Lots of Data. Mixed but Overall Slightly Negative.

Because of the holiday, today has an unusually large amount of fundamentals of mid-level importance.  The picture is mixed but overall slightly negative for the economy.

MBA Purchase Applications (week ended 6/28/2013)

– Purchase Index Week/Week -3.0%. Previous weeks were +2.0%, -3.0%, +5.0%, -2.0%, 3.0%, -3.0%.

– Refinance Index Week/Week -16.0%. Previous weeks were -5.0%, -3.0%, +5.0%, -15%, -12.0%

– Composite Index Week/Week -11.7%. Previous weeks were -3.0%, 3.3%, +5.0%, -11.5%, -8.8%, -9.8%.

The “higher interest rates won’t affect purchases” meme is looking a bit shaky today.  Refinancing is almost entirely rate dependent and suffered last week.

Challenger Job-Cut Report (June 2013)

– Announced Layoffs 39,372. Previous was 36,398.

ADP Employment Report (May 2013)

– Private Jobs +188,000. Previous revised from +135,000  to +134,000.

Trade Balance (May 2013)

– Trade Balance -$45.0 billion. May’s data was not about oil.  Exports were down and imports were up.

This will hurt 2ndQ2013 GDP which is troubling because 1stQ2013 was so weak.

Jobless Claims (Week ended 6/29/2013)

– New Claims 343,000. Previous revised from 346,000 to 348,000

– 4-week Moving Average 345,500.

Jobless claims have bottomed out and appear to have leveled off.

ISM Service Sector Index (June 2013)

– Composite Index 52.2. Previous was 53.7.

This still shows growth but at a slower pace.