Up, Down, Sideways? Which Way Is The Stock Market Headed?

About the only thing certain about equity markets recently is uncertainty.

Nobody knows who's going to be president in three weeks time, nor can anybody adequately discern whether Democrats or Republicans will hold majorities in the House and Senate.

Will protests re-appear if Trump wins? What if Biden wins? There remains the issues which the protesters insist to be at the core of the looting, burning and rioting: systemic racial inequality and oppressive police forces.

Then there's the COVID crisis. Like the old Memorex audio tape commercials, people are asking, "is it real or is it a scam-demic?" Cases are up in some places, down in others. Vaccines look promising one day, not so hot the next, and who's going to take them when they do become available? There are other treatments available, and, by the time a safe vaccine is developed, the coronavirus may have run its course, mutating into something more like the common flu than the Black Plague.

Will we have a second wave of the virus, and will states decide to shut down again or "tough it out" this time?

Are schools open, closed, virtual? And is virtual learning as good, if not better, or worse, than traditional classroom instruction?

The politicians in Washington seem reluctant to pass another stimulus bill prior to the election, but will they continue to dither over details afterward?

Is the economy good, bad, worse, better, the same, and how does it matter? Are jobs coming back or have many gone away permanently?

While these are just top of mind issues presently, there are more underneath and over the top. It's well known that stock markets despise uncertainty, though they've shown a great resilience over the past six months, though much of the rise in stocks can be directly attributed to the Federal Reserve, which has had the money spigots open to full volume. To be fair, while stock markets loath questioning times, traders love the volatility, as adroit stock adherents are able to make positions and trades based on momentum, sentiment, money flows, political events, and just about anything other than fundamental analysis.

So, will stocks continue to rise back toward record highs or will they gravitate to the depths of the February-March crash? Getting that equation right could mean the difference between making one's way to Easy Street or wholesale wealth destruction.

There are admittedly more variables than answers, and while the squeamish will settle for somewhere in between a rally and a crash, that's not a coherent strategy for making hay, or money.

About the best the high-minded can come up with these days is a "it depends..." analysis, which leaves everybody right where they are most uncomfortable, in the dark. Volatility remains elevated. Bank stocks are currently reporting third quarter earnings and they're all over the map. JP Morgan beat by a lot, Citi, by a little, Bank of America, which reported prior to the Wednesday open, beat on the bottom line, earning 51 cents per share, but misfired on the top, as net income fell to $4.9 billion, from $5.8 billion and 56 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Goldman Sachs smashed expectations, with profits for the three months ending in September pegged at $9.68 per share, more than double the $4.79 posted over the same period last year and well ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $5.57 per share. Goldman, like JP Morgan and Citi, slashed its provisions for credit losses to just $278 million. Bank of America raised theirs to $1.39 billion from $779 million in the prior quarter.

These credit loss provisions are tiny, considering the depth and scope of the coronavirus crisis. Apparently, banks don't see much risk associated with overdue rents, unpaid mortgages, credit card and auto loan payments that have been deferred until a later date, and student loans which have been put on hold. Either that, or they're just not realizing the losses now and more reserves will be set aside in future quarters. They may even believe their own narrative that the stock market is actually a leading indicator and it's forecasting a brighter future.

A rosy outlook may be well and good, but investors aren't buying it. All the bank stocks were lower on Tuesday, and they're looking for a repeat performance Wednesday. Bank shares were hit hard in the February-March crash and most have not returned to levels prior to that. In fact, the banks with high retail exposure - Bank of America, Citi, and Wells Fargo - are much closer to the March lows than the prior, February highs. Wells Fargo is actually trading below its March 23 low of 25.25. It closed Tuesday at 24.74 and this morning posted its first profitable quarter of the last three, earning 42 cents a share in the third quarter, two cents below forecasts. It is selling off in pre-market trading.

The airlines are kaput. Delta (DAL) posted a $5.4 billion loss in the third quarter, following an even bigger second quarter loss. United Airlines (UAL), which showed a $9.31 per share loss in the second quarter, reports after the closing bell. The estimate is for -$7.44. Ubelieveably, the airline stocks are slowly rising as hope for another government bailout is also.

You might as well throw darts at a page of stock quotes amid all the confusion and cross-currents. Staying out of the markets seems an advisable strategy - one that is a standard for CNBC's Jim Cramer during earnings seasons - until election day.

But, what happens then?

At the Close, Tuesday, October 13, 2020:
Dow: 28,679.81, -157.71 (-0.55%)
NASDAQ: 11,863.90, -12.36 (-0.10%)
S&P 500: 3,511.93, -22.29 (-0.63%)
NYSE: 13,211.95, -112.93 (-0.85%)

Third Quarter Earnings From BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase Blow Away Estimates

Coming out strong on the first day of third quarter earnings releases, BlackRock (BLK) and JP Morgan Chase (JMP) led the charge toward new stock market highs, both reporting top and bottom line earnings beats for the period ended September 30.

BlackRock (BLK) stock was surging Tuesday morning in pre-market trading, up 25.65 points (4.17%) to 640.51 as of 7:35 am ET.

The world's largest asset manager, largest US landlord, and designated bond buyer for the Federal Reserve reported better-than-expected earnings. Third-quarter earnings grew 29% to $9.22 a share, up from $7.15 a share a year earlier. Analysts were looking for the company to post earnings per share of $7.77, but the company benefitted from additional fee income and a increase in assets under management (AUM), now pegged at $7.81 trillion, up from the $7.32 trillion in the second quarter and $6.96 trillion a year earlier.

Revenue grew 18% to $4.37 billion, topping the FactSet total revenue consensus of $3.94 billion.

Also reporting prior to the opening bell, JP Morgan said earnings for the three months ending in September were $9.4 billion, or $2.92 per share, up 9% from the same period last year and well ahead of consensus forecast of $2.22 per share.

Stunning was the revelation that JP Morgan's credit loss provision for the quarter rose by a mere $611 million, a minuscule figure compared to the massive $10.5 billion booked over the three months ending in June. Expectations were for the largest US bank by assets to set aside somewhere in the range of $1.8 billion to as high as $6 billion.

Shares of the bank's stock were sharply higher in pre-market trading, coming on the heels of a major upswing Monday. JPM was a point higher on Monday and it looks to add to those gains when regular trading resumes on Tuesday.

While BlackRock has put in an impressive run this year, with shares up 22.3% since December 31, 2019, JP Morgan has not done quite as well. Its price was slashed in the February-March crash, though it has regained some of those losses. Still, Jamie Dimon's firm is down 26.5% year to date.

Monday's rally took the major indices a step closer to all-time highs. At Monday's peak, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was within 50 points of 29,000, a level it's pierced only once since the March lows (September 2, 29,100.50), The all-time high of 21,511.42 (February 12) once agin appears to be within range, less than three percent off that target.

The NASDAQ is within 1 1/2% of its record close of 12,056.44 from September 2nd of this year. Also making its record close on 9/2 was the S&P 500 when it settled out at 3,580.84. It too is less than 1 1/2% from achieving another record high.

The NYSE Composite, which, like the Dow, has lagged the other two indices, needs to gain another six percent to overtake its February 12 record close of 14,136.98.

If earnings for other major corporations show as well as the two financial behemoths which reported Tuesday, record highs could be a shoo-in prior to the November 3 election, a big plus for President Trump, as he seeks a second term.

With stocks soaring and the threat of another round of lockdowns becoming less and less likely, it's going to be difficult for challenger Joe Biden to make a case for his Democrat agenda, which includes a nationwide mask mandate and up to a three-month economic lockdown.

The polls employed by the mainstream media have Biden leading comfortably nationwide and in the electoral college, though other indicators and polls less publicized have Trump winning handily. A repeat of the on-air crying and teeth-gnashing by left-leaning TV anchors and reporters is a real possibility.

At the Close, Monday, October 12, 2020:
Dow: 28,837.52, +250.62 (+0.88%)
NASDAQ: 11,876.26, +296.32 (+2.56%)
S&P 500: 3,534.22, +57.09 (+1.64%)
NYSE: 13,324.87, +72.25 (+0.55%)

WEEKEND WRAP: Trump Defeats Coronavirus; Stocks Rip; Polls Wrong-Footed; Gold, Silver Rising

President Trump, slightly overweight and in his 70s, catches COVID-19, goes to hospital for a few days, is virus-free in just over a week.

That's a close summary for the news for the week. Everybody can go back to sleep now. Nothing to see here. Move along.

There are some observations from outside the mainstream that indicate the coronavirus "pandemic" crisis is fading into the background of the presidential election. Notably, various college football games were quite well-attended. For instance, the nationally-televised #7 Miami at #1 Clemson game had 18,885 fans in attendance. #2 Alabama at Ole Miss was attended by 14,419. #4 Florida lost at #21 Texas A&M, 41-38, as seen by 24,709 in the stands. The list goes on and on, despite restrictions on attendance. Most games were only allowed 20-30% capacity. Apparently, football fans aren't very fearful of COVID-19. It's highly probable that had the authorities allowed the colleges to sell as many tickets as they liked, the stands would have been packed full, but then we'd have to endure the endless fear-mongering from the control media about a “super-spreader” event.

Being that it's October, third quarter corporate earnings results will begin to pour in beginning next week. Up first are banks and airlines with JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citi (C), BlackRock (BLK) and Delta Airlines (DAL) reporting Tuesday.

Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), US Bancorp (USB), Wells Fargo (WFC), PNC (PNC), and United Airlines (UAL) are on deck for Wednesday.

Thursday, Morgan Stanley (MS) reports, and on Friday, Ally Financial (ALLY), BNY Mellon (BK), and Citizens (CFG) open their books.

Banking stocks are likely to report large trading profits and expanded loan loss or bad credit reserves, while the airline stocks should post incredible losses as they were not allowed to perform any major cost-cutting through layoffs until October 1, via agreement for bailouts issued thought the CARES Act. Airline traffic has been a trickle of what is normally was, thanks to the coronavirus and government restrictions on travel.

An aside to the airlines and bank stocks, the US congress and the president have failed to reach agreement on a second round of stimulus, including more money for the airlines and $1200 checks to most adult Americans. Despite the deadlock on a stimulus deal being constant since July, stocks apparently pinned hopes on one emerging from the DC morass. Thus far, they have been disappointed, though one could hardly suspect that considering the outsized gains put up over the past two weeks.

All the majors were up more than three percent on the week, with the NASDAQ surging ahead by 4.5%. Some media outlets touted that stock gains were due to investors eyeing a Joe Biden "blue wave" victory for the Democrats come November 3, as if the prospect of increased free money to the masses along with higher corporate taxes and tax hikes on people earning over $400,000 a year - as Biden has promised - is somehow a good thing.

The mainstream polls keep putting Biden well ahead of President Trump, though most Americans are aware that the polls are fatally flawed, as evidenced the last time anybody was nearly a "lock" in 2016, when Hillary Clinton was supposed to win in a landslide. We all know what happened then. Thus far, the pollsters haven't mended their methodologies to fall in line with reality. Polling and predictions have become a massive con game and propaganda ploy by the deep state, but, unless the pollsters show Trump making headway over the next three weeks, they're likely to be exposed as frauds again.

The pollsters also aren't cognizant of the idea that by showing Biden with a comfortable lead, many Democrat voters may eschew the process altogether, figuring it's in the bag for their man. That may be a part of the plan, however, as the Democrat National Committee (DNC) can then claim low voter turnout as a proximate cause for the demise of their candidates. As backup, they have millions of mail-in votes by which to contest election night results, which also appears to be part of the plan to rid Washington of Mr. Trump and his deep-state-draining entourage. A Trump-Pence victory seems more and more likely with each passing day and each fake news story fed to the largely "not buying it" public.

Treasury yields rose substantially over the course of the week, reaching what may turn out to be something of a new norm for long-dated securities. The 10-year note yielded 0.79% at the close of business Friday, up from 0.70% a week ago. Yield on the 30-year was also ahead, by 10 basis points, to 1.58%. Short-dated maturities remained more or less anchored to the zero-bound.

Oil rebounded sharply off an October 2nd bottom at $37.05 for a barrel of WTI crude, bouncing as high as $41.19 on Thursday before settling out at $40.60 Friday. The gains can be tied neatly to Hurricane Delta, the massive category 3 storm that came ashore at Southwestern Louisiana, the same area devastated by Hurricane Laura just a week weeks ago.

The storm caused extensive damage, left 700,000 homes and businesses without power and caused the shutdown of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. Most ports and refineries were closed in advance of the storm and will be slowly reopening in the coming week. Getting back to anything resembling "normal" in the area is likely to take months.

Precious metals had a roller coaster of a week, but ended positive thanks to intense buying on Friday. Gold was $1899.84 an ounce at the previous Friday (October 2) close, dipped as low as $1878.18 on Tuesday, but closed out the week at $1930.40. Silver engaged in a similar pattern, closing out the prior week at $23.74, dipping down to $23.07 on Tuesday, but rallying the rest of the week to close at $25.15.

Here are the latest real sales numbers on common gold and silver items sold on eBay (numismatics excluded, shipping - often free - included):

Item: Low / High / Average / Median
1 oz silver coin: 30.00 / 49.99 / 37.41 / 35.99
1 oz silver bar: 30.00 / 53.20 / 36.46 / 35.50
1 oz gold coin: 1,978.90 / 2,260.96 / 2,068.36 / 2,059.51
1 oz gold bar: 1,955.00 / 2,050.77 / 2,025.75 / 2,029.84

Premiums for physical precious metals remain at extremes, though Friday's gains in the spot and futures markets began to bring the paper and physical worlds closer together. Chartists are looking to call the past 2 1/2 weeks a near-term bottom, setting up another major move to the upside for both gold and silver.

At the Close, Friday, October 9, 2020:
Dow: 28,586.90, +161.39 (+0.57%)
NASDAQ: 11,579.94, +158.96 (+1.39%)
S&P 500: 3,477.13, +30.30 (+0.88%)
NYSE: 13,252.62, +62.04 (+0.47%)

For the Week:
Dow: +904.09 (+3.27%)
NASDAQ: +504.93 (+4.56%)
S&P 500: +128.72 (+3.84%)
NYSE: +502.83 (+3.94%)

Media Bias for Biden-Harris Glaringly Obvious But Candidates Don't Look Like They're Winning

There's no doubt that much of what we see and hear on television, radio, in newspapers and magazines, or on the internet is fake news or outright propaganda, designed to influence the way people think about issues and modify their behaviors to fulfill a controlled, desired narrative.

There are countless examples, any of which may be a salient point in determining which issues are most important to the mainstream media complex that seeks to undermine press freedom, freedom of expression and other rights guaranteed by the constitution and natural law.

One example, relevant to the ongoing coronavirus escapade, is of purposeful omission of simple actions that can lead to prevention from catching the virus in the first place and useful, meaningful treatments should one become infected.

While the worldwide message has been to social distance and wear masks, no official agency or news outlet has offered advice on strengthening the immune system by taking a regular regimen of vitamins C, D3, Zinc, and Quercetin, or even drinking green tea, all of which have been proven to be beneficial to overall health and provide a strong defense against coronavirus of all kinds and many other potential illnesses.

Why is this? Wouldn't the government and the media be focused on prevention and treatment for the general population? One would assume so, though it's becoming obvious that the money-driven government/media/medical cartel is more concerned about control and getting the public to believe that a pharmaceutical solution, such as a vaccine created by one of the Big Pharma companies is the only remedy to controlling the spread of the virus.

It's been widely reported that masks provide little to no protection against any kind of airborne virus (more evidence here, here, and here).

So, if masks don't work, why is the media promoting them so consistently? Control. At best, the use of masks is fake science promoted by fake news. At worst, it’s causing more psychological damage than medical good.

Just days ago, a petition signed by over 6,000 scientists and 60,000 individuals, was released, calling for an end to government lockdowns as a response to coronavirus, saying, in part, "current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health."

The petition continues: "Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed."

The document, known as the Great Barrington Declaration, was co-authored by Harvard professor of medicine Dr. Martin Kulldorff, Oxford professor Dr. Sunetra Gupta, and Stanford Medical School professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. The doctors insist on an approach more focused on protecting vulnerable populations and achieving the goal of "herd immunity," which they refer to as "Focused Protection."

Lockdowns and other social distancing, stay-at-home orders are causing more harm than good, but the mainstream media has given the doctors and the petition short shrift, with barely a mention in the papers or on TV network news. Opinions and real science goes against their narrative, which is apparently to keep everybody in mortal fear of the virus, condition the public to engage in actions that are counterproductive or harmful and not question the authorities at the CDC or WHO, while anything President Trump does, says, or promotes concerning the virus is necessarily evil.

So, this morning's headline on Yahoo! Finance, blaring "Stocks continue to rise as expectations grow of Joe Biden victory" comes as no surprise to anyone who regularly visits the site.

The article states, without proof, "European stock markets continued to rally on Friday, as investors’ hopes grew of a US stimulus package and a Joe Biden victory in the US election."

Seriously? Investors in Europe want Joe Biden to win the US presidency and they're basing investment decisions on the possibility of him winning?

They also think there's going to be a stimulus bill coming out of congress soon, even though negotiations have stalled since July and they're buying stocks because of this. Well, that's what Yahoo wants you to believe, probably because they have a vested interest - lots of money - in a Joe Biden victory come November 3rd.

Yahoo is owned by Verizon, which acquired the company back in 2017 for $4.48 billion. In the most recent contribution cycle, individuals affiliated with Verizon - ranked 118 of 20,157, with nearly $3 million in contributions to political candidates - gave Joe Biden $300,000, compared to $76,000 to Donald Trump, hedging their bets. The company's people also contributed heavily to the campaigns of the main Democratic presidential candidates, doling out cash to Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Andrew Yang.

The company also supports major lobbying efforts, spending $11,143,183 in 2019, ranking them 24th of 5,558 companies. With that kind of money going to candidates and causes, there's some doubt that Verizon's world view is completely unbiased. Even a casual perusal of their various sections of the Yahoo! website reveals an editorial slant that is not only left-leaning but also virulently anti-Trump.

So, Yahoo!, just like their counterparts in the heavily controlled space known as mainstream media, is strongly supportive of Democrats and Joe Biden, disdainful of Republicans and President Trump.

Check.

Credibility? Out the window. Honesty? Don't think so. Objectivity? Come on, please. Integrity? Zero. The deck is stacked so high against President Trump voters will likely have to pole vault into voting booths to cast a ballot for the president.

Unfortunately for them, it's not working, despite polling that routinely oversamples city residents (largely Democrats) over rural, and Democrats over Republicans to produce a comfy lead for Biden and Harris, the candidates themselves aren't acting like they're winning. Instead of exuding confidence, they look sheepish and unsure. The media continues to coddle them, like they are some precious, fragile words of the state that cannot be questioned nor maligned in any way. This is not what winning or being ahead normally looks like, because they’re not winning, they’re losing, and they and their media buddies know it.

Compared to the treatment of Trump, the media is giving the Biden-Harris ticket a free pass on every important issue, despite their unpopular, largely inaccurate or simply untruthful positions.

The media is trying to capture the narrative of the election, just as it attempted to do in 2016. It will be a shame if they're successful and Joe Biden wins the presidency, because their mendacious assault on civil liberties will have only just begun.

At the Close, Thursday, October 8, 2020:
Dow: 28,425.51, +122.05 (+0.43%)
NASDAQ: 11,420.98, +56.38 (+0.50%)
S&P 500: 3,446.83, +27.38 (+0.80%)
NYSE: 13,190.58, +148.25 (+1.14%)

Stocks Continue October Rally, Sending Bond Yields Rocketing Higher

Apologies to any readers who disdain politics for the prior two days of postings; it's just that the political climate is so hot right now that it's dominating the news and the markets.

Whether or not that will remain the norm in the lead-up to the election depends on a wide array of variables, but there's good reason to believe that the political storm will create more than enough trading scenarios to keep the stock jockeys busy through the month of October.

Of course, there are other elements affecting stocks and the economy. Beginning in earnest next week will be an avalanche of third quarter earnings reports, led off by the banks and financial institutions. As was the case with the second quarter, of particular interest will be the loan loss reserves put aside by these companies. They were large in the prior two quarters and there's little doubt they will grow again, as the COVID crisis has not been broken by any means. Some trend and economic followers may actually believe that the after effects have only worsened with the passage of time, especially since the congress has chosen to punt on any new stimulus measures.

Negotiations for a second round of stimulus began in July and have consistently stalled out, the Democrats wanting more, Republicans less. It now appears that the Democrat strategy has been to purposely overshoot and add in aid to states, municipalities, and schools, knowing that the Republican-led senate would surely reject such proposals.

Thus, according to the Democrats, it would be the Republicans that have kept the American public in limbo prior to the election. This strategy seems to have failed. If anything, the public is blaming both sides for not coming to a reasonable compromise, though President Trump's recent forays into the struggle seem to have tipped House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hand. Trump favors stand-alone bills for the airlines, small business, and another round of $1200 checks to Americans. He has called Pelosi's bluff and she has folded, unable to respond with a cogent counteroffer.

It would appear that a standalone bill for checks to most Americans (those earning less than $125,000, or similar threshold), and additional money for dependents would be a no-brainer and would easily sail through both houses of congress and onto the president's desk lickety-split. However, there's been no offer since Trump brought it to the table Tuesday night. Heading into the weekend, without a plan to move forward, Pelosi now appears to be the one blocking the path and the longer she delays, the more it will appear that Democrats are the ones not attuned to the plight of the common men and women of the country.

Moving on, Paychex (PAYX), the company that manages payroll and tax reporting for thousands of small companies nationwide, reported earnings Tuesday for its fiscal first quarter, ended August 31. As was the case in the prior quarter, the company beat lowered expectations,

Paychex reported net income of $211.6 million, or 59 cents a share, down from $264.2 million, or 73 cents a share, a year ago. The company said adjusted net income includes adjustments for one-time costs of $31.2 million related to the acceleration of cost-saving initiatives, "including the long-term strategy to reduce our geographic footprint and headcount optimization, and net tax windfall benefits related to employee stock-based compensation payments."

Well, how about that? While whistling an upbeat tune, the company is actually downsizing. Naturally, they've couched their long-term strategy with catch-phrases like "geographic footprint" and "headcount optimization" instead of saying, "we're closing branches and laying people off."

Paychex is a bellwether for small business and their quarterly report was just a little bit distressing to holders of the stock. Paychex reported before the bell on Tuesday and shares were initially lower, down 1 1/2 points before gaining some traction as the whole market moved higher. Carrying a ridiculous P/E ratio of 27.77, this is a company that has been materially affected by the COVID shutdowns of small business and they can only hide that reality so long.

Since the company is heavily-owned by funds and institutional investors, there will be a concerted effort to keep its shares moving higher, despite the obvious slowdown in its core business. Top holders of the stock are BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, and Bank of America, which speaks volumes to the concentration of vested interests invested.

Paxchex is still profitable, though less so than last year, and pays a healthy dividend. It's shares will roll gaily along until the next panic, then will be sold hastily, as it was in February and March of this year. As a going concern, it's a shaky, overvalued investment. As a barometer for the general economy, it's shrieking about lost revenue and layoffs.

For the hopelessly cynical, a pledge by JP Morgan Chase (JPM) to inject up to $30 billion into Black and Hispanic communities reeks of disingenuous intentions. On the surface, the nation's largest bank by assets appears to be tackling "systemic racism" (no such thing) head on, when in reality all they're doing is making more loans available for housing and small businesses. Now that JP Morgan and their cohorts in the banking cartel have successfully hollowed out the middle class, they have to target other groups to inflict with their version of debt slavery.

Other than Wall Street financial psychopaths can see this as anything other than a predatory action, cloaked in good intentions. If anything, people in these communities should tell CEO Jamie Dmon and his teams of lenders to stay away. Inner city communities have been victimized enough already by government and big business policies. Saying you're helping by putting more people into debt is like telling a diabetic to eat more candy. After a period of seeming euphoria the end result will be disastrous.

Americans of all races, ages, and political leanings need to realize that the proximate causes for most of the problems in this country stem from government, Wall Street financing, and mega-corporations acting in collusion to "fix" what they've already broken. Programs like the "war on poverty" and "urban renewal" were nothing more than wholesale strip-mining of minority communities, lining the pockets of the already well-off with manufactured profits.

It brings into question the recent concept of being "woke." Millennials and generation Z types who believe they are somehow on the receiving end of socialized economics are more likely suffering early onset dementia and instead of being "woke" are actually in a currency-induced coma.

Heading into the final two sessions for the week, the major averages are looking at solid gains, though the indices are still below the highs recorded in late August and early September, but not by very much. As long as the market keeps pinning hopes on a stimulus breakthrough - as has been the overriding narrative since July - there's nothing other than possibly some slumping earnings news to keep the markets from churning higher. If some sort of stimulus bill is passed before the election, new highs should be in the cards despite plenty of evidence that the economy is still slipping.

Long-dated treasuries have been selling off all week, punching yields higher. The 10-year note hit 0.81% on Wednesday; the yield on a 30-year bond posted 1.60%. That pair hasn't seen yields that high since early June. With the Federal Reserve hell-bent on creating inflation, it's no surprise that yields should go higher as money moves from fixed income to riskier alternatives.

At the Close, Wednesday, October 7, 2020:
Dow: 28,303.46, +530.70 (+1.91%)
NASDAQ: 11,364.60, +210.00 (+1.88%)
S&P 500: 3,419.45, +58.50 (+1.74%)
NYSE: 13,042.33, +204.45 (+1.59%)