Although bad economic news seemed to dominate the headlines today, U.S. markets managed to make some gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 57.74 points today closing at 10,155.64. The Nasdaq was up 19.18 points to close at 2,198.23 and the S&P 500 gained 6.49 points to close at 1,071.37.
The bad news included The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) announcement that there was a decline in builder confidence for single-family homes of new construction in July. This marks the second consecutive month of confidence declines and brings the Housing Market Index (HMI) to its lowest level since April of 2009. This was not unexpected since the housing sector has fallen after consumers cashed in on the home buying credits that expired in April 2010.
Adding to the negative news were the quarterly reports by both Hasbro Inc (NYSE:HAS) and Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) which showed lower than expected revenues. Halliburton Co (NYSE:HAL)brought us good news today as their quarterly reporting showed better than expected quarterly profits. There are still more quarterly reports to watch for this week.
European markets were down on Monday after Moody’s downgraded Ireland’s debt rating. Asian markets were mixed with both the Nekkei and Hang Seng closing with losses.
