheading market declines on Monday, fueled by a fall in oil prices. Exxon Mobil and Chevron rose more than 1% on Tuesday and Diamondback Energy rebounded more than 2%. The US oil price rose 1.6% on Tuesday.

Stocks tied to the economic reopening also made up some of their losses on Monday. Norwegian Cruise Line was up 2% and American Airlines was up 1%.

The Senate passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill worth $ 1 trillion on Tuesday. The plan, which sees $ 550 billion in new spending on traffic and broadband, is expected to help boost the economy as peak growth slows after reopening after the pandemic.

During Monday’s regular trading, the Dow fell more than 100 points amid fears a wave of Covid cases could slow demand. The S&P 500 lost 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.16%.

AMC’s stock rose 4.7% on Tuesday after reporting a smaller-than-expected loss. The company also announced that it will accept Bitcoin in all US locations starting this year.

The winning season continues after the bell, and Coinbase will be reporting. The stock, which trades closely with Bitcoin price, fell 3% on Tuesday. SoftBank and Sysco will also report.

Bitcoin price fell 1.5% on Tuesday after rising 5% on Monday to its highest price since May.

Investors are waiting for the consumer price index and producer price index data, both of which measure inflation, to be released on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. A handful of central bank spokespersons, including Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Kansas City President Esther George, are also expected this week. Investors will watch out for clues as to how the Fed plans to scale back its bond purchases.

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Inventory futures are flat after Dow closes at file Friday

Stock futures are flat after Dow closes at record Friday

A trader works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, August 5, 2021.

Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Stock futures were flat in overnight trading Sunday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a record close Friday following a stronger-than-expected jobs report.

Futures on the Dow added 2 points, or 0.01%. S&P 500 futures edged 0.06% lower and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.13%.

U.S. senators reconvened Sunday to work toward the passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, a top political priority of President Joe Biden. The Senate is slated to hold another key procedural vote late Sunday and vote on final passage Tuesday. The bipartisan package is expected to have sufficient Republican support to pass in the Senate and move to the House for consideration in September.

The moves in futures trading came after the Dow rose 144.26 points, or 0.4%, to close at an all-time high of 35,208.51. The S&P 500 rose 0.17% to reach its own record close of 4,436.52. The Nasdaq Composite bucked the trend, dipping 0.4% to 14,835.76. All three major indexes ended the week higher and saw their second positive week in three.

The Labor Department jobs report Friday showed the U.S. economy added 943,000 jobs in July. Economists expected 845,000 new jobs last month, according to Dow Jones estimates. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%, below the expectation of 5.7%.

“You saw a lot more jobs being created in those areas that are reopening — restaurants, hotels, logistics, transportation,” Raymond James Chief Investment Officer Larry Adam said. “That’s a good sign. I think that puts more spending power behind the consumer going forward and I think that that’s ultimately a good thing for the economy.”

The signs of a strong economic recovery could prompt the Federal Reserve to pull back its monetary support measures and prepare to begin tapering its bond-buying program.

“If it does continue to this magnitude, that probably does bring the Fed a little sooner into the game when it comes to tapering,” Adam said.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped as high as 1.3% after the better-than-expected jobs report. The 10-year yield this summer has pulled back significantly from its highs in March, when it neared 1.8%.

The financial sector led gains Friday as rates edged up, increasing banks’ profitability prospects. Industrials, retailers and energy stocks also moved higher as the strong jobs report eased concerns about the economic recovery.

Meanwhile, technology stocks retreated after the jump in rates. Rising rates discount the value of future earnings and therefore can hit growth stocks like technology names particularly hard.

Investors are awaiting key inflation data scheduled for release this week. The consumer price index and the producer price index are scheduled to come out Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Several Fed officials are scheduled for speaking appearances in the week ahead, with investors listening with a close ear for insights into the central bank’s tapering decision making. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Kansas City Fed President Esther George are all set to speak this week.

Companies including Tyson Foods, AMC Entertainment, Coinbase, Lordstown Motors, Bumble, Palantir, Disney, Airbnb and DoorDash are set to report quarterly earnings this week.

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World News

New Excessive Climate Report? Not So Quick.

New Extreme Weather Record? Not So Fast.

Jeff Masters, a meteorologist and co-founder of Weather Underground, an online news service, says the reason more temperature records are not being kept is because the process is too time-consuming. A typical example of this is that efforts to reanalyze every named Atlantic storm since 1851, which began two decades ago, have so far only reached 1965.

“There are hundreds of temperature records in the US alone that would not survive re-analysis,” said Dr. Masters. “The most famous of these is the hottest world record temperature in history of 134 degrees Fahrenheit in 1913 in Death Valley.”

Two extreme weather experts, William T. Reid and Christopher C. Burt, have argued on the Weather Underground site that the 1913 reading was “impossible from a meteorological point of view,” in part because it was inconsistent with other observations in that part Death Valley in the same week. They say the man who recorded the temperature at Greenland Ranch, California, seems to have retrospectively “knowingly or accidentally” exaggerated the readings, and that he may not even be there at the time.

But Randall Cerveny, who leads the World Meteorological Organization’s efforts to research and review global weather records, said in an email that the 1913 reading is still considered “the hottest temperature recorded for the United States and the world” was recognized.

Dr. Cerveny, who teaches geographic science at Arizona State University and worked with Mr. Burt to debunk the 1922 Libya data set, described Mr. Burt and Mr. Reid’s research on the 1913 Death Valley data set as “presumptive, not new, evidence . He added that the US Climate Extremes Index, a NOAA project, has also chosen not to investigate it.

“We do not reject records without solid evidence that they are inaccurate,” he said.

Referring to more recent Death Valley records, Dr. Cerveny that the WMO is still trying to verify a 129.9 degree value in this range on August 6, 2020.

If confirmed, it would be the third highest temperature ever recorded on Earth and the second highest in the United States. But dr. Cerveny said the investigation will “take a while” because his team tested the temperature sensor that made the measurement.

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World News

S&P 500 hits new file after sizzling inflation information, sturdy earnings

S&P 500 hits new record after hot inflation data, strong earnings

The S&P 500 inched out a new high on Tuesday as investors weighed a hotter-than-expected inflation report and a strong start to second-quarter earnings season.

The broad index traded 0.12% higher, reaching an intraday record. The Dow Jones Industrial average shed about 41 points, or 0.12%. The measure closed at a record just below 35,000 the day prior.

The Nasdaq Composite gained about 0.4% and also hit another intraday high as investors went back into their favorite tech stocks amid the competing market crosscurrents. Apple and Amazon each gained more than 1% and both are outperforming the market this month.

Inflation rose at its fastest pace in nearly 13 years, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The consumer price index increased 5.4% in June from a year ago; economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a 5% gain. Core CPI, excluding food and energy, jumped 4.5%, the sharpest move for that measure since September 1991 and well above the estimate of 3.8%.

“A white-hot June CPI print has the markets jittery this morning,” Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth, said. “Moving forward we expect these inflation numbers to begin to cool. June 2020 was the absolute low for Core CPI during the pandemic shutdown, so the comparisons get tougher from here. Used car prices soared 45% year over year which is not likely to persist in coming months.”

The latest inflation data came after big banks and PepsiCo posted blowout second-quarter earnings reports. But with stocks at record highs and the Dow Jones Industrial Average just shy of 35,000, expectations likely ran higher than the official estimates reflected.

JPMorgan Chase shares dipped even after posting second-quarter earnings of $11.9 billion, or $3.78 per share, which exceeded the $3.21 estimate of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.

Banks set aside billions of dollars for loan losses amid the pandemic, but have been releasing those reserves as consumers performed better than expected. JPMorgan released $3 billion in loan loss reserves after taking just $734 million in charge-offs. That gave the firm a $2.3 billion benefit, allowing the bank to top earnings expectations. Investors may be giving less credit to JPMorgan’s earnings beat due to this loan loss reserve release.

Goldman Sachs also shares edged lower after the firm reported second-quarter earnings of $15.02 per share, topping analysts’ expectation of $10.24 earnings per share. The bank posted its second-best ever quarterly investment banking revenue as a rush of IPOs hit Wall Street last quarter.

PepsiCo shares added more than 2% after the company crushed estimates for its second-quarter earnings and revenue, fueled by returning restaurant demand. The drink and snack giant also raised its forecast.

Meanwhile, shares of Boeing fell more than 3%, weighing on Dow sentiment, after the plane maker cut 787 Dreamliner production following the detection of a new flaw.

Overall earnings reports are expected to be stellar for the second quarter over the coming weeks with profit growth estimated at 64% year-over-year for the quarter, according to FactSet. That would be the biggest quarterly profit increase since 2009.

Banks’ earnings are expected to more than double for the second quarter, with an estimated 119.5% estimated year-over-year growth rate, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

In the regular trading session on Monday the Dow rose 126.02 points to close just below 35,000. The blue-chip measure is up 14% this year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, to record closes.

“High expectations for earnings and each companies’ forward guidance will push markets higher or disappointment may create a small pullback in equity markets,” said Jeff Kilburg, chief investment officer at Sanctuary Wealth. “Eyes will be on the major banks to set the tone for the next few weeks of earnings.”

Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley all ended Monday higher as well. They will report their earnings later in the week.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to appear in front of Congress Wednesday and Thursday to provide an update on monetary policy. He has maintained that the Fed’s easy policies will remain intact until there’s more progress on its employment and inflation goals.