Blog Post

U.S. Stocks End the Week Mixed as Virus Uptick and Inflation Concerns Remain

Stock indices ended the week mixed as a new virus surge and inflation concerns dampen equities. 

Treasury yields fell with the 30-year bond yield closing at 1.915% and the 10-Year note closing at 1.549%.  Crude oil fell to $76.11 a barrel and natural gas rose to $5.155 per MMBTUs.  The U.S. dollar index rose to 96.07 and gold fell to $1846.80 an ounce.

In the economic numbers:

  • China reported:
    • Industrial production rose 3.5% from a year earlier in October, an increase from the 3.1% year over year in September despite rolling power outages and increased Covid cases.
    • Retail sales rose 4.9% from a year earlier in October, up from 4.4% in September.
  • The Euro area GDP grew at 2.2% in the third quarter.
  • Eurozone inflation was 4.1% in October from a year ago, up from 3.4% year over year in September.
  • UK consumer price rose 4.2% in October from a year ago, the highest since November of 2011.
  • The International Energy Agency forecast that the tight supply and demand balance for oil would ease by year end as production increases in the U.S. and OPEC plus.
  • The U.S. Commerce Department reported:
    • Retail sales rose 1.7% in October versus September.  This was the biggest increase since March.
      • Online retailers rose 4.0%.  Electronics, hardware, and appliance stores also had big gains.
      • Gas stations rose 3.9%.
      • Grocery stores rose 1.1%.
      • Restaurant and bar spending was flat.
    • Housing starts fell 0.7% in the month of October, mainly due to labor shortages and supply chain constraints.
      • Single family housing starts fell 3.9%.
      • Multi-family starts increased 7.1%.
    • New permits, a sign of future housing starts, rose 6.8%, while the backlog of permits issued, but not started, hit the highest level since 2006.
    • Construction costs have risen 12.3% in October from a year ago.
  • The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production rose 1.6% in the month of October.  Industrial production includes:
    • 1.2% increase in manufacturing.
    • 1.2% increase in utility production.
    • 4.1% increase in mining.
      • The oil and gas sector of mining rose 9.3%, the highest since January.
  • The Labor Department reported:
    • First time claims for unemployment were 268,000, down slightly from a revised 269,000 in the prior week.
    • The 4-week moving average of claims, designed to smooth out volatility, fell to 272,750.
    • Continuing claims was little changed at 2.1MM in the week ending November 6th
    • A broader measure of claims including extended benefits, pandemic assistance and other programs rose from 2.6MM to 3.1MM in the week ended October 30th.
    • For the full unemployment report go here:  https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf .
  • The EIA weekly oil report is here: http://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/wpsrsummary.pdf .  Also, the EIA reported in the prior week:
    • Field production of crude oil fell from 11.5MM to 11.4MM BPD.
    • Natural gas storage rose 26BN cubic feet and is slightly below the 5-year average at this time of year.
  • Baker Hughes reported the number of active oil rigs rose 7 to 461.  The number of active natural gas rigs was unchanged at 102.

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Loren C. Rex, CFP®, MA                                                                     Erik A Smith, AIF®

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 These are the opinions of Loren Rex and Erik Smith and are not necessarily those of Cambridge, are for informational purposes only, and should not be construed or acted upon as individualized investment advice.  The Indices mentioned are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.

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