Weekly Stock Market Recap – Jul 21st 2019

After weeks of unrelenting rallies on Federal Reserve easing anticipation the market had some consolidation this week as earning season kicked off.   A bevy of mega financial companies reported this week and they mostly beat low expectations.

“…the broad theme we’re seeing is slowing loan growth, somewhat muted trading revenues and shrinking margins,” said Stephen Biggar, director of financial institution research at Argus Research in an interview. “Lower manufacturing activity, lower housing activity and business-investment slowing are all manifesting themselves” in bank performance, he said.

Tuesday, president Trump said an agreement with China on trade tariffs had “a long way to go,” in a briefing with reporters.

Interesting to note:

China’s gross domestic product in the second quarter slowed to 6.2%, marking its slowest pace since 1992 — though mostly matching expectations — from a reading of 6.4% in the first quarter.

The only major economic report of the week was retail sales which jumped 0.4%, ahead of expectations of 0.1%.  Internet retailers led the way again with a 1.7% increase in sales.  Sales fell a sharp 1.1% at department stores, which been losing out to internet rivals for years.