Dow gained 94, advancers over decliners better than 2-1 & NAZ went up 39. The MLP index added 2+ to the 252s & the REIT index gained 4+ to the 393s. Junk bond funds were little changed & Treasuries rose in price, taking the yield on the 10 year Treasury under 1.95%. Oil climbed high in the 56s & gold jumped up 14 to 1422 on hopes for an easy money policy at the Fed.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
US stocks rise ahead of July 4th holiday
The large service side of the economy grew in Jun at the softest pace in almost 2 years, reflecting a broad US slowdown tied in large part to ongoing trade tensions that have hurt growth around the world. An index of service-oriented companies such as banks, restaurants & hospitals slipped to 55.1% last month from 56.9% in May, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said, matching the lowest reading since Jul 2017. Numbers over 55% are generally considered exceptional, but the index had topped 60% as recently as last Nov. An index for business production dropped 3 points to 58.2%. The index for new orders declined 2.8 points to 55.8% & a gauge of employment, fell 3.1 points to 55%. Altogether, 16 of the 17 industries tracked by ISM said their businesses were expanding. The only one to contract was the arts & entertainment industry. The service sector employs more than 80% of all Americans & is critical to the health of the economy. While it's still expanding at a healthy rate, growth has tapered off this year. US tariffs have hit American manufacturers hard & some of the weakness now appears to be spilling over into the service side of the economy.
Factory orders in May fell 0.7%, the Commerce Dept said. The forecast called for a 0.7% decline. That marks the 2nd straight decline & 3rd in the last 4 months. Transportation equipment plunged 4.6%, &, excluding transportation, orders inched up 0.1%.
The bulls are buying stocks while the bears have gone into hiding. Of course in a holiday shortened week, it's hard to get meaningful messages from the stock market. Next week, early earnings reports are due & they should give insights into what to expect during earnings season. In the meantime, the popular averages are essentially at record highs making ivestors fell good on Independence Day.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
| CL=F | Crude Oil | 56.99 | +0.74 | +1.3% |
| GC=F | Gold | 1,416.70 | +8.70 | +0.6% |
Stocks traded higher ahead of a
shortened trading day. The stock market will close at 1:00 PM ahead
of the Jul 4th holiday. The Dow & S&P 500 both hit new intraday highs at the open. Bond yields tumbled on fears of a global recession & expectations of interest rate cuts by central banks. Private employers added just 102K jobs to their payrolls in Jun, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report -- missing expectations of 140K. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 8K to a seasonally adjusted 221K for the week. The
trade deficit in goods & services jumped 8.4% in May from a
month earlier to a seasonally adjusted $55.5B in May, the
Commerce Dept said. In Asia, China's Shanghai fell 0.9% & Hong Kong's Hang Seng
was off a tad. Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.5%. In Europe, London's FTSE was higher by 0.7%, Germany's DAX added 0.6% & France's CAC was higher by 0.7%.
US stocks rise ahead of July 4th holiday
Private employers added just 102K jobs to their payrolls in Jun, according to the latest ADP National
Employment Report -- missing expectations of 140K on the
heels of a weak month for job creation. Most
hiring took place in the service-providing sector, with 117K jobs
created. Manufacturing also rebounded slightly from the previous month, which saw only 27K jobs added, with 7K new jobs created. “The job market continues to throttle back. Job
growth has slowed sharply in recent months, as businesses have turned
more cautious in their hiring," said Mark Zandi, the chief economist of
Moody's Analytics. "Small businesses are the most nervous, especially in
the construction sector and at bricks-and-mortar retailers.” Zandi warned that small businesses are bearing
the brunt of a tight labor market & concerns of slowing global growth
-- & suggested that the unemployment could rise during the month of
Jun. "I do think a slowdown we're observing
now is more pronounced than anticipated," Zandi said. "Growth, broadly,
is below the economy's potential growth, which means if we stay here,
that unemployment will begin to notch higher." The
report precedes the release on Fri of the Labor Dept's jobs
report, during which the US economy is expected to have added 160K
new jobs. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 3.6%, a decades-low. In May, the US added a less-than-expected
75K jobs. If job creation remains stagnant, & unemployment inches upward,
that could provide enough fodder to the Federal Reserve to lower
interest rates during its Jul policy-setting meeting. In Jun,
policymakers at the central bank hinted at the possibility of a rate cut
if growth continued to slow.
Private sector hiring in June falls short of expectations with 102,000 jobs added
The large service side of the economy grew in Jun at the softest pace in almost 2 years, reflecting a broad US slowdown tied in large part to ongoing trade tensions that have hurt growth around the world. An index of service-oriented companies such as banks, restaurants & hospitals slipped to 55.1% last month from 56.9% in May, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said, matching the lowest reading since Jul 2017. Numbers over 55% are generally considered exceptional, but the index had topped 60% as recently as last Nov. An index for business production dropped 3 points to 58.2%. The index for new orders declined 2.8 points to 55.8% & a gauge of employment, fell 3.1 points to 55%. Altogether, 16 of the 17 industries tracked by ISM said their businesses were expanding. The only one to contract was the arts & entertainment industry. The service sector employs more than 80% of all Americans & is critical to the health of the economy. While it's still expanding at a healthy rate, growth has tapered off this year. US tariffs have hit American manufacturers hard & some of the weakness now appears to be spilling over into the service side of the economy.
Service side of U.S. economy grows at slowest pace in almost 2 years, ISM says
Factory orders in May fell 0.7%, the Commerce Dept said. The forecast called for a 0.7% decline. That marks the 2nd straight decline & 3rd in the last 4 months. Transportation equipment plunged 4.6%, &, excluding transportation, orders inched up 0.1%.
Factory orders slide 0.7% in May
The bulls are buying stocks while the bears have gone into hiding. Of course in a holiday shortened week, it's hard to get meaningful messages from the stock market. Next week, early earnings reports are due & they should give insights into what to expect during earnings season. In the meantime, the popular averages are essentially at record highs making ivestors fell good on Independence Day.
Dow Jones Industrials
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