{"id":67025,"date":"2026-08-25T10:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T14:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/markets-rebound-as-housing-and-confidence-data-miss-estimates-trump-orders-cut-to-military-drills\/67025\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T10:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T14:08:15","slug":"markets-rebound-as-housing-and-confidence-data-miss-estimates-trump-orders-cut-to-military-drills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/markets-rebound-as-housing-and-confidence-data-miss-estimates-trump-orders-cut-to-military-drills\/67025\/","title":{"rendered":"Markets Rebound as Housing and Confidence Data Miss Estimates; Trump Orders Cut to Military Drills"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>U.S. New Home Sales<\/strong> for July fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of <strong>607,000<\/strong>, missing the consensus estimate of <strong>620,000<\/strong> and marking a <strong>10.5%<\/strong> decline from June.<\/li>\n<li><strong>CB Consumer Confidence<\/strong> for August slipped to <strong>89.4<\/strong>, lower than the expected <strong>90.3<\/strong>, as consumers expressed growing pessimism regarding future business and labor market conditions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spot <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/metal\/gold\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"gold price today\">Gold<\/a><\/strong> prices retreated nearly <strong>1%<\/strong> to <strong>$4,605.68\/oz<\/strong> following a period of profit-taking after recent record highs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>President Donald Trump<\/strong> announced a &quot;substantial reduction&quot; in joint military exercises with South Korea, citing high costs and a desire to maintain positive relations with North Korean leader <strong>Kim Jong Un<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wall Street<\/strong> opened higher on Tuesday, with the <strong>Nasdaq Composite<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/IXIC\">IXIC<\/a>) leading gains as investors look ahead to critical earnings from <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/NVDA\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"15\" title=\"stock: NVDA\">Nvidia<\/a> (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Economic Data Weighs on Sentiment<\/h2>\n<p>The U.S. housing market showed signs of cooling in July as <strong>New Home Sales<\/strong> dropped to an annual rate of <strong>607,000<\/strong>. This figure was significantly lower than the <strong>678,000<\/strong> units recorded in June and fell short of the <strong>620,000<\/strong> units analysts had projected. The median sales price for new houses also saw a slight retreat to <strong>$393,800<\/strong>, down from <strong>$403,100<\/strong> in the previous month, as inventory rose to a <strong>9.6-month supply<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Consumer sentiment also faced headwinds in August, with the <strong>Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index<\/strong> falling to <strong>89.4<\/strong>. While the <strong>Present Situation Index<\/strong> saw a modest rise to <strong>121.2<\/strong>, the <strong>Expectations Index<\/strong>\u2014which measures the six-month outlook\u2014slumped to <strong>68.2<\/strong>. <em>Economists noted that the divergence between current assessments and future expectations suggests deepening concerns over potential economic slowdowns and persistent price pressures.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Geopolitical Shifts and Market Reactions<\/h2>\n<p>In a move that caught international allies off guard, <strong>President Donald Trump<\/strong> used Truth Social to announce he had instructed Secretary of Defense <strong>Pete Hegseth<\/strong> to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea. Trump described the drills as &quot;costly&quot; and &quot;hostile&quot; toward North Korea, adding that South Korea had recently declined to assist in the denuclearization of the <strong>Islamic Republic of Iran<\/strong>. The decision led to the <strong>Ulchi Freedom Shield<\/strong> exercises being shortened by six days, concluding on August 21 instead of the originally planned August 27.<\/p>\n<p>In the commodities market, <strong>Spot Gold<\/strong> fell nearly <strong>1%<\/strong> to <strong>$4,605.68<\/strong> per ounce during intraday trading. The decline is being characterized by analysts as a technical pullback and a bout of profit-taking following a sustained rally that saw the precious metal hit multiple record highs earlier in the month. Despite the daily drop, gold remains up more than <strong>36%<\/strong> year-over-year.<\/p>\n<h2>Wall Street Opens in the Green<\/h2>\n<p>Despite the softer economic data, major U.S. equity indices opened higher on Tuesday. The <strong>Nasdaq Composite<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/IXIC\">IXIC<\/a>) jumped <strong>171.56 points<\/strong>, or <strong>0.66%<\/strong>, to <strong>26,151.75<\/strong>, while the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a><\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/SPX\">SPX<\/a>) rose <strong>0.37%<\/strong> to <strong>7,681.49<\/strong>. The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/dowjones\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Dow Jones Today\">Dow Jones<\/a> Industrial Average<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/stock\/DJI\">DJI<\/a>) also gained <strong>180.17 points<\/strong>, or <strong>0.34%<\/strong>, to reach <strong>53,597.33<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Market participants are largely focused on the upcoming quarterly results from <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock\/NVDA\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"15\" title=\"stock: NVDA\">Nvidia<\/a> (<a href=\"\/stock\/NVDA\">NVDA<\/a>), which are expected to serve as a major barometer for the artificial intelligence trade. <em>The positive open was also supported by a decline in <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/energy\/crude-oil\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"12\" title=\"Crude oil\">oil prices<\/a> and a slight easing in Treasury yields, providing a reprieve for growth-oriented technology shares.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways U.S. New Home Sales for July fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 607,000, missing the consensus [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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