THE DAILY NEWS

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CNBC

"Despite rising inflation, experts say the Fed won’t budge on rates"


Elliot Smith @ElliotSmithCNBC

Published Fri, Mar 5 2021

Key Points

* Stocks have been tethered over the past week to rising Treasury yields and the possibility that the Fed will tighten monetary policy to tackle an expected rise in inflation.

* On Thursday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that “some upward pressure on prices” could occur as the economy reopens, noting that he expects the central bank to be “patient” on policy action even if the economy sees “transitory increases in inflation.”


The U.S. Federal Reserve won’t step in to temper rising inflation any time soon, market watchers have said, despite surging yields that have roiled global stock markets.

Stocks have been tethered over the past week to rising Treasury yields and the possibility that the Fed will tighten monetary policy to tackle an expected rise in inflation.

On Thursday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that “some upward pressure on prices” could occur as the economy reopens, noting that he expects the central bank to be “patient” on policy action even if the economy sees “transitory increases in inflation.”

Though the Fed has consistently vowed to keep its monetary policy accommodative and suggested employment and inflation are still well below target, Powell’s comments sent the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield back above 1.5% and rattled global stock markets.

That yield hit an intraday high of 1.626% on Friday after a solid jobs report.

“The bond market vigilantes can shout all they want, but for now, the Fed is not planning to twist."

"Maybe that changes if bond markets become disorderly enough to trigger credit spread widening, but that’s not happening yet.” Kit Juckes, Societe Generale’s global head of foreign exchange strategy, said in a research note.


“Maybe, not giving in to every whim of the equity market being held hostage by every wobble in risk sentiment, reflects an awareness of the bigger picture — overvalued stock markets are more dangerous than slightly higher bond yields,” he said.

Inflation ‘will fall back’ toward target in 2022

The Fed has referred to contingent forward guidance and vowed to consider the underlying data as it looks to steer the economy out of the coronavirus crisis.

“Their projections for the economy suggest that inflation, after a burst this year, will fall back towards target in 2022, and that the job market needs to be very hot in a more comprehensive way than we have seen in the past for them to start tightening policy,” said Francesco Garzarelli, head of macro research at Eisler Capital.

Garzarelli told CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” on Friday that the steepening of the yield curve was consistent with the Fed’s current framework of adapting to the incoming data rather than operating according to forecasts, particularly when factoring in positive news on vaccinations and fiscal stimulus.

“What stops it, I think, here the Fed wants to have full control over the front end of the curve and I think it may come out if the situation gets very rowdy in stepping up its guidance at the front end,” he said, adding that the central bank was unlikely to tinker with the long end of the curve.

The front end of the curve refers to short-term debt securities, rather than longer dated bonds.

Powell emphasized on Thursday that the rise in bond yields and adverse market reaction was not considered by the central bank to be a “disorderly” one that would require direct intervention.

Charalambos Pissouros, senior market analyst at JFD Bank, also noted the Fed’s willingness to overshoot its 2% inflation target for several months in the short term with the hope of stabilizing further down the line.

“As a result, we expect fears over high inflation to ease in the foreseeable future, which may allow equities and other risk-linked assets to rebound,” he said in a note Friday.

“As for the dollar, it may come under selling interest on more signs that the Fed is likely to stay accommodative for longer than previously assumed.”

Meanwhile, Santa Lucia Asset Management’s James Morton believes that the Fed is likely to tweak its policy in the near term if inflation, and yields, continue to rise.

“The U.S. government is the biggest debtor after all and they cannot afford higher interest rates,” Morton told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Friday.

Data also provided by Reuters

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/despite ... rates.html
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REUTERS

"Senate stalls on Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID aid bill over jobless benefits fight"


By Richard Cowan, Makini Brice

March 5, 2021

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats’ effort to advance President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid bill stalled on Friday as senators jousted over how long to extend enhanced unemployment benefits and how much to offer during the pandemic.

After the Senate defeated a last-ditch attempt by some of Biden’s fellow Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage, work on his first major legislative package since taking office in January ground to a halt for hours as senators met behind closed doors to find a way forward.

“We’re completely stalled out,” No. 2 Senate Republican John Thune told reporters.

Unemployment compensation was the focus on Friday, although it was just one of many battles ahead on the sweeping bill, as the Senate braced to deal with scores of amendments and a debate that could extend into the weekend.

The legislation currently calls for providing $400 per week in federal jobless benefits, on top of state benefits, through Aug. 29 to help Americans who have lost jobs amid the economic trauma caused by the coronavirus.

A Democratic congressional aide said liberal and moderate senators have agreed a compromise that would set the federal benefit at $300 per week, on top of state benefits, through September.

But Republican Senator Rob Portman is pushing a competing plan that would put the benefit at $300, but only through July 18.

Major business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business supported Portman’s plan.

Moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, a pivotal vote in the closely divided Senate, had been pushing to lower the benefit from the bill’s current $400, the amount already approved by the House.

Republicans said Manchin was being pressured by Democrats to stick with their compromise and not support Portman’s plan.

Aides to Manchin did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Democratic plan.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the delay in the Senate was “to break somebody’s political arm” and that Biden’s promise of bipartisanship was ringing hollow.

“To President Biden: Is this the new way of doing business?” Graham said to reporters.


Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, told reporters there were efforts under way to find “some common ground” between the Democratic and Republican proposals.

Democrats hold a slim majority in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Congress is scrambling to complete work on the legislation so Biden can sign it into law before March 14, when some existing pandemic-related benefits are due to expire.

With no votes to spare, Senate Democrats must keep all 50 of their members on board, allowing Vice President Kamala Harris to cast the deciding vote if no Republicans support the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is walking a tightrope as he tries to steer the bill through the Senate, aiming to keep Senate liberals and moderates happy while not alienating House Democrats.

Since the Senate has already changed the bill by removing the House-passed minimum wage increase, if it votes to approve the legislation it would have to be sent back to the House for final passage.


MINIMUM WAGE HIKE REJECTED

Senators rejected a proposal by Senator Bernie Sanders to more than double the $7.25-per-hour federal minimum wage to $15 over five years.

Sanders called the current level a “starvation” wage that has been in place for more than a decade.

The Senate fell far short of the 60 votes needed to overrule the Senate parliamentarian’s decision that a minimum wage increase cannot be included in the bill because of special rules governing debate.

Those rules allow for advancing the emergency spending bill, which the Biden administration has said is needed to stem the continuing economic fallout from the pandemic, with only a simple majority of supporters in the 100-member Senate, instead of 60 votes needed for most bills to clear procedural hurdles.

Democrats pledged to continue pursuing the minimum wage increase in separate legislation.

As Congress raced to approve the bill, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday that U.S. employment surged in February, adding 379,000 jobs, significantly higher than many economists had expected.

The U.S. unemployment rate, while still high at 6.2% last month, was down from 6.3% in January.

With Senate Republicans so far moving in lock-step against the bill, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the legislation “a poorly-targeted rush job,” adding, “Our country is already set for a roaring recovery."

"We are already on track to bounce back from this crisis” without fresh stimulus money.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki defended the $1.9 trillion price tag, noting that Friday’s jobs data showed the country would not return to pre-pandemic employment levels for two years, with 9.5 million people still out of work.

“If that’s satisfying to Republicans in Congress, then certainly they can speak for themselves,” Psaki told a briefing.

Republicans, who broadly backed COVID-19 relief spending early in the pandemic when Donald Trump was president, have criticized the Democratic-backed bill’s price tag.

The relief legislation includes funding for vaccines and medical supplies, extends jobless assistance and provides a new round of emergency financial aid to households, small businesses and state and local governments.

Opinion polls indicate broad public support for the package.

Reporting by Richard Cowan and Makini Brice; Additional reporting by David Morgan; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Scott Malone, Paul Simao and Daniel Wallis

https://www.reuters.com/article/health- ... SL2N2L31BU
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REUTERS

"Unfazed by bond market, Fed sets course for sustained, easy policy"


By Ann Saphir, Dan Burns, Jonnelle Marte

March 5, 2021

(Reuters) - U.S. central bankers on Friday signaled they do not plan to touch the dial on their super-easy policy for some time, expressing little concern over the rapid rise in U.S. Treasury yields in recent weeks, and hope for a robust recovery.

A drop in infections, accelerating vaccinations and likely passage of a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package have driven a surge in bond yields.

Some who worry about inflation have speculated the Fed would act to bolster its current bond-buying program to push down long-term borrowing costs.

Fed officials are not biting.

“If we were seeing a real uptick in real yields, that would give me pause, that would give me concern that the amount of accommodation we are providing to the economy is reducing, and that might warrant us considering a policy response,” Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said.

“We are not seeing much movement in real yields” he added, but rather an increase in what bond investors are demanding in compensation to reflect rising inflation expectations.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard agreed the Treasury market moves do not require more Fed easing.

”It’s not matching up right now that we need to be more dovish than we already are,” Bullard said in an interview on SiriusXM Radio.

The remarks from the Fed’s arguably most-dovish policymakers were in line with those of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who on Thursday said the current policy stance was appropriate, and rejected concern that the recent rise in 10-year yields could impede the Fed’s work.

Under a new policy framework adopted last year, the Fed has promised to keep rates at near-zero level until the economy reaches full employment and inflation hits 2% and looks headed above it.

It is also buying $120 billion in bonds a month to further pin down borrowing costs.

Bullard dismissed the need for the Fed to adjust those purchases to cap the rise in yields.

He said he would watch for disorderly behavior in the Treasury market.

“Something panicky would catch my attention, but we’re not at that point,” he said.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note - which rose above 1.62% on Friday before falling back to about 1.58% - is just returning to the level consistent with the six months before the pandemic, Bullard said, a “still quite low level of yields.”

Bullard reiterated his recent forecast for the U.S. jobless rate, now at 6.2%, to end the year at around 4.5%, and that gross domestic product growth could be around 6.5%.

Nonetheless, he said, we “still need a lot of repair” in the labor market.

The Fed’s policy-making panel next meets on March 16-17.

Fed rules prohibit policymakers from making public comments starting Saturday in the runup to the meeting as they engage in intense analysis of economic conditions, revise forecasts, and model what they believe is the proper Fed response.

FAR TO GO

A U.S. government report Friday showing bigger-than-expected job gains in February shows the recovery is headed in the right direction, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester told CNN International, but “we are still very far from our goals” of full employment and price stability.

“To make sure that the post-vaccination recovery becomes broad-based and sustainable...from my point of view on policy, I think that’s going to take sustained accommodation from the Fed for some time,” she said.

At a virtual event organized by Stanford University, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic made a similar point.

“We’re ready and able…to support the recovery as long and as strongly as necessary,” he said.

“We need to do all we can to minimize the long term damage from the pandemic crisis and to make sure that the recovery is as broad based and as inclusive as possible.”

Asked if he agrees with his colleagues that there is no need for the Fed to respond now to rising bond yields, Bostic said high inflation is not a concern now but the Fed will keep watching.

“Inflation has not been a real stress point in terms of the economic performance for quite a long time,” Bostic said.

Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Andrea Ricci and David Gregorio

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fed ... SL2N2L31XK
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REUTERS

"UPDATE 1-Bostic says Fed will support U.S. economy as long as necessary"


By Reuters Staff

March 5, 2021

March 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is still under “considerable distress” and the Federal Reserve will continue to provide support until the labor market is stronger and average inflation is on track to meet the U.S. central bank’s long-term target, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on Friday.

“We’re ready and able…to support the recovery as long and as strongly as necessary,” Bostic said during a virtual event organized by Stanford University.

The U.S. economy could grow between 5% and 6% this year, Bostic said.

But he cautioned that the labor market could face structural changes as a result of the pandemic that may require some laid-off service-sector workers to train for jobs in new industries.

A decline in business travel and increased use of automation could mean that some of the jobs lost during the pandemic will not return, Bostic said.

“We need to do all we can to minimize the long-term damage from the pandemic crisis and to make sure that the recovery is as broad-based and as inclusive as possible.”

Asked if he thought the Fed needs to take action to respond to rising bond yields, which could be a sign that investors are raising their inflation expectations, Bostic said high inflation is not a concern right now.

“Inflation has not been a real stress point in terms of the economic performance for quite a long time,” Bostic said, adding that the Fed will continue to monitor for signs of stronger price growth.

(Reporting by Jonnelle Marte; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sonya Hepinstall)

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fed ... SL2N2L32W3
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REUTERS

"TREASURIES-Yields retreat after 10-year hits near 13-month high"


By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, March 5 - U.S. Treasury yields pulled back from earlier highs on Friday as buyers stepped in after the benchmark 10-year note hit its highest level in over a year in the wake of a stronger-than-anticipated monthly payrolls report.

Nonfarm payrolls surged by 379,000 jobs last month after rising 166,000 in January, the Labor Department said on Friday, well above the 182,000 estimate.

"Certainly when you see this kind of employment situation, you see January get revised higher, those who have inflation fears, this is a little bit of an arrow in their quiver, if you will," said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade in Chicago.

"On top of a lot of the other good news we are getting, on top of the fact it does look like we are closer to a stimulus plan, a lot of money continuing to slosh around in the economy does give some credence to these inflation fears."

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was up 0.9 basis points to 1.559%.

The yield climbed as high as 1.625%, its highest since Feb 13, 2020, after reaching 1.614% last week.

The report comes a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell repeated his pledge the central bank plans to stick with its accommodative policy stance, as a return to full employment this year was "highly unlikely."

Other Fed officials echoed the central bank chief's view on Friday, showing little concern over the rapid climb in Treasury yields.

The 10-year yield is poised to climb for a sixth straight week, its longest weekly streak of gains in nearly eight years.

Yields faded throughout the session as investors squared positions heading into the weekend, which helped boost the equities market.

"We got back to levels of where we were last week during the 7-year note auction, that is on everybody’s mind, popped above it and it looks like people wanted to cover shorts before the weekend," said Tom di Galoma, managing director at Seaport Global Holdings in New York.

"They were waiting for higher rates so they could step in and start covering some of their hedges."

After the data, eurodollar futures, which track short-term U.S. interest rate expectations over the next few years, priced in a 90% chance of rate hike in December 2022, fully priced in a hike in March 2023 and another rate hike in September 2023.

The U.S. Senate was debating a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill on Friday before considering a wide array of amendments that could lead to a lengthy voting session, with an amendment to raise the minimum wage having already been rejected.

The trading also briefly pushed up a closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes, seen as an indicator of economic expectations.

It went as wide as 147.1 basis points, the most since November 2015, before narrowing to 141.6, just below Thursday's close.

The rate to borrow U.S. 10-year Treasuries in the repurchase agreement market was negative for a fifth straight session as demand for the benchmark note exceeded supply, with investors increasing bets the 10-year yield will rise further.

The 10-year repo rate averaged -2.95% on Friday, from -0.50% late Thursday, broker-dealer Curvature Securities said.

The yield on 30-year Treasury bond was down 2.3 basis points to 2.285%.

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-bon ... SL2N2L329A
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REUTERS

"Fed's Mester says economy far from goals, easy policy still needed"


By Reuters Staff

March 5, 2021

March 5 (Reuters) - A sharp recent rise in bond yields mostly reflects expectations for stronger economic growth ahead, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester said on Friday, but “we are still very far from our goals” of full employment and price stability.

The U.S. recovery needs to become broader-based and sustainable, she told CNN International.

“From my point of view on policy, I think that’s going to take sustained accommodation from the Fed for some time,” she said.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Leslie Adler)

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fed ... SL2N2L32CQ
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REUTERS

"Biden to sign women's economic equity executive orders on Monday"


By Trevor Hunnicutt

March 5, 2021

Washington (Reuters) - President Joe Biden will sign two executive orders on Monday related to women’s economic equity, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Psaki, speaking on Friday during the daily press briefing, did not elaborate on the executive order but promised to provide details over the weekend.


Biden has made women’s issues a priority, handing top White House jobs and staff positions to women and starting a Gender Policy Council, based in the White House and charged with ensuring that all agencies and departments consider women’s issues when developing policy.

As a candidate, Biden pledged to narrow the wage gap between men and women, invest in women-owned businesses and fight against work-place discrimination.

His vice president, Kamala Harris, is the first woman to occupy the position.

Reporting by Trevor Hunnicut and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN2AX28D
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REUTERS

"Fueled by tech, Wall Street rebounds at end of volatile week"


By Noel Randewich

March 5, 2021

(Reuters) - Wall Street ended sharply higher after a volatile session on Friday, with the Nasdaq rebounding at the end of a week that saw it extend losses to about 10% from its previous record high.

All three main indexes bounced back from losses earlier in the day, with investors in recent sessions spooked by rising interest rates that offset optimism about an economic rebound.

Microsoft rallied 2.15%, boosting the S&P 500 more than any other stock, with gains in Alphabet, Apple and Oracle also lifting the index.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hit a new one-year high of 1.626% after nonfarm payrolls increased by 379,000 jobs last month, blowing past a rise of 182,000 forecast by economists polled by Reuters.

Focus is also on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill as a sharply divided U.S. Senate began what was expected to be a long debate over a slew of amendments on how that money would be spent.

The Nasdaq logged its third straight weekly decline after a recent spike in Treasury yields dented demand for high-flying technology stocks.

Rising interest rates disproportionately hurt high-growth tech companies because investors value them based on earnings expected years into the future, and high interest rates hurt the value of future earnings more than the value of earnings made in the short term.


The tech-heavy Nasdaq is around 8% below its Feb. 12 closing high.

Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said his firm in recent days has bought shares in a handful of growth companies whose prices have been pummeled in the recent selloff.

“Next week, I would expect volatility to continue, with pockets of opportunity, with certain things that sold off potentially rebounding,” Dollarhide said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.85% to end at 31,496.3 points, while the S&P 500 gained 1.95% to 3,841.94.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.55% to 12,920.15.

In a busy session, volume on U.S. exchanges was 17.4 billion shares, compared with the 15.3 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

For the week, the S&P 500 rose 0.8%, the Dow added 1.8% and the Nasdaq lost 2.1%.

In Friday’s session, the S&P 500 energy sector index surged 3.9% to over a one year high as oil prices soared.

Oracle Corp jumped more than 6% after Barclays upgraded the business software maker to “overweight” expecting improvement in the IT spending environment.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.86-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.12-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 55 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 225 new highs and 134 new lows.

Reporting by Shashank Nayar and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN2AX19E
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RIGZONE

"Oil Prices Fall as Greenback Bulks Up"


by Bloomberg | Andres Guerra Luz & Alex Longley

Monday, March 08, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- Oil fell the most in a week as the dollar strengthened and investors shrugged off an attack on the world’s largest crude terminal in Saudi Arabia.

Global benchmark Brent futures slid 1.6% on Monday after earlier surging above $71 a barrel.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose as much as 0.5% on Monday, reducing the appeal of commodities priced in the currency.

Meanwhile, the market looked past an assault on a storage tank farm at the Ras Tanura terminal on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia saying the attack was intercepted and oil output appeared to be unaffected.

“There was a big ripper this morning, but the fundamentals that got it there evaporated in the face of a successful defense,” said Bob Yawger, head of the futures division at Mizuho Securities.

Oil has surged more than 30% this year as OPEC+ keeps a lid on production and demand is seen recovering with economies emerging from the coronavirus crisis.

Forward oil prices point toward further strength, with the Brent strip for 2022 near the highest since July 2019.

Production and export capabilities following the attack in Saudi Arabia “came out relatively unscathed, so the market has taken that as a cue for some profit-taking,” said Tony Headrick, energy commodity broker at CHS Hedging.

“But underlying it all is a fundamental setup that is supportive."

"Global crude and product inventories continue to drain down, encouraged as of late by the recent OPEC+ decision.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. market continued to recover from the effects of the deep freeze that hit Texas and other parts of the country last month.

Seven of 18 refineries that were affected by the cold blast -- representing over 2 million barrels a day of crude processing capacity -- were operating normally as of Monday.

Physical oil prices in the U.S. have rebounded, with Mars Blend trading this month at the largest premium to Nymex oil futures in nearly three weeks.

Prices

Brent for May settlement declined $1.12 to end the session at $68.24 a barrel.

West Texas Intermediate for April delivery fell $1.04 to settle at $65.05 a barrel.

The global benchmark crude’s rally north of $70 earlier Monday may cause a headache for Asian refiners, which are warning that the rapid surge and spike in volatility will hurt demand and whittle away still-tight processing margins.

Saudi Arabia has also boosted its official selling prices to buyers in the region for April.


Mideast Tensions

Saudi Arabia said the Ras Tanura site on the country’s Gulf coast was targeted by a drone from the sea.

The terminal is capable of exporting about 6.5 million barrels a day -- almost 7% of demand -- and, as such, is one of the world’s most protected facilities.

It’s the most serious attack on Saudi oil installations since a key processing facility and two oil fields came under fire in September 2019.

The assault follows a recent escalation of hostilities in the Middle East region after Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a series of attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The new U.S. administration also carried out airstrikes in Syria last month on sites it said were connected with Iran-backed groups.

Other oil-market news:

Oil’s surge following OPEC+’s surprise move to maintain cuts in supply shows the producers’ group is in charge of the market, Vitol Group said.

A flood of fuel exports from Asian suppliers is driving an unusual post-Lunar New Year surge in shipping activity, boosting tanker rates on one key route in the region from the lowest level in almost nine years.

The S&P Global Platts proposal to make Dated Brent a CIF benchmark would undermine the current pillars of the Brent crude market and replace them with something new, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies senior research fellow Adi Imsirovic wrote in a report.

--With assistance from Sheela Tobben and Barbara Powell.

https://www.rigzone.com/news/wire/oil_p ... 9-article/
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CNBC

"CDC study finds about 78% of people hospitalized for Covid were overweight or obese"


Berkeley Lovelace Jr. @BerkeleyJr

Published Mon, Mar 8 2021

Key Points

* About 78% of people who have been hospitalized, needed a ventilator or died from Covid-19 have been overweight or obese, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new study Monday.

* Just over 42% of the U.S. population was considered obese in 2018, according to the agency’s most recent statistics. Overweight is defined as having a body mass index of 25 or more, while obesity is defined as having a BMI of 30 or more.

* “As clinicians develop care plans for COVID-19 patients, they should consider the risk for severe outcomes in patients with higher BMIs, especially for those with severe obesity,” the CDC wrote.


An overwhelming majority of people who have been hospitalized, needed a ventilator or died from Covid-19 have been overweight or obese, the CDC said in a new study Monday.

Among 148,494 adults who received a Covid-19 diagnosis during an emergency department or inpatient visit at 238 U.S. hospitals from March to December, 71,491 were hospitalized.

Of those who were admitted, 27.8% were overweight and 50.2% were obese, according to the CDC report.

Overweight is defined as having a body mass index of 25 or more, while obesity is defined as having a BMI of 30 or more.

The agency found the risk for hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths was lowest among individuals with BMIs under 25.

The risk of severe illness “sharply increased,” however, as BMIs rose, particularly among people 65 and older, the agency said.

Just over 42% of the U.S. population was considered obese in 2018, according to the agency’s most recent statistics.

It doesn’t take a lot of extra pounds to be considered overweight or obese.

A 5-foot-10-inch man at 175 pounds and 5-foot-4-inch woman at 146 pounds would both be considered overweight with BMIs of just over 25, according to the CDC’s BMI calculator.

A man and woman of the same heights would be considered obese at 210 pounds and 175 pounds, respectively.

“As clinicians develop care plans for COVID-19 patients, they should consider the risk for severe outcomes in patients with higher BMIs, especially for those with severe obesity,” the agency wrote.

The CDC added the findings highlight the clinical and public health implications of higher BMIs, including the promotion of Covid prevention strategies such as continued vaccine prioritization, masking and policies to ensure community access to nutrition and physical activities.

Obesity is a common and costly chronic disease in the U.S.

Non-Hispanic Black adults have the highest prevalence of self-reported obesity in the U.S., followed by Hispanic adults and non-Hispanic white people, according to the CDC.


The CDC has previously noted that having obesity increases the risk of severe illness, including hospitalizations.

Obesity is linked to impaired immune function and decreased lung capacity that can make ventilation more difficult, the agency has said.

The study had limitations, the CDC said.

Risk estimates for severe Covid-19 were measured only among adults who received care at a hospital.

Therefore, these estimates might differ from the risk among all adults with Covid, the CDC said.

Additionally, only patients with reported height and weight information were included in the report.

The CDC obtained data from PHD-SR, a large, hospital-based database.

Data also provided by Reuters

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/08/covid-c ... obese.html
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