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Last updated: 11:00 AM (EST)
Stock markets have been mixed so far in today’s trading. Earlier today, the Census Bureau released its U.S. Housing Starts Report, which measures the change in new housing construction started in the reporting month on an annualized basis. The number of housing starts in December was 1.46 million, compared to the expected 1.426 million. Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, housing starts decreased by 4.3%. This follows last month’s reported 10.8% increase.
In addition, U.S. building permits exceeded expectations, with 1.495 million printed versus the forecast of 1.48 million. This is an increase from the previous month’s report (1,467,000) and represents a 1.9% month-on-month increase.
In other news, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly crude oil (CM:CL) Inventory report. Measures the weekly change in the number of barrels of commercial crude oil held by U.S. companies.
Compared to last week, inventories decreased by -2.492 million barrels. For reference, economists had predicted a decline of 313,000 barrels from the previous week. This means that demand was stronger than expected.
First published: 4:02am EST
U.S. futures were weak on Thursday as strong retail sales dampened hopes for a March interest rate cut. Nasdaq 100 futures (NDX) and S&P 500 (SPX) were up 0.21% and 0.04%, respectively, as of 3:32 a.m. ET on January 18, compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell by 0.03%.
Moving on to the main earnings release, Truist Financial (TFC) and Fastenal (fast) is scheduled to report quarterly results later today. In a previous update, chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) reported fourth-quarter results, with both profits and sales exceeding expectations.
In other company news, Tesla stock price (TSLA) fell 1.2% yesterday after the EV giant cut the price of its Model Y vehicles in Germany. Also, Apple (AAPL) fell due to a ban on the sale of watches equipped with blood oxygen sensors. In addition, Discover Financial (DFS)’s stock price fell 9% in after-hours trading. The credit card giant missed earnings estimates due to higher net charge-offs in the quarter.
On the other hand, due to rising tensions in the Middle East, oil prices were on the rise at the time of writing. WTI crude oil futures are rising, hovering around $73.26 per barrel at last check.
Elsewhere, European markets opened mixed as investors weighed comments from the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Asia-Pacific markets end mixed on Thursday
Asia-Pacific indexes ended the day’s session on a mixed note as traders remained concerned about China’s slowing economic recovery and hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve officials.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and China’s Shanghai Composite Index and Shenzhen Composite Index ended up 0.75%, 0.43% and 1%, respectively. Conversely, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average and TOPIX index ended down 0.03% and 0.17%, respectively.
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