Major stock indices ended the week mixed as companies begin reporting 2^nd quarter earnings.  The biggest gain was in the Dow Jones 30 Industrials with emerging markets and the tech heavy Nasdaq finishing lower.

Treasury bond yields were mixed with the 30-year bond yield at 3.908% and the 10-Year note at 3.841%.  Freddie Mac reported that the average 30-year mortgage rate fell to 6.78%.  Crude oil rose to $76.93 a barrel and natural gas rose to $2.704 per MMBTUs.  The U.S. dollar index rose to 101.08 and gold rose to $1964.30 an ounce.

• Canada reported that consumer prices rose 0.1% in June.  Year over year headline inflation fell from 3.4% in May to 2.8% in June.  From last year:
  • Grocery prices are up 9.1%.
  • All items excluding food rose 1.7%.
  • Mortgage interest rates are up 30.1%.
  • Gasoline prices fell 21.6%.
  • Excluding gasoline, headline inflation would have been 4.0% in June, following a 4.4% increase in May
• The National Association of Realtors reported:
  • Existing home sales fell 3.3% in June.
  • The median price of an existing home was $410,200, down from the all-time high of $413,800 last June.
  • The drop in sales of existing homes was attributed to low supply and high mortgage rates.
• The Commerce Department reported
  • Retail and food service sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in June.  This is not adjusted for inflation.

• • Business inventories rose 0.2%.
  • Housing starts fell 8.0% in June and are down 8.1% from a year ago.
    • Single family starts fell 7.0% and are down 7.4% from a year ago.
    • Multifamily starts fell 11.6% and are down 11.2% from a year ago.
  • Building permits, a sign of future housing starts, fell 3.7% in June.
• The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production fell 0.5% in June and is down 0.4% from a year ago.
  • Manufacturing fell 0.3%.
  • Mining, including oil and gas production fell 0.2%.
  • Utilities fell 2.6%.
• The Labor Department reported:
  • Seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment were 228,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s level.
    • The 4-week moving average of claims, designed to smooth out volatility, were 237,500 a decrease of 9,250 from the previous week’s level. 

• • • For the full unemployment report go here:  https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf .
• The EIA weekly oil report is here: http://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/wpsrsummary.pdf .  Also, the EIA reported in the prior week:
  • Field production of crude oil was unchanged at 12.3MM BPD.
  • Natural gas storage rose 41BN cubic feet and is above the 5-year average at this time of year.
• Baker Hughes reported the number of active oil rigs fell 7 to 530.  The number of active natural gas rose 2 to 131.
• Factset reported with 18% of S&P 500 companies reporting 2^nd quarter earnings, the blended earnings decline was 9.0%.

Please call us if you have any questions.

Loren C. Rex, CFP^®, MA                                                                      Erik A Smith, AIF®

Founder / Emeritus                                                                            President & C.E.O.                                  

These are the opinions of Loren Rex and Erik Smith and are not necessarily those of Cambridge, are for informational purposes only, and should not be construed or acted upon as individualized investment advice. The Indices mentioned are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.

 Sources:

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCRFPUS2&f=W

https://ir.eia.gov/ngs/ngs.html

https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms

https://www.wsj.com/market-data?mod=nav_top_subsection

https://bakerhughesrigcount.gcs-web.com/na-rig-count

https://www.census.gov/economic-indicators

https://www.factset.com/earningsinsight

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/230718/dq230718a-eng.htm

https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/default.htm

https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/housing-statistics/existing-home-sales