It’s a mixed market today, with the indices in and out of positive territory. In Beirut, Lebanon, there was a massive explosion which has caused massive destruction, killed at least 10 and has wounded hundreds.  It is still unclear the cause. So far, the market has not been impacted, but is still well off the highs.

Many of the big momentum Technology names are giving up some ground today, with Alphabet (GOOG/L), Facebook (FB), and Microsoft (MSFT) lower.  Apple (AAPL) is bucking the trend and is continuing its ascent, up another 1%, and Amazon (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX) are also higher.

The S&P 500 remains above the flat line, with 8 of the 11 sectors in positive territory. Energy is back in vogue today as is much of the safety trade.

Breadth is positive and up volume outpaces down, especially on the Nasdaq by almost 2-1.

Factory orders beat expectations and rose in June to 6.2% from a downwardly revised 7.7% increase in May.  The past two month’s rise come on the heels of April’s 13.5% decline. Business spending continues to increase and new orders for nondefense capital goods ex aircraft rose 3.3%.

• New orders for durable goods increased 7.6% month over month
• New orders for nondurable goods rose 5.0%
• Shipments of manufactured goods gained a whopping 9.8% from the prior month adding to the 3% gain in May (April was down 14.0%)
• Inventory-to-shipments ratio declined to 1.51 from 1.65 in May

Treasuries yields are continuing to decline with the benchmark 10-year U.S Treasury trading at 0.51%, down 5 basis points, and nearing its record low of .50%.  Investors continue to worry about Covid 19, overall economic growth, the failure of Congress to pass another relief package.