(News Bulletin 247) – Wall Street should start falling Tuesday morning at the end of a long three-day weekend, investors remaining marble in the face of better than expected statistics in real estate.

Half an hour before the opening, the ‘futures’ contracts on the major New York indices yield between 0.1% and 0.3%, announcing a note of weakness at the opening.

The markets seem to want to take a break after having benefited from a long favorable trajectory. The S&P has just aligned five weeks of progress in a row, its longest bullish series since November 2021.

The Nasdaq, which also regained ground last week, is evolving at its highest level in 13 months.

In terms of the economy, the Commerce Department reported this morning a surge of 21.7% in housing starts in the United States in May, a gain far above economists’ expectations.

For their part, building permits for housing – supposed to prefigure future housing starts – increased by 5.2%, a level also above the market consensus.

These solid figures support the scenario of a recovery in the housing market after a bout of weakness caused by the rise in interest rates due to monetary tightening by the Fed, which could boost the real estate sector on Wall Street.

This statistic, the only one expected today, also benefits the dollar, which always reacts positively to the slightest indication suggesting that the world’s largest economy continues to do well.

These indicators are also causing a rebound in rate hike expectations, and therefore in government bond yields.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries continues its recent recovery towards 3.77%, after being insensitive – last week – to the Fed’s restrictive rhetoric.

Oil prices are still not rising due to the ever recurring fears of oversupply. US light crude fell 1.2% to $70.9, a far cry from its annual low of $66.7 hit at the end of March.

Copyright (c) 2023 News Bulletin 247. All rights reserved.