The Dow was down this morning despite a positive U.S. economic release, as an air of negativity surrounds the fiscal cliff negotiations. At the halfway point of the trading day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.73%) was down 53 points (-0.41%) to 13,085. The S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.81%) was down nine points (-0.61%) to 1,418.
This morning, there was just one U.S. economic release:
|
Report |
Period |
Actual |
Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Case-Shiller Home Price Index |
October |
0.7 % |
0.4% |
Source: Marketwatch U.S. Economic Calendar.
The Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in October, up from September's 0.4% growth. On a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, the Case-Shiller Home Price index fell 0.1% in October, from 0.2% growth in September. The housing market has been slowly improving over the past year, pushing up stocks reliant on the consumer housing market along with it.
Case-Shiller Home Price Index: Composite 20 data by YCharts.
In fiscal cliff news, there is no new news to report. Congress is back in session today after its holiday break. Hopefully, Congress gets its act together after Christmas and doesn't take the U.S. economy over the fiscal cliff. The Motley Fool has created a special page that will be updated with all of our latest fiscal cliff coverage to help cut through the daily noise and give you only the information and analysis you need as an investor. Head on over for everything you need to know about fiscal cliff 2012.
With positive news about the economy but no news about the fiscal cliff negotiations, it's no surprise that the market is down slightly.
Today's Dow Leader
Leading the Dow today is Bank of America (BAC +1.78%), up 2.33% ($0.26) to $11.51. Banks' financial results are highly dependent on the health of the economy, so financial stocks are up on the positive Case-Shiller Housing Index data. Banks have been doing well this year. Fool analyst John Maxfield recently compiled five charts from the FDIC's Quarterly Banking Profile, which shows how the industry is recovering.
Bank of America has had a huge year in 2012. The bank's stock has soared 107% so far in 2012 as the bank settled with 49 states over the robo-signing fiasco, estimated its future liabilities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, divested non-core operations, and significantly improved its financial situation. More recently, the stock has been rising as the U.S. housing market continues to improve. Fool analyst John Yates recently decided Bank of America is the best bet of the big banks for 2013.
