US-RUSSIA: Putin Envoy-Want Dialogue w/US Despite 'Unfriendly Steps'

• After making modest gains early Wednesday, stocks are trading weaker - extending lows ahead midday as profit taking gathered momentum ahead of Thursday's heavy economic data and continued Fed speaker schedule.
• Currently, the DJIA trades down 61.39 points (-0.13%) at 46236.27, S&P E-Minis down 16 points (-0.24%) at 6699.5, Nasdaq down 64.4 points (-0.3%) at 22513.08.
• A mix of Communication Services, Mining and Technology sector shares underperformed in the first half: after down-revising their third-quarter projections, Freeport-McMoRan fell -10.36%;  Axon Enterprise -4.62%, Synopsys -4.30%, KKR & Co -4.26%, IDEXX Laboratories -3.90%, Electronic Arts -3.68%, Take-Two Interactive -3.59% and Adobe -3.32%.
• On the positive side, Energy and Consumer Discretionary sector shares led gainers in the first half, oil and gas stocks buoyed the former as crude prices climbed higher (WTI +1.19 at 64.60): Diamondback Energy +3.74%, APA Corp +3.31%, Phillips 66 +3.15%, Devon Energy +2.96% and ConocoPhillips +2.71%.
• Discretionary sector shares supported by Tesla +3.14%, Ross Stores +2.88%, Lennar Corp+2.37% and General Motors +1.76%.

August building permits were revised up in the final reading to 1,330k (1,312k prelim).

• That's still a drop from 1,362k in July for a cycle low (weakest since 2019, ex-pandemic 2020).
• Single-family home permits were basically unrevised at 858k (856k prelim), with multi-units now estimated at 472k (456k prelim).
• This could on the margins lead to a small uptick in residential investment estimates, including the Atlanta Fed GDPNow reading due out Friday - it currently estimates -6.3% Q/Q SAAR residential investment, which had been downgraded from -4.6% after the preliminary housing data (starts could yet be revised in the September report due out October 17).
• But overall, there are no clear signs of a nascent pickup in residential investment activity.

• US TSY 1Y-10M FRN AUCTION: HIGH MARGIN 0.200%; ALLOTMENT 44.42%
• US TSY 1Y-10M FRN AUCTION: DEALERS TAKE 28.87% OF COMPETITIVES
• US TSY 1Y-10M FRN AUCTION: DIRECTS TAKE 0.89% OF COMPETITIVES
• US TSY 1Y-10M FRN AUCTION: INDIRECTS TAKE 70.23% OF COMPETITIVES
• US TSY 1Y-10M FRN AUCTION: BID/CVR 3.15