Richard Drew/AP
U.S. stocks mostly lost ground in quiet trading Monday on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 46 points, or 0.3 percent, to 15,612 (^DJI). The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) dropped 2 points to 1,707, while the Nasdaq composite index (^IXIC) gained 3 points to 3,612.
There was little market-moving news to drive trading, other than a report from the Institute for Supply Management that the U.S. service sector expanded in July, helped by a rise in new orders.
It was the latest piece of data that economists and investors are puzzling through as they try to judge how well the U.S. economy is doing. Last Thursday, the ISM reported that manufacturing increased last month. The next day, the government reported that jobs weren't being created as quickly as economists had predicted.
In company news, J.C. Penney (JCP) says it has tapped a Kraft Foods (KRFT) executive as its new marketing chief to help revitalize the struggling brand and reconnect with its shoppers. The Plano, Texas-based chain said it named Debra Berman as senior vice president of marketing, effective last Friday. She will join the company's executive board and report directly to CEO Mike Ullman III.
Apple (AAPL) shares rose $6.91, or 1.5 percent, to $469.45, after the Obama administration overturned a U.S. trade panel's ban on the sale of some older iPhones and iPads, reversing a ruling that had favored Samsung Electronics over Apple in their long-running patent battles.
More Stocks in the News:
Shares of Steven Madden Ltd. (SHOO) rose $1.96, about 3.7 percent, to $55.27 after a pair of Goldman Sachs (GS) analysts upgraded their rating on the company's stock.
Revlon (REV) jumped after announcing that it will buy Colomer Group, which sells hair dye and other products to beauty salons. Revlon rose 1.6 percent to $26.16.
Berkshire Hathaway crept higher on the first day of trading after its earnings report. Warren Buffett's conglomerate posted a 46 percent rise in profit late Friday, easily beating Wall Street estimates. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) stock edged up 41 cents, or .35 percent, to $118.23.
Tyson Foods (TSN), the nation's biggest meat producer, jumped after announcing that its quarterly profits more than tripled. Tyson rose 4.1 percent, to $29.69.
Enzo Biochem (ENZ) shares surged 14 percent to $2.53 after the biopharmaceutical company said a federal court judge upheld a ruling in Enzo's favor in a patent infringement lawsuit, denying a request by Life Technologies (LIFE) for a new trial. The judge let stand a $49 million award granted Enzo by a jury last November for infringement of a patent on compounds used in DNA sequencing systems.
Time Warner Cable (TWC) CEO Glenn Britt offered to end a four-day blackout of CBS (CBS) stations, saying the cable operator would allow CBS to sell its stations' signal "a la carte" to consumers instead of being packaged with other channels. CBS signals have been blacked out to some 3 million Time Warner Cable subscribers in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas in a dispute over how much the cable operator has to pay for CBS programming.
What to Watch Tuesday:
The Commerce Department releases international trade data for June at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.
The Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for June at 10 a.m.
These major companies are scheduled to release quarterly earnings statements:
So you're seeing a lot of strength in housing, and it's coming from almost every place geographically ... So that's sort of the big winner. Auto and that whole complex is a big winner. They're doing over 15 million cars this year, up from 8.5 at the bottom. And then you have the energy complex, which is really, really a revolution. This is hard to underestimate the impact of energy and all the natural gas that's being produced and all the subsidiary types of things that come from that activity. And if you add on top of that, technology which is still a very big pocket of strength and quite robust in the United States, you've got some really good stuff happening.
On the other hand we do have the U.S. government at work, trying to decrease growth as rapidly as they can. And so they've, unfortunately, had some success in that area, and that leaves us somewhere in the 2%-plus area.
We think that the next big risk in the industry is rising interest rates. And so we're very focused on what happens when interest rates return to a more historically normal level.
On the positive side, economic fundamentals in the United States continue to improve. The main impediment to growth appears to be the speed and nature of the withdrawal of fiscal stimulus. Debate has actually now opened up on how and when to withdraw some of the monetary expansion. All of this is very good news.
At the same time, the rest of the world looks no stronger. Europe is mired in a recession, Asian growth seems more modest and Japanese attempts to restimulate their economy through monetary stimulation have set off further downward pressure on interest rates and currency values.
The overriding driver of recovery in the housing market remains the underproduction of both single and multifamily product throughout the economic downturn and up to and including this year. Over the past 5 years of housing production, we've built an average of under 700,000 single and multifamily homes total per year, with an average obsolescence rate of approximately 300,000 per year. This compares to a need for new dwelling units per year of between 1.2 million and 1.5 million.
This year, a significantly stronger year of building activity, we will produce approximately 950,000 single and multifamily dwellings, and again, will underserve the country's needs. We have more than absorbed the overbuilding of the early to mid-2000s, and have been underproducing for a protracted period of time. This shortfall will have to be made up, and the builders of both multi and single-family products have been pushing to increase production.
I think when you look at some of the economic indicators, housing starts are up, prices are up on housing. I think housing is a really important measure for us because we have a lot of jobs around that. A lot of contracting roofers, et cetera, around that. All of that is positive. And so we're feeling like we're coming off the end of the year with some momentum, and that will certainly help us.
I think there's reason to be very optimistic when you consider that demographic tailwind that will continue over the next 5 to 10 years, certainly. And then when you think about just the economy itself and you look at the strength of the balance sheets of consumers and corporations, the amount of liquidity out there, combined with the depth of the housing correction, I think there's a good argument we made that the housing cycle we're in right now will be strongest of the last 3 that we've seen.
Although we have seen recent improvements in the U.S. economy, growth is relatively light and confidence remains fragile. In addition, while the market generally feels better about the tail risk in Europe, the economy is challenged.
Given the continued uncertainty in the market, we are not managing the firm with the hope that the macro backdrop will improve. We are focused on managing through a continued difficult operating environment.
We continue to be very concerned about the prospects for the financial markets and the economies of North America and Western Europe, accentuated by potential weakness in China. There continues to be a big disconnect between the financial markets and the underlying economic fundamentals.
Markets are firming. If the economy continues to expand like it is, I think you'll see the banks loosen up. And if sort of rates go up a little bit but underwriting loosens up a bit, I think you'll see similar demand, if not more. That's why we're not troubled by a little uptick in interest rates right now.
The situation in Europe is not even slightly better. It's probably slightly worse. Even if we do not have a Greece event, if you will, the environment is moving from an economic standpoint to recession. And so the mood with our clients over there is still to be thoughtful and to be very mindful about the way they invest. And when clients are thoughtful and mindful, they tend to wait a little bit more and to think further on when and how much they're going to invest.
"I think the whole thing about the 2% extra payroll tax wasn't helpful. Don't forget, in America, the average household makes $50,000. 2% is $1,000 a year. I mean, after tax, that's a hurt in their pocketbook. Gas prices have been going up. I -- and you've seen the retailer results, the Walmarts, Kmarts, Targets, Costcos of the world had, had results less than they expected, not very good. So it's weak. I don't think it's -- I'm not ready to declare it's a permanent decline or a second dip on the recession there, but it's a little nervous as far as what's going on up there."
We're really proud now that the [government budget] deficit could only be $600 billion in the year, and while that's encouraging, it doesn't do anything to fix the long-term problem, and the long-term problem is entitlements. If you take a look at the Medicare and Medicaid in particular and some on Social Security that while debt as a percent of GDP is we'll say around 75% today and under the new estimate grows to 83% by the end of the decade ... You take those same numbers, go up to the next decade and it goes to 135% debt as a percentage of GDP largely driven by the baby boomer generation retiring which no politician, Republican or Democrat, really wants to talk about. They're more than willing to say we got to reform entitlements but as soon as you say well, like what, that's when they all start to back off because they don't want to anger the voters.
I think there's a lot of concern about central banks not just in the U.S., China elsewhere, and maybe they stretched themselves out, and they played this maybe game, you want to call it for quite a while and maybe they are getting a brick wall, and the days of easy and free money may be coming to an end or at least maybe tapering off. But it probably wouldn't be good [for the global economy in the short-term], maybe good for long-term because then it would be more based upon fundamentals rather than speed injections.
People,,this country is headed in a downward fall,,,and,,,fast......Both parties are too blame.!!!! If things do not change,,,,,Democrates will have a inter cities ,,bankrupt,,,,,,healthcare out of control and ect... IT IS EACH PERSONS PLACE TO TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF,,,NOT THE GOVERMENTS.... IF YOU DO NOT WORK,,,,YOU DO NOT EAT.........NO WORK,,,NO EAT.... Not my place to feed your sorry ,,lazy butts......DEMOCRATES ARE A ROCK BOTTOM PARTY.!!!!!
ALL A SHAM BY THE GOVERMENT,,,,,,,,,!!!!!! Predictions only.!!!!!! I thought I may make $100,000 this year,,,but,,I did not quite make it,,!!!!! So,,do I get a tax break,!!!!!! People,,,,that do not like the RICH......Listen up........People on Government benits do not have companys,,do not hire anybody.......So,,,when you down a RICH MAN,,,,,You better thank him for your job and paying all those taxes so the WELFARE PEOPLE CAN LIVE,,HIGH ON THE HOG.!!!!
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