Dow lost 22, decliners slightly ahead of advancers & NAZ crawled up 4. The MLP index added 1+ to the 288s & the REIT index declined 2+ to the 361s. Junk bond funds drifted lower & Treasuries were bid higher. Oil rose 1+ to the 67s & gold went up 2 to 1202.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
US home sales fell for a 4th straight month in Jul as a shortage of properties on the market pushed up house prices, likely sidelining some potential buyers. The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales fell 0.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34M units last month. The Jul drop marked the longest streak of monthly declines since 2013. The forecast called for existing home sales to gain 0.6% to a rate of 5.40M units in Jul. Sales fell across the Northeast, South Existing home sales, which make up about 90% of US home sales, fell 1.5% from a year ago in Jul. Sales have been stymied by an acute shortages of homes on the market for several months, although the NAR said inventory showed signs of stabilizing last month. There were 1.92M homes on the market in Jul, unchanged from a year earlier. It was the first month in 3 years in which inventory did not fall on a year-on-year basis. Rising building materials costs as well as shortages of land & labor have left builders unable to bridge the inventory gap, pushing up house prices. Supply constraints have largely accounted for the sluggish housing market, but there are growing concerns that the higher house prices together with rising mortgage rates will slow demand. At the Jul sales pace, it would take 4.3 months to exhaust the current inventory. A supply of 6 -7 months is viewed as a healthy balance between supply & demand. The median house price increased 4.5% from a year ago to $269K.
Pres Trump said that the US would slap a 25% tariff on cars coming from the EU. This statement came hours after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he had postponed an Aug timeline to publish a report on auto tariffs. "We're going to put a 25 percent tax on every car that comes into the United States from the European Union," Trump said last night. Ross said that it wasn't clear that a report on potential tariffs would come out by the end of Aug. The Commerce secretary also declined to set a new timeline. He said the report was being delayed because of ongoing negotiations with Mexico, Canada & the European Commission. Ross also said it was taking longer than anticipated to go thru materials submitted by automakers, who are largely against tariffs that critics say would drive up costs to consumers & to their own supply chain. The pres has said he could impose tariffs of 20-25% on auto imports. In May, he asked the Commerce Dept to examine whether such imports are threats to national security. He used a similar argument to put tariffs on steel & aluminum imports.
Trump: We are going to put a 25% tariff on every car from the European Union
Not much happening in the stock market, a good reason for some traders to begin a long holiday. Trade talks are the most exciting story & little is expected to come from them. However the popular averages are close to their record highs, keeping the bulls happy.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
| CL=F | Crude Oil | 67.30 | +1.46 | +2.2% |
| GC=F | Gold | 1,204.20 | +4.20 | +0.4% |
Stocks opened slightly lower after a rough day for
Pres Trump following convictions of 2 of his closest associates.
Still, today's session is expected to be one for the record books
with the S&P 500 officially having its longest bull market on
record. Stocks yesterday closed higher
for the 4th consecutive day & the broad-based S&P 500 index
set an intraday record. The S&P's fresh
record comes after Q2 earnings season has basically wrapped
up, while some easing trade tensions also supported the markets with
China & the US meeting to discuss trade after a tariff
exchange. During the day's trading session, the
S&P 500 topped its previous high of 2872, which it reached in
Jan. However, that index slipped back slightly before the markets
closed. Traders will get the latest existing home sales figures as well as the minutes from the last Fed meeting. Commodities
were mixed, but oil futures were higher ahead of the Energy
Information Administration's weekly inventory report.
Stocks lower as political storm surrounds former Trump allies
US & Chinese officials are scheduled to resume trade talks, even as Pres Trump expects no real progress. The
latest round comes as each country prepares to hit the other with new
tariffs tomorrow in a deepening dispute over China's economic
policies. Trump has threatened to impose duties
on virtually all of the more than $500B of Chinese goods
exported to the US unless it meets his demands. The 2 days of meetings are the first formal US-China trade talks since
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met Chinese economic adviser Liu He
in Beijing in Jun. After negotiations in May,
Beijing believed it had assurances from the US that tariffs were off
the table. But the White House moved ahead with more duties. Trump said on Mon that he did not "anticipate much." In an
interview, he said resolving the trade dispute will "take time because
China's done too well for too long, and they've become spoiled." The
discussions this week were expected to do little to stop the scheduled
activation of 25% US tariffs on another $16B in Chinese
goods scheduled to take effect tomorrow & China is expected to retaliate with tariffs on $16B of US goods. The
action could then trigger a 2nd $200-300B list of Chinese goods to be targeted with tariffs.
US, China trade talks to resume amid low expectations
US home sales fell for a 4th straight month in Jul as a shortage of properties on the market pushed up house prices, likely sidelining some potential buyers. The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales fell 0.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.34M units last month. The Jul drop marked the longest streak of monthly declines since 2013. The forecast called for existing home sales to gain 0.6% to a rate of 5.40M units in Jul. Sales fell across the Northeast, South Existing home sales, which make up about 90% of US home sales, fell 1.5% from a year ago in Jul. Sales have been stymied by an acute shortages of homes on the market for several months, although the NAR said inventory showed signs of stabilizing last month. There were 1.92M homes on the market in Jul, unchanged from a year earlier. It was the first month in 3 years in which inventory did not fall on a year-on-year basis. Rising building materials costs as well as shortages of land & labor have left builders unable to bridge the inventory gap, pushing up house prices. Supply constraints have largely accounted for the sluggish housing market, but there are growing concerns that the higher house prices together with rising mortgage rates will slow demand. At the Jul sales pace, it would take 4.3 months to exhaust the current inventory. A supply of 6 -7 months is viewed as a healthy balance between supply & demand. The median house price increased 4.5% from a year ago to $269K.
US existing home sales fall for fourth straight month
Pres Trump said that the US would slap a 25% tariff on cars coming from the EU. This statement came hours after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he had postponed an Aug timeline to publish a report on auto tariffs. "We're going to put a 25 percent tax on every car that comes into the United States from the European Union," Trump said last night. Ross said that it wasn't clear that a report on potential tariffs would come out by the end of Aug. The Commerce secretary also declined to set a new timeline. He said the report was being delayed because of ongoing negotiations with Mexico, Canada & the European Commission. Ross also said it was taking longer than anticipated to go thru materials submitted by automakers, who are largely against tariffs that critics say would drive up costs to consumers & to their own supply chain. The pres has said he could impose tariffs of 20-25% on auto imports. In May, he asked the Commerce Dept to examine whether such imports are threats to national security. He used a similar argument to put tariffs on steel & aluminum imports.
Trump: We are going to put a 25% tariff on every car from the European Union
Not much happening in the stock market, a good reason for some traders to begin a long holiday. Trade talks are the most exciting story & little is expected to come from them. However the popular averages are close to their record highs, keeping the bulls happy.
Dow Jones Industrials
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