There was little action in the markets today as there were only a few economic reports that were released this morning. On the positive side, the July housing numbers came out and showed that home prices on average edged higher over the previous month. On the negative side, the consumer confidence index (which is a survey conducted by the U.S. Consumer Confidence Board) showed that the average consumer is still uneasy about the direction of the economy.
The minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting last week in Wyoming were released this morning and frustratingly, it appears that the Fed is as divided as Congress is on the major factors influencing the tepid economic growth we are seeing. As I mentioned last week, the Fed announced that it will meet again in late September as it continues to monitor the growth (or lack thereof) of the economy. In the statements that were released, several of the Fed members believe that the government needs to announce more stimulative efforts to help the economy while others are of the opinion that the Fed needs to just "sit on their hands" for now.
All in all it was a decent day for the markets as they finished slightly higher, led by the technology sector. Two things concerned me however, gold was up (and usually when gold is up the markets are down - and this divergence is perplexing), and the overall volume of the markets (number of stock shares traded) was low - this shows little conviction in the overall direction by market participants.
But as they say, a win is a win...
Also of note, Clorox was up handsomely today (2.74%), as Carl Icahn is still trying to buy the company for $80/share - the stock is currently trading at $70.51. If this acquisition were to take place, shareholders would see a return of roughly 12% (I've mentioned this in previous posts).
