NexAmerica PM: Oil tanks below $50; Cap Group chair dies; Lindsey Graham destroys phone

    Good evening,

    Tech stocks took a dive Wednesday after earnings from Apple and Microsoft disappointed investors Tuesday. The Nasdaq fell 0.7%, the S&P 500 was down 0.2%, and Dow Jones industrials dipped 0.4%. …Northern Trust beat expectations for its second quarter earnings, growing assets under management by 2.3%. …The Volcker rule, banning taxpayer-insured banks from making bets with their own money, went into effect Wednesday.

    Oil falls below $50. Oil prices fell to $49.19 a barrel Wednesday, the lowest since April 2. Crude oil stocks were up 2.5 million barrels in the U.S., totally reversing the expected 2.3 million barrel decline. CNBC

    Home sales get a boost. U.S home resales were up 3.2% in June, the highest since February 2007. Sales hit 5.49 million units, surpassing the 5.40 million unit forecast. The market has about a 5 month supply of houses, just below the six month sweet spot for balancing supply and demand. Reuters

    Capital Group chairman dies. Jim Rothenberg, chairman of Capital Group, died of a heart attack Tuesday. He was 69. Rothenberg was on vacation on the East Coast at the time. He had served as chairman since 2008, and had been at the firm since 1970. Financial Times

    South Carolina shooter will face hate crime charges. Dylann Roof, the accused gunman behind the June shooting in a South Carolina black church, will face federal hate crimes and firearms charges. The government has not determined if it will seek the death penalty. Roof was already charged with nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder by the state. Reuters

    Cop involved in Sandra Bland case under investigation. The Texas trooper that arrested Bland for assault after a routine traffic stop July 10 is under criminal investigation. A dash-cam video of the arrest was released Tuesday, showing how quickly things seemed to get out of control between the officer and Bland. Bland was found dead in her jail cell three days later from an apparent suicide. Wall Street Journal

    Lindsey Graham brings new meaning to burner phones. In response to Donald Trump releasing his personal phone number to the public, Graham made a 64-second video of himself destroying old phones. Graham burns a phone, attacks one with a meat cleaver, drives one with a golf club, and, well, you get the picture. Maybe Graham had something to do with Verizon’s earnings sinking Tuesday. Boston Globe