Bears Come to the Party But Leave Early
It was a rollercoaster day on Wall Street, as the S&P 500 went as low as 1370 – a drop of 37 points – before finishing up 4 points at 1411. The Dow finished only 15 lower after recovering from being down as much as 340 points on the day. The NASDAQ ended the day down 7. In the treasury market, the 10-year Note dropped its yield 19 basis points on the day to 4.6%.
The big news this morning was more disappointment from the housing market, with housing starts checking in at 1.381 million, lower than the 1.405 million estimated. Building permits also came in below expectations. Initial jobless claims printed at 322,000, higher than the expected 315,000.
Overseas, the Nikkei finished down 2% while the Hang Seng finished down 3.29%.
Economic Data Scheduled for Friday, August 17, 2007
(All times in U.S. Central Time)
U.S.
9:00 AM: University of Michigan Sentiment Index (Consensus 88.5)
2:00 PM: Cattle on Feed
Canada
None
U.K.
None
European Union
1:00 AM: (Germany) Producer Price Index for July MoM (Consensus 0.3%)
Japan
12:00 PM: June Leading Economic Index
