First, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 14,845.2, +20.7, +0.1%
- S&P 500: 1,639.6, +4.7, +0.2%
- NASDAQ: 3,622.3, +27.8, +0.8%
And now, the top stories:
- Initial weekly jobless claims fell to 331,000 from 337,000 a week ago, Economists were looking for 332,000. The 4-week moving climbed to 2,996,250 from 2,986,750. "Given the usefulness of jobless claims as a payroll forecasting tool, it should come as little surprise that they are also significantly correlated with wage and salary growth," said Deutsche Bank's Carl Riccadonna. "In fact, over the past 25 years, the current level of jobless claims has typically coincided with private wage and salary growth above 6% compared to 3.8% in Q2."
- Q2 GDP growth was revised up to 2.5% from last month's initial estimate of 1.7%. Economists were expecting the number to be revised to 2.2%. The revision was largely due to inventories and international trade. "The upward revision to second-quarter US GDP growth... should give Fed officials more confidence that the recovery is gathering steam as the fiscal drag begins to fade," said Capital Economics' Paul Ashworth. "Under those circumstances, we still think the Fed will begin tapering its monthly asset purchases in September."
- The GDP report came with an initial estimate of corporate profits, which climbed 3.9% quarter-over-quarter.
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