Money Talk Podcast, Friday Aug. 19, 2022
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Landaas & Company newsletter August edition now available.
Advisors on This Week’s Show
Kyle Tetting
Art Rothschild
Dave Sandstrom
(with Max Hoelzl, engineered by Jason Scuglik)
Week in Review (Aug. 15-19, 2022)
Significant Economic Indicators & Reports
Monday
No major announcements
Tuesday
Housing construction data showed declines in July amid the rising costs of financing. Both building permits and housing starts dropped to slower paces, with permits down 1.3% from June and starts down 9.6%. Both indicators hovered at elevations before the Great Recession, with single-family housing falling off more than multi-unit structures. The same report from the Commerce Department revealed a relatively healthy home building market with the number of houses under construction near an all-time high in more than 52 years of data.
The Federal Reserve reported a 0.6% gain in industrial production in July, led by manufacturing. Auto makers increased their output by 6.6% for the month. Excluding their contribution, manufacturing production rose 0.3%. Total industrial production advanced nearly 4% from the year before, with manufacturing up 3%, mining up nearly 8% and utilities up 2%. Industries’ capacity utilization rate, an inflation indicator, rose to 80.3%, its highest level in four years. The 50-year average for capacity utilization is 79.6%.
Wednesday
The Commerce Department reported Retail sales in July were essentially flat from the prior month. Excluding gasoline and auto sales, retail sales rose 0.7% in July from June. Retail sales were 10.3% higher than July 2021.
Thursday
The Labor Department reported that the four-week moving average for initial unemployment claims was down from the prior week and remains significantly lower than the 33-year average (about 1/3 lower). Continued signs of broad strength in the labor market.
The Conference Board said its leading economic indicators index has fallen 1.6% from January to July 2022. Conference board projects U.S. economy will not expand in Q3 and “could tip into a short but mild recession” by year end or early 2023.
Existing home sales declined 5.9% from the prior month and 20.2% from a year ago in July. Buyers continue to be sidelined by higher mortgage rates and already high prices as well as the reduced value of other investments. The 30-year fixed Mortgage Rate was still above 5%, but below the 5.8% Mid-June peak.
Friday
No major announcements
MARKET CLOSINGS FOR THE WEEK
- Nasdaq – 12705, down 342 points or 2.6%
- Standard & Poor’s 500 – 4228, down 52 points or 1.2%
- Dow Jones Industrial – 33706, down 55 points or 0.2%
- 10-year U.S. Treasury Note – 2.98%, up 0.13 point
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