The daily business briefing: October 9, 2020
1.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin resumed discussions of a new coronavirus relief package on Thursday, reviving hopes of a possible stimulus deal shortly after President Trump abruptly called off negotiations until after the election. Pelosi and Mnuchin talked for 40 minutes about the prospect of a "comprehensive bill," Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill tweeted after the speaker rejected Trump's suggestion of stand-alone bills to help struggling airlines and send checks to individual Americans. Early in the week, Pelosi and Mnuchin discussed an elusive fifth pandemic aid package, but they couldn't find a compromise between the GOP's $1.6 trillion proposal and the $2.2 trillion package House Democrats have approved. [CNBC]
2.
The number of Americans filing new jobless claims again came in higher than expected on Thursday. The Labor Department said 840,000 Americans filed first-time jobless claims last week, a decline of 9,000 from the revised number from the previous week. This was higher than the 825,000 claims economists had been expecting. Continuing claims fell to 10.98 million, a decline of around a million. "The decline in continuing claims is welcome, but initial claims offer a better read on the real-time state of the labor market, and the downward trend has stalled, more or less," Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson told CNBC. The number of new applications for unemployment benefits also remains significantly higher than the weekly record prior to the coronavirus pandemic, which was 695,000. [The Wall Street Journal, CNBC]
3.
The Trump administration on Thursday imposed new sanctions against 18 Iranian banks, potentially locking Iran out of the global financial system and further damaging its already crumbling economy. The move came days before a United Nations arms embargo against Tehran is due to expire, and just three weeks before the U.S. presidential election. The Trump administration has tried unsuccessfully to get allies to penalize Iran for violating its landmark nuclear treaty, which President Trump has abandoned. "Our maximum economic pressure campaign will continue until Iran is willing to conclude a comprehensive negotiation that addresses the regime's malign behavior," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, tweeted that his country would "survive this latest of cruelties." [The New York Times]
4.
U.S. stock index futures gained early Friday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin resumed their effort to reach a coronavirus relief deal. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were up by 0.4 percent several hours before the opening bell, while those of the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.3 percent. Prospects for a deal dimmed earlier in the week when President Trump said he was calling off the talks until after the election. Later Trump said he was open to an airline bailout and sending households stimulus checks, and discussions resumed. "Stimulus talks are really dictating the market action on a day-to-day basis," said Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at GLOBALT. The Dow gained 0.4 percent on Thursday. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed up by 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. [CNBC]
5.
Energy companies pulled workers from 279 offshore platforms and shut down much of their oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Delta approached Louisiana. The companies also have started securing refineries along the Gulf Coast. The producers have cut production by 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, or about 92 percent of the region's offshore oil. About 62 percent of the area's natural gas output also has been cut. U.S. crude oil futures rose by 3 percent, and natural gas and gasoline futures gained 2.6 percent. Early Friday, Hurricane Delta, with top sustained winds of 120 miles per hour, was more than 300 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana, an area still recovering from recent Hurricane Laura's 150 mph winds. [Reuters]
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