SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

COSTCO WARNS – FROM REUTERS:   Sept 23 (Reuters) - Membership-only retail chain Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) said on Thursday it was reinstating limits on purchases of key items including bath tissues, roll towels and bottled water, spurred by panic buying from customers amid rising COVID-19 cases.  A resurgence in COVID-19 cases had led to stocking up of household essentials last year during stringent pandemic-led lockdowns, forcing the company to put limits on purchases of key items. While there was a shortage of cleaning supplies even last year, transportation issues this year are causing delays in deliveries to stores despite suppliers having plenty of stock, Costco Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said in an earnings call.  The pandemic-driven port congestion and labor shortages have forced retail chains including Costco to spend more on transportation and labor, digging into their margins. Costco said it was paying six times for containers and shipping due to price increase on items shipped overseas.  The higher prices are likely to have a dramatic effect on the 2022 political campaigns.  Nothing under Biden seems to be going right, with no sign of improvement down the line.

AND MORE ECONOMIC WORRIES – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:   The number of Americans newly seeking jobless benefits unexpectedly rose again last week amid ongoing concerns over the surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant, the feds said Thursday.  Initial filings for unemployment benefits, seen as a proxy for layoffs, rose to 351,000 last week, up 16,000 from the prior week’s revised level of 335,000, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department.  Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected to see weekly new claims drop to 320,000.  Weekly new claims have fallen substantially from the 2020 peak of about 6.1 million new claims in a single week, but remain above pre-pandemic levels.  After a summer that saw new jobless claims settle at nearly double pre-pandemic levels, new jobless claims appear to be steadily falling — despite the setback presented by the last two weeks of data.  The warning flags are up.  The economic recovery will be more difficult than expected.  And we aren't getting much vision from Washington.  If things really start going south, the Democrats will blame it on Trump, and the amen corner of the liberal press will gladly agree.

September 23, 2021