Markets struggle as stocks are ending higher in a wild week

Dow crawled up 34, advancers over decliners about are up 5-4 & NAZ rose 31.  The MLP index fell about 4 to the 275s & the REIT index stayed near 409.  Junk bond funds inched higher & Treasuries were purchased which reduced yields (more below).  Oil eased higher in the 76s & gold added 5 to 2468.

Dow Jones Industrials  decliners about 5-4

The housing market may finally be shifting in buyers' favor.  In a good sign for homebuyers, the share of available listings that saw a price cut jumped to 18.9% in Jul, up 3.4% from the same time last year, & the highest level in 2 years, according to a new report published by Realtor.com.  Price cuts are atypical in Jul, which is usually a peak time for home sales.  But this year is different, because sellers are trying to lure back lukewarm buyers who are facing both high costs & steep interest rates.  The report also showed that median home prices fell last month to $440K, down from $445K in Jun.  Among the 50 metro areas tracked by Realtor.com, a whopping 47 saw their share of price reductions increase compared with last year.  Years of underbuilding fueled a shortage of homes in the country, a problem that was later exacerbated by the rapid rise in mortgage rates & expensive construction materials.  Economists predict that mortgage rates will remain elevated for most of 2024 & that they will only begin to fall once the Federal Reserve starts cutting rates.  Even then, rates are unlikely to return to the lows seen during the pandemic.  Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said that the average rate on a 30-year loan tumbled to 6.47%, the lowest level in more than a year.  While that is down from a peak of 7.79% in the fall, it remains sharply higher than the pandemic-era lows of just 3%.

Home prices are finally starting to fall

Paramount Global (PARA) will cut about 15% of its US-based workforce, co-CEO Chris McCarthy said.  The media company disclosed its plans for the layoffs as it released its 2nd-qtr financial results.  McCarthy said the layoffs will be "primarily focused on two areas: first, redundant functions within marketing and communications; second, streamlining our corporate structure, reducing our headcount in finance, legal, technology and other support functions."  They will occur "in the coming weeks" & largely finish "by the end of the year," he added.  Paramount Global linked the upcoming headcount reduction to a "strategic plan" that involves streamlining its organization.  "We announced in June that we’ve identified $500 million in annual run rate cost savings across the company. This $500 million is included in the $2 billion of cost efficiencies identified by Skydance," McCarthy said.  The stock went up 9¢.

Paramount Global to lay off 15% of its US workforce

Treasury yields were lower as investors continued to assess the state of the US economy after labor data buoyed sentiment. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was around 6 basis points lower at 3.936%, nonetheless holding near the level it was at last week before a weak US jobs report helped trigger a run of global market volatility.  The yield on the 2-year note was down 2 basis points on the day at 4.024%.  Yields & prices move in opposite directions, & 1 basis point equals one one-hundredth (0.01%) of a percent.  Traders meanwhile trimmed bets on a 50 basis point rate cut from the Federal Reserve in Sep, now pricing in roughly even odds of that or a 25 basis point move lower, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.  Fresh data is in short supply until Tues, when the core producer price index is due.

10-year Treasury yield dips as traders weigh state of U.S. economy after latest data

The stock market is resting after extremely wild price swings, but is ending on a high note.  Traders are resting today.  Next week will bring Jul inflation data for the consumer & producers indices.