Tag: ease

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Stock futures climb after strong economic data helps ease Omicron concerns

The S&P 500 closed at a record on Thursday in a pre-holiday rally along with the Dow and Nasdaq, buoyed by positive data that suggested the Omicron variant was less likely to lead to hospitalizations. The indexes recouped losses from earlier this week after investors shrugged off worries the variant would stunt economic recovery.

The S&P closed at an all time high of 4,725.72, while the Dow ended the week just shy of 36,000. The Nasdaq Composite also closed 130 points up, or 0.85{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}.

“One of the ways pandemics end is significant mutation of the virus. It looks like Omicron may be our friend in that regard, significant mutations different enough from the parent that it doesn’t make people as sick,” True Health Initiative President Dr. David Katz told Yahoo Finance Live.

In other positive news on the COVID-19 front, Merck (MRK) received authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its at-home COVID-19 drug, just one day after Pfizer (PFE) was also approved for use of its own treatment.

The pill developed by Merck in conjunction with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, called molnupiravir, was shown to reduce hospitalizations and deaths by around 30{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} in clinical trial data. Pfizer’s pill was reported to be 90{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients.

Shares of Merck closed down 0.54{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} in early trading at $75.75 a piece, while Pfizer’s stock closed at $58.66 per share, down 1.49{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}.

Investors weighed a trove of economic releases ahead of the holiday weekend.

The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims totaled 205,000, sustaining a downward trend from the highs of their pandemic peak and reflecting labor market tightness brought on by a demand for workers heading into the new year. The latest print brings the four-week moving average for new claims to its lowest in 52 years, ticking up by 2,750 week-over-week to reach 206,250.

Meanwhile, U.S. consumer prices accelerated at the fastest pace in nearly four decades as shoppers confront rising inflation levels ahead of the holidays.

“Workers have a lot of power, and that’s likely to result in continued wage gains,” Girard chief investment officer Timothy Chubb told Yahoo Finance. “What worries us from an inflation standpoint is, at what point do we potentially see some of those inflation risks sort of hand the baton to the labor market?”

Meanwhile, November sales of new U.S. homes jumped 12.4{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} to a seven-month high of 744,000, buoyed by low mortgage rates and higher demand in the housing industry.

U.S. durable goods orders rose by 2.5{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} in November, up from the prior month, boosted by a sharp rise in aircraft orders.

In Wednesday’s trading session, investors weighed an upbeat print on consumer confidence levels and the release of an upwardly revised estimate for domestic GDP, placing all three major averages in the green after a mixed open.

The Conference Board reported consumer confidence increased by a greater-than-expected margin in December, with the headline index at 115.8 during the month and higher than Bloomberg’s consensus estimates of 111.0. In November, the index had a reading of 111.9, revised from an initial report of 109.5. Meanwhile, the nation’s gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2.3{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} in the third quarter in the final estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis after the initial report of 2.1{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}.

“We’ve been saying that this is definitely a buy the dip sort of market because we expect more earnings upgrades to come,” Anik Sen, PineBridge Investments global head of equities told Yahoo Finance Live. “We think that the real debate should be about the length and strength of the economic cycle ahead.”

Thursday’s market gains may be the start of the year-end Santa Claus Rally — one in which stocks climb higher in the final seven trading sessions of a year, plus the first two trading days of the new year. Starting today, traders are looking to see whether nearly a century of data will uphold.

For reasons unclear, over the past 92 years, the S&P 500 gained 77{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of the time during the year-end rally period, according to data from Sundial Capital Research. The average gain in this nine-day trading period tallied 2.66{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}.

4:00 p.m. ET: S&P 500 closes at a record

Here were the main moves as markets closed ahead of the Christmas weekend:

  • S&P 500 (^GSPC): +29.16 (+0.62{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 4,725.72

  • Dow (^DJI): +196.57 (+0.55{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 35,950.46

  • Nasdaq (^IXIC): +131.48 (+0.85{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 15,653.37

  • Crude (CL=F): +$1.13 (+1.55{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $73.89 a barrel

  • Gold (GC=F): +$7.90 (+0.44{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $1,810.10 per ounce

  • 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +3.6 bps to yield 1.4930{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}

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12:32 p.m. ET: S&P 500 climbs to new high

Here were the main moves during intraday trading:

  • S&P 500 (^GSPC): +32.83 (+0.70{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 4,729.39

  • Dow (^DJI): +230.23 (+0.64{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 35,984.12

  • Nasdaq (^IXIC): +128.35 (+0.83{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 15,650.25

  • Crude (CL=F): +$0.92 (+1.26{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $73.68 a barrel

  • Gold (GC=F): +$6.80 (+0.38{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $1,809.00 per ounce

  • 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +3.6 bps to yield 1.4930{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}

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10:21 a.m. ET: New homes sales rise to highest since April

November sales of new U.S. homes jumped 12.4{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} to a seven-month high. The Census Bureau reported that new home sales rose 82,000 last month from October to 744,000, buoyed by low mortgage rates and higher demand in the housing industry.

Forecast ranged between 737,000-850,000 across 51 estimates, with a median of 770,000, according to Bloomberg data.

The median sales price of a new home sold in November was $416,900, 14.1{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} higher than a year ago.

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9:30 a.m. ET: Markets open higher following economic releases

Here were the main moves in markets at open Thursday morning:

  • S&P 500 (^GSPC): +10.69 (+0.23{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 4,707.25

  • Dow (^DJI): +102.67 (+0.29{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 35,856.56

  • Nasdaq (^IXIC): +180.81 (+1.18{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 15,521.89

  • Crude (CL=F): +$0.12 (+0.16{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $72.88 a barrel

  • Gold (GC=F): +$5.30 (+0.29{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $1,807.50 per ounce

  • 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +0.5 bps to yield 1.4620{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}

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9:07 a.m. ET: Consumer prices accelerate, while spending slows

U.S. consumer prices accelerated at the fastest pace in nearly four decades. The Commerce Department reported an increase of 5.7{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} over the past 12 months, reflecting the fastest gain in 39 years as shoppers confront rising inflation levels ahead of the holidays. 

Meanwhile, personal spending rose 0.6{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} in November, a slowdown from last month’s print of 1.4{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}. The figure, which accounts for 70{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} of economic activity, comes amid the latest wave of COVID-19 cases, hinting at the possibility of a broader economic slowdown. 

Personal incomes rose 0.4{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} in November, down slightly from the 0.5{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} increase in October.

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8:42 a.m. ET: Durable goods orders beat expectations

U.S. durable goods orders rose by 2.5{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} in November, up from the prior month, boosted by a sharp rise in aircraft orders.

Core capital goods orders, a measure of business investment in equipment that excludes aircraft and military hardware, fell 0.1{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} after an upwardly revised 0.9{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} increase in October, according to Bloomberg.

The median Bloomberg estimates projected a 0.7{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} increase in core capital goods orders and a 1.8{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} rise in total durables bookings.

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8:30 a.m. ET: First-time unemployment filings remain at pre-pandemic levels

Initial jobless claims remained at pre-pandemic lows, sustaining a downward trend from the highs of their coronavirus peak and reflecting labor market tightness brought on by a demand for workers heading into the new year.

The Labor Department reported on Thursday that new initial jobless claims totaled 205,000 for the week ending December 18, on par with consensus estimates. The latest print brings the four-week moving average for new claims to its lowest in 52 years, ticking up by 2,750 week-over-week to reach 206,250.

“The direction in the labor market recovery remains positive, with demand still strong,” Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist for High Frequency Economics, wrote in a note. “Labor shortages are persisting, preventing a stronger recovery, although these appeared to ease somewhat in November.”

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7:00 a.m. ET: Contracts on Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq edge higher ahead of open

Here’s how markets were moving in early trading on Thursday:

  • S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +13.75 points (+0.29{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}), to 4,699.75

  • Dow futures (YM=F): +107.00 points (+0.30{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}), to 35,739.00

  • Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +34.75 points (+0.21{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 16,204.50

  • Crude (CL=F): +$0.20 (+0.27{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $72.96 a barrel

  • Gold (GC=F): +$5.20 (+0.29{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $1,807.40 per ounce

  • 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +0.08 bps to yield {21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} 130.66

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6:01 p.m. Wednesday ET: Stock futures flat ahead of overnight trading

Here’s how markets were moving in late trading on Wednesday:

  • S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +4.00 points (+0.09{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}), to 4,690.00

  • Dow futures (YM=F): +19.00 points (+0.05{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}), to 35,651.00

  • Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +11.05 points (+0.07{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 16,181.25

  • Crude (CL=F): +$0.30 (+0.41{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $73.06 a barrel

  • Gold (GC=F): +$3.00 (+0.17{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to $1,805.20 per ounce

  • 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +0.06 bps to yield {21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} 161.4375

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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc

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Amid rise of omicron, businesses ease up on return-to-work policies

No person tells Silicon Valley and Wall Avenue bigwigs what to do — besides, of training course, the rapidly-spreading Covid-19 omicron variant. 

Mere months in the past, corporate The usa was on the lookout ahead to 2022 as the time when ultimately, belatedly, the place of work would go back to ordinary. Now, all those strategies are scrambled, and human means specialists say the setback is still a further blow for executives who tried using to undertaking decisiveness in the facial area of a speedily evolving risk and beleaguered personnel alike. 

“Employers are now acknowledging it’s not possible to return staff members through yet an additional surge in the an infection,” said Dr. Neal Mills, main clinical officer at consulting services enterprise Aon. 

It really is a further blow for executives who experimented with to job decisiveness in the facial area of a swiftly evolving wellbeing risk.&nbsp

The bounce in scenarios now is acquiring an effect in some areas: Foodie blog Eater NY counted 12 New York City dining places that have declared temporary closures as situations increase, with owners citing a require to guard their staffers and patrons.  

Omicron compelled tech titans to retreat: Google father or mother Alphabet and Apple both abandoned timelines that would have brought personnel back again to workplaces in January and February, respectively. 

Quite a few boldface names in the entire world of finance have also backed off in-business perform. Citigroup explained staff members in the New York City metro space can perform from residence by means of the holiday seasons, in accordance to Bloomberg. Citi has a great deal of company: Bloomberg also mentioned investment bank Jefferies Money Group, hedge fund Citadel, alongside with asset administration giants Blackstone and Carlyle Team, all issued directives allowing workers to work remotely when once more. 

On Saturday, CNN introduced that its workplaces would be shut to all personnel who careers did not have to have them to be there. The NBC Common Information Group, which includes NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC, emailed its staff members on Sunday to say that all workers who can do the job from property should do so right until further more detect.

It’s an awkward place for quite a few of these organizations to be in, since a lot of experienced been vocal about their desire to see men and women back again in the workplace. In an interview with CNBC, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman — who had earlier pushed for a Labor Day return to the workplace — admitted, “I was wrong on this.” He predicted that the current keeping sample could extend effectively into 2022, declaring, “everybody’s even now getting their way.”

A the latest survey of CFOs carried out by consulting company Deloitte found that 88 per cent assume hybrid get the job done to be a fixture at their organization in the future year. Steve Gallucci, Deloitte’s North The us chief of the CFO system, mentioned it was a tacit acknowledgment that even the most effective-laid programs are no match for a pandemic.

“They’re recognizing that for many industries, a hybrid technique is really desirable to each the staff and the employer,” Gallucci explained.  

“The most important worries came from individuals that ended up the most optimistic” in scheduling their return to the business office, Mills claimed. The prospect of another setback is yet another blow to the presently sapped morale of workers. “There has been some decline of self esteem from personnel,” he mentioned.

Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of the Society for Human Source Administration, claimed providers whose prime brass had been vocal about their distaste for doing work from dwelling have been remaining in a tricky location as a end result.

“When you announce that you are heading to drive off the return to get the job done, there is a tacit acknowledgement that you’re heading to be impacted negatively as a business,” Taylor reported. 

There is also appreciable uncertainty on the vaccine entrance, with no clear solutions about how vaccine mandates — or deficiency thereof — will effect people’s willingness to re-interact in a common business office placing. SHRM identified in a November survey that 51 per cent of companies with workforces of more than 100, which would be subject matter to President Joe Biden’s federal vaccine mandate, are ready right up until authorized issues to the mandate are settled. Three-quarters of study respondents explained that if the directive does not keep up in court, they are not likely to impose their possess vaccine or testing specifications. 

Deloitte’s CFO survey turned up related findings, with 52 percent of respondents anticipating vaccine demands for workers performing on-site. 

The cumulative influence is a single of exhaustion. In a recent survey, Taylor explained, “One in four workforce have stated they’re experience isolated, depressed and a minimal hopeless simply because of the have to have for human interaction, and that’s participating in alone out in the office from a mental wellbeing and wellness point of view.”

One in 4 employees have claimed they are emotion a tiny hopeless mainly because of the will need for human conversation.

“There is undoubtedly Covid fatigue. Omicron is just introducing to that all round emotion,” HR specialist Artwork Glover mentioned by using electronic mail. “It seems to be a single extended, continuous slog by means of this pandemic, with the ongoing threats of an infection ebbing and elevating.”

Despite the press on the portion of CEOs to carry personnel again into the office, numerous individuals have recognized they can be far more successful from working at property — an unintended consequence that has benefitted providers experiencing climbing payroll fees in a limited labor current market. This could backfire, while: The extra efficiency that arrives when people today are operating from property can promptly turn into as well much of a great thing if it triggers employee burnout or departures, Taylor reported. 

“It results in a serious tension. On a single hand, we as employers know excellent productiveness is very good,” he claimed. “But if they come to be significantly less successful and successful in excess of time, then you’ve shot on your own in the foot.”

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Stock futures extend gains as virus fears ease

Stock futures opened higher on Monday to hold onto gains after a recovery rally, with investors at least temporarily shaking off concerns over a new coronavirus variant and looking ahead to new market catalysts. 

Contracts on the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq rose. Each of the three major indexes had ended the regular trading day solidly in the green, with technology stocks leading the way higher and helping pull the Nasdaq up by nearly 2{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}. 

Investors were heartened by remarks from the White House, when President Joe Biden said the newly discovered Omicron coronavirus variant was “not a cause for panic.” Biden said he intended to announce on Thursday the White House’s strategy for addressing coronavirus this winter, and that this plan would not include lockdowns, but would instead emphasize vaccinations, boosters and testing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday updated its guidance to say all individuals aged 18 and older “should” get a booster coronavirus vaccine, strengthening this from previous language primarily aimed at getting those considered most at risk an additional dose of the shots. 

Prospects that widespread lockdowns would likely not come to the U.S. in the face of the latest variant helped fuel a broad risk-on rally on Monday. This came in sharp contrast with Friday’s moves immediately following the World Health Organization’s announcement of Omicron as a “variant of concern,” which sparked the Dow’s worst plunge since Oct. 2020. 

“This is not a repeat of March 2020,” Paul Schatz, Heritage Capital President, told Yahoo Finance Live on Monday. “This looks nothing like March of 2020, yet it’s so recent in our history, people immediately think, ‘Omicron is here, oh my gosh this is going to be a 30{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} decline, we’re going to go straight down’ … You need to equally weigh history, not weigh it based on how recent it was in your memory.”

Still, the sectors and individual stocks that outperformed on Monday were largely technology names, which have served as defensive trades throughout the pandemic as investors bet on more stay-in-place behavior among consumers. 

But at the same time, the emergence of the latest variant has also led a number of pundits to speculate that the Federal Reserve might take a more dovish approach to monetary policy to continue supporting the economy as it deals with ongoing virus-related concerns. That could in turn keep interest rates low for longer and support longer-duration growth stocks. 

“To take a step back, I think you had a global economy that in the fourth quarter [of 2020] through last week was looking incredibly strong … and then a new variant comes along,” Andrew Sheets, Morgan Stanley chief cross-assets strategist, told Yahoo Finance Live. “That would seem to work against a lot of the trades that work in that high-growth environment, and also seemed to disrupt this ‘do central banks need to act more aggressively’ narrative, because if there’s a new variant, then maybe we should be more cautious.”

Major vaccine-makers including Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna have already said they were collecting data on the Omicron variant and determining whether and how they would need to rework their existing vaccines to address it. Researchers have also not yet determined whether the new variant is definitively more easily transmitted, or responsible for more severe illness, than previous versions of the virus. 

“Information is coming rapidly, it’s evolving in real-time. You can understand why investors [last week] were taking a little bit of a pause, particularly given the liquidity situation we had going into the U.S. holiday season,” Vivek Paul, BlackRock investment institution U.K. chief investment strategist, told Yahoo Finance Live on Monday. “I think the reaction you see today puts it in a little bit of context. We’ve seen more information come out, clearly we have to await the science and a bit more detail with regards to the longevity of how Omicron plays out.”

“But we would be in-line with the market reaction today: We think on balance, it would make sense to be invested in the markets at this moment in time,” he added. “It’s all about understanding whether or not this is a delay, or a derailment, of the restart that we’ve seen. And it seems most likely at this moment — not withstanding more information to come— that it looks like a delay.” 

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6:15 p.m. ET Monday: Stock futures hold onto gains

Here were the main moves in markets as the overnight session kicked off: 

  • S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +9 points (+0.19{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}), to 4,660.00

  • Dow futures (YM=F): +78 points (+0.22{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}), to 35,155.00

  • Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +29 points (+0.18{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}) to 16,419.75

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter