EconCurrents

Summary Of the Markets Today:

• The Dow closed up 436 points or 1.40%,
• Nasdaq closed up 2.14%,
• S&P 500 up 1.83%,
• WTI crude oil settled at $82 down 11.09% for the week,
• USD $109.80 down 0.41,
• Gold $1728 up 0.9%,
• Bitcoin $19,000 up 0.79% – Session Low 18,612,
• 10-year U.S. Treasury 3.26% down 0.082

Today’s Economic Releases:

The goods and services deficit was $70.6 billion in July 2022, down $10.2 billion from $80.9 billion in June. July exports were $259.3 billion, $0.5 billion more than June exports. July imports were $329.9 billion, $9.7 billion less than June imports. Slowing imports usually is a sign of a slowing economy.

The Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts, shows economic activity was unchanged, on balance, since early July, with five Districts reporting slight to modest growth in activity and five others reporting slight to modest softening. More anecdotal evidence the economy is slowing.

Summary Of the Markets Today:

• The Dow closed down 173 points or 0.55%,
• Nasdaq closed down 0.74%,
• S&P 500 down 0.41%,
• WTI crude oil settled at $87 down 0.59%,
• USD $110.26 up 0.33,
• Gold $1700 up 0.01%,
• Bitcoin $18,732 down 5.07% – Session Low 18,732,
• 10-year U.S. Treasury 3.342% unchanged

Today’s Economic Releases:

In August 2022 the Institute for Supply Management’s Services PMI^® registered 56.9% up 0.2 points from July.

According to CoreLogic’s Home Price Insights report, home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased year over year by 15.8% in July 2022 compared with July 2021. On a month-over-month basis, home prices declined by 0.3% in July 2022 compared with June 2022. The home price increase cooling trend continues with CoreLogic HPI Forecast indicating that home prices will increase on a year-over-year basis by 3.8% from July 2022 to July 2023.

Summary Of the Markets Today:

• The Dow closed down 338 points or 1.07%,
• Nasdaq closed down 1.31%,
• S&P 500 down 1.07%,
• WTI crude oil settled at 87 down 6.49% for the week,
• USD $109.60 down 0.03%,
• Gold $17251 up 0.68%,
• Bitcoin $19,899 down 0.38% – Session Low 19,784,
• 10-year U.S. Treasury 3.199% down 0.066%
• Baker Hughes Rig Count: U.S. -5 to 760 Canada +7 to 208

Today’s Economic Releases:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 315,000 in August 2022, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, health care, and retail trade. Interesting that the civilian labor force increased by 786,000 which accounts for the rise in the unemployment rate. The household data shows employment increasing by 442,000 (versus the headline 315,000 in the establishment survey). Wednesday’s ADP employment report showed 132,000 private sector jobs were added (versus 308,000 in the establishment survey in this employment report). The strong employment report opens the Federal Reserve to continue raising the federal funds rate.

New orders for manufactured goods in July 2022, down following nine consecutive monthly increases, decreased 1.0%. This followed a 1.8% June increase. This data is not inflation adjusted and inflation-adjusted data makes manufacturing look sick (see graph below):

The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) showed its manufacturing index for August 2022 was unchanged from the previous month. Overall this index has been declining for the last year and is only modestly above the zero-growth line.