The markets are mixed once again.  The Dow has been up all day, and now the Nasdaq has reversed as well.  Rotation continues as investors and those professionals that have missed the rally bid up cyclical and value stocks.  FAANG, which has been down, is now mixed with Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (FB), and Alphabet (GOOG/L) higher.  Qualcomm (QCOM) is also up almost 5% after it won it’s appeal in its Federal Trade Commission antitrust case.  

The S&P 500 is close to a record high as Financials and Energy lead, with the safe havens lagging. The dollar is down slightly, and U.S. Treasuries are catching a bit of bid, with the 10-year trading at 0.643%.  JP Morgan (JPM) is up 5.20% and American Express is rising 3.5%.  Consumers in the U.S. have been on an online buying spree, and analyst forecast that spending could top 2019 spending by October.

Oil is on the rise again, with WTI trading at $42.21 per barrel. Commodities are taking a breather, as investors rotate back into stocks.  Gold is down 4.25%, but it is still trading at $1953 per ounce.  Silver is giving back even more, down 7.7% to $27.01.

Breadth is positive and advancers are outpacing decliners. 

NFIB

Small businesses make up almost half of the U.S. GDP.  This month, the NFIB’s Small Business Economic Trends report (Optimism Index) fell 1.8 points to 98.8 in July, near the survey’s historical average, and down from 100.6 from the prior month, as more cities rolled back their openings and Covid-19 cases rose. Those expecting better business conditions in the next six months declined by 14 points to 25, while owners that think it’s a good time to expand declined 8 points. Overall, 4 of the 10 Index components improved, 5 declined, and 1 was unchanged. The NFIB Uncertainty Index increased 7 points to 88.

"Owners continue to temper their expectations of future economic conditions as the COVID-19 public health crisis is expected to continue," NFIB's chief economist Bill Dunkelberg stated.  He added, "There is still plenty of work to be done to get businesses back to pre-crisis numbers.”

PPI

The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 0.6% in July after declining 0.2% in May, led by an increase 0.5% increase in prices for final demand service. Final demand for good rose 0.8%. Excluding food and energy (core) final demand increased 0.5% following May’s 0.3% drop. Year-over-year final demand is lower by 0.4%, while core has gained 0.3%. Inflation at the producer level has climbed, but it is still very low.

• Prices for final demand transportation and warehousing services fell 0.8%
• Final demand goods increased 0.8%, with energy rising 5.3%
• Processed goods for intermediate demand gained 1.5%
• Unprocessed goods for intermediate demand declined 0.7%