Friends
We received a slew of early morning economic reports this morning, and all of them confirm a slowing U. S. economy. Retail sales for June were anemic and the Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed weakness, and in fact actual contraction, in manufacturing in New York State. Finally, business inventories are beginning to build which is another worrisome sign. With a slowing economy as a backdrop, stocks got off to a negative start this morning and could not fully recover throughout the day. This was the 7th down Monday in a row. Talk about “Blue Monday”.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 49 points to finish the day trading at 12,727. The S&P 500 was down 3 points to close at 1353. Gold was down $2.90 to close at $15.89 per ounce, and oil was up $1.19 to trade at $88.29 per barrel WTI. Considering the plethora of lousy economic news this morning, I guess you could say today’s move was muted.
Earnings start to come in earnest tomorrow with the likes of Coca Cola, Intel and Johnson & Johnson reporting. The rest of the week will see IBM, American Express, Bank of America (Citi’s earnings actually weren’t bad today), Honeywell, Verizon and Microsoft among others reporting. We also have Dr. Bernanke appearing before the Senate Banking committee tomorrow. We have a lot to deal with this week. Stay tuned.
Have a nice evening everyone.
