The KUIK Market Update for Wednesday, November 16:
Markets are mixed.
Index
Direction
Change
Units
Time
Dow
Down
(69)
points
18,853
8:03 AM
S&P500
Down
-0.3%
percent
2,174
Nasdaq Composite
Up
0.1%
percent
5,282
30 Year Treasury
Down
(2)
Basis Points
2.95
Annual Yield
The Commerce Department reports inflation in the U.S. at the wholesale level remains low, but it’s no longer falling. The producer price index was unchanged in October. Economists expected a a 0.3% rise. Wholesale prices have risen 0.8% from October 2015 to October 2016. That’s the strongest one-year gain since the end of 2014. Core producer prices which exclude food, energy, and trade margins have climbed 1.6% in the past 12 months, the fastest pace in two years.
The National Association of Home Builders’ index was steady at 63. That matched economists’ expectations. The association said most survey responses were registered before the results of the November election were known. Two of the index’s three sub-gauges, measuring current sales condition,s and sales expectations over the coming six months, were at 69 in November. Any reading over 50 signals improvement. The index of buyer traffic rose one point to 47. It hasn’t topped 50 since the height of the housing bubble a decade ago. Over the past year, builders have broken ground on an average of 1.15 million homes per month, 25% lower than the average in the last five years of the 1990s.
Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.