S&P 500 Jumps 2.6%, Record Existing Home Price In May

Barry Adams
21 Jun, 2022
New York City

Stocks in the early morning bounced back after a 3-day weekend and bond yields advanced. 

The S&P 500 rose 2.2% to 3,759.33 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.8% to 11,101.50. 

Futures of crude oil rose 1.9% to $111.69 a barrel and natural gas fell 26 cents to $6.69 a unit. 

The sharp rally on Wall Street was viewed as a dead cat bounce and market indexes have jumped more than 2% at least 11 times in the last three months. 

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite have fallen in 10 of the last 11 weeks and investor sentiment has been pessimistic with growing skepticism that the Fed can tame inflation and avoid a recession. 

Inflation has been accelerating and stayed above the Fed's target range of 2% for more than 17 months and reached a 4-decade high of 8.6% yet interest rates are near 1.75%.  

Seasonally adjusted existing home sales in May declined 3.4% from a year ago and April home sales were revised lower as well, the National Association of Realtors said today. 

Homes for sale in May increased 12.6% from April but still 4.1% lower than a year ago.  

The median home price sold in May increased 14.8% to $407,600, a record high since data keeping began about 40 years ago, said the NAR. 

Home prices have been advancing for 123 months in a row, the longest streak of price increase on record. 

Lennar Corp gained 4.5% to $67.53 after the home builder reported better-than-expected sales and higher-than-expected adjusted earnings of $4.69 a share. 

The home builder said that the home demand began to soften towards the end of the quarter by higher home prices and rising mortgage rates. 

Airline stocks were in focus today on summer travel surge. 

Spirit Airlines advanced 7% after JetBlue lifted its offer price to $33.50 a share as the company board discusses its merger plans with Frontier Air. 

Kellogg Company gained 2.1% to $69.07 after the food products maker said it plans to split into three separate companies. 

 

European Markets Extend 2-Day Advance 

 

European markets extended gains for the second day in a row powered by gains in New York and Asian markets. 

Bargain hunters stepped up for the second day in a row despite the lingering worries of inflation and global economic slowdown. 

The DAX index gained 0.1% to 13,189.19, the CAC-40 index advanced 0.2% to 5,896.14, and the FTSE 100 index rose 1.5% to 7,117.38.

Futures of crude oil increased 1.5% to $115.40 a barrel and European natural gain advanced 3.6% to 125.40 euros a unit. 

Ocado Group decreased 4.2% to 840.80 pence after the online grocery delivery company completed a secondary offering and raised