Project Description
US
S&P500 -5.95%(2,588.26); NASDAQ -6.54% (6,992.67); DJIA -5.67% (23,533.20)
This week’s reports:
- March’s Markit Manufacturing PMI rose to 55.7 from February’s 55.3. Services PMI (prelim.) fell to 54.1 from February’s 55.9. Composite PMI (prelim.) fell to 54.3 from February’s 55.8.
- February’s Durable Goods Orders rose 3.1% from January’s -3.5%. Durable Goods Orders ex. Transportation rose 1.2% from January’s -0.2%.
- January’s FHFA Housing Price Index rose 0.8% from December’s +0.4%.
- February’s New Home Sales fell 0.6% from January’s -4.7%. Existing Home Sales rose 3.0% from January’s -3.2%.
- Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending March 16th rose by 3K to 229K. Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ending March 9th fell by 57K to 1,828K.
- US stocks tumbled, sending the S&P 500 Index to its biggest weekly loss in more than two years, on concern that a trade war and higher borrowing rates could throttle global growth.
- President Trump outlined fresh tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports and pledged there’s more on the way. The White House declared a temporary exemption for the European Union and other nations on those levies, making the focus on China clear. China announced retaliation with its own tariffs on $3 billion of US imports and said it wouldn’t rule out the possibility of scaling back purchases of Treasuries in response to the tariffs.
- Federal Reserve officials, meeting for the first time under Chairman Jerome Powell, raised the federal funds rate target range by 0.25% to 1.5%-1.75% and forecast a steeper path of hikes in 2019 and 2020, citing an improving economic outlook. Policy makers continued to project a total of three increases this year.