Career News 24/7: STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's What You Need To Know, August 15, 2012

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

View this email online | Add newsletter@businessinsider.com to your address book

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

A couple of earnings announcements and a mixed bag of economic data weren't enough to spark some action in the stock markets.

First the scoreboard:

Dow: 13,164, -7.3, -0.0%
S&P 500: 1,405, +1.6, +0.1%
NASDAQ: 3,030, +13.9, +0.4%

And now the top stories:

First, the bad news. The Empire Fed manufacturing index went negative for the the first time in 10 months. It fell 13 points to -5.85. Economists were looking for a reading of 7.0. On the bright side, the employment component of the index remained positive, slipping slightly to 16.47 from 18.52 a month ago.
The July consumer price index was unchanged. Economists were looking for a 0.2 percent increase. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices climbed 0.1 percent, which was a bit cooler than the 0.2 percent increase expected.
Industrial production grew 0.6 percent in July, which was slightly higher than the 0.5 percent gain economists were expecting. However, it's worth noting that last month's 0.4 percent growth rate was revised down to 0.1 percent.
The NAHB homebuilder sentiment index rose to a 5-year high of 37. This was marginally higher than the 35 that economists were forecasting. In other housing news, economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch boosted their forecasts for U.S. home price growth to 2.0 percent from 0.5 percent. Don't Miss: The 15 Best Housing Markets In The Next 5 Years >
The September futures contract for WTI oil settled at $94.33 per barrel today, up 1 percent. This is a three month high. Here Are 9 Wars That Were Really About Commodities >
Network equipment giant Cisco releases quarterly earnings this afternoon. Follow the announcement LIVE at BusinessInsider.com.
Don't Miss: Here Are 14 Companies Getting Crushed By Pension Costs >