Stocks overcame the largest quarterly drop of the nation’s Gross National Product in history and closed higher for the week – The nation’s GDP dropped 32.9% in the second quarter of 2020, its largest quarterly drop ever recorded. Fortunately, analysts expected to see a drop in that range and markets closed higher, with the exception of the Dow which was just slightly lower. Technology stocks rallied across the board after Facebook, Amazon, and Apple reported earnings that crushed expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 26,428.32, down 0.2% from 26,469.89 last week. It’s down 7.4% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 3,271.12, up 1.7% from 3,215.63 last week. It’s up 1.3% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 10,725.57, up 3.7% from 10,363.18 last week. It’s up 19.8% year to date.
U.S. Treasury bond yields – The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 0.55%, down from 0.59% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 1.20%, down from 1.23% last week.
Mortgage rates – The July 30, 2020, Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported mortgage rates for the most popular loan products as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 2.99%, down from 3.01% last week. The 15-year fixed was 2.51%, down from 2.54% last week. The 5-year ARM was 2.94%, down from 3.09% last week.