U.S. equities finished mixed after paring early gains following back-to-back weekly gains that have been underpinned by cooled U.S.-China trade concerns with both sides expected to resume talks early next month. Economic news from overseas may have contributed to the lack of conviction, as softer-than-expected China trade figures over the weekend were countered by upbeat data out of Europe. Treasury yields were higher, showing little reaction to the afternoon release of consumer credit, and crude oil prices gained ground, while the U.S. dollar and gold were lower. In equity news, AT&T was higher after Elliott Management disclosed a $3.2 billion stake in the company and delivered a value-creation proposal, while Amgen fell following trial results from its lung cancer treatment and Acadia Pharmaceuticals surged on the outcome of its study.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 38 points (0.1%) to 26,836, the S&P 500 Index was nearly unchanged at 2,979 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 16 points (0.2%) to 8,087. In moderate volume, 890 million shares were traded on the NYSE and 2.1 billion shares changed hands on the Nasdaq. WTI crude oil moved $1.33 higher to $57.85 per barrel and wholesale gasoline was up $0.01 at $1.58 per gallon. Elsewhere, the Bloomberg gold spot price declined $5.62 to $1,501.20 per ounce, and the Dollar Index—a comparison of the U.S. dollar to six major world currencies—was 0.1% lower at 98.29.
Consumer credit, released in the final hour of trading, showed consumer borrowing expanded by $23.3 billion during July, the most since late 2017 and well above the $16.0 billion forecast of economists polled by Bloomberg, while June’s figure was adjusted downward to an increase of $13.8 billion from the originally reported $14.6 billion. Non-revolving debt, which includes student loans and loans for vehicles and mobile homes, rose $13.3 billion, a 5.3% increase year-over-year (y/y), while revolving debt, which includes credit cards, rose by $10.0 billion, an 11.2% y/y rise.
Treasuries were lower, as the yield on the 2-year note rose 6 basis points (bps) to 1.58%, the yield on the 10-year note advanced 8 bps to 1.63%, and the 30-year bond rate gained 9 bps to 2.11%.
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