| The KUIK Market Update for Wednesday, February 20: | |||||||
| Markets are down. | |||||||
| Index | Direction | Change | Units | Last | Time | Change | |
| Dow | Down | (14) | points | 14,022 | 8:05 AM | ||
| S&P500 | Down | -0.37% | percent | 1,525 | (5.68) | points | |
| Nasdaq Composite | Down | -0.39% | percent | 3,201 | (12.41) | points | |
| 30 Year Treasury | Up | 1 | Basis Points | 3.21 | Annual Yield | ||
| The Department of Commerce reported that construction on new homes fell 8.5% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected January’s starts to decline to a rate of 914,000. Apartments construction took a big hit. Starts for structures with at least two units fell 24% in January to a rate of 277,000. Meanwhile, starts for single-family homes ticked up 0.8% to a rate of 613,000, the highest rate since July 2008. | |||||||
| Wholesale prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in January according to the Labor Department, marking the first increase after three straight drops. Excluding food and energy, producer prices also rose 0.2%. Food costs jumped 0.7% last month, led by a 39% jump in vegetable prices. | |||||||
| Marketwatch reports the automatic spending cuts that had been scheduled to kick in on Jan. 1 included a reduction of 8.2% in federal financial aid, amounting to about $350 million. The fiscal-cliff compromise reached by Congress postponed those cuts until March 1. With many schools sending out award letters in coming weeks that will leave many parents and college-bound students uncertain about the size and existence of their financial-aid packages. | |||||||
| Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for AM 1360 KUIK. | |||||||
| http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-starts-slump-as-apartment-building-slows-2013-02-20 | |||||||
| http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-producer-prices-rise-02-in-january-2013-02-20 | |||||||
| http://www.marketwatch.com/story/financial-aid-caught-in-congressional-crossfire-2013-02-04 | |||||||
| For today’s Morning Market Report click to listen-> | https://beaconrwa.com/audio/Market-Update-Report.mp3 | ||||||