C.W. Copeland & Associates presents
Weekly Economic Update for the Week of July 27, 2009
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Is real estate recovering? Existing home sales are up for the third straight month. The National Association of Realtors had residential resales up by 3.6% in June - 0.2% under last year's pace, but still an encouraging sign. Prices are a motivation - nationally, the median existing home sale price was $181,800 last month.1
Gas guzzler round-up gets underway. The federal government's CARS program (informally known as "cash for clunkers") officially began over the weekend, with $3,500/$4,500 credits available to new car buyers who drive in 1984-or-newer autos that average 18 MPG or less. The program will run until November 1 or until the $1 billion in federal rebates run out. You can visit cars.gov to determine whether you have a qualifying vehicle.2
Oil & gold have a good week. Crude oil futures gained 5.37% last week to finish at $68.05 per barrel on the NYMEX Friday. In the latest AAA gas prices survey, a gallon of regular unleaded averaged $2.470 nationally as opposed to $4.026 a year before. (However, gasoline futures gained 8.25% last week.) Gold settled at $953.10 per ounce Friday, wrapping up a 1.66% weekly gain.3
Indication of hope. Could the recession have ended already? The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators increased 0.7% for June (the third consecutive monthly gain, marking the best performance since January 2002, which was two months after the conclusion of the last recession). The coincident-to-lagging indicators in the index also increased for the third month in a row.4
9,000 ... 2,000? ... 1,000? The Dow topped 9,000 last week, and the NASDAQ and S&P 500 may surpass the 2,000 and 1,000 benchmarks if the rally continues. The NASDAQ lost ground Friday to end a 12-session win streak and close the week at 1,965.96. The S&P 500 stood at 979.26 at Friday's close; the Dow ended Friday's market day at 9,093.24.5
| % Change | Y-T-D | 1-Yr Avg | 5-Yr Avg | 10-Yr Avg |
| DJIA | +3.61 | -19.88 | -1.74 | -1.67 |
| NASDAQ | +24.66 | -13.78 | +1.26 | -2.70 |
| S&P 500 | +8.42 | -21.82 | -1.97 | -2.78 |
| 10YrTIPS Yd | -20.96 | +7.10 | -1.90 | -0.01 |
(Source: CNNMoney.com, ustreas.gov, treasurydirect.gov, bls.gov, 7/24/09)6,7,8,9
Indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be invested into directly. These returns do not include dividends.
Riddle of the week.What can fill a room, yet takes up no physical space?
Contact my office or see next week's Update for the answer.
Last Week's Riddle. Mike challenges Keith to flip a coin 20 times. Each time the coin comes up heads, Mike pays Keith $2.00. Each time it comes up tails, Mike earns $3.00 from Keith. After 20 coin flips, the end result is that no money changes hands. How many times did the coin come up heads?
Last week's riddle answer: 12 times; 12 X $2 = $24. The coin came up tails the remaining 8 times; 8 x $3 = $24. So they were all even after 20 coin flips.
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