Hey Influence Traders:
They are busy on the Hill.
In addition to dealing with the annual defense spending bill and the Build Back Better boondoggle bill, the Senate is headed for another looming deadline on the debt ceiling limit.
Treasury Secretary Yellin has stated that the federal government is going to hit its borrowing limit around December 15th.
Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Senate Minority Leader McConnell have had ongoing debt-ceiling discussions but do not appear close to a deal.
Republicans are holding firm against raising the debt limit forcing Democrats to consider raising it through the budget reconciliation process.
Reconciliation can be a lengthy process and Schumer is not keen on a drawn-out exchange.
Some Republicans have stated that if reconciliation is used Republicans would help expedite the process.
Economic Data
It’s a big week of data releases.
New single‐family home sales in October were up 0.4% above September levels, but 23.1% below the October 2020 estimate.
Interest on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.10% last week, which is higher than the 2.72% from a year ago.
Durable goods orders decreased $1.2 billion or 0.5% to $260.1 billion in October, its second consecutive month of decline, driven by transportation equipment.
The seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 71,000 for the week to 199,000, the lowest level since November 15, 1969.
Today, the Consumer Confidence Index for November will be released, tomorrow the Census Bureau will report about construction spending, Thursday the Labor Department will issue its weekly claims report, and Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics will issue the unemployment rate for November and the Census Bureau will report October factory orders.
EV
Nissan announced that it plans to spend $17.6 billion over the next five years to add 20 new EVs to its lineup.
Build Back Better
There will be no vote on the boondoggle bill without Sen. Joe Manchin being on board.
Getting him on board could lead to a number of items being cut from the plan, including four weeks of paid family leave and some climate provisions.
Infrastructure
The prognosticators continue to try and identify who will receive money from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
One stock that I like is Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (Ticker: BIPC), which is one of the largest diversified infrastructure stocks.
BIPC works with utilities, transportation, energy, and data infrastructure.
Today, trading guru Andrew Giovinazzi showed me a picture of a cable that connects windmills into the electrical grid.
They’re HUGE!
That got me thinking of MasTec (Ticker: MTZ), a contractor that builds infrastructure, including infrastructure for the transmission of renewable energy from power plants to the grid.
MTZ could see money for years from the following designated areas since it provides contracting services in each:
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- $65 billion investment in the electric grid.
- $55 billion for water infrastructure upgrades.
- $50 billion to make the water system more resilient.
- $39 billion to modernize public transit.
- $65 billion for broadband infrastructure.
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MTZ has seen limited growth the past few years so could be a massive windfall for it.
I love companies that few people have heard of!
Cutting Through The Noise For You,
Frank