THE DAILY NEWS

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REUTERS

"S&P 500, Dow climb for third day and close at records"


By Chuck Mikolajczak

APRIL 9, 2021

(Reuters) -The S&P 500 and the Dow rose on Friday to close at record highs, posting a third straight weekly rise partly on a lift from growth stocks, with a late-day rally building gains ahead of quarterly earnings season next week.

Growth names have found their footing over the past two weeks after being outperformed by value stocks for most of the year.

A pullback in the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield from a 14-month high hit in late March encouraged buying in growth.

Data showed U.S. producer prices increased more than expected in March, bringing the largest annual gain in 9-1/2 years.

Many investors now expect higher inflation as vaccine rollouts help the U.S. economy rebound from lockdowns, yet stocks showed little concern as the Federal Reserve has maintained it will allow inflation to overshoot its target.

“This is why all week long (Powell) was jawboning, he made sure everyone understood they were expecting a spike and they are ready for it, it wasn’t a surprise,” said Ken Polcari, managing partner at Kace Capital Advisors in Jupiter, Florida.

“Which is why the market is not backing off, because he succeeded in jawboning the anxiety and stopped people from getting really panicked about it.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 297.03 points, or 0.89%, to 33,800.6, the S&P 500 gained 31.63 points, or 0.77%, to 4,128.8 and the Nasdaq Composite added 70.88 points, or 0.51%, to 13,900.19.

For the week, the S&P rose 2.71%, the Dow advanced 1.96% and the Nasdaq climbed 3.12%.

The banks kick off first-quarter earnings season next week with Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and wells Fargo scheduled to report on Wednesday.

Analysts expect profits for S&P 500 firms to show a 25% jump from a year earlier, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

That would be the strongest performance for the quarter since 2018.

Megacap names such as Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, which are in the growth index, advanced to pace the S&P 500.

Amazon shares rose 2.21% as warehouse workers in Alabama rejected an attempt to form a union.

The Russell 1000 growth index, comprised largely of technology stocks, outperformed its value counterpart, made up mostly of cyclical stocks such as financials and energy names, for a second week following the pullback in longer-dated Treasury yields.

Bank of America’s weekly fund flow figures showed investors have pumped more money into equities over the past five months than in the last 12 years.

A 3.24% gain in Honeywell helped lift the Dow as Jefferies and J.P. Morgan raised their price targets on the U.S. aero parts maker’s shares.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 8.69 billion shares, compared with the 11.71 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by David Gregorio

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKBN2BW1FW
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THE NEW YORK POST

"Inside BLM co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors’ million-dollar real-estate buying binge"


By Isabel Vincent

April 10, 2021 | 7:23pm

As protests broke out across the country in the name of Black Lives Matter, the group’s co-founder went on a real estate-buying binge, snagging four high-end homes for $3.2 million in the US alone, according to property records.

Patrisse Khan-Cullors, 37, also eyed property in the Bahamas at an ultra-exclusive resort where Justin Timberlake and Tiger Woods both have homes, The Post has learned.

Luxury apartments and townhouses at the beachfront Albany resort outside Nassau are priced between $5 million and $20 million, according to a local agent.


The self-described Marxist last month purchased a $1.4 million home on a secluded road a short drive from Malibu in Los Angeles, according to a report.

The 2,370 square-foot property features “soaring ceilings, skylights and plenty of windows” with canyon views.

The Topanga Canyon homestead, which includes two houses on a quarter acre, is just one of three homes Khan-Cullors owns in the Los Angeles area, public records show.

Some fellow activists were taken aback by the real estate revelations.

Hawk Newsome, the head of Black Lives Matter Greater New York City, called for “an independent investigation” to find out how the global network spends its money.

“If you go around calling yourself a socialist, you have to ask how much of her own personal money is going to charitable causes,” he said.

“It’s really sad because it makes people doubt the validity of the movement and overlook the fact that it’s the people that carry this movement.”


Last year, Khan-Cullors and spouse Janaya Khan ventured to Georgia to acquire a fourth home — a “custom ranch” on 3.2 rural acres in Conyers featuring a private airplane hangar with a studio apartment above it, and the use of a 2,500-foot “paved/grass” community runway that can accommodate small airplanes.

The three-bedroom, two-bath house, about 30 minutes from Atlanta, has an indoor swimming pool and a separate “RV shop” that can accommodate the repair of a mobile home or small aircraft, according to the real estate listing.

The Peach State retreat was purchased in January 2020 for $415,000, two years after the publication of Khan-Cullors’ best-selling memoir, “When They Call You a Terrorist.”

In October, the activist signed “a multi-platform” deal with Warner Bros. Television Group to help produce content for “black voices who have been historically marginalized,” she said in a statement.

It is not known how much Khan-Cullors received in compensation in either deal.

Khan-Cullors began her buying spree in L.A. in 2016, a few years after the civil rights movement she started from a hashtag — #blacklivesmatter — with fellow activists Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi began to gain traction around the world.

That year, she bought a three-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom home in Inglewood for $510,000.

It is now worth nearly $800,000.


Khan-Cullors added her wife, the co-founder of Black Lives Movement in Canada, to the deed in a family trust last year.

The couple married in 2016.

Two years later, in 2018, Khan-Cullors purchased a four-bedroom home in South Los Angeles, a multi-ethnic neighborhood.

Khan-Cullors paid $590,000 for the 1,725 square-foot home, although the price has since climbed to $720,000, according to public records.


Three of the homes were bought in Khan-Cullors’ name, and the Topanga Canyon property was purchased under a limited liability company that she controls, according to public records cited by “Dirt,” the real estate blog that first reported the March 30 purchase.

Last year, Khan-Cullors and Khan were spotted in the Bahamas looking for a unit at the Albany, a real estate source who did not want to be identified told The Post.

The elite enclave is laid out on “600 oceanside acres” and features a private marina and designer golf course.

Current homes for sale include a nearly 8,000 square-foot, six-bedroom townhouse with a media room and marina views.

The price is only available upon request, according to the resort’s website.

“People who buy at the Albany are buying their fourth or fifth home,” said a resort worker who did not want to be identified.

“This is not a second-home residence."

"It’s extremely high-end, and people are coming here for complete and total privacy.”

While it’s not clear if Khan-Cullors purchased a property at the island retreat for the super-rich, her mere interest shows just how far she has come from the hard-scrabble Van Nuys neighborhood in L.A. where she spent her childhood with two brothers and a younger sister.

In her memoir, Khan-Cullors describes growing up in a housing project less than a mile from the affluent and largely white neighborhood of Sherman Oaks, a community of wide lawns and pools where “there is nothing that does not appear beautiful and well kept.”

The four kids were mostly raised by her single mother who worked 16 hours a day to support the family, she writes.

Growing up, Khan-Cullors lived in “a two-story, tan-colored building where the paint is peeling and where there is a gate that does not close properly and an intercom system that never works,” she writes.

“The only place in my hood to buy groceries is a 7-Eleven.”

Khan-Cullors embraced activism and Marxism at a young age.

“It started the year I turned twelve,” she writes.

“That was the year that I learned that being black and poor defined me more than being bright and hopeful and ready.”


But she didn’t rise to national prominence until 2013, when she and two other activists protested the not-guilty verdict against George Zimmerman, who shot dead Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager in Florida.

Black Lives Matter protests erupted again in 2020 after the May killing of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during his arrest.

Donations and pledges from corporations and individuals poured into the movement at that point.

In February, the BLM non-profit co-founded by Khan-Cullors told the AP that they took in $90 million in 2020, with $21.7 million committed to grant funding and helping 30 black-led groups across the country.

Black Lives Matter leaders would not specify how much money they took in from prominent donors, according to the AP report.

It’s also not clear how much Khan-Cullors makes in salary as one of the leaders of the movement, since its finances are split among both non-profit and for-profit entities and difficult to trace.

Founded by Khan-Cullors and another activist, Kailee Scales, the non-profit Oakland, Calif.-based BLM Global Network Foundation was incorporated in 2017 and claims to have chapters throughout the US, UK and Canada, and a mission “to eradicate White supremacy and build power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities.”


The group does not have a federal tax exemption and donations are filtered through ActBlue Charities and Thousand Currents, two non-profits that manage the cash.

At the same time that the Khan-Cullors incorporated the non-profit, she also set up the similarly named BLM Global Network, a for-profit which is not required to disclose how much it spends or pays its executives.

Some have criticized the lack of transparency.

Newsome of NYC’s BLM said, “We need black firms and black accountants to go in there and find out where the money is going."

He added that his group does not receive any financial support from the BLM Global Network.

Neither Khan-Cullors nor BLM Global Network Foundation returned requests for comment.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/10/inside-bl ... ing-binge/
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THE NEW YORK POST

"Marxist BLM leader buys $1.4 million home in ritzy LA enclave"


By Isabel Vincent

April 10, 2021 | 10:35am

Patrisse Khan-Cullors, the leader of Black Lives Matter and a self-described Marxist, recently purchased a $1.4 million home in an exclusive Los Angeles neighborhood where the vast majority of residents are white, according to reports.

The home, which features three bedrooms and three bathrooms, is nestled in Topanga Canyon and has a separate guesthouse on the property, according to a celebrity real estate blog which reported the transaction last week.


The property, which is about a 15 minute drive from Malibu beaches, features bamboo floors and vaulted ceilings, according to the listing.

Once a hippie enclave in the 1960s, Topanga Canyon is now home to sprawling homes where 88 percent of the residents are white.

After the sale of the property was made public, critics took to social media to blast Khan-Cullors.

Black Lives Matter, which began as hashtag in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, took in more than $90 million last year and was at the forefront of protests across the country last year after the death of George Floyd in May.

Khan-Cullors, 37, signed a multi-platform deal with Warner Bros in October, although it is not clear how much she is paid by BLM since their finances flow through a complex web of for-profit and nonprofit corporate entities.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/10/marxist-b ... a-enclave/
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"How $2.1 billion for undocumented immigrants landed in the state budget"

Edward McKinley, Albany, New York Times Union

April 7, 2021

Updated: April 8, 2021 12:46 p.m.

ALBANY — The most contentious and late-breaking policy debate within this week's $217 billion state budget deal is a $2.1 billion "excluded workers" fund designed to provide cash payments to undocumented immigrants who were ineligible for other federal and state benefits such as unemployment insurance or stimulus checks.

The policy — the first of its kind and scope in the nation — was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Jessica Ramos, a Queens Democrat.

It creates a two-tiered system of direct cash payments for workers ineligible for previous state or federal relief — including undocumented immigrants — who are able to provide proof of their New York residency, identity and loss of income.


Depending on their lost income, they could receive a payment ranging from $3,000 to $15,600.

The program was the subject of a large advocacy push that included coordinated rallies across the state and a hunger strike in Manhattan that ended Wednesday morning.

Although the policy was included in the budgets proposed in the Assembly and Senate last month, it seemed to take political observers and even some lawmakers by surprise when it became clear that there was serious momentum to include the measure in the budget.

The surprise led to a split in the Democratic Party, with state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, chair of the Health Committee, threatening to impede bills from members of the Assembly who did not support the excluded workers fund while state party Chair Jay Jacobs issued a statement decrying supporters of the bill who labeled critics as racist.

“The reality is we can show the fund for excluded workers is going to bring millions of dollars for key communities," Ramos said.


She questioned where the opponents of the bill were when it was time to debate the matter on the Senate floor.

“As a senator, when I’m really concerned about things, I drill down on anybody, especially when it affects my community.”

Murad Awawdeh, co-director of the New York Immigration Coalition, a leading group in the advocacy effort for the bill, said he was surprised by the suddenness of the opposition.

“It becoming an issue last week for some legislators is kind of weird considering it was in the" (Assembly and Senate budget bills), he said.

"I don’t think we as a state should be playing politics with people’s lives."

"And the fact of the matter is that there were people who were trying to sow division amongst legislators and across the board."

"… Our communities have been hurting for over a year now and have been receiving nothing in aid and we just weren't going to stand for that.”

According to two sources from the Assembly who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the impetus for the policy landing in the final budget deal was because of the Senate.

They said the issue was only discussed in closed-door meetings of Assembly Democrats within the last two weeks, and it took many by surprise.

The two sources were critical of the process by which the policy was made, although they both said the policy was improved through a question-and-answer process that fleshed out certain details.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie that she had the votes for the policy and was insistent on it being in the budget, one of the sources said.

That put the Democratic-controlled Assembly in the politically unthinkable position of needing to publicly deny help to immigrants.


That person added that while they're hesitant on the details of the excluded worker plan, they strongly support a number of other funds and program in the budget.

“And this is the problem with the big ugly, right?"

"The big ugly has a lot of good things in there," the person said.

Republicans have uniformly opposed the idea in both chambers, saying it unduly prioritizes undocumented noncitizens ahead of New Yorkers.

“I do think this is a well-intentioned idea."

"I think that everyone has compassion for people and would love to help folks out, but you’re talking about a budget here where we’re already spending 20 percent more than last year, $18 billion to be exact," said Assemblyman Chris Tague, whose district includes Greene, Columbia and Albany counties.

He said he feels it's nonsensical the state is not putting away a portion of the billions it has received from the federal government for a rainy day fund.

“We’re (spending) $2.1 billion and we don’t know who this person is or why they’re here or what they’ve been doing?"

"I mean everybody’s been hit hard by this COVID crisis and we want to help everybody, but it also gets to the point where we have to protect the state of New York, we have to protect the people of the state, we have to take care of them first," Tague said.


Another concern among opponents of the bill — and some supporters — is that it will lead to fraud.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Wednesday that the state attorney general and comptroller will be required to sign off on the plan to distribute benefits to guard against fraud.

"Just because you’re undocumented doesn’t mean we don’t care and we don’t have compassion and we don’t want to help," Cuomo said.

"It is difficult to do it in a way that can be administered without fraud."

"And that’s obviously a major concern for us, that we protect every tax dollar."


Rivera said he felt some of his fellow Democrats were buying into the Republican messaging on the bill, and that was what spurred him to speak out on Twitter.

"My sense at the time was that there was some organizing going on that was not in good faith."

" … That was kind of buying into the racist propaganda that this is something that’s going to be harmful to New Yorkers," Rivera said.

"I wanted to make clear that if you stand with the folks who are against this for illegitimate reasons, then I am not going to stand with you," he added, explaining his threats on Twitter to block health-related legislation from Assembly members who opposed the bill.

Heastie, the Assembly speaker, clapped back, effectively telling Rivera to mind his business and not worry about the Assembly's.

"With all due respect senator, the Assembly has had and will have the votes to pass an excluded workers fund bill that covers all workers."

"Stop worrying about the Assembly and worry about your own house," he wrote.

The Senate passed each of the 10 bills necessary to fund the state government for the near future by early Wednesday morning, and the Assembly convened Wednesday afternoon to finish its own parallel process.

Written By Edward McKinley

Edward McKinley reports on New York state government and politics for the Times Union. He is a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism and a 2020 graduate of Georgetown's Master's in American Government program. He previously reported for The Kansas City Star newspaper, and he originally hails from the great state of Minnesota. You can reach him at Edward.McKinley@timesunion.com.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... 09a3f12c1f
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REUTERS

"Biden forms panel to study possible U.S. Supreme Court expansion"


By Andrew Chung, Steve Holland

APRIL 9, 20211

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Friday formed a bipartisan commission to study potential U.S. Supreme Court changes including expanding the number of justices beyond the current nine, a goal of some liberal Democrats hoping to end its conservative majority.

Under an executive order signed by the Democratic president, the 36-member commission will consider the “merits and legality” of potential reforms to the nation’s top judicial body including adding justices or imposing term limits on their service instead of the current lifetime appointments.

The number of Supreme Court justices has remained at nine since 1869, but Congress has the power to change the number and did so several times before that.

Imposing term limits would likely require a constitutional amendment, though some scholars have proposed ways to accomplish it by statute.


White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the commission will represent the full political spectrum.

It will include liberal and conservative legal scholars, former federal judges and lawyers who have appeared before the court.

It will hold public meetings and have 180 days to report its findings.

Biden promised in October, late in the presidential election campaign, to establish the commission - a step that enabled him to avoid taking a firm position on the proposal floated by some liberals to expand the court, though he has opposed the idea in the past.

Republicans fiercely oppose the idea of what is sometimes called “court packing.”

Some Democrats and liberal activists have said all options including expansion must be considered to counter an entrenched conservative majority that could threaten abortion rights, civil rights, gun control and access to healthcare in the coming years.

Republican former President Donald Trump was able to appoint three justices during his four years in office, giving the court a 6-3 conservative majority.

Democrats accused Republicans of “stealing” a Supreme Court seat in 2016 when the Senate, then controlled by Republicans, refused to consider Democratic President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to fill a vacancy left by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

Senate Republicans at the time, led by then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said it would be inappropriate to confirm a justice during a presidential election year.

Their gambit paved the way for Trump in 2017 to replace Scalia with another conservative, Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Democrats accused Republicans of hypocrisy last year when the Senate quickly confirmed Trump’s appointment of conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett a week before the presidential election after the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg the prior month.

Calling it a “faux-academic study of a non-existent problem,” McConnell blasted Biden’s commission as a political attack on the court.

“It’s just an attempt to clothe those ongoing attacks in fake legitimacy,” McConnell said.

McConnell played a pivotal role in helping Trump move the Supreme Court and the broader federal judiciary rightward by making Senate confirmation of judicial appointments a paramount priority.

The court’s oldest member is liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, 82.

If Breyer retires this year, as liberal activists have urged him to do, Biden would make his first appointment to the high court.

Biden has promised to name a Black woman, which would be a historic first.

But replacing a liberal with a liberal would not change the court’s ideological balance.

Psaki said Biden “believes that’s a decision for Justice Breyer to make when he decides it is no longer time to serve on the Supreme Court.”

In a speech at Harvard Law School on Tuesday, Breyer indicated that changes to the court could undermine its authority.

The court, Breyer said, depends on “trust that the court is guided by legal principle, not politics.”


Some liberal activists on Friday demanded immediate action to expand the court.

“Adding seats is the only way to restore balance to the court, and Congress should get started right away,” said Aaron Belkin, who heads the liberal group Take Back the Court.

The last attempt to expand the court was a failed effort in the 1930s by Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt after a series of rulings frustrated some of his policies.

Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York and Steve Holland in Washington; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Trevor Hunnicutt and Heather Timmons; Editing by Scott Malone, Will Dunham and Rosalba O’Brien

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... BW22G?il=0
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RIGZONE

"Oil Prices Show Modest Gains"


by Bloomberg |Andres Guerra Luz

Monday, April 12, 2021

(Bloomberg) -- Oil pared gains with prices struggling to break out of its recent trading range as the market considers the jagged outlook for global fuel consumption.

Futures in New York closed 0.6% higher on Monday after rising as much as 2.4% during the session.

An uneven consumption outlook continues to hold oil prices back from rallying significantly past $60 a barrel.

Even as fuel demand strengthens in countries like India and the U.S., it is far from a steady recovery worldwide as Covid-19 infections surge and lockdowns are renewed in parts of the Middle East and Europe.

“The concerns over economic recovery are just too strong” for a sustained push higher at this point, said Gary Cunningham, director at Stamford, Connecticut-based Tradition Energy.

“We need to see some real positive numbers come out of economic growth before we can push away from $60 on WTI.”

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, as the group steps up strikes on the kingdom.

While such attacks have increased this year, they rarely claim lives or cause extensive damage.

Oil in New York has remained trapped near $60 a barrel since mid-March as traders look for more signs of a recovery in consumption from the pandemic.

Trading volumes have slumped -- falling below their 15-day average every day last week -- as the market awaits a breakout.

In the meantime, the OPEC+ alliance agreed to add more barrels from May.

“It is U.S. optimism that is helping the oil market, as developments in other parts of the world are not moving toward the same direction,” said Louise Dickson, an oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy AS.

“Populous countries like India and Brazil are seemingly getting deeper in trouble than ever before, failing to deliver on hopes for a quick economic recovery.”


Prices

West Texas Intermediate for May settlement rose 38 cents to settle at $59.70 a barrel.

Brent for June settlement climbed 33 cents to end the session at $63.28 a barrel.

There are already signs emerging of the potential impact of a steady reopening in the U.S. on consumption, even in the beleaguered airline industry.

United Airlines Holdings Inc. said it saw an acceleration in customer demand in March, while U.S. air passenger numbers remain near their highest level since March.

However, the downside for jet fuel refining margins will likely last into 2022 with international air travel lagging the recovery in the U.S., according to Bank of America Global Research.

The broader outlook for the oil market may be getting weaker further down the line, Morgan Stanley analysts Martijn Rats and Amy Sergeant wrote in a report.

That’s because Iranian supply may return quicker than expected, while U.S. drilling activity has continued to increase.

It means price gains later this year could be limited, they said.

Still, a revival in the 2015 nuclear deal will have to overcome increasing hurdles.

In the latest potential complication for talks, the Persian Gulf country said it will respond to attacks on its largest uranium enrichment plant with further development of nuclear progress.

Other oil-market news:

Saudi Arabia will supply all the crude oil that was requested by India’s state-owned refiners and at least five other Asian customers next month as the linchpin producer starts to ramp up output.

An Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund may join a group investing in Saudi Aramco’s oil pipelines, in a deal set to be backed by a loan of around $10.5 billion, though the CEO said it hasn’t made a final decision yet.

Iraq raised crude pricing for all three of its oil grades for sale to Asia in May and cut pricing for those same three grades to the U.S., according to a statement from state marketer SOMO.

--With assistance from Alex Longley and Grant Smith.

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

"Powell says it’s ‘highly unlikely’ the Fed will raise rates this year, despite stronger economy"


Jeff Cox @JEFF.COX.7528 @JEFFCOXCNBCCOM

UPDATED MON, APR 12 2021

KEY POINTS

* Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has reaffirmed the central bank’s commitment to keep loose monetary policy in place.

* “I think it’s highly unlikely that we would raise rates anything like this year,” Powell told “60 Minutes.”


Despite what he sees as a rapidly recovering economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has reaffirmed the central bank’s commitment to keep loose monetary policy in place.

That includes a statement of near-certainty that interest rates won’t be going anywhere as inflation remains tame and millions of Americans remain in need of assistance as the nation rebuilds from the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.


“I think it’s highly unlikely that we would raise rates anything like this year,” Powell told CBS “60 Minutes” journalist Scott Pelley in an interview broadcast Sunday evening.

“I’m in a position to guarantee that the Fed will do everything we can to support the economy for as long as it takes to complete the recovery.”

That support includes near-zero short-term borrowing rates and $120 billion a month in bond purchases put in place following a sharp rebound from the plunge in activity between February and April 2020.

Though the economy has recovered more than 13 million jobs since the depths of the crisis, there remain about 9 million more still sidelined.

As states and localities have loosened restrictions, more people have gone back to work.

But Powell said more needs to be done, particularly for those in the lower income brackets who have suffered the most.

“We don’t have the answer to everything, but the job that we do for the benefit of the public is incredibly important, and we do understand that if we get things right, we can really help people,” he said.

“If the people who are at the margins of the economy are doing well, then the rest of it will take care of itself.”


In their most recent economic projections, Fed officials saw GDP rising in 2021 by 6.5%, which would be the fastest growth rate since 1984.

“We and a lot of private sector forecasters see strong growth and strong job creation starting right now,” Powell said.

“Really, the outlook has brightened substantially.”

That doesn’t mean there are not substantial risks.

Powell said he worries about rising Covid cases and said people should continue to wear masks and physically distance to keep the recovery going.

While he said he does not worry about financial system stability, he is concerned about ongoing cyberattacks that one day could cause serious damage.

One thing he’s not worried about is inflation, which is running around 1.6% now and remains well below the Fed 2% target.

The central bank has pledged to keep rates low even if inflation would run somewhat above the target rate for a period of time.

When it comes to inflation, Powell said he would “like to see it on track to move moderately above 2% for some time."

"When we get that, that’s when we’ll raise rates.”

Correction: The interview aired Sunday but it was conducted Wednesday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/11/powell- ... onomy.html
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CNBC

"Covid variant from South Africa was able to ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine in Israeli study"


Berkeley Lovelace Jr. @BERKELEYJR

UPDATED MON, APR 12 2021

KEY POINTS

* The coronavirus variant first discovered in South Africa is able to evade some of the protection of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a new Israeli study.

* The researchers found the prevalence of B.1.351 among patients who received two doses of the vaccine was about eight times higher than those who were unvaccinated.

* The researchers in the study noted the main caveat of the study was the same sample size.


The coronavirus variant first discovered in South Africa is able to evade some of the protection of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a new Israeli study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University and Clalit, the largest health-care organization in Israel, examined nearly 400 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 after receiving at least one dose of the vaccine.


They compared them to the same number of people who were infected and unvaccinated.

The researchers found the prevalence of the variant from South Africa, known as B.1.351, among patients who received two doses of the vaccine was about eight times higher than those who were unvaccinated.

The data, published online over the weekend, suggest the B.1.351 is better able to “break through” the protection of the vaccine than the original strain, the researchers wrote in the study.

“Based on patterns in the general population, we would have expected just one case of the South African variant, but we saw eight,” Professor Adi Stern, who headed the research, told The Times of Israel.

“We can say it’s less effective, but more research is needed to establish exactly how much.”

CNBC has reached out to Pfizer for comment on the study.

The new data comes as public health officials grow concerned that highly contagious variants, which studies have shown can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, could stall the world’s progress on the pandemic.

Last month, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky issued a dire warning, telling reporters that she worried the United States is facing great peril as variants spread and daily Covid-19 cases begin to rebound once again, threatening to send more people to the hospital.


“I’m going to pause here, I’m going to lose the script, and I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom,” she said March 29.

“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope, but right now I’m scared.”

Israel launched its national vaccination campaign in December prioritizing people 60 and older, health-care workers, and people with underlying health issues.

By February, it was leading the world in vaccinations per capita, inoculating millions of its citizens against the virus.

In January, Pfizer and the Israeli Ministry of Health entered into a collaboration agreement to monitor the real-world impact of its vaccine.

The researchers noted the main caveat of the study was the sample size.

B.1.351 made up only about 1% of all Covid-19 cases, they said.

B.1.1.7, the variant identified in the U.K., is more prevalent.

As variants spread, drugmakers said they are testing whether a third dose would offer more protection.

In February, Pfizer and BioNTech said they were testing a third dose of their Covid-19 vaccine to better understand the immune response against new variants of the virus.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/11/covid-v ... study.html
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CNBC

"Researchers identify five new cases of ‘double mutant’ Covid variant in California"


Rich Mendez @RICHMENDEZCNBC

PUBLISHED THU, APR 8 2021

KEY POINTS

* A variant of the coronavirus that has two mutations was recently detected in the San Francisco Bay Area by researchers at Stanford University.

* Five more cases of the “double mutant” strain have been detected since.

* This particular variant originated in India and is responsible for a recent 55% surge in the state of Maharashtra following months of falling cases.


Stanford University researchers have identified five new cases of a “double mutant” Covid-19 strain that was recently discovered in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Doctors suspect it could be more contagious than earlier strains and may be resistant to existing vaccines.

The new variant originated in India where it’s credited with a recent 55% surge in cases in the state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, after months of declining cases.


It contains two key mutations, which scientists call E484Q and L452R, that have been found separately in other variants but not together in a single strain, according to Dr. Benjamin Pinsky, medical director of Stanford’s clinical virology laboratory, which discovered the new variant in the U.S.

“There’s a decent amount of information of how these mutations behave in viruses on their own, but not in combination,” Pinsky said in an interview.

In other variants, the L452R mutation has been shown to make the virus more transmissible.

There is also evidence that antibodies don’t recognize that mutation, which has been found in other strains to reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.


The E484Q mutation has also been shown to be less susceptible to neutralizing antibodies, which help fight the coronavirus.

It’s still too early to tell if the mutation makes the virus more contagious.

“But you’d expect that in combination with L452R that there may be an increase in transmission as well as reduction in antibody neutralization,” Pinsky said.

If the mutation makes the virus more resistant to antibodies, that could reduce the effectiveness of both vaccines as well as antibody treatments that have become a critical tool for doctors in fighting Covid-19, according to Pinsky.

“I suspect that existing vaccines will be slightly less effective in preventing infection by this new variant,” he said, “but all of the vaccines are extremely effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths.”

Eli Lilly’s bamlanivimab antibody treatment has been shown to be less effective in treating strains that contain the E484Q or L452R mutations.

U.S. health regulators halted distribution of that antibody treatment last month, saying it wasn’t that effective against the new variants.

The double mutant variant “has known mutations in the scariest place to have a mutation — the receptor binding domain, where the virus uses to latch on to cells in our bodies in order to enter,” said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases expert at the University of California San Francisco.

“The mutations are either identical or eerily similar to mutations in variants that we already know about that have been scientifically proven to be more transmissible and/or evade vaccines."

"Hence many believe that this Indian variant will also have these superpowers.”


Dr. Tom Kenyon, chief health officer at Project HOPE and former director of global health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said scientists are finding more mutations, at least in part, because new CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky directed the agency to increase surveillance.

“So the more that we look for these, the more we’re going to find them,” he said.

“There’s something about the world ‘double’ that scares people and makes it sound like it’s double bad,” Kenyon said in an interview.

“Any mutation affecting transmissibility or viral replication would be dangerous.”

There’s a possibility the new variant will stay in the Bay Area, unlike the B.1.1.7 variant from the United Kingdom that has become the predominant strain just about anywhere it goes, Chin-Hong said.

“If the U.K. variant went into a boxing ring with the Indian variant, the U.K. variant will probably emerge victorious."

"But only time will tell,” Chin-Hong said.

The longer it takes to vaccinate the world, the more opportunities the virus has to mutate into even worse strains, scientists say.

Walensky has warned of “impending doom” in the U.S. as states roll back Covid-19 restrictions.


She’s urged people to get vaccinated and continue following public health precautions, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing.

“The variants that scare me the most are the ones that haven’t been invented as yet ... the more the virus replicates, we will continue to see these escape mutants,” Chin-Hong said.

“We need global vaccination equity and continued battles against pandemic fatigue.”

California is set to lift most Covid restrictions by June 15 but still plans to keep a mask mandate in place.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/08/researc ... lainternal
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CNBC

"Treasury yields rise slightly after Powell reiterates commitment to easy policy"


Vicky McKeever @VMCKEEVERCNBC

PUBLISHED MON, APR 12 2021

KEY POINTS

* Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told CBS 60 Minutes in an interview that aired Sunday that it was “highly unlikely” that the Fed would raise interest rates “anything like this year.”

* An auction for $38 billion of 10-year notes did not appear to cause a significant move in the bond market.


Treasury yields rose slightly on Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Sunday reiterated the central bank’s commitment to maintaining loose monetary policy.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note ticked up to 1.671% in early afternoon trading, with some shorter-dated Treasury yields seeing larger gains.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond edged down to 2.337%.

Yields move inversely to prices.

Powell told CBS 60 Minutes in an interview that aired Sunday that it was “highly unlikely” that the Fed would raise interest rates “anything like this year.”

“I’m in a position to guarantee that the Fed will do everything we can to support the economy for as long as it takes to complete the recovery,” he added.

Investors were also watching an auction of $38 billion of 10-year notes, though the results didn’t appear to move the market.

“Bottom line, this auction is best described as blah and yields in response aren’t doing much with the 10 yr at 1.67%, where it was right before the results hit the tape,” Bleakley Advisory Group’s Peter Boockvar said in a note.

“We seem to be carving out a yield trading range of 1.62% and 1.77% on the upside."

"I expect this range to hold for a few months until some are disabused of the belief that the current inflation jump will be transitory.”

Investors were also watching for developments on President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package, known as the American Jobs Plan.

Biden met with bipartisan members of Congress on Monday to try to get backing for his $2 trillion infrastructure plan.

Auctions were also held for $57 billion of 13-week bills, $54 billion of 26-week bills and $58 billion of 3-year notes.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/12/us-bond ... mment.html
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