Tag: Week

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Politics

Infrastructure talks can’t go on endlessly, want course by subsequent week

Infrastructure talks can’t go on forever, need direction by next week

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 05: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks to Amtrak employees during a visit at Union Station February 5, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that Senate Democrats and Republicans must establish a clear direction on infrastructure negotiations when Congress returns to Washington after the Memorial Day break, signaling that the White House is losing patience with bipartisan talks.

“By the time that they return, which is June 7 just a week from tomorrow, we need a clear direction,” Buttigieg said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The President keeps saying, ‘inaction is not an option’ and time is not unlimited here. The American people expect us to do something.”

Senate Democrats plan to move forward with crafting a sweeping infrastructure package next month with or without Republican support in order to pass a bill this summer.

The two parties are in ongoing talks but are not close to an agreement on what the plan would include and how the government would pay for the much-needed investments.

Buttigieg said he believes the White House is “getting pretty close to a fish or cut bait moment” on bipartisan negotiations.

“This can’t go on in terms of the condition of our infrastructure, therefore, the negotiations can’t go on forever either,” he said.

CNBC Politics

Read more of CNBC’s politics coverage:

Republicans on Thursday provided President Joe Biden with a $928 billion counteroffer on infrastructure, amounting to roughly half of the $1.7 trillion proposal the administration previously offered. The White House originally put forward a $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal.

Democrats and Republicans have disagreed on what constitutes infrastructure and how best to pay for the plan.

Democrats have rejected a GOP offer to fund the plan through user fees, arguing that doing so could cause a tax hike for middle-class Americans who drive. Republicans have opposed the Democrats’ proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to at least 25% to pay for the plan.

Democrats could ultimately pass the legislation without GOP support through the process of budget reconciliation, which would require a simple majority vote in the Senate.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the West Virginia Republican leading negotiations with the White House, said that during a Friday phone call with the president, Biden said “let’s get this done” with respect to negotiations.

“We have had some back and forth with his staff to sort of pull back a little bit, but I think we’re smoothing out those edges,” Capito said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”

“I think we can get to real compromise, absolutely, because we’re both still in the game,” she said. “We realize this is not easy.”

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Business

The Week in Enterprise: Biden’s Large Funds

The Week in Business: Biden’s Big Budget

Good morning and have a nice Memorial Day weekend. Here are the biggest business and tech stories you should know for the coming (short) week. – Charlotte Cowles

Exxon Mobil suffered a surprise defeat when climate activist investors won at least two seats on its 12-member board of directors on Wednesday. The investors are part of a small new hedge fund called Engine No. 1, which aims to lead businesses to greener initiatives and away from fossil fuels. The campaign faces an uphill battle in the energy industry, but this latest victory could lead more Wall Street investment firms to face climate change. In addition to the momentum, a Dutch court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, is not working fast enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and needs to redouble its efforts.

For the past three weeks, Apple has been vigorously (and dearly) defending itself in federal court against an antitrust lawsuit from Epic Games, the maker of the popular video game Fortnite. The case focused on whether Apple abused its market power by receiving a 30 percent commission on sales from its iPhone app store – and penalizing Epic for trying to bypass Apple and Fortnite’s in-app purchases sell directly to customers. The verdict is now in the hands of the judge, who said she hoped to deliver a verdict by August. If Apple loses, it could lead to more antitrust proceedings against Big Tech.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the 97-year-old film and television studio that once embodied a golden era in Hollywood, has sold itself to today’s epitome of modern commerce: Amazon. Many of MGM’s classics were sold years ago, but it brings a famous franchise – James Bond – that gives Amazon a new edge over streaming competitors like Netflix, HBO Max, and Apple TV +. That benefit cost Amazon $ 8.45 billion, about 40 percent more than other potential buyers, including Apple and Comcast, were willing to pay.

Google is working with hospital chain HCA Healthcare to develop algorithms for patient care by dismantling health records. The algorithms are designed to improve patient monitoring, guide doctors’ decisions for better outcomes, streamline operations, and even develop new treatments. But progress comes at a cost, of course: patient privacy. HCA said its patient records would no longer contain identifying information before Google data scientists were given access to it. However, the terms of the contract were not made public.

President Biden proposed a $ 6 trillion budget for fiscal 2022, which provides a map of long-term investments in his administration’s economic priorities – such as infrastructure, education, and green energy – for the next decade. The proposal, which is more of a wish-list at this point, would bring the United States to the highest sustainable federal spending level since World War II. Mr Biden has announced that he will pay for his agenda through tax hikes for businesses and high earners, but the plan also sees large budget deficits for at least a decade. The budget provides for unemployment below 4 percent and stable inflation.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with the Group of Seven Treasury Ministers in London later this week to discuss the nations’ next steps towards global economic recovery. Up to date: helping international access and spreading vaccines, improving public health to prevent future pandemics, and building more climate-friendly economies. Ms. Yellen has a similar agenda at home, and it’s a handful. Prior to leaving, she asked for more funds from the Treasury Department to oversee several key US economic recovery efforts.

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Health

UK instances of Covid variant recognized in India double in a single week

UK cases of Covid variant identified in India double in one week

Hounslow, London, which has become one of the U.K.’s biggest hotspots for the variant of coronavirus first identified in India, on Thursday 27th May 2021.

Tejas Sandhu | MI News | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Cases of the Covid-19 variant first identified in India have more than doubled in England within one week, the country’s health authority said.

The number of cases of the strain had reached 6,959 by Wednesday, an increase of 3,535 cases from the previous week.

The B.1.617.2 variant, a highly contagious triple-mutant strain of the coronavirus, is likely to be more transmissible than the variant first identified in England last fall, Public Health England said Thursday.

Bolton, Bedford and Blackburn were the most affected areas in England, according to PHE, although it said there were small numbers of cases of the variant in most parts of the country.

Hospitalizations were also rising in some areas, PHE added, noting that most hospital admissions were in unvaccinated people.

Research published by PHE last week showed that two doses of Covid vaccines gives people high levels of protection against the B.1.617.2 strain.

Jenny Harries, CEO of the U.K. Health Security Agency, said in PHE’s weekly update that the public should continue to act with caution as Britain eases lockdown restrictions.

“We now know that getting both vaccine doses gives a high degree of protection against this variant and we urge everyone to have the vaccine,” she said.

“Make sure that you remain careful, work from home if you can, meet people outside where possible and remember ‘hands, face, space, fresh air’ at all times.”

The U.K. has begun to tentatively lift lockdown restrictions in recent months, with the government hoping to remove all measures by June 21.

However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the country “may need to wait” for a complete return to normality, although he told the BBC on Thursday there was nothing “currently in the data” to suggest the June unlocking would be derailed.

Johnson announced earlier this month that the U.K. would accelerate second vaccine doses for the over-50s and clinically vulnerable in an effort to combat the spread of the B.1.617.2 strain.

More than 62.6 million vaccines had been given in the U.K. by May 26, with 73% of the adult population having received their first dose. Almost half of British adults have been fully vaccinated with both doses.

On May 22, 883 people were in hospital with Covid-19 in the U.K. — a huge drop from January’s peak of 39,249.

Categories
Business

The Week in Enterprise: Crypto’s Crashes

The Week in Business: Crypto’s Crashes

Good morning and happy Sunday. Here’s what you need to know in business and tech news for the week ahead. — Charlotte Cowles

The crypto market had a rough week. Digital currencies saw several ugly crashes, with Bitcoin ending Friday nearly 30 percent below its price a week before. The plunge followed an announcement from China that effectively banned its financial institutions from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions. (Elon Musk’s sudden about-face on Bitcoin probably didn’t help, either.) The volatility shook some investors’ confidence in crypto, which has ridden a seemingly unstoppable wave of popularity — and gained traction with mainstream investors — over the past year.

Texas, Oklahoma and Indiana joined more than a dozen other states that are ending federal pandemic unemployment benefits early, citing the need to incentivize people to get back to work. The decision will get rid of the $300-a-week supplement that unemployment recipients have been getting since March and were scheduled to receive through September. It will also end all benefits for freelancers, part-timers and those who have been out of work for more than six months. Some lawmakers believe that cutting off benefits will encourage more people to apply for jobs, but that’s not always the case — a persistent lack of child care has also prevented many parents from returning to work.

That bad habit of letting work emails dribble into your nights and weekends? It could actually kill you. Working more than 55 hours a week can cause premature death, according to a new study by the World Health Organization. Long hours — also known as overwork — are on the rise and are associated with an estimated 35 percent higher risk of stroke and 17 percent higher risk of heart disease compared with working 35 to 40 hours per week, researchers said.

In a push to boost federal tax revenue to fund infrastructure, the Biden administration is planning to give the Internal Revenue Service more money to chase down wealthy individuals and companies who cheat on their taxes. As part of the same effort to close tax loopholes, the U.S. Treasury Department is trying to convince other countries to back a 15 percent global minimum tax rate on big companies. The policy is meant to deter corporations from sheltering their operations in tax havens such as Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands. But a number of governments have been hesitant to sign on for fear that they’ll scare off businesses.

Congress wants to bolster the United States’ ability to compete with China and is willing to throw money at the problem. The senate is working on a bill that would invest $120 billion in the nation’s development of cutting-edge technology and manufacturing. Known as the Endless Frontier Act, the legislation would fund new research on a scale that its proponents say has not been seen since the Cold War. In related news, the European Union blocked an investment deal with China on Thursday, citing concerns with the country’s abysmal human rights record.

Executives from the largest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, will testify before lawmakers this week about their actions (or lack thereof) to help struggling Americans and small businesses during the pandemic. Democrats on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees organized the hearings to scrutinize the banks’ role in lending money to alleviate the financial pressures of the past 15 months. The testimony could affect how lawmakers seek to regulate Wall Street in the coming years.

The biggest trend on Wall Street right now? Milk made from oats. Shares of Oatly, a company that makes plant-based dairy alternatives, soared 30 percent in its initial public offering on Wednesday. Amazon indefinitely extended its ban on police usage of its facial recognition software, which has faced ethical criticism. And New York City lifted nearly all of its pandemic restrictions, allowing businesses to welcome customers back at full capacity.

Categories
Business

Massive week of earnings with Snowflake and Toll Brothers reporting

Big week of earnings with Snowflake and Toll Brothers reporting

CNBC’s Jim Cramer is eager to begin focusing back on the stock market, but the cryptocurrency craze is still capturing Wall Street’s attention.

He expects that bitcoin and other speculative coins will continue to be top of mind, and the big declines being witnessed in crypto markets will drag on stocks. This could create buying opportunities for investors in stocks as another packed week of earnings rolls through.

“All in all, this is a historically slow week, but there are enough new companies reporting that it’s now jam-packed,” Cramer, discussing his game plan for next week, said on “Mad Money” Friday.

The week ahead will close out trading for the month. With the exception of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the major U.S. indexes are down month to date. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is down 3.5% in May, while the S&P 500 has lost 0.6% over that time period. The Dow is up about 1% in May.

Cramer gave viewers a preview of the upcoming corporate earnings reports he has circled on his calendar.

“Maybe, just maybe, that can overshadow bitcoin, as long as Elon Musk can keep his mouth shut about crypto,” he said.

Projections for revenue and earnings per share are based on FactSet estimates:

Monday: Lordstown Motors earnings

Lordstown Motors

  • Q1 2021 earnings release: after market; conference call: 4:30 p.m.
  • Projected losses per share: 28 cents
  • Projected revenue: $0

“Right now, this market despises all the pre-revenue SPAC plays because they burned people so badly over the last few months,” Cramer said. “Lordstown’s stock’s down roughly 70% from its highs. I don’t know how they can get their mojo back, but, you know, maybe they’ll surprise me.”

Tuesday: Autozone, Intuit, Toll Brothers earnings

Autozone

  • Fiscal Q3 2021 earnings release: before market; conference call: 10 a.m.
  • Projected EPS: $20.13
  • Projected revenue: $3.27 billion

“This is a very reliable company, so you can get in the zone both before and after earnings,” Cramer said.

Intuit

  • Fiscal Q3 2021 earnings release: after market; conference call: 4:30 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: $6.51
  • Projected revenue: $4.42 billion

“Intuit’s stock hit an all-time high today,” he said. “I don’t think that’s going to deter buyers.”

Toll Brothers

  • Fiscal Q2 2021 earnings release: after market; conference call: Wednesday, 8:30 a.m.
  • Projected EPS: 80 cents
  • Projected revenue: $1.78 billion

“If Toll tells a story of strong orders and … expanding gross margins, I think the stock can get its groove back,” the host said. “But everything has to be perfect, including assurances from management that lumber and appliance costs are indeed under control.”

Wednesday: Dick’s Sporting Goods, American Eagle Outfitters, Williams-Sonoma, Nvidia, Snowflake, Okta, Workday earnings

Dick’s Sporting Goods

  • Q1 2021 earnings release: before market; conference call: Wednesday, 8:30 a.m.
  • Projected EPS: $1.16
  • Projected revenue: $2.2 billion

“I bet they deliver astounding numbers because all sorts of sporting goods are in short supply as Americans venture outdoors en masse,” Cramer said.

American Eagle Outfitters

  • Q1 2021 earnings release: 4:15 p.m.; conference call: 4:30 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: 46 cents
  • Projected revenue: $1.02 billion

“I think we could see similar strength from American Eagle, as it’s currently the hottest apparel chain on earth,” he said.

Williams-Sonoma

  • Q1 2021 earnings release: after market; conference call: 5 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: $1.72
  • Projected revenue: $1.5 billion

“I expect great numbers, but it’s been tagged as a stay-at-home stock of late, which is the kiss of death in this post-pandemic market,” the host said.

Nvidia

  • Fiscal Q1 2022 earnings release: after market; conference call: 5 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: $3.28
  • Projected revenue: $5.39 billion

“I think the chipmaker has a lot going for it, but I still want to hear how confident they feel about getting regulatory permission for the Arm Holdings acquisition,” he said.

Snowflake

  • Fiscal Q1 2022 earnings release: after market; conference call: 5 p.m.
  • Projected losses per share: 16 cents
  • Projected revenue: $360 million

Okta

  • Fiscal Q1 2022 earnings release: after market; conference call: 5 p.m.
  • Projected losses per share: 12 cents
  • Projected revenue: $309 million

“They’re two of the fastest-growing companies on earth,” Cramer said. “I expect great numbers from both, but you should only buy them if you think this market will change its attitude toward high-flying growth names that don’t trade on earnings — they trade on sales.”

Workday

  • Fiscal Q1 2022 earnings release: after market; conference call: 4:30 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: 73 cents
  • Projected revenue: $1.16 billion

“Workday should deliver still one more stunning quarter as they use cloud-software to automate back-office jobs in human resources and finance,” he said.

Thursday: Best Buy, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Medtronic, Gap, Ulta Beauty, Costco, Salesforce, Dell earnings

Best Buy

  • Fiscal Q1 earnings release: 7 a.m.; conference call: 8 a.m.
  • Projected EPS: $1.36
  • Projected revenue: $10.32 billion

Dollar General

  • Fiscal Q1 earnings release: TBD; conference call: 10 a.m.
  • Projected EPS: $2.13
  • Projected revenue: $8.16 billion

Dollar Tree

  • Q1 2021 earnings release: TBD; conference call: 5 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: $1.40
  • Projected revenue: $6.4 billion

“I like all three and think they’re good stimulus plays, but their stocks have become awfully controversial and I don’t really care for controversy,” Cramer said. “There are easier ways to make money.”

Medtronic

  • Fiscal Q4 2021 earnings release: 6:45 a.m.; conference call: 8 a.m.
  • Projected EPS: $1.42
  • Projected revenue: $8.14 billion

“I bet they report a stellar number because its medical devices are being installed in record numbers post-pandemic,” he said. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand from people who delayed surgery until they could get vaccinated.”

Gap

  • Q1 earnings release: 4:15 p.m.; conference call: 5 p.m.
  • Projected losses per share: 6 cents
  • Projected revenue: $3.41 billion

“Gap is very much back, something you can tell if you visit their stores: crisp, clean and reasonable prices,” the host said.

Ulta Beauty

  • Q1 2021 earnings release: after market; conference call: 4:30 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: $1.95
  • Projected revenue: $1.65 billion

“Ulta’s a big winner once everyone can take their masks off,” he said.

Costco

  • Fiscal Q3 2021 earnings release: 4:15 p.m.; conference call: 5 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: $2.31
  • Projected revenue: $43.64 billion

“Costco has a tendency to run up into the quarter and then sell off immediately even if the numbers are great. Doesn’t matter what they print,” Cramer said. “I love Costco the store, I love Costco the stock … but you don’t want to buy it until after you see the results — let this one come to you.”

Salesforce

  • Fiscal Q1 2022 earnings release: after market; conference call: 5 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: 88 cents
  • Projected revenue: $5.89 billion

“Salesforce reported a barnburner last time and nobody seemed to care, maybe because they still need to close the Slack acquisition,” he said.

Dell

  • Q1 2022 earnings release: 5:30 p.m.; conference call: 5:30 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: $1.71
  • Projected revenue: $23.80 billion

“You can buy it ahead of time because [CEO] Michael Dell’s going to tell a fantastic story,” the host said. “I bet they’ll have a terrific quarter.”

Friday: Big Lots, Hibbett Sports earnings

Big Lots

  • Fiscal Q1 2021 earnings release: TBD; conference call: 8 a.m.
  • Projected EPS: $1.69
  • Projected revenue: $1.54 billion

Hibbett Sports

  • Q1 2022 earnings release: after market; conference call: 5 p.m.
  • Projected EPS: $2.56
  • Projected revenue: $404 million

“I’m betting both will be terrific,” Cramer said.

Disclosure: Cramer’s charitable trust owns shares of Salesforce, Nvidia and Costco.

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Categories
World News

Inventory futures dip barely after Wall Avenue’s worst week since February

Stock futures dip slightly after Wall Street's worst week since February

Dealer on the floor of the NYSE.

Source: NYSE

Stock futures fell back in overnight trading on Sunday after last week’s sell-off triggered by inflationary fluctuations.

The futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 60 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures also traded in slightly negative territory.

Bitcoin price fell more than 7% to around $ 44,000 after Tesla CEO Elon Musk hinted in a Twitter exchange on Sunday that the electric vehicle maker may have dumped its Bitcoin holdings. Last week, for environmental reasons, Tesla decided to stop Bitcoin for car purchases.

Wall Street has had one of the wildest weeks of 2021, with the S&P 500 down 4% midweek on heightened inflation fears. The broad equity benchmark ended the week after a consecutive rally with a loss of 1.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which was particularly hard hit by higher price pressures, fell 2.3% last week. The blue chip Dow fell 1.1% over the period. All three benchmarks had their worst week since February 26th.

“Not only [last] The week’s events are a warning sign of how uncomfortable inflationary pressures can get, but also a warning sign of how overbought the stock markets have become, “JPMorgan chief executive officer Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said in a note.

Last week’s data showed that the consumer price index was up 4.2% yoy in April. This was the fastest rate since 2008, adding to fears that the Federal Reserve may be forced to taper its loose monetary policy if price pressures persist.

The Fed’s minutes of its last meeting, released on Wednesday, may provide some clues as to how policymakers are thinking about inflation.

Elsewhere, the first quarter earnings season ends with more than 90% of the S&P 500 companies reporting their results. So far, 86% of the S&P 500 companies have reported a positive EPS surprise. That would be the highest percentage of positive earnings surprises since 2008 when FactSet started tracking this metric.

Walmart, Home Depot and Macy’s will all be making profits on Tuesday.

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Categories
Business

The Week in Enterprise: A Ransom for Gas

The Week in Business: A Ransom for Fuel

Good morning and good sunday. Here’s what you need to know in the business and technical news for the week ahead. – Charlotte Cowles

A cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest fuel arteries in the US, resulted in an average gasoline price of over $ 3 per gallon for the first time since 2014. Panicked buyers lined up at the pump for fear of a shortage, which of course made the problem worse. To appease the hackers believed to be part of a foreign organized crime group, Colonial Pipeline paid nearly $ 5 million in ransom – a surrender that could encourage other criminals to take American companies hostage . Operators of the pipeline restored service late last week, but said the supply chain would take several days to get back to normal.

A new report from the Department of Labor confirmed what you may have noticed: the prices of consumer goods such as clothing, groceries and other housewares rose 4 percent in April year over year, beating past forecasts. Economists attribute the surge to pandemic-related issues such as higher shipping and fuel costs, disruptions in supplies, rising demand and staff shortages in factories and distribution centers. The Federal Reserve tried to allay inflation fears by insisting that the surge was temporary. Even so, the news frightened the stock market. Retail sales in April fell short of expectations and remained stable, but showed a slowdown in growth after a blockbuster March.

Still looking to break into some of the cryptocurrency market, Facebook is currently revising its digital currency project (formerly known as Libra, now called Diem) to address concerns from US officials that it is being used for money laundering and other illegal purposes could. The company is also moving the project from Switzerland to the US after trying to get approval from Swiss regulators. In other crypto news, Tesla CEO Elon Musk abruptly returned his support for Bitcoin and tweeted that his company would no longer accept the cryptocurrency as payment due to the fossil fuels used for mining and transactions. After his tweet, the price of Bitcoin fell more than 10 percent.

To get 70 percent of American adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4th, the federal and state governments are adding additional incentives. (In case you and others are safe and the ability to go maskless wasn’t a good reason.) The Biden administration has partnered with hail shipping companies Uber and Lyft to offer free transportation starting May 24th Offering Vaccination Centers Across the Country West Virginia is working on a plan to offer $ 100 savings bonds to people aged 16 to 35 who get their shots. And those who receive the vaccine in Ohio will be entered into a lottery that will award $ 1 million in prize money every week for five weeks starting May 26th.

Ellen DeGeneres will end her talk show next year after nearly two decades on the air. Her program saw a sharp drop in ratings after employees complained about a toxic workplace and accused producers of sexual harassment. The allegations looked particularly dire given Ms. DeGeneres’ slogan, “Be Kind,” which has become a branded juggernaut used to market goods to her fans. Although Ms. DeGeneres publicly apologized for the incidents in September, the show has lost more than a million viewers since then, a 43 percent decline from about 2.6 million last season. From September to February, advertising revenue fell by 20 percent year-on-year.

Fighting to recruit workers in a tight labor market, McDonald’s is the latest fast food company to raise hourly wages after recently gaining a foothold in chain restaurants like Chipotle and Olive Garden. However, McDonald’s raise only applies to company-owned restaurants, which are a small part of the business. About 95 percent of US restaurants are independently owned and set their own wages.

Low-income households can now apply for a $ 50 monthly discount for high-speed internet services. Hearst Magazines sold the American edition of Marie Claire to a British publisher. And after more than a year trying to figure out what to do with the competitive retailer Victoria’s Secret, the brand’s parent company decided to split into two independent, publicly traded companies: Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.

With The Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin, speaking with Dame Ellen MacArthur and other economists, discuss what it takes to transform the economy to fight climate change. May 20th at 1:30 p.m. ET RSVP here.

Categories
World News

Earnings reviews, the Fed will check the market rally within the week forward

Earnings reports, the Fed will test the market rally in the week ahead

A Wall Street sign is seen near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City on May 4, 2021.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Investors will see if stocks maintain their newfound momentum over the coming week as major retailers like Walmart and Home Depot report earnings and housing data dominate the calendar.

The Federal Reserve can play a role as well. The minutes of the last meeting will be released on Wednesday and after the above-expected consumer and producer inflation in April, market pros will be watching this closely.

Central bank officials are also scheduled to provide comments, including Fed vice chairman Richard Clarida, who will speak next Monday.

Stocks were volatile. The rally on Thursday and Friday could not undo the heavy losses of the week. Defensive consumer staples, financials and materials were on the right track in major sectors for a positive week. The worst results came in consumer staples, down about 3.7% for the week, and technology, down 2.2%.

Technology stocks were among the top performers on Friday’s rally, up around 2.1%. Energy was the best performer with a plus of more than 3%.

“Watch it with a degree of fear,” said Art Hogan, chief marketing strategist at National Securities. “It’s not that the things that terrified us this week like inflation are going away … I think the fact that we recovered at the end of the week is constructive.” He added that he still expects the market to move forward with seizures and starts.

Fed Ahead

The Fed minutes should basically be a repeat of the last central bank meeting. However, it did so before the consumer price index rose a whopping 4.2% yoy in April.

That final meeting also came before the April employment report, which employed just 266,000 people, a quarter of what was expected.

“I think the Fed is ready to look through these weird data points. They think a data point is not a trend,” said Joseph Song, senior US economist at Bank of America.

However, markets have focused on whether data will help clarify when the Fed might be talking about winding up its bond purchase. This would be a precursor to the slow end of the $ 120 billion monthly asset purchase program and a signal that it is one step closer to the rate hike.

Hogan said when the weak employment report was released, market views had turned away from the idea that the Fed might discuss reducing its bond purchases when it holds its Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in late summer.

But the market returned to that view when the hot CPI report was released on Wednesday.

“We saw a hot CPI and a hot PPI,” said Hogan, referring to the producer price index. “That tells us the Fed could be behind the curve.”

The Fed has announced that it is expecting a temporary rate of inflation, but fears it may not be a temporary spike in the market. However, according to Hogan, investors consoled themselves with a decline in iron ore and copper, which fell nearly 2% over the week.

Retail income and housing

Large retailers report quarterly profits during the week. Walmart and Home Depot will report on Tuesday. Target, TJX and Lowes release results on Wednesday and BJ’s Wholesale and Kohl’s on Thursday.

Another disappointing data point was Friday retail sales in April, which was flat with March. But they are still at a high level. Based on the sales report, Hogan said retailers should have done well.

“You will likely hear the usual suspects outperforming. It used to be Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s,” Hogan said. He said now others like TJX and Gap have joined the list and should do well.

In addition to income, there is housing data. The National Association of Home Builders Sentiment Index will be released on Monday, and construction starts will be released on Tuesday. Existing home sales will be issued on Friday.

Hogan said depending on the data, it could help builders who have fallen hard over the past week. He noted that DR Horton and Hovnanian had both been down for the week.

“The housing index was down 5% for the week, even though it was up 1%. [Friday]. This is a brand new sector that has a lot of implications, “he said.” What is good for home sales is good for auto sales too. It’s good for Home Depot and Lowe’s. “

Home builders were part of a broad market that rebounded on Friday.

Scott Redler, chief strategist at T3Live.com, said by the end of the week that some of the growth and tech names were doing better, like Facebook and Alphabet.

“The S&P 500 held the 50-day moving average, which is constructive,” he said.

The S&P 500 reached its 50-day period within about a dozen points, which is the average price of the last 50 closes. It is often a level that acts as a support, but when broken it can signal a negative trend.

The S&P 500 fell 1.5% for the week to 4,173.85. The Nasdaq ended the week at 13,429.98, down 2.3% from the week.

“The tech sector under pressure held its annual uptrend earlier in the week. Today it felt a little better than the rest of the week,” Redler said on Friday. “That doesn’t mean you can get into everything, but you can say that traders are buying better-trading stocks at these prices.”

Calendar for the week ahead

Monday

Merits: Hostess Brands, Lordstown Motors, Tencent

8:30 am Raphael Bostic, Atlanta Fed President, on CNBC

8:30 a.m. Empire production

10:00 am NAHB index

10:25 am Richard Clarida, vice chairman of the Fed, at the Fed conference in Atlanta

4:00 p.m. TIC data

6:00 p.m. Rob Kaplan, President of the Dallas Fed

Tuesday

Merits: Walmart, Home Depot, Macys, Baidu, Take-Two Interactive, Trip.com, NetEase

8:30 a.m. Housing construction begins

11:05 am Rob Kaplan, President of the Dallas Fed

Wednesday

Merits: Target, Lowe’s, JD.Com, Cisco, Schuhkarneval, TJX, Eagle Materials, Analog Devices, L Brands

10:00 am James Bullard, St. Louis Fed President, on economics and monetary policy

2 p.m. FOMC minutes

Thursday

Merits: BJ’s Wholesale, Kohl’s, Petco, Ralph Lauren, Applied Materials, Ross Stores, Deckers Outdoor, Hormel Foods, Palo Alto Networks

8:30 am Initial jobless claims

8:30 a.m. Philadelphia Fed

10:00 a.m. leading indicators

10:00 a.m. St. Louis Fed’s Bullard

10:30 a.m. Dallas Fed Chaplain

Friday

Merits: Deere, Foot Locker, Buckle, VF Corp, Booz Allen Hamilton

9:45 am Markit Manufacturing PMI

9:45 a.m. Markit Services PMI

10:00 am Existing home sales

12:15 p.m. Dallas Fed Chaplain, Atlanta Fed Bostic, and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin in a panel

1:30 p.m. Mary Daly, San Francisco Fed President

Categories
Business

WHO says it accounts for 50% of reported instances final week

WHO classifies triple-mutant Covid variant from India as global health risk

A Covon-19 coronavirus patient rests in a banquet room temporarily converted into a Covid care center in New Delhi on May 10, 2021.

Arun Sankar | AFP | Getty Images

India’s daily Covid-19 death toll hit another record high on Wednesday as the World Health Organization said the country accounted for half of all reported cases worldwide last week.

Health ministry data showed that at least 4,205 people died within 24 hours – the largest increase in deaths in a day the South Asian country has reported since the pandemic began. However, reports suggest that India’s death toll is under counting.

A total of 23 million cases have been reported in India and more than 254,000 people have died.

The World Health Organization said India accounted for half of all cases reported worldwide last week, as well as 30% of the world’s deaths.

India has reported more than 300,000 cases per day for 21 consecutive days. However, on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said its data showed a net decrease in total active cases over a 24-hour period for the first time in 61 days.

The second wave began around February and accelerated until March and April, after large crowds, mostly without masks, were allowed to gather for religious festivals and election campaigns in different parts of the country.

India’s health system is under tremendous pressure from the surge in cases despite the influx of international aid, including oxygen concentrators, bottles and generation equipment, and the antiviral drug remdesivir.

To ease pressure on healthcare workers, India is recruiting 400 former medical officers from the armed forces, the Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

WHO update on India, South Asia

In its latest weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic, the UN Department of Health said it was observing “worrying trends” in India’s neighboring countries, where cases are also increasing.

In Nepal, for example, nearly 50% of all people tested for Covid-19 are reported to be infected as the inland struggles with a second wave. Vaccines are said to have run out when India stopped exporting given the situation at home.

The WHO recently classified variant B.1.617 of Covid, which was first discovered in India, as a matter of concern, indicating that it has become a global threat. The variant has three sub-lines, “which differ by a few, but possibly relevant mutations in the spike protein as well as by the worldwide prevalence of detection,” said the WHO in the report.

India’s dramatic increase in cases has raised questions about the role of Covid variants such as the B.1.617 and B.1.1.7, which were first discovered in the UK.

The International Health Authority said it recently carried out a risk assessment of the situation in India and found that the resurgence and acceleration of Covid-19 transmission in the country have several likely factors may have increased portability, as well as mass gatherings and lower compliance with public health and social measures.

“The exact contributions of these factors to increased transmission in India are not precisely known,” said the WHO.

Elsewhere, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not personally attend a G7 summit in the UK next month due to the situation in Covid-19 at home, the Indian Foreign Ministry said. Modi was invited as a special guest by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the ministry said.

Categories
Business

Pipeline Hit by Ransomware Hopes to Restart by Finish of Week

Pipeline Shutdown Has Had Little Impact on Supplies So Far

An oil and gas pipeline system that had to be shut down on Friday after a ransomware attack is not expected to be “substantially” restored until the end of the week, the operator Colonial Pipeline announced on Monday.

“As this situation continues to flow and evolve, the colonial operations team is executing a plan that includes an incremental process that will make it easier to get back up and running gradually,” said a statement posted on its website. “This plan is based on a number of factors, security and compliance driving our operational decisions, and the goal of substantially restoring operational service by the end of the week.”

The company said it monitored its customers’ shipments and worked with shippers to move fuel.

The sudden shutdown of 5,500 miles of pipeline, which the company claims represents nearly half of the east coast’s fuel supply, was a worrying sign of weaknesses in the country’s energy infrastructure. The shutdown had raised concerns about fueling much of the pipeline across the country. As a result, gasoline futures prices had risen on Monday, and analysts said a longer shutdown could push them up even further – which could potentially impact the prices consumers pay for gasoline at the pump. Experts said several airports depend on the jet fuel pipeline, including those in Nashville, Baltimore-Washington, and Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, NC, could have a tough time later in the week. Airports usually store enough jet fuel for three to five days of operation.

This is a developing story. Check for updates again.