Stocks edge up, but mixed earnings, home sales weigh

stocks

JeeYeon Park CNBC

2 hours ago

Stocks edged up on Monday, but a batch of mixed earnings reports and weaker-than-expected existing home sales kept a damper on gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 16 points higher in early afternoon trading led by Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also turned higher. On Friday, the S&P 500 posted a three-day winning streak to log a new record close?its 22nd this year.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, jumped above 13.

Most key S&P sectors turned higher, lifted by financials and materials.

"The Fed is done talking until next week and we're going to be subject to earnings reports and talk from Congress this week," said Brian Battle, vice president of trading at Performance Trust Capital Partners.

"We could be in a holding pattern if the market can resist a selloff, but to propel higher, we need better fundamentals?we're still running on Fed liquidity and the pullback caused by the tapering talk has been reversed in the last two weeks."

On the economic front, existing home sales in June slipped 1.2 percent in June to an annual rate of 5.08 million, according to the National Association of Realtors, missing expectations for a reading of 5.25 million units. But the reading was still the second-highest level of sales since November 2009.

Meanwhile, NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun warned that while momentum in the housing market appears to be strong, mortgage rates will have a greater impact on sales in the coming months. He also cautioned that the continuing increase in home prices was unsustainable.

Homebuilders traded in the red following the report, with KB Home, Pulte and DR Horton leading the laggards.

Dow component McDonald's fell after the fast-food giant posted earnings and revenue that disappointed Wall Street expectations, weighed by weak sales in Europe and Asia. Yahoo also fell after the Internet company said it will repurchase 40 million shares of its common stock beneficially owned by Third Point at $29.11 a share and that three directors nominated by Third Point have submitted their resignations.

(Read More:McDonald's finance guide 'insulting' to low-wage workers)

More than 20 percent of S&P 500 companies have already reported, with 64 percent topping earnings estimates and 50 percent beating on sales, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters. If all remaining companies post earnings in line with forecasts, earnings will be up 3.1 percent from last year's second quarter.

Nearly one third of S&P 500 companies due to report results throughout the week in addition to eight Dow components.

(Read more: Earnings growth todrive equity markets: Goldman Sachs)

European and Asian shares ticked higher, boosted by upbeat earnings and an electoral victory for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition, signaling a green light for future monetary stimulus.

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US home sales dip but remain near 3?-year high

A home is for sale in Glenview, Ill., on Sunday, June 16, 2013. The National Association of Realtors reports on a measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes in May Thursday June 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A home is for sale in Glenview, Ill., on Sunday, June 16, 2013. The National Association of Realtors reports on a measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes in May Thursday June 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. sales of previously occupied homes slipped in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.08 million but remain near a 3?-year high.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales fell 1.2 percent last month from an annual rate of 5.14 million in May. The NAR revised down May's sales, but they were still the highest since November 2009.

Despite last month's dip, home sales have surged 15.2 percent from a year ago. Sales have recovered since early last year, buoyed by job gains and low mortgage rates.

Still, mortgage rates have surged in recent weeks over concern that the Federal Reserve could slow its bond-buying programs later this year. The Fed's bond purchases have helped keep long-term mortgage and other rates low.

Higher mortgage rates slowed sales last month of higher-priced homes in states such as California and New York, the Realtors group said.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage leapt to 4.46 percent by the end of June from 3.81 percent at the end of May. The rate was 4.37 percent last week.

That rate increase could hamper sales in coming months, economists said. But most expect housing to continue to recover, though at a slower pace.

"There's little doubt the housing market slowed in the summer as mortgage rates rose," Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG LLC, an institutional brokerage, said in a note to clients. "Housing is still expected to grow and contribute to economic output. It just may not be at the pace we've seen of late."

Sales of previously occupied homes in June reflect contracts that were mostly signed in April and May, when mortgage rates were lower. Rising rates can cause some signed contracts to fall through if buyers no longer qualify for mortgages at higher rates.

The one factor that's likely most holding back sales is a limited supply of homes available. Though more sellers put their homes on the market in June, the supply remained unusually low ? nearly 8 percent less than a year ago.

At the current sales pace, the number of homes for sale would be exhausted in 5.2 months. That's below the six months' supply that's consistent with a healthy housing market.

Another concern is that first-time buyers, who usually drive healthy markets, aren't participating as much in the current recovery. They made up only 29 percent of buyers in June, below the 40 percent that is typical. Since the housing bubble burst more than six years ago, banks have imposed tighter credit conditions and required larger down payments. That's made it harder for first-time buyers to qualify for mortgages.

Still, mortgage rates remain relatively low and home prices remain affordable despite rising in the past year. And higher mortgage rates could encourage some potential buyers to come off the sidelines and purchase homes before rates rise further.

The strength in housing this year has offset weaknesses elsewhere in the economy, like manufacturing and business investment. Rising home sales tend to lead to more spending at furniture and home supply stores.

Homebuilders have also stepped up construction in the past year, creating more construction jobs. In June, they applied for permits to build single-family homes at the fastest pace in five years.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-07-22-US-Home-Sales/id-f843f51bdf6846feac5a3e483ff742f0

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Russian protest leader Navalny sentenced to five years in jail

KIROV, Russia (Reuters) - A Russian judge sentenced protest leader Alexei Navalny to five years in prison on Thursday after convicting him of large-scale theft in a trial Navalny said was politically motivated.

Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's biggest critics, was led away from court by law enforcement officers after the judge pronounced the sentence in the industrial city of Kirov. Prosecutors had asked for a six-year sentence.

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-protest-leader-navalny-sentenced-five-years-jail-083756752.html

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Baseball: ThunderBolts trio form bond on, off diamond

By Steve Millar For Sun-Times Media July 16, 2013 8:56PM

The ThunderBolts' Michael Torres slides to stop a ground ball from going into the outfield. | Vincent D. Johnson~for Sun-Times Media

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Updated: July 16, 2013 9:54PM

Entering his fifth season with the Windy City ThunderBolts in 2013, Zach Aakhus knew he was close to several franchise records.

He broke the games played and RBI marks early in the season, but it was his misguided pursuit of the team?s hits record that turned into an inside joke between his best friends on the team: fellow veterans Mike Torres and Chad Cregar.

?This offseason, I had a couple of hours to kill one night and I looked up some of the records,? Aakhus said. ?I knew I was close to the hits record. When I got up here, I started counting it down. I?d tell Mikey every day how many I needed.

?Then it hit me. I got to the cages one night and Mike?s like, ?What?s with that look on your face? I said, ?Well, you?ve been here four years hitting leadoff or in the two-hole. I haven?t been healthy my five years. You?re beating me to that hits record.? ?

Indeed, Torres broke the record with his 369th hit for the T-Bolts on July 10. Torres knew all along that it would happen, but let Aakhus continue to bask in false glory.

?It was really funny,? Cregar said.
? ?Aak? kept counting down and Mikey told me earlier that he was ahead of him. We just didn?t tell Zach. We let him keep talking.?

The situation brought plenty of laughs, but that?s nothing new for the trio, who have become close friends.

?All three of us have been around the game for quite a while now,? Cregar said. ?We?re the first people to get to the yard and for the most part the last people to leave the yard. We?re always together. We?re hitting together. We all have that same veteran thing going. We all love to talk about the game. Even when we get away from the game, we?re still together and talking about other things.?

Torres came to the T-Bolts in 2010 and has been road roommates with Aakhus ever since. Cregar came along the next year and ?fit right in,? Torres said.

All three seem to care as much about one another?s success as their own. Take last year, for example, when Aakhus battled a shoulder injury and had the worst year of his career at the plate.

?Last year was tough,? Torres said. ?My whole career here, I had seen ?Aak? hit and hit some more. Last year, he was giving us the best chance to win because of his defense, but he knew he?d have to take a back seat offensively. So to see him come back this year and swing the bat the way he?s capable of has been great.?

Aakhus and Torres will represent the T-Bolts in Wednesday?s Frontier League All-Star Game. It?s become an annual thing for the pair, each earning his fourth invite to the game.

Cregar, who in 2012 set franchise season records for home runs (31) and RBI (93), hasn?t played since June 14 because of a groin injury, but is expected to be activated when the season resumes Friday in Traverse City, Mich.

The group is ready to lead the team to a second-half push. After all, this likely will be their final year playing together.

Even if all three choose to play another season, Frontier League rules allow just one player over age 27 per team via the veteran exception. Aakhus, 29, and Cregar, 27, will both be in that category in 2014.

?We?ve already talked about how these (44) games, that?s it for us,? Aakhus said. ?You never know about next year. We?re focused on right now and we?re going to go hard for sure.?

Regardless of what happens in the second half, all three have made their marks on the franchise.

?Ten or 15 years from now, we?re all going to be able to look back at these records and say, ?Remember when the three of us played there? We did some pretty cool things together,? ? Torres said. ?Maybe it?s not the big leagues or Triple A, but we?ll have some stories to tell.?

Source: http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/sports/21350192-419/baseball-thunderbolts-trio-form-bond-on-off-diamond.html

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AT&T joins the crowd by offering early upgrades

4 hours ago

Tim Boyle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

AT&T said on Tuesday that effective July 26 its customers will be allowed get a new AT&T smartphone or tablet every year with no down payment, no activation fee, no upgrade fee, and no financing fees.

The catch is that customers must pay full price for the devices. Under contract plans, the cost of the devices is generally subsidized.

The deal requires customers to sign a 20-month, zero percent APR installment agreement and have qualifying credit.

AT&T's offer is available to new customers and existing customers who are eligible for an upgrade.

(Read more: Leap Wireless shares double as AT&T agrees to $1.2 billion acquisition)

Last week, T-Mobile US said that customers would be allowed to upgrade phones every six months and it unveiled a family plan for prepaid customers as it moves to lure customers away from its three bigger rivals.

Verizon Wireless andSprint Nextel offer phone discounts in exchange for tying customers to two year contracts and typically do not allow phone upgrades during that period.

?Reuters contributed to this report.

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Calculated Risk: Fed's Beige Book: Economic activity increased "at a ...

by Bill McBride on 7/17/2013 02:05:00 PM

Fed's Beige Book "Prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and based on information collected on or before July 8, 2013."

Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicate that overall economic activity continued to increase at a modest to moderate pace since the previous survey. Manufacturing expanded in most Districts since the previous report, with many Districts reporting increases in new orders, shipments, or production. Most Districts noted that overall consumer spending and auto sales increased during the reporting period. Activity in a wide variety of nonfinancial services was stable or increased in most reporting Districts. Transportation was stable or increased in several Districts. Tourism remained strong in some reporting Districts, although several Districts noted softness from bad weather. Residential real estate and construction activity increased at a moderate to strong pace in all reporting Districts. Commercial real estate market conditions and construction continued to improve across the Districts. Banking conditions generally improved across the Districts. Credit quality improved, while credit standards remained largely unchanged. Agricultural conditions were mixed, as weather patterns varied, while extraction was generally stable or increased.

And on real estate:

Residential real estate activity increased at a moderate to strong pace in most Districts. Most Districts reported increases in home sales. Cleveland noted that June sales of single-family homes were down compared with earlier in the spring but up from last year. Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, and San Francisco noted strong residential real estate markets. Home prices increased throughout the majority of the reporting Districts. Boston, New York, Richmond, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Dallas noted low or declining home inventories and upward pressures on home prices in some areas. Residential construction activity also improved moderately across the Districts, and contacts in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, and San Francisco reported faster growth in multi-family construction, in particular.

Commercial real estate market conditions continued to improve across most Districts. New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and San Francisco reported modest to moderate improvements in nonresidential real estate activity. Dallas reported strong growth in leasing activity for office and industrial space. Boston and Richmond reported that commercial real estate conditions were holding steady or improving, depending on location. Nonresidential construction activity was stable or increased throughout the nation.
emphasis added

Residential real estate continues to be a strong sector for the economy.? Overall this was similar to the previous beige book with economic activity increasing at a "modest to moderate" pace.

Source: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/07/feds-beige-book-economic-activity.html

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DHS Official: Reliance on Industry May Have Led to Texas Oversight Lapse

By Douglas P. Guarino

Global Security Newswire

BALTIMORE -- A reliance on industry to provide information about facilities that handle dangerous chemicals might have contributed to the Homeland Security Department?s failure to regulate the site of a major explosion in Texas earlier this year, a DHS official suggested Wednesday.

?It is absolutely a shared responsibility,? David Wulf, director of the department?s infrastructure security compliance division, told Global Security Newswire. ?Facilities that are in the business of dealing with ? high-risk chemicals ? have an obligation to do that reporting, just as I have an obligation to file our taxes with the IRS.

?The IRS doesn?t necessarily come out and look for us,? he added. ?At the same time, we?re committed to doing all we can to get word out? that these reporting requirements exist, he said.

During formal remarks at a chemical-sector security conference, Wulf said DHS officials have ?a pretty high degree of certainty that we have reached facilities that are members of the national trade associations? and informed them of their responsibility to comply with federal Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, which require companies to submit site security plans if they handle a significant amount of dangerous chemicals.

He noted, however, that it appears that the West, Texas, fertilizer plant that exploded in April -- killing 14 and leveling nearby homes and businesses ?--was not a member of such a trade group.

Since the incident, Wulf said, the department has ?doubled down? on its efforts to reach facilities that qualify for regulation. It recently exchanged lists of known facilities with state agencies in Texas in an effort to identify sites known to the state but not to the federal department and vice versa. DHS officials have also renewed efforts to compare notes about relevant facilities with other federal agencies involved with chemical-safety regulation, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Wulf said.

The Homeland Security Department had previously attempted such information sharing with the EPA Risk Management Program several years ago when the CFATS program was just getting under way, according to Wulf. The initial effort was largely unsuccessful due to technical differences between the two agencies? databases. However, this time around, the department has launched a more advanced information-technology program aimed making the exchange more useful.

The move appears aimed at addressing concerns that the Texas facility was not on the Homeland Security Department?s radar, even though other regulatory agencies were aware the facility had been handling significant quantities of dangerous chemicals.

A risk-management plan filed with the Environmental Protection Agency said the facility possessed up to 54,000 pounds of toxic anhydrous ammonia -- more than five times the CFATS threshold of 10,000 pounds. In addition, the plant last year reported to the Texas State Health Services Department that it possessed 270 tons of explosive ammonium nitrate -- more than 1,000 times the CFATS reporting threshold of 400 pounds.

On Thursday, Joan O'Hara, deputy chief counsel to the House Homeland Security Committee, told conference attendees the panel would host a hearing to further examine why the DHS program has not reached certain "outlier" facilities such as the Texas plant.

The West, Texas, incident has been the focus of the latest criticism directed at the DHS program. Prior to the incident, the initiative had faced more than a year?s worth of congressional scrutiny pertaining to a leaked internal memo that revealed a litany of management problems, including a failure to conduct onsite inspections and approve facility security plans.

On Wednesday, Wulf, who co-authored the memo, sought to portray the CFATS program as one that had ?turned a corner.? He noted that as of last July, the program had given preliminary approval to only 50 site-security plans, conducted only 10 inspections and had not granted final approval to a single site-security plan since it was first authorized by Congress in 2007. One year later, the department has provided preliminary approval for ?upwards of 500? site-security plans, has conducted more than 50 inspections and has granted final approval for 160 site-security plans.

The program has also completed 90 of 95 ?action items? that the internal memo had identified as needed to get the program back on track, Wulf said.

Labor and environmental groups argue, however, that even if it runs smoothly, the DHS program lacks the legal teeth needed to ensure that domestic chemical security is adequate. They note that the law authorizing the program does not allow the department to require any specific security improvements and argue that the Environmental Protection Agency should use its own authorities under the Clean Air Act to craft more stringent rules.

In recent weeks, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has also pushed for stronger EPA action on chemical security. Boxer, who has oversight authority over the agency as chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has offered harsh criticism over what she says is an inadequate response to the Texas tragedy.

Republicans and major industry groups have long opposed further EPA involvement in the chemical security arena, arguing that the agency?s existing regulations -- along with those of the Homeland Security Department, Occupational Health and Safety Administration and various state agencies -- are sufficient.

Source: http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/dhs-official-reliance-industry-may-have-led-texas-oversight-lapse/

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