Gold Holds Its Ground as Traders Weigh Stimulus, Equity Selloff

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Gold steadied to trade near $1,900 an ounce as investors weighed fading prospects for fiscal aid before next week’s U.S. presidential election and losses in equities.

Bullion held in a narrow range even as the dollar rose on Monday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin again failed to close major differences on a fresh package for a U.S. economy facing a renewed surge in Covid-19 cases. The lack of a deal and concern over rising infections saw the S&P 500 Index log its biggest drop in a month.

Spot gold was little changed at $1,903.21 an ounce at 8:07 a.m. in Singapore. Silver rose 0.1%, platinum climbed 0.3% and palladium was steady. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat.

Antibody Defense Against Covid Wanes Over Time, Study Suggests

Antibody responses to the coronavirus may diminish over time, according to a study that showed the natural defenses waning in Britons who’d previously been exposed.

Among 365,000 randomly selected U.K. adults who tested themselves at home, 4.4% had antibodies in September, compared with 6% in June, according to research published Tuesday by Imperial College London and polling service Ipsos MORI.

The study suggests that antibodies, a marker of exposure to the coronavirus, may not be lasting in all people who have been infected, adding to other research indicating that immunity may be finite.

A small but growing number of patients have fallen ill with Covid-19 twice, and it’s not clear how long antibody protection from any vaccine would last. Some protective shots under development also aim to stimulate so-called T-cells that can fight off viruses.

People who tested positive but didn’t show symptoms of Covid-19 appeared to lose antibodies more often than those who suffered noticeable effects of the disease, the study showed.

Charles Schwab to Cut 1,000 Jobs in TD Ameritrade Integration

Charles Schwab Corp. plans to cut about 1,000 jobs as a result of its acquisition of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.

The move will trim the combined workforce by about 3%, San Francisco-based Schwab said Monday in a statement. The cuts are part of an effort to reduce “overlapping or redundant roles.”

The $26 billion deal, announced last November, was completed earlier this month. The combined firm will “continue to hire in strategic areas critical to our growing client base,” according to the statement, with affected employees getting early access to open positions.

The acquisition gives Schwab, America’s original discount broker, even more sway over the industry it pioneered nearly a half-century ago. The combined firm has some $6 trillion in client assets across 28 million brokerage accounts.

Amy Coney Barrett Was Confirmed to the Supreme Court and Will Start Working As Early As Tomorrow

Amid arguments against filling late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court before the presidential election is decided, the Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as the newest Supreme Court Justice on Monday—a stark contrast to how Republicans argued against confirming Barack Obama’s nominee in 2016.

As The New York Times described her, Barrett is “a conservative appeals court judge and protégé of former Justice Antonin Scalia.” Referencing her limited resumé, Mother Jones called her “the least experienced Supreme Court nominee in 30 years.” And her 52-48 confirmation vote cements the Court’s conservative majority of 6-3.

Regardless of the election results, Barrett’s appointment to the highest court in the United States (along with the 162 new district court judges and 53 appeals court judges) will altar America for years to come.

Immediately, Barrett will be able to vote on the deadline for absentee ballots in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania in addition to November hearings regarding the Affordable Care Act, immigration, and the rights that should be afforded to same-sex couples.

Judge sets first hearing in U.S. Google antitrust lawsuit

DOJ ‘could have gone so much further’ in lawsuit against Google: Applico CEO

Applico CEO Alex Moazed on the DOJ’s lawsuit against Google as the company calls it ‘deeply flawed.’

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Monday set a status hearing on the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s Google for Friday.

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GOOGLE WAS FORCED TO REMOVE APPS FROM ITS APP STORE AFTER THEY VIOLATED CHILDREN'S DATA COLLECTION LAWS

The Justice Department last week sued the $1 trillion (767.81 billion pounds) company and accused it of illegally using its market muscle to hobble rivals in the biggest challenge to the power and influence of Big Tech in decades.

Mehta said lawyers for Google and the Justice Department must appear at the telephone status hearing at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) that will be open to the public or media.

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Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sandra Maler

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