Market Insights

Don’s Notebook July 25, 2018

Today’s direction indicators are largely impartial.

Housing data have been mostly flat to weak. New home sales, however, have been the backbone for what is otherwise a mixed housing sector.

• HUD will release its June report on New Home Sales at 10 a.m. ET, with observers expecting an annual sales rate of 669,000 units down 0.3 percent from June’s 689,000 rate.
• The Mortgage Bankers’ Association compiles various mortgage loan indexes and made a report this morning.
• Mortgage demand from home buyers is trending lower. Purchase applications for home mortgages fell a seasonally adjusted 1 percent in the during the week of July 20^th, but applications for refinancing increased by 1 percent.

U.S. stock futures were narrowly mixed this morning ahead of another big batch of corporate earnings. That follows a volatile session which saw the Nasdaq jump 1.1 percent to a record intraday high, only to finish the day lower.

Overnight Notes:

• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4 percent.
• Japan’s Topix index closed 0.4 percent higher lifted by strong earnings.
• In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index is mostly flat this morning as traders digested quarterly results while waiting for the outcome of the EU’s trade mission to Washington.
• S&P 500 futures pointed to a small loss at the open.

Earnings Notes:

Dow components Coca-Cola (KO) and Boeing (BA), along with General Motors (GM), are the headliners among this morning’s earnings reports.

• Coca-Cola earnings: 61 cents per share, vs 60 cents EPS expected
• Boeing posted adjusted earnings of $3.33 a share on revenue of $24.26 billion. Those results topped Wall Street’s estimates of earnings of $3.25 a share on revenue of $24.04 billion.

After-the-bell reports include Facebook, Visa, Ford Motor, and Mondelez (MDLZ).

• AT&T (T) reported adjusted quarterly profit of 91 cents per share, six cents above consensus forecasts, and the company also raised its full-year guidance. However, investors are focusing on revenue numbers that came in below Street forecasts.