Written by Gary
Stocks shake off jobless claims spike, Nasdaq closes at a record as tech rallies (SPY +0.3%). Life will never be the same for people over 60 even with a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Market in Perspective
| Here are the headlines moving the markets. | |
 | How international students became a White House target during the coronavirus pandemicMore than 1 million international students come to the United States each year, according to the Institute of International Education. They also contributed almost $45 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018 through spending on retail, dining and transportation. U.S. colleges and universities rely heavily on foreign students for tuition revenue and to fill research roles, and will have to reevaluate their programs if the trend continues. |
| AMC, Regal and Cinemark prepare to reopen in the U.S. after five-month shutdownWhile some think customers will flock to theaters, scant fresh content and health fears during the pandemic might stop moviegoers. |
| Photos: Wildfires rage across California threatening thousands of homesWildfires continued to rage across California on Thursday fueled by dry heat and extreme temperatures, threatening thousands of homes and forcing evacuations. |
| Massachusetts requires most students to get flu vaccine to ease burden on health system during pandemicFewer than half of American adults, and about 60% of kids, typically get the flu shot each year, CDC data shows. |
| Delta will keep blocking some aircraft seats through early January to calm travelers nervous about virusDelta is extending limits on aircraft capacity through early January, an effort to put more travelers at ease during the pandemic. |
| White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci recovering from vocal-cord surgeryFauci was home recovering after undergoing surgery to remove a polyp that can cause hoarseness, according to a person familiar with the matter. |
| Raging fires, a heat wave and coronavirus: California battles several crisesThe LNU Lightning Complex Fire in California had burned more than124,000 acres and was 0% contained as of Thursday morning. |
| Lord & Taylor is closing two dozen stores. Here’s a map of where they areDepartment store chain Lord & Taylor is closing two dozen stores for good as it continues to search for a buyer to restructure under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. |
| Russia says coronavirus vaccine to be tested on 40,000 volunteers amid safety concernsHealth experts have expressed concern over the proposed vaccine, citing the speed of its approval and the lack of available data. |
| Wealthy New Yorkers plan to commute by private chopper from the Hamptons this fallFor a one-time membership fee of $965, customers can get flights for $295 each way. Blade’s September promotion sold out of all 250 spots in less than than 24 hours. |
| American Airlines halting service to 15 small cities after federal aid runs out in OctoberThe cities were selected because they have attracted little demand and aren’t likely to rebound soon, according to a person familiar with the matter. |
| Taco Bell unveils new design with more drive-thrus as pandemic permanently shifts how we orderTaco Bell unveiled its latest restaurant design, seeking to get customers to order ahead and keep drive-thru lines short. |
| Big-Tech, Bonds, Bitcoin, & Bullion Bid As Dollar Dive ContinuesBig-Tech, Bonds, Bitcoin, & Bullion Bid As Dollar Dive Continues Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2020 – 16:01 From the opening bell today, stocks – well, we should say mega-tech stocks – were utterly panic bid (catalyzed early by JNJ vaccine headlines), with the Nasdaq erasing all of the post-FOMC Minutes losses (NOTE that none of the other major indices managed to retrace the losses)… |
| ‘Fight Club In The Skies’: Brawl Erupts On American Airlines Flight Over Mask Policy‘Fight Club In The Skies’: Brawl Erupts On American Airlines Flight Over Mask Policy Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2020 – 15:50 The past months of coronavirus lockdown and social distancing measures have produced some truly bizarre scenes, but perhaps none so strange and potentially dangerous as the brawl that broke out on an American Airlines flight this week. The incident which happened Monday and was caught on video, reportedly started when a traveler on a Las Vegas to Charlotte flight refused to comply with the airline’s coronavirus protective face mask policy. After a flight attendant ordered the maskless woman to exit the flight, other angry passengers appeared to invervene while the airline called authorities to get a disruptive woman off, and that’s when punches started flying.Â
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| Virtue Reversal: Goodyear Bends The Knee After Trump Sparks BoycottVirtue Reversal: Goodyear Bends The Knee After Trump Sparks Boycott Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2020 – 15:32 After a ham-handed attempt at damage control with a non-apology over biased “diversity” training sparked outrage from President Trump – which in turn sparked a boycott by conservatives, Goodyear CEO Rich Kramer issued a direct apology on Thursday. |
| How Fear And Uncertainty Drives Demand For GoldHow Fear And Uncertainty Drives Demand For Gold Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2020 – 15:26 Authored by Darren Brady Nelson via The Mises Institute, Even those in the nonfinancial media have noticed the skyrocketing price of gold this year. Some partially identify, but don’t quite understand, some of the many (and more measurable) intermediary effects in the chain of causation such as a œweakened US dollar and œlow bond yields.  Those in the financial press add to these factors with ones like œcentral bank reserves management, along with mining production and œjewelry and industrial demand.  One mainstream headline surprisingly hit closest to the mark regarding the few (and less measurable) underlying causes: œFear and Cheap Money Send Gold Price Soaring. |
| US jobless claims rise back above one millionThe number of Americans on benefits surpassed economists’ forecasts of 925,000 claimants. |
| Lyft suspends service in California over employment rowBoth Uber and Lyft face a Friday deadline to change business practices in California. |
| More House of Fraser store closures ‘anticipated’The chain, part of Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group that owns Sports Direct, has already closed 10 stores. |
| Rlys begins work on 4 more freight corridorsRlys begins work on 4 more freight corridorsThe 1,483 km long western dedicated freight corridor between Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai and the 1,839 km eastern dedicated freight corridor between Punjab and West Bengal were set to be completed by December 2021. |
| Tharoor-led panel summons Facebook on Sep 2Tharoor-led panel summons Facebook on Sep 2On Thursday evening, BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya shared on his twitter handle an August 18, 2020 dated mail written by Tewari to Facebook in which he has raised concerns over the social media site’s handling of the hate-speech issue. |
| Why pvt schools can’t be blamed for edu failureWhy pvt schools can’t be blamed for edu failureOver the past four decades, from 1978 to 2017, the share of unaided private schools in overall enrolment increased from 3% to 35%, while government schools’ have declined from 74% to 52%. Indian education sector has seen enormous privatisation because government schools failed to deliver. |
| July 2020 Leading Economic Index Somewhat Improves – Growth Will Likely Weaken In Final Months of 2020Written by Steven Hansen The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the U.S. increased 1.4 percent in July to 104.4 (2016 = 100), following a 3.0 percent increase in June and a 3.1 percent increase in May – and the authors say “Despite the recent gains in the LEI, which remain fairly broad-based, the initial post-pandemic recovery appears to be losing steam”.
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| Next Avenue: Social Security, taxes, health care, and working past retirement age: What Biden’s platform wants to do for Americans over 50Here’s a close look at ideas in the draft of the Democratic platform that could keenly affect older Americans. |
| Next Avenue: Life will never be the same for people over 60 ” even with a COVID-19 vaccineMost will keep taking precautions. Here’s a preview of post-vaccine life for older Americans. |
| A financial-markets whodunit is rocking the exchange-traded worldWhen an exchange-traded note in a death spiral was taken off the exchange where it traded, someone may have seen an opportunity to put the screws on a short seller. |
Summary of Economic Releases this Week
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