Rover's Weekly Market Brief — 4/27/2018

Indices

DJIA: 24,311.20 (-0.62%)

NASDAQ: 7,120.00 (-0.37%)

S&P 500: 2,670.00 (-0.01%)

Commodities

Gold: 1,324.50 (-1.03%)

Copper: 311.40 (-0.67%)

Crude Oil: 68.06 (-0.47%)

Economy

Nondefense aircraft orders rose +44.5% in March (+55.0% Y/Y), following a +39.1% increase in February, helping to boost overall new orders for durable goods to +2.6% for March. Excluding transportation, new orders were unchanged for the month and up 7.2% compared to the previous 12 months. Orders dropped for defense aircraft (-9.4%, -26.5% Y/Y), computers (-2.6%, -7.6% Y/Y), and machinery (-1.7%, +7.0% Y/Y), and rose for communications equipment (+8.2%, +1.6% Y/Y) , nondefense capital goods (+6.0%, +12.4% Y/Y), and primary metals (+1.4%, +13.9% Y/Y). Orders for motor vehicles ticked up +0.1% after a +2.0% increase in February, and were up +6.9% Y/Y.

The trade deficit in goods narrowed by $7.8 billion in March to $68 billion as a result of both a +2.5% increase in exports and a -2.1% decrease in imports. Exports declined only for automotives (-5.8%, +7.0% Y/Y), and rose significantly for foods (+8.5%, +5.9% Y/Y), capital goods (+4.0%, +8.9% Y/Y), and industrial supplies, which include petroleum (+1.6%, +19.2% Y/Y). Imports increased only for automotives (+0.7%, +2.6% Y/Y), and decreased notably for foods (-3.8%, +10.1% Y/Y), capital goods (-3.1%, +10.9% Y/Y), consumer goods (-2.3%, +10.2% Y/Y), and industrial supplies (-1.9%, +8.8% Y/Y). Wholesale inventories were up +0.5%, with a +0.8% rise in durable goods inventories outpacing a -0.1% drop in nondurable goods. A -1.0% drop in motor vehicle inventories dragged down overall retail inventories to -0.4%, with all other non-vehicle inventories inching down by -0.1% for the month.

2018 Q1 GDP grew at a +2.3% annual rate, down from the previous quarter’s +2.9% rate, but higher than a generally expected +2.0%. Consumer spending grew at +1.1% compared to Q4’s +4.0% rate, with an increase in the personal savings rate (+2.6% to +3.1%) and slowdowns in the spending rate as a portion of GDP for motor vehicles (+0.45% to -0.42%), clothing (+0.21 to -0.19%), and food and beverages (+0.32% to +0.02%). Private investment increased +7.3%, with increases in spending for structures (+12.3% vs +6.3% Q4) and intellectual property (+3.6% vs +0.8% Q4), although residential investment was flat after a +12.8% increase in Q4 and investments in equipment slowed from Q4’s +11.6% to +4.7%. Federal spending was up +1.7% vs +3.2% for Q4, and state and local spending was up +0.8% vs +2.9% for Q4.

Upcoming Economic Reports:

Monday April 30 – Personal Income and Outlays

Wednesday May 2 – Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Meeting Announcement

Earnings Calendar:

 

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
McDonald’s
(MCD)
Apple
(AAPL)
Mastercard
(MA)
HSBC Holdings
(HSBC)
Berkshire
Hathaway
(BRK.A)
Enterprise Prods
Partners
(EPD)
Pfizer
(PFE)
Novo Nordisk
(NVO)
DowDuPont
(DWDP)
Alibaba
Group Holding
(BABA)






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