Stocks ended the week mixed with most major indices posting gains.  The largest increase was in the Nasdaq Composite index with the Dow 30 Industrials ended the week lower.  Earnings related to artificial intelligence drove the Nasdaq higher.  On the economy, durable goods orders fell sharply in July while new home sales rose and existing home sales fell.  Unemployment claims also fell.  Fed chair Jerome Powell struck a hawkish tone on inflation at the annual Jackson Hole meeting.  While the FED may pause in September, a hike in November may be likely.

Treasury bond yields fell with the 30-year bond yield at 4.282% and the 10-Year note at 4.229%.  Freddie Mac reported that the average 30-year mortgage rate rose to 7.23%.  Crude oil fell to $79.94 a barrel and natural gas fell to $2.552 per MMBTUs.  The U.S. dollar index rose to 104.18 and gold rose to $1941.60 an ounce.

• The National Association of Realtors reported existing home sales fell a seasonally adjusted 2.2% in July due to low inventory of homes for sale and high mortgage rates.
  • From a year ago existing home sales rose 1.9%
  • The median price of an existing home sale rose to $406,700.
• The Commerce Department reported
  • Sales of new single family homes rose a seasonally adjusted 4.4% in July and 16.3% from a year ago.  The median sales price for a new home was $436,700.

• • Durable good orders fell 5.2% in July following a 4.4% increase in June.

• • • Excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose 0.5%.
    • Excluding defense, new orders fell 5.4%
• The Labor Department reported:
  • Seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment were 230,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 240,000.
    • The 4-week moving average of claims, designed to smooth out volatility, were 236,750 an increase of 2250 from the previous week’s revised 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 rose from 12.7MM BPD to 12.8MM BPD.
  • Natural gas storage rose 18BN cubic feet and is above the 5-year average at this time of year.
• Baker Hughes reported the number of active oil rigs fell 12 to 508.  The number of active natural gas was fell 2 to 115.

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