Domestic stocks finished the regular session mostly near the unchanged mark, though the Dow amassed a decline in the final minutes of trading, amid a drop in crude oil prices and as China announced tariffs on approximately $16 billion worth of U.S. goods. Global trade concerns lingered following the levy announcement from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, while the markets also appeared a bit cautious ahead of some key reads on inflation beginning tomorrow. Dow member Walt Disney missed quarterly forecasts and CVS and Michael Kors raised their guidance projections. Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar were mostly flat, while gold traded higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dipped 45 points (0.2%) to 25,584, the S&P 500 Index decreased 1 point to 2,858, and the NASDAQ Composite gained 5 points (0.1%) to 7,888. In moderate volume, 661 million shares were traded on the NYSE and 2.1 billion shares changed hands on the NASDAQ. WTI crude oil fell $2.23 to $66.94 per barrel and wholesale gasoline decreased $0.07 to $2.02 per gallon. Elsewhere, the Bloomberg gold spot price gained $2.60 to $1,213.57 per ounce, and the Dollar Index—a comparison of the U.S. dollar to six major world currencies—was nearly unchanged at 95.09.
The MBA Mortgage Application Index declined 3.0% last week, following the prior week’s 2.6% decline. The fall came as a 4.5% drop for the Refinance Index was met with a 2.0% decrease in the Purchase Index. The average 30-year mortgage rate remained at 4.84%.
Treasuries were little changed, with the yields on the 2-year note and the 30-year bond flat at 2.67% and 3.11%, respectively, and the yield on the 10-year note dipping 1 basis point to 2.96%.
Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar hovered around the flat line, ahead of the next two days of July inflation reports that could spark some volatility. The data will commence with tomorrow’s Producer Price Index (PPI), expected to show the headline and core—ex food & energy—rates rose 0.2% month-over-month, following June’s 0.3% gains. Compared to last year, wholesale price inflation and the core rate are projected to match June’s 3.4% and 2.8% rises respectively. Wholesale inventories are also slated for release tomorrow, with economists looking for a flat reading for June, matching the preliminary read and following May’s downwardly revised 0.4% increase.
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