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“The window to the world can be covered by a newspaper.” – Stanislaw Jerzy  Lec

It’s more of the same this morning as futures are modestly negative, but higher interest rates are acting as a weight on the Nasdaq and growth stocks in general.  The economic calendar is relatively light, with a report on home prices coming out at 9 AM eastern and Consumer Confidence at 10 AM.  Crude oil and gold are both down sharply, but bitcoin is higher.  In political news, President Biden will speak on Infrastructure this afternoon.  In terms of the latest COVID trends, national declines have been inching higher, but the key as we discuss in the Morning Lineup is that among populations that have been widely vaccinated, case counts have remained contained.

Read today’s Morning Lineup for a recap of all the major market news and events including a discussion of the move higher in rates, a recap of international markets, some strong survey related economic data out of Europe, the latest US and international COVID trends including our series of charts tracking vaccinations, and much more.

Gold just hasn’t been able to get out of its way this quarter.  Despite concerns over inflation, the yellow metal has been weak as interest rates rise.  This morning alone, gold is trading down over 1.5% after trading down over 1% yesterday and on the verge of testing its recent lows.

With the quarter coming to a close tomorrow, gold is on pace for a double-digit percentage decline this quarter, making it the worst quarter in nearly five years and just the tenth quarterly decline of more than 10% in the last 45 years.