U.S. stock indices had substantial gains last week with the biggest gain in the Russell 2000 small cap index. Developed international stocks and emerging markets declined. It was a light week for economic news.
Treasury bond yields fell with the 30-year bond yield at 4.572% and the 10-Year note at 4.384%. Freddie Mac reported that the average 30-year mortgage rate rose to 6.84%. Crude oil rose to $68.90 a barrel and natural gas rose to $2.976 per MMBTUs. The U.S. dollar index fell to 106.18 and gold rose to $2630.70 an ounce.
In economic reports last week:
- The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 3.4% in October.
- The median price of an existing home sale was $407,200 a 4.0% increase from the previous year.
- The inventory of unsold existing homes rose 0.7% in October to a 4.2 month supply.
- The Commerce Department reported:
- Housing starts fell a seasonally adjusted 3.1% in October and are down 4.0% from a year ago.
- This was negatively impacted in October by hurricanes.
- Single family starts fell 6.9% and were down 0.5% year over year.
- Starts of 5 or more units rose 9.8% but were down 12.6% from a year ago.
- Permits, an indication of future housing starts, fell 0.6%.
- Housing starts fell a seasonally adjusted 3.1% in October and are down 4.0% from a year ago.
- The Labor department reported:
- Seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment were 213,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week.
- The 4-week moving average of claims, designed to smooth out volatility, was 217,750 a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week.
- For the full unemployment report go here: https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf .
- Seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment were 213,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week.
- 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 fell from 13.4MM BPD to 13.2MM BPD.
- Natural gas storage fell 3BN cubic feet and is above highest level during the past five years at this time of year.
- Baker Hughes reported the number of oil rigs rose 1 to 479 and the number of natural gas rigs fell 2 to 99.
- Factset reported with 95% of S&P 500 companies reporting Q3 earnings the blended earnings increase is 5.8% from a year ago.
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
https://bakerhughesrigcount.gcs-web.com/na-rig-count
https://www.census.gov/economic-indicators
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
https://fiscal.treasury.gov/files/reports-statements/mts/mts1024.pdf
