This week's housing data did much to confirm a slowdown sought by the Federal Reserve. Along with what may have been peak inflation last week, cooler housing data is another piece in the puzzle as the FOMC tightens conditions. The outlier remains the labor market, where jobless claims dropped this week and payroll growth remains strong. The August NAHB measure of homebuilder confidence fell below 50, Housing starts for July dropped 9.6%, more than expected, (although permits dropped less than forecast), And most recently the NAR reported that July existing home sales fell 5.9%, more than anticipated.

The Big Ten Conference has struck a deal for media rights to its college sports that is reportedly worth up to $7.5B, amping up an already competitive arms race in sports programming as power among colleges continues to concentrate in a few buckets. The conference reached a seven-year deal with CBS, NBC, Fox and NBCU streaming platform Peacock, and will also show sports on the Big Ten Network and Fox Sports 1. The approach resembles the NFL's stance of spreading media rights over several partners.

Applied Materials posted third-quarter results that beat expectations and issued guidance that seemed to stave off fears of a slowdown. For the period ending July 31, Applied Materials said it earned $1.94 a share, on $6.52B in revenue. Gross margins ticked down year-over-year to 46.1%.