Jobless Claims Up, Philly Fed Down, Walmart Q2 Mixed

Economic Indicators - Initial Jobless Claims rose to 235K, exceeding expectations by 10K and increasing by 11K from the previous week, marking the highest level since June [2] - Continuing Claims approached 2 million, reported at 1.972 million, the highest since November 2021 [2] - The Philly Fed Manufacturing survey showed a negative reading of -0.3, significantly lower than the expected 7.0 and the previous month's 15.9, indicating a decline in manufacturing output [3] - New Orders fell to -1.9, a decrease of 20 points month over month, while Shipments remained positive at 4.5 [3] Company Earnings - Walmart reported mixed Q2 results with earnings of 68 cents per share, slightly below consensus estimates and only a penny above the previous year's figure, while revenues reached $177.4 billion, surpassing estimates by 1% [4] - Walmart revised its revenue guidance higher for the full fiscal year, despite a 2% drop in shares ahead of the market open [4] Market Expectations - Flash S&P Services and Manufacturing PMI for August are anticipated to cool slightly, with Services expected at 55.0 and Manufacturing at 49.5, just below the growth threshold [5] - Existing Home Sales for July are projected to decrease to 3.91 million annualized units from 3.93 million the prior month [6] - U.S. Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) are expected to improve to -0.1% for July from -0.3% in June, indicating a potential recovery from the lowest levels in over 10 years [6] Upcoming Earnings Reports - Earnings season continues with companies like Zoom Communications, Workday, Ross Stores, and Intuit expected to report quarterly earnings, with Intuit projected to achieve a year-over-year earnings growth of 33% [7]