Manufacturing PMI falls, existing home sales rise

Wall Street was watching a couple of key data points late Thursday morning.

The S&P Global Flash US Manufacturing PMI for August fell to 48.0. That's softer than the 49.0 economists were expecting and down from the July read of 49.6.

Meanwhile, existing home sales for the month of July rose 1.3%, according to the National Association of Realtors. In the release, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun says that though sales remain "sluggish," "consumers are definitely seeing more choices, and affordability is improving due to lower interest rates."

Catalysts anchors Seana Smith and Madison Mills recap the reports in the video above.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts.

This post was written by Stephanie Mikulich.

Video Transcript

Manufacturing data coming in weaker than expected.

Ma when you take a look at the stock reaction off the highs here of the morning, we're seeing some of that pairing those earlier gains money.

But again PM I obviously very critical and just the latest economic data point that we're getting ahead of that show.

Yeah, II I want to correct what I said earlier.

So we are actually seen strength in the services sector which is in with what we've been hearing about right?

Services spending has been driving inflation higher and that has been a key issue for the Federal Reserve.

But manufacturing was as slow as it has been in years and that is going to be critical to watch.

That's why you initially saw the market under a bit of pressure off this PM I data.

But as always the market looking at the good news being good news in the print, softness could be a sign of rate cuts to come.

And that is why you are seeing stocks continuing their moves to the upside here.

You've got the NASDAQ up 3/10 of a percent and the S and P 500 up 2/10 of a percent here.

All right, man, let's also take a look at that existing home sales numbers that we are getting out here at the top of the hour.

It actually rose 1.3% in July, essentially in line with expectations here when it is a reversal.

And this is important to note from what we actually saw the prior month because it had, that had fallen 0.1% the prior month.

So why are we seeing more activity some of that having to do with the lower mortgage rates?

Obviously that we have seen increasing homes obviously luring some of the buyers back into the market so much of this very much hinging on pricing and what we see further here for the 30 year us mortgage rate going forward.

But again, existing home sales at least rising for the month of July up 1.3% essentially in line with expectations.

Ma