U.S. and World News
The city of Hong Kong has announced a lockdown that will begin at midnight local time as a result of 61 new coronavirus cases. The lockdown will include about 150 residential buildings in the Yau Tsim Mong district and will be enforced by almost 2,000 “disciplined services officers”. The 7.5 million people living in these residential buildings will be restricted from leaving the area until the lockdown is lifted. There have been scattered reports that China has been enforcing localized lockdowns in several areas with outbreaks, as it tries to protect the city of Beijing. China has pointed to the imports of frozen foods as the reason the that the virus was brought into the country.
- Following Inauguration Day, President Joe Biden is moving forward with a series of executive orders. Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday instructing U.S government agencies to use the Defense Production Act to increase supplies of COVID tests, N95 masks, and vaccine syringes, citing the lack of critical supplies to fight the pandemic. The Biden administration is planning for an order that would require people to wear masks in airports and on planes which is similar to the order that was signed on Wednesday requiring people to wear masks on all federal properties. President Biden is also pushing for schools to open in the first 100 days of his presidency.
Markets
- Markets rebounded sharply this week. The S&P 500 jumped 1.96% and closed at 3,841. The Dow Jones rose 0.63% and closed at 30,814. Year-to-date, the S&P 500 is up 2.35% and the Dow Jones is up 1.37%.
- Yields are little changed from last week. The 5 year and 10 year U.S. Treasury Notes are yielding 0.43% and 1.08%, respectively.
- The spot price of WTI Crude fell this week. Prices were down -0.53% and closed at $52.14 per barrel. Year to date, Oil prices are up 7.22%.
- The spot price of Gold rose by 1.39% and closed at $1,853.82 per ounce. Year to date, Gold prices are down -2.35%.
Economic Data - Initial jobless claims fell to 900,000 and the four-week moving average rose by 23,000 to 848,000
- The level of housing starts rose by 5.8% to seasonally-adjusted-annualized-rate of 1.70 million units versus expectations for a reading of 1.56 million
- Building permits rose by 4.5% versus expectations for a decline of -1.7%
- Existing home sales rose by 0.7% to a seasonally-adjusted-annualized-rate of 6.76 million units versus expectations for a decline of -1.9%
Fact of the Week
- Through 9/30/20, 65% of the mortgages that were originated in the United States YTD were refis of existing mortgages (source: Inside Mortgage Finance).
Rich Gartelmann CFP® – (630) 844-5730 rgartelmann@oldsecond.com
Steve Meves CFA® – (630) 801-2217 smeves@oldsecond.com
Brad Johnson CFA®, CFP® – (630) 906-5545 bjohnson@oldsecond.com
Jacqueline Runnberg CFP® – (630) 966-2462 jrunnberg@oldsecond.com
Ed Gorenz – (630) 906-5467 ejgorenz@oldsecond.com
Mike Demski – (630) 966-2430 mdemski@oldsecond.com
Mike Cava CFA®, CFP® – (630) 281-4522 mcava@oldsecond.com
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