The Dow has been in and out of the red today. It had turned higher on reports that China is expected to agree to buy more products from American farmers, but it has since turned lower again. The Dow had traded 0.4% lower, the S&P slid 0.25%, while the Nasdaq dropped 0.30%.

Apple (AAPL) and its fellow FAANG – except for Alphabet (GOOG) – are all lower on the day.  Apple (AAPL) is down 0.05% ahead of its fall event, where the giant is expected to unveil its new iPhone and other products.

Oil is on the move.  The EIA lowered its 2019 and 2020 price forecasts on WTI and Brent crude. The agency cut its forecast for WTI by 2.7% to $56.31 a barrel for this year and 5% for year 2020 to $56.50. Brent was also cut by 2.7% to $63.39 this year and 4.6% to $62 next year.  

Oil was trading higher but turned lower after news that National Security Adviser John Bolton is out.  Some believe his departure will ease tensions with Iran. WTI crude is currently down $0.03 to $57.79, and Brent is higher $0.13 to $62.73.

Only 5 sectors are in green, with Energy leading. Real Estate is today’s laggard.

JOLTS

The latest JOLT reports saw the number of U.S. jobs dropping 0.4% in July, while hires climbed slightly. The Labor Department said employees advertised 7.2 million jobs, although it was below consensus of 7.3 million. Job openings increased in information (+42,000) and in mining and logging (+11,000), but it decreased in whole trade (-55,000) and in federal government ( -11,000).