The KUIK Market Update for Wednesday, February 22:
Markets are down.
Index
Direction
Change
Units
Time
Dow
Down
(1)
points
20,742
8:15 AM
S&P500
Down
-0.2%
percent
2,361
Nasdaq Composite
Down
-0.2%
percent
5,854
30 Year Treasury
Unchanged
–
Basis Points
3.04
Annual Yield
Preliminary data shows world trade growth slowed to as low as 1.9% in 2016, down from 2.7% in 2015 and the fifth decline in a row. That’s down from a high of 12.4% in 2010, when the world came out of recession. The World Bank said an increase in policy uncertainty may account for up to 75% of the slowdown. The authors studied 18 countries and up to 30 years of data to capture the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and trade.
The National Association of realtors reports existing-home sales in January ran at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 5.69 million. Economists expected only 5.55 million. That was 3.3% above December’s upwardly-revised 5.51 million and 3.8% higher than a year ago. There were 3.6 months’ worth of homes available for, the 20th consecutive month in which inventory declined on an annual basis. Homes available fell 7.1% compared to a year ago even though prices are 7.1% higher. The median price was $228,900.
Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.
