Market Perspective for September 23, 2019
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.06 percent on a flat day of trading on Monday. The S&P 500 Index dipped 0.01 percent, the Nasdaq 0.06 percent and the Russell 2000 Index 0.10 percent.
Consumer stocks led the market on Monday. SPDR Consumer Staples (XLP) advanced 0.40 percent and SPDR Consumer Discretionary (XLY) climbed 0.35 percent.
The flash Markit manufacturing PMI for September climbed to 51, better than the consensus forecast of 50.3. This reading continues a string of surprisingly strong U.S. economic data reports over the past several weeks.
Europe was not as lucky. The flash Eurozone PMI fell to a 7-year low of 45.6 and the core German economy’s PMI slid to 41.4. Readings below 50 signal contraction. The final PMIs will be released next week.
The Conference Board and University of Michigan will release their September consumer confidence surveys this week. Analysts expect the Conference Board reading to fall a point to 134.1. The University of Michigan survey is anticipated to rise to 92.
New home sales are out midweek. Economists forecast August sales to have risen to an annualized pace of 660,000. Housing data has delivered a string of surprisingly strong data points. This week will also see a homebuilder deliver earnings and pending home sales on Thursday.
Crude oil was volatile on Monday after conflicting reports concerning the repair timeline in Saudi Arabia. Report out early on Monday said it could take months to fix damage from recent attacks, far longer than the previous estimate of several weeks. West Texas Intermediate crude closed up 55 cents to $58.64 per barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.71 percent. Invesco Senior Loan (BKLN) gained 0.10 percent on the day and Fidelity Corporate Bond (FCOR) 0.20 percent. iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond (HYG) slipped 0.05 percent.
Nike (NKE), Autozone (AZO), Cintas (CTAS), CarMax (KMX), KB Home (KBH), Worthington Industries (WOR), Micron Technology (MU) and Carnival (CCL) report earnings this week.