Trex and Miller Breakout to New High

The stock market is mostly unchanged this morning although the S&P 500 did make another new all-time intra-day high. The index got as high as 3,861.45.

The earnings parade continues. Bank of America said that its Q4 earnings fell by 22%. On Wall Street, however, it’s all about expectations and B of A topped Wall Street’s forecast. The bank earned 59 cents per share last quarter but that beat Wall Street’s consensus by four cents per share.

On our Buy List, several of our stocks are close to new 52-week highs but only Trex (TREX) and Miller Industries (MLR) have managed to punch through.

This morning’s jobless claims report showed that 900,000 Americans filed for jobless claims. To have the same jobs-to-population ratio that we had before the pandemic, we would need about 10 million more jobs. The current stats roughly divide that in half. They show unemployment rising by 5 million and another 5 million people who have left the jobs market. (If you’re no longer looking for work, you’re not counted as unemployed.)

Earlier this week, Janet Yellen, President Biden’s pick to lead the Treasury, made the case for fiscal stimulus:

Forget about the amount being borrowed, Yellen, a former Federal Reserve chair, told members of the Senate Finance Committee. Focus instead on the interest rate being paid and the returns it will generate, an approach that argues the country’s future economic potential can support more borrowing today and makes the roughly $26.9 trillion in U.S. IOUs seem less formidable.

“The interest burden of the debt as a share of (gross domestic product) is no higher now than it was before the financial crisis in 2008, in spite of the fact that our debt has escalated,” Yellen said. “To avoid doing what we need to do now to address the pandemic and the economic damage that it is causing would likely leave us in a worse place … than taking the steps that are necessary and doing that through deficit finance.”

The Senate will vote on Yellen’s appointment tomorrow.

Posted by on January 21st, 2021 at 11:46 am


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