US Residents' Mortgage Applications Drop 6%, Wall Street Opens Varied

The United States (US) stock market moved mixed at the opening of trading on Wednesday (20/7/2022), after strengthening yesterday amid the release of solid financial performance from Netflix.

US Residents' Mortgage Applications Drop 6%

The report from the association of mortgage providers in the US, namely the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), shows that the inflationary blow is also crushing property consumers due to rising interest rates. Mortgage demand weakened more than 6% on a weekly basis last week, hitting its lowest point in 22 years.

The Dow Jones was down 63 points (-0.2%) at the open and after 20 minutes it was down to 65.16 points (-0.2%) to 31,761.89 and the S&P 500 was down 1.57 points (-0.04%) to 3,935.12. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq was still up 56.26 points (+0.48%) at 11,769.41.

"We're seeing a breath of fresh air for the day signaling that the US stock rebound could continue," said Stephen Suttmeier, technical research planner at Bank of America, in a research report cited by CNBC International .

Investors are betting that the market has found a bottom especially after Bank of America released research that the current situation opens up opportunities to buy stocks at low prices. The US dollar, which had surged to a 20-year high against the euro, weakened again.

Netflix shares rose 1% at the open after they reported losing just 970,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2022, less than analysts' consensus forecast of 2 million. Its earnings per share also exceeded analysts' predictions.

Tesla and United Airlines will release balance sheets after trading closes. So far, as many as 10% of the issuers that are constituents of the S&P 500 index have released their financial performance.

Nearly 69% of these issuers have released balance sheets exceeding analyst expectations, when referring to FactSet. Investors are looking forward to the financial performance release season for clues on how the company can cope with rising inflation.

On Tuesday (19/7), the Dow Jones index rallied more than 700 points, or 2.43%, while the S&P 500 index jumped 2.8% and the Nasdaq rose 3.1%. All three are trading above their 50 moving average (MA) for the first time since April.