Kevin M. Nast Presents: WEEKLY ECONOMIC UPDATE

WEEKLY TIP

If your adult child takes a job without health insurance, remember that he or she can be covered by your employer’s plan until age 26 under the new health care laws.

WEEKLY RIDDLE

New furniture will be delivered to your office on the day before five days from the day after tomorrow. If today is August 18, when will the furniture arrive?

Last week’s riddle:
Two lawyers sit at opposite ends of a large conference table. Nothing is in between them but the table, yet they don’t see each other. How is this possible?

Last week’s answer:

They are seated with their backs to one another.

June 6, 2011

HIRING TAPERS OFF IN MAY
Wall Street braced itself Friday for a subpar jobs report, and that was what arrived. Non-farm payrolls grew by just 54,000 in May – and if McDonald’s hadn’t added 62,000 fast-food positions last month, net hiring would have been negative. Payrolls had expanded by an average of 220,000 positions a month in the previous three months of data. The unemployment rate ticked north to 9.1% in May; the percentage of people without a job for six months or longer rose to 45.1%, nearly a record.^1,2

ISM: Some GOOD NEWS, SOME BAD NEWS
The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing sector index slipped a troubling 6.9% to 53.5 for May. However, ISM’s service sector PMI rose 1.8% in May to 54.6, and new orders increased by 4.1%. Expansion continues in both sectors.³

YEAR-OVER-YEAR HOME PRICES RETREAT

The newly released March edition of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index found home prices across 20 metro areas down 3.6% from March 2010. Overall, prices were 33.1% below the index’s peak in July 2006 and at levels last seen during the middle of 2002.^4,5

CONFIDENCE FALTERS

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in at 60.8 for May, notably beneath the 66.0 reading for April. The poll’s Expectations Index decreased to 75.2 from April’s 83.2 reading.⁶

A DOWNDRAFT ON WALL STREET
A major selloff last Wednesday contributed to the Dow extending its losing streak to five weeks. Here was how it went during the four market days from May 31-June 3: DJIA, -2.33% to 12,151.26; S&P 500, -2.32% to 1,300.16; NASDAQ, -2.29% to 2,732.78. The Dow has not had a five-week losing streak since July 2004.⁷

THIS WEEK: The calendar is pretty light. Monday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner speaks at the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta. Tuesday afternoon, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at the same event. The Fed puts out a new Beige Book on Wednesday. Thursday, Wall Street will watch the Bank of England and the European Central Bank as both will have announcements on interest rates; a report on April wholesale inventories also comes out. No major economic releases are scheduled for Friday.

Sources: cnbc.com, bigcharts.com, treasury.gov, treasurydirect.gov – 6/3/11^7,8,9,10

Indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be invested into directly.

These returns do not include dividends.

This material was prepared by MarketingLibrary.Net Inc., and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks. The NASDAQ Composite Index is an unmanaged, market-weighted index of all over-the-counter common stocks traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System. The Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. NYSE Group, Inc. (NYSE:NYX) operates two securities exchanges: the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) and NYSE Arca (formerly known as the Archipelago Exchange, or ArcaEx®, and the Pacific Exchange). NYSE Group is a leading provider of securities listing, trading and market data products and services. The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (NYMEX) is the world’s largest physical commodity futures exchange and the preeminent trading forum for energy and precious metals, with trading conducted through two divisions – the NYMEX Division, home to the energy, platinum, and palladium markets, and the COMEX Division, on which all other metals trade. Additional risks are associated with international investing, such as currency fluctuations, political and economic instability and differences in accounting standards. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. All economic and performance data is historical and not indicative of future results. Market indices discussed are unmanaged. Investors cannot invest in unmanaged indices. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional.

Citations.

1 – latimes.com [6/3/11]

2 – cnbc.com [6/3/11]

3 – ism.ws [6/3/11]

4 – nj.com [6/1/11]

5 – abcnews.go.com [5/31/11]

6 – conference-board.org [5/31/11]

7 – cnbc.com/id/43272370 [6/3/11]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [6/3/11]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [6/3/11]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [6/3/11]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [6/3/11]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [6/3/11]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [6/3/11]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [6/3/11]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [6/3/11]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [6/3/11]

9 – treasury.gov [6/3/11]

9 – treasury.gov [6/3/11]

10 – treasurydirect.gov [1/10/01]

11 – montoyaregistry.com [6/5/11]