Kevin M. Nast Presents: WEEKLY ECONOMIC UPDATE

– Bertrand Russell

WEEKLY TIP         

Your will, trust and powers of attorney should be reviewed regularly, once a year if possible. Time can alter priorities and intentions.

WEEKLY RIDDLE             

Einstein’s Riddle: A man meets a bear in a wasteland. Both are startled. The man runs north and the bear runs west. Suddenly, the man aimed his gun south and shot the bear. What color was the bear?   

LAST WEEK’S RIDDLE:

A man tells you there are 12 seconds in a year. This sounds absurd, but in what sense is he correct?

LAST WEEK’S ANSWER:

Each month of the year contains a “second” – January 2nd, February 2nd, and so forth.

Employers added 171,000 jobs in October, according to the Labor Department. Revised August and September estimates showed non-farm payrolls growing by an average of 173,000 jobs in each of the past three months. The unemployment rate rose to 7.9%, as economists polled by Bloomberg had forecast, a consequence of more people seeking work.^1,2

MORE SPENDING, MORE CONFIDENCE

Personal spending accelerated by 0.8% in October, and Commerce Department data also showed incomes up 0.4% for the month (the biggest gain since March) and the savings rate down to 3.3% (the lowest level since last November). In another positive sign, the Conference Board’s October consumer confidence poll came in at 72.2, the highest mark since February 2008.^2,3  

HOME PRICES RISE 2.0% in a YEAR

That was the annual gain shown in the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index (the September edition). Compare that to the August report, which noted that prices across 20 cities had increased 1.2% in 12 months. The index rose 0.5% for October.⁴  

MANUFACTURING SECTOR EXPANDS SLIGHTLY

The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing PMI advanced 0.2% for October to 51.7. Encouragingly, the new orders index rose 1.9% to 54.2. The Commerce Department also noted a 4.8% leap in factory orders for September.^5,6  

A MIXED WEEK ON WALL STREET 

The S&P 500 managed a 0.16% weekly gain to settle at 1,414.20 Friday, but the Dow (-0.11% to 13,093.16) and NASDAQ (-0.19% to 2,982.13) posted five-day losses. The Russell 2000 advanced 0.14% on the week to 814.37; the CBOE VIX fell 1.68% for the week, closing Friday at 17.51.^6,7 

THIS WEEK: Monday, ISM publishes its October service sector index and Time Warner Cable, Toyota, Humana and Zillow issue earnings reports. Tuesday is Election Day, and Nissan, Office Depot, NYSE Euronext, CVS Caremark, and News Corp also announce Q3 results. Wednesday, earnings reports arrive from Macy’s, Monster Beverage, CBS, Sodastream, Qualcomm, Activision Blizzard and Whole Foods. An OPEC press conference occurs Thursday, and earnings from Groupon, Dean Foods, Kayak, Wendy’s, Disney, Nordstrom, Nvidia and Zipcar will be out along with the latest initial claims figures. Friday brings earnings from JCPenney and November’s initial consumer sentiment survey from the University of Michigan. 

Sources: cnbc.com, bigcharts.com, treasury.gov, treasurydirect.gov – 11/2/12^7,8,9,10

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LD045102-11/12

Citations.

1 – www.latimes.com [11/2/12]

2 – www.bloomberg.com [10/29/12]

3 – articles.marketwatch.com [10/25/12]

4 – www.forexpros.com [10/30/12]

5 – www.ism.ws [11/1/12]

6 – www.cnbc.com [11/2/12]

7 – montoyaregistry.com [11/2/12]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [11/2/12]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [11/2/12]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [11/2/12]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [11/2/12]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [11/2/12]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [11/2/12]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [11/2/12]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [11/2/12]

8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com [11/2/12]

9 – treasury.gov [11/2/12]

9 – treasury.gov [11/2/12]

10 – treasurydirect.gov [7/10/02]