The Buzz on Business for July 25th, 2024 

After opening lower, stocks seemed poised to show some welcome strength after Wednesday’s rout. All the major indices stood in positive territory. Volume was good. The Advance/Decline line was up and up solidly. At one point, five of the Magnificent Seven were posting gains.  Combined with some excellent data from the economic calendar we thought we had a pretty good rally on our hands. 

We were wrong. 

Alas, it was not meant to be. Stocks sold off hard into the close to finish mixed, six of the Magnificent Seven finished with losses and more questions about the trajectory of this market were raised than answered. 

Stock Market Report 

Hearts were broken on Wall Street yesterday as early session gains faded into losses at the close. 

• The Dow Jones Industrials managed a gain on the day. They were up eighty-one points, that’s two-tenths of a percent and they closed at 39,935. 

• Not so much the S&P 500. It posted a loss of twenty-eight points, that’s one-half of one percent and now stands at 5,399. 

• The NASDAQ Composite had been up by as much as 140 points but finished down 161 points, nine-tenths and it closed at 17,182. 

• The small caps did better but even they gave up substantial gains as the day wore on. The Russell 2000 ended the day up 1.3% or twenty-eight points and they start the day today at 2,223. 

Bond Market Report 

Bonds likewise were all over the place during the day before finishing mixed. 

• The yield on the 2-year treasury was up by less than a tick, basically flat and it stands at 4.433%. 

• The 20-year was off four ticks and stands at 4.586% 

Oil, Gold, and Bitcoin 

• Oil opened lower but managed a gain on the day. It was up $0.57, and a barrel now changes hands at $ 78.17. 

• Gold had a tough day. It was off $37.30, and a troy ounce will now set you back $2,361.70. 

• And Bitcoin was off $959.04, and at 4:00 PM ET stood at $64,712.81. 

Earnings Season Update: Profits Outshine Revenues 

Forty-three public companies reported earnings during the day on Thursday. All but eight exceeded expectations for profits. But fifteen missed expectations for sales. We confess to having no data on whether this spate of revenue misses is significant, statistically or otherwise, but it is surely noteworthy. 

Eight more second-quarter reports are due out today. None are expected to move the markets one way or the other. 

Gross Domestic Product grew at a better than expected 2.80% in the second quarter. While there is a fair amount of celebratory rhetoric from the political classes, we remind listeners that the economy was growing at a nearly 5.0% rate in the first quarter. To our way of thinking the celebrations might be appropriate at an 8 or 9 percent growth rate. Sigh! 

After several weeks of disappointing results, Initial and Continuing Jobless Claims beat their numbers yesterday. 

The only blemish on the day was from, you guessed it, manufacturing. Durable Goods Orders had been expected to grow by 0.30%. Instead, they fell by a dramatic 6.6%. 

Today is inflation day as the PCE Index complex rolls out. Expectations are that the Feds preferred measure of inflation grew by 0.10% in June, well below the Fed’s target. 

We shall see and you shall see but only if you keep it right here on the Buzz.