U.S. stocks sold off on Wednesday due to a weak Treasury bond auction given fears of rising deficits with pending legislation. Also, on Friday, traders sold U.S. stocks on threats of new EU and iPhone tariffs. Developed international stocks ended with slight gains, emerging markets with slight losses and there were more substantial losses in major U.S. indices. The small cap Russell 2000 had the largest decline.
It was a light week for economic news.
Treasury bond yields rose with the 30-year bond yield at 5.073% and the 10-Year note at 4.560%. Freddie Mac reported that the average 30-year mortgage rate rose to 6.82%. Crude oil rose to $61.62 a barrel and natural gas fell to $3.707 per MMBTUs. The U.S. dollar index fell to 99.13 and gold rose to $3359.70 an ounce.
In economic reports last week:
- The National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales fell 0.5% in April and were down 2.0% from a year ago.
- Japan reported that its core inflation rose to 3.6% from a year ago. Excluding volatile food and energy prices rose 3.5%.
- The Commerce Department reported that new single-family home sales rose a seasonally adjusted 10.9% from March and were 3.3% above March 2024.
- The Labor Department reported:
- Seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment were 227,000, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised level.
- The 4-week moving average of claims, designed to smooth out volatility, was 231,500 an increase of 1000 from the previous week’s unrevised level.
- For the full unemployment report go here: https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf
- Seasonally adjusted first-time claims for unemployment were 227,000, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised level.
- The EIA weekly oil report is here: Weekly Petroleum Status Report. Also, the EIA reported in the prior week:
- Field production of crude oil rose from 13.387MM BPD to 13.392MM BPD..
- Natural gas storage rose 120BN cubic feet and was above its average level during the past five years at this time of year.
- Baker Hughes reported the number of oil rigs fell 8 to 465 and the number of natural gas rigs fell 2 to 98.
- Factset reported with 96% of S&P 500 companies reporting, the blended earnings increase was 12.9% from a year ago.
Please call us if you have any questions.
Loren Rex – Emeritus
Erik A Smith, AIF® – President & C.E.O.
Nicholas Acri, CFP® – Partner & Wealth Advisor
Dylan Thomas, CFP® – Partner & Wealth Advisor
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
