The Buzz on Business for July 30th, 2024

Perhaps the best explanation for the rather confusing market action we saw on Monday is the Federal Open Market Committee and its two-day meeting that begins later this morning.

In recent weeks the scuttlebutt and the betting averages have been hinting that the Fed would begin lowering the Fed Funds rate at this meeting. While we pride ourselves as inflation hawks here at the Ministry of Truth, we found ourselves swept away and aligned with those expecting a rate cut on Wednesday afternoon. Or maybe, we were engaging in some wishful thinking.

During the day on Monday, and as the kids say, there was a vibe change. Now it seems the consensus expectation is that the Fed will do some table setting with its statement and at the Chairman’s press conference but will wait until September and on the receipt of more data before making it official.

The shifting vibes resulted in a meandering, listless, snooze fest on Wall Street.

Stock Market Report

Stocks opened higher, bounced around most of the day and then sold off into the close to finish mixed on very low volume as investors seem to be waiting on the Federal Reserve.

• The Dow Jones Industrials were down, but not by much. They closed at 40,540, off forty-nine points or one-tenth of one percent.
• The S&P 500 was up, but not by much. It managed a minuscule four-point gain, less than one tenth of one percent and closed at 5,464.
• Likewise, the NASDAQ Composite. It was up less than a tenth of a percent and closed at 17,370, for a gain of twelve points.
• For reasons we cannot explain, the small caps had a tougher go of things. The Russell 2000 lost 1.1%, that twenty-five points and it closed at 2,235,

Bond Market Report

Like stocks, bonds finished mixed. Like stocks, well, it was boring.

• The yield on the 2-year treasury was up a tick and it closed at 4.402%.
• The 20-year now yields 4.515%, off three basis points.

Oil, Gold, and Bitcoin

• Oil continued its recent slide. It was off another $1.25, and a barrel now changes hands at $75.91.
• Gold fell $5.30 and a troy ounce will now set you back $2,380.10
• And Bitcoin joined in the blah day by giving up $679.60 to close at $67,366.78

Earnings Report Roundup: Mixed Results

One bright spot on this otherwise dismal day was McDonalds. The stock rallied and was up almost four percent after announcing earnings before the bell. The fact that it was up, up on a down day, after announcing it missed expectations for both the top and bottom lines and missed dramatically, well it just fits, doesn’t it? We did not see any news to explain the anomaly. It was just one of those days.

The balance of the earnings calendar was true to form. Green numbers on the bottom line but a couple of misses on sales.

Nothing on the economic calendar on Monday.

Today we get the Jolts Report, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for July and, of course, the opening of two days of meetings of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee. And the economic reports pick up all week long.

We will do what we do and read, watch, listen and analyze so we can report all of it to you, here on the Buzz.