Stocks rose again this week and were especially supported by Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s statement on Friday indicating that the time has come for policy adjustments and to shift focus from inflation to supporting the labor market . All major indices were up with the biggest gain in the Russell 2000 small cap index.
Treasury bond yields fell with the 30-year bond yield at 4.111% and the 10-Year note at 3.842%. Freddie Mac reported that the average 30-year mortgage rate fell to 6.46%. Crude oil fell to $72.15 a barrel and natural gas fell to $2.111 per MMBTUs. The U.S. dollar index fell to 101.37 and gold fell to $2522.70 an ounce.
In economic reports this week:
- The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 1.3% in the month of July after four monthly declines.
- July was down 2.5% from a year ago.
- The median home sales price fell 1% in July to $422,600 but was up 4.2% from last July.
- The inventory of unsold homes rose 0.8%. At the current sales pace there is a 4.0-month supply of homes for sale.
- The Commerce Department reported:
- New home sales rose a seasonally adjusted 10.6% in July and are up 5.6% from a year ago.
- The median sales price of new houses sold in July 2024 was $429,800.
- The Labor department reported:
- In its annual revision to jobs creation for the 12 months ending in March, the U.S. added an average of 178,000 jobs per month, down from the previously reported average gain of 246,000 jobs.
- Seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment were 232,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level.
- The 4-week moving average of claims, designed to smooth out volatility, was 236,000, a decrease of 750 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 13.3MM BPD to 13.4MM BPD.
- Natural gas storage fell 35N cubic feet and is above the average level during the past five years at this time of year.
- Baker Hughes reported the number of oil rigs was unchanged at 483 and the number of natural gas rigs fell 1 to 97.
Please call us if you have any questions.
Loren Rex – Emeritus
Erik A Smith, AIF® – 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. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Dow Jones, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indexes. The Nasdaq Composite is a stock market index that includes almost all stocks listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange (more than 2500 stocks).
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
