| The KUIK Market Update for Wednesday, December 24: | |||||||
| Markets are up. | |||||||
| Index | Direction | Change | Units | Time | Change | ||
| Dow | Up | 52 | points | 18,076 | 7:56 AM | ||
| S&P500 | Up | 0.2% | percent | 2,086 | 3.68 | ||
| Nasdaq Composite | Up | 0.4% | percent | 4,785 | 19.15 | ||
| 30 Year Treasury | Up | 2 | Basis Points | 2.87 | Annual Yield | ||
| The Labor Department reports new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 9,000 to 280,000 in the week that ended December 20, only slightly above the 14-year low of 266,000 hit in October and below economists’ expectations of 290,00. Continuing claims rose by 25,000 to 2.4 million in the week that ended December 13. | |||||||
| The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.83% in the ended today, up from the last week’s 3.80%, which was the lowest rate since May 2013, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago, the 30-year rate was at 4.48%. The average rate for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage ticked up to 3.10% from last week’s 3.09% | |||||||
| Marketwatch reports the biggest engineering project in the history of the world got under way this week. China will build a $50 billion, 172-mile canal across Nicaragua to connect the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean. The new canal will be more than three times as long as the Panama Canal, but wide enough and deep enough to handle even the biggest container ships. | |||||||
| Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK. | |||||||
| http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-jobless-claims-fall-to-seven-week-low-2014-12-24 | |||||||
| http://www.marketwatch.com/story/30-year-mortgage-rate-rises-to-383-2014-12-24-109102 | |||||||
| http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-nicaragua-canal-a-watershed-for-chinas-influence-2014-12-24 | |||||||
| For today’s Market Update Report click to listen-> | |||||||