Alkermes plc (NASD: ALKS), Armstrong World Industries Inc. (NYSE: AWI), National HealthCare Corp. (NYSE American: NHC), and PJT Partners Inc. (NYSE: PJT) will replace Community Health Systems Inc. (NYSE: CYH), Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc (NYSE: IVR), Avid Bioservices Inc. (NASD: CDMO) and James River Group Holdings Ltd (NASD: JRVR) respectively in the S&P SmallCap 600.
The headlines keep getting worse in terms of Ukraine's future prospects, with the latest featuring urgent White House warnings communicated to Congress over stalled Ukraine aid.
"We are out of money — and nearly out of time," wrote the Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young to Congressional leaders in a letter made public Monday. There are a mere few weeks left before the US must stop giving money to Ukraine. Young warned that the sudden end to aid will "kneecap" Ukraine on the battlefield.
President Biden has been seeking a whopping $106 billion aid package chiefly for Ukraine and Israel. But budget director Young says the proverbial writing is on the wall amid GOP resistance.
"Without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from US military stocks," Young wrote. "There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money — and nearly out of time," she said.
At a moment of soaring food and cost of living prices, amid a continually weaking US dollar under the Biden administration, taxpaying Americans might not be too pleased with the White House referencing a "magical pot" of funding... as if tens of billions handed to Kiev thus far merely 'magically' materialized out of nowhere.
"Cutting off the flow of US weapons and equipment will kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield, not only putting at risk the gains Ukraine has made, but increasing the likelihood of Russian military victories," Young continued.
"Already, our packages of security assistance have become smaller and the deliveries of aid have become more limited . . . while our allies around the world have stepped up to do more, US support is critical and cannot be replicated by others."
Yet, we should point out that Ukraine forces have been unable to advance even after being handed America's longer-range missiles, state of the art drones, anti-air defenses, and intelligence assistance to boot. Some US government entities and officials have already begun to redefine what 'victory' looks like as the goal posts continually change.
Congressional Republicans, responsible for having blocked and held up Biden's Ukraine funding, have only grown more skeptical also as Israel takes the spotlight.
A recent article in The Economist has summarized the recent compounding setbacks for Kiev as follows:
For more than 600 days of full-scale war, America has been Ukraine’s greatest savior as it marshalled arms, money and more to help repel Russia’s invasion. Now America has become one of Ukraine’s greatest worries. Its aid for Ukraine is fast running out, and dysfunction in Congress is blocking new assistance. Nobody is sure when—or whether—it will be restored.
The effect is being felt at the front as America tries to stretch its dwindling funds. “In the spring the flow of military supplies was a broad river. In the summer it was a stream. Now it is a few drops of tears,” says one informed Ukrainian source. Ukraine faces a bleak winter amid great uncertainty: its counter-offensive has failed to break through Russian lines; its enemy is increasing its arms production; and its vital ally is paralyzed by political turmoil and distracted by Israel’s war in Gaza.
One wonders what the status will be one year from now... will a negotiated settlement finally happen by then? There are already behind-the-scenes moves being made, according to reports stretching back several months.
Meanwhile, mainstream media continues its dramatic narrative shift...
The chaotic time series of US Factory Orders was expected to swing to a big loss (-3.00% MoM) in October (data released today) after a big jump in September and big drop in July (and a big jump in June!).
However, factory orders tumbled even more than expected, down 3.6% MoM - the biggest drop since the COVID lockdowns (April 2020). September was also revised lower (making October's decline even worse) from +2.8% MoM to +2.3% MoM...
by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A significant jump in the number of Americans yanking money out of their 401(k) accounts to pay bills and buy necessities is the latest sign that the U.S. consumer is experiencing increasing levels of financial strain.
A new report from Fidelity, the nation's largest provider of 401(k) plans, reveals a troubling trend—Americans are increasingly tapping their retirement savings in the form of hardship withdrawals and loans.
The report shows that 2.3 percent of U.S. retirement plan participants took a hardship withdrawal in the third quarter of 2023, up from 1.8 percent in the third quarter of 2022.
Top reasons given for taking a hardship withdrawal were avoiding foreclosure or eviction and covering medical expenses.
Besides hardship withdrawals, there was also an increase in the number of Americans taking loans from their retirement savings accounts, with this share growing from 2.4 percent in the third quarter of 2023 to 2.8 percent in the comparable period in the prior year.
Inflation continued to be a major concern in the third quarter, with nearly three-quarters of employees indicating that inflation was causing them stress.
The latest findings from Fidelity builds on a recent report from the Bank of America (BofA), which similarly showed that hardship withdrawals rose significantly in the third quarter, and while the BofA didn't track the specific reasons for the withdrawals, the current state of the economy—including persistently high inflation—is a likely culprit.
Among employed Americans, 60 percent said their incomes haven't kept up with increases in household expenses due to inflation over the past 12 months, according to a new survey from Bankrate. That's up from 55 percent last year.
Meanwhile, less than one-third (29 percent) said their pay has kept up with or exceeded inflation this year compared to 33 percent last year, and 11 percent say they don’t know.
“The job market has lost some of its steam since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates to quell inflation, but not much,” Bankrate analyst Sarah Foster told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
“The share of workers who got a raise in the past year is matching last year’s historic levels, and more Americans are getting raises today than they were before the pandemic. Even so, inflation remains painfully high for many households, eroding those gains.
"High inflation feels a bit like taking a pay cut in itself, and it might be one reason why Americans suggest the economy isn’t as strong as it looks on paper.”
The U.S. economy grew at a 5.2 percent annualized rate in the third quarter, a forecast-beating pace that some analysts said looks better on paper than in reality because, when looked at from the income side, the data suggests momentum has waned, and growth is slowing.
While gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.2 percent, gross domestic income (GDI) grew at a paltry pace of 1.5 percent in the prior quarter.
Market analyst Stephanie Pomboy took to X, formerly Twitter, to note that the difference between GDP and GDI in the third quarter was the widest on record.
"Don't Believe the Hype," she wrote. "Widest gap between GDI and GDP in history."
"The numbers should match and do correlate over time. But the difference between the measures is stunning," analyst Mike Shedlock wrote in a blog post, referring to the difference between GDP and GDI.
"The key takeaway from this release is the economy likely is not humming the way media and [President Joe] Biden present," Mr. Shedlock added.
American consumers have grown more pessimistic as inflation concerns recently surged to a 22-year high, flashing a warning sign for the U.S. economy.
The University of Michigan's closely watched consumer sentiment gauge fell by 4 percentage points in November to a reading of 61.3 percent.
The drop marks the fourth consecutive month of declines in the sentiment measure, with the deepening confidence slump coming as the twin geopolitical crises in Ukraine and Gaza show no sign of ending anytime soon.
Meanwhile, inflation expectations jumped for both the near and long term, reflecting consumer fears that the recent easing of price pressures would be short-lived.
U.S. consumers expect inflation to average 4.5 percent over the next 12 months and 3.2 in the next five years, according to the University of Michigan survey. That's up from the 4.2 percent and 3 percent, respectively, that consumers predicted when asked in October.
In particular, the five-year inflation expectation reading is the highest in 22 years.
"Consumers appear worried that the softening of inflation could reverse in the months and years ahead," Joanne Hsu, University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers director, said in a statement.
The jump in inflation expectations comes despite the fact that the consumer price index (CPI), a measure of inflation, fell to 3.2 percent in October from 3.7 percent in September.
A separate measure of consumer confidence, issued by The Conference Board on Nov. 28, shows a slight improvement in sentiment, with the gauge rising to 77.8 in November from 72.7 in October.
Still, any readings below 80 in The Conference Board measure historically signal a recession within the next year, so the improvement in sentiment is limited.
Recent data from October show that while 69 percent of U.S. consumers expect a recession over the next 12 months, a whopping 84 percent of C-suite executives believe a contraction will materialize.
While there's been some encouraging economic data since then, including on employment and inflation, it's unlikely the numbers have changed all that much in the past two months—at least if JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's recent remarks are anything to go by.
Mr. Dimon recently warned that inflation could accelerate again and that a recession could well hit the country if the Federal Reserve raises interest rates in response to resurging price pressures.
“A lot of things out there are dangerous and inflationary. Be prepared,” Mr. Dimon said at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York on Nov. 29.
Mr. Dimon said that geopolitical tensions and the energy transition were prompting governments to ramp up spending, which is inflationary. If a new inflationary spike were to materialize, this would pressure the Fed to raise interest rates further, which could tip the economy into a downturn.
“Interest rates may go up, and that might lead to recession,” Mr. Dimon said while expressing caution about the economy, especially the effect that inflation has had on U.S. households.
Like other business leaders before him, Mr. Dimon said that stimulus cash doled out during the COVID-19 pandemic bolstered consumer spending and propped up the economy, but its effects are fading.
He added that the Fed's fast pace of raising interest rates (which went from zero to more than 5 percent at the quickest pace since the 1980s), along with a reversal of its quantitative easing program, were putting a squeeze on the economy and consumers.
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMLX) (“Amylyx” or the “Company”) today announced the publication of analyses performed on neuroinflammatory biomarkers using plasma samples from participants with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) from the Phase 2 CENTAUR trial. These findings were published in the peer-reviewed medical journal, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. During the CENTAUR trial, plasma samples were prospectively collected from trial participants for future biomarker analyses. Post hoc analyses were conducted to look at the impact of AMX0035 on biomarkers shown to correlate with ALS disease progression, including chitinase biomarkers such as YKL-40 (also known as chitinase-3-like protein 1), chitinase 1 (CHIT1), and the systemic inflammatory biomarker C-reactive protein (CRP). The results of these post hoc analyses demonstrated a significant reduction in plasma concentrations of YKL-40 and CRP, but not CHIT1, over 24 weeks, with reductions observed as early as Week 12 in participants from the CENTAUR trial.
TNX-2900 is a proprietary magnesium-potentiated formulation of intranasal oxytocin, a naturally occurring hormone that reduces appetite and eating
Preclinical data show magnesium-potentiation increases the potency of exogenous oxytocin
Formulations of intranasal oxytocin without magnesium have reported inconsistent results in clinical trials of Prader Willi Syndrome
