Stocks tumbled on Friday as Wall Street’s summer rally faltered and rate hike fears resurfaced, leading the major averages to end the week lower. Friday’s halt in Wall Street’s summer rally came as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting and comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard indicated that the central bank would likely continue hiking rates in the near term, putting a damper on investors’ hopes of a slowdown in rate hikes.

 The Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) was negative again in July, that’s five months in a row. The economy has never escaped Recession when this has occurred.  Retail Sales showed no growth in July (+0.8% growth in June). Of interest, ex-auto, July Retail Sales were +0.4% M/M. That means, just when supply chains have eased and automakers can once again get the chips they need, auto demand seems to have diminished.
 
Existing-home sales sagged for the sixth straight month in July, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. All four major U.S. regions recorded month-over-month and year-over-year sales declines.  Total existing-home sales, completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, slipped 5.9% from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million in July. Year-over-year, sales fell 20.2%.