The big number being talked about this week is the unemployment rate. The reading of 5.8% is down from last month’s 6.1% and the number of unemployed people is at 9.3 million. The report is better than the expected rate of 5.9%. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 559,000. Leading the gains were increases in leisure and...
Equity indices languished on the week inside a very tight range. The S&P 500 gained 0.3% and the NASDAQ Composite gained 0.2% as heavyweights stalled. However, oversold names rallied as did small caps. The Russell 2000 Index was up 2.2% on the week. Emerging markets led the way amid dollar weakness with gains of 2.8%....
It was another difficult week for prospective home buyers. Existing home sales for April were lighter than expected and down 2.7% from the previous month. The decline to 5.85 million, lower than the expected 6.08 million, makes April the third consecutive month of declines. Year-over-year, sales are up 33.9%. The median existing-home sales price is...
