Tuesday's Markets Update (March 28, 2023)

29 Mar 2023 by rate3

On Tuesday, while Congress was planning to "strengthen" small banks, perplexed traders were watching their news monitors which showed contradictory economic data. The Case-Shiller home price index had its seventh consecutive decline, indicating lower inflation. Meanwhile, the Richmond Manufacturing Activity Index pointed to a modest improvement, but the Dallas Fed Index was in deep red. As a result, the NASDAQ (o: 11752, c: 11716, down 0.3 percent) and BTC (o: 26983, c: 27425, up 1.6) remained range-bound.

Details: The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index declined by 0.6 percent in January, with 19 cities registering a decline and continued weakness in prices on the West Coast. The Manufacturing Activity Index in the Richmond area rose to -5 in March from -16 in February. Shipments rose to 2 from -15, which was the largest change, while employment declined by -5 (compared to -7 in February). The Dallas Fed general business activity index for services dropped 8.7 points to a three-month low of -18.0 in March.