REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Jose Aldo of Brazil (R) fights with Jung Chan-sung of South Korea during the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) competition, in Rio de Janeiro, August 3, 2013.
First, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 15,607.3, -50.3, -0.3%
- S&P 500: 1,706.4, -3.2, -0.1%
- NASDAQ: 3,689.5, +0.3, +0.0%
And now, the top stories:
- The ISM services index surged to 56.0 in July from 52.2 in June. Economists were looking for a read of 53.1. This "supports other evidence that the economy is gaining momentum," said Capital Economics' Paul Dales. "The one disappointment was the drop in the employment index to 53.2 from 54.7, but that reversed only a third of May’s increase."
- The U.S. report followed stronger than expected services PMI reports from China, the Eurozone, and the U.K.
- According to the Federal Reserve's July Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, credit conditions continued to be easy in the U.S. "In the July survey, domestic banks, on balance, reported having eased their lending standards and having experienced stronger demand in most loan categories over the past three months," read the report. "This summary is based on the responses from 73 domestic banks and 22 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks."
- Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher spoke in Portland, Oregon today. He said that the Federal Open Market Committee is "now closer" to tapering its monthly purchases of $85 billion worth of bonds. But he also added that the Fed must avoid "market havoc."
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