Cleanup: The Coast Guard plans to burn off today oil that spilled last week in a marsh about 42 miles south-southeast of New Orleans. About 800 to 1,000 gallons of oil spilled last week from a Time Energy LLC flowline at Cox Bay in Plaquemines Parish. The spill doesn’t appear to have hurt wildlife, and key federal agencies agreed that a controlled burn was the best way to deal with the spill, according to a Coast Guard news release.
Buying houses: U.S. home sales increased 2.5% in July, a sign that lower mortgage rates have produced a spurt of home-buying, according to the National Association of Realtors. Average interest rates on 30-year mortgages have fallen to 3.60%, the lowest in nearly three years. The cheaper borrowing costs as a result of lower interest rates enabled sales to rise 0.6% from a year ago, ending 16 consecutive months of annual sales declines. Read the full report.
Surge: U.S. stocks marched broadly higher in early trading this morning, as investors welcomed a batch of strong earnings reports from several big retailers. Target and Lowe’s surged, leading a rally in retail stocks, as the market bounced back from its first loss in four days. Technology companies accounted for a big share of the market’s gains. Microsoft gained 1.3% and Apple rose 1.2%. Health care stocks also climbed. Merck rose 1.1%. Financial stocks rose as bond prices fell, pushing yields higher. American Express picked up 1.1%. Real estate and utilities lagged the rest of the market. Read the full story.
