Weekly Economic Update for the Week of November 30, 2009

C.W. Copeland & Associates presents

Weekly Economic Update for the Week of November 30, 2009

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Quote of the week."Learn to express rather than impress."- Jim Rohn

Did "Black Friday" beat expectations?The National Retail FounPublish Postdation expects a 1.0% decline in holiday purchases for 2009 (after a 3.4% dip in 2008). Yet it also forecast 134 million shoppers in stores for Thanksgiving weekend, up from 128 million last year. Consumer spending did increase by 0.7% in October, the Commerce Department noted last week, with wages rising 0.2%.^1,2

Did you buy a home for the holidays? Existing home sales soared 10.1% in October, the National Association of Realtors noted last week. New home sales rose 6.2% last month to the highest annual pace since September 2008. Tax credits and first-time buyers were undoubtedly key factors.^3,4

Lowest mortgage rates since April. Freddie Mac had the national average rate for 30-year FRMs at 4.78% last week, compared to 5.97% a year ago. Rates for 15-year FRMs averaged 4.29% last week; a year prior, the average was 5.74%.⁵

Short line for big-ticket items.Durable goods orders fell by 0.6% in October. Most of the decline was attributed to reduced defense industry orders.²

Gold hits new peak.The precious metal hit a new all-time high close last Wednesday on the NYMEX: $1,188.60 an ounce. India's central bank bought 200 metric tons of gold in October and reportedly wants to buy more. The U.S. Dollar Index fell to lows not seen since August 2008 on Wednesday.⁶

Minor market movement.Very minor, if you take the S&P 500 - it advanced 0.01% last week. The Dow posted a small weekly loss (-0.08%) and the NASDAQ retreated -0.35% for the week.⁷

% Change	Y-T-D	1-Yr Chg	5-Yr Avg	10-Yr Avg
DJIA	+17.47	+18.14	-0.40	-0.62
NASDAQ	+35.60	+39.58	+0.35	-3.80
S&P 500	+20.84	+22.96	-1.54	-2.30
Real Yield	11/27	1 Yr Ago	5 Yrs Ago	10 Yrs Ago
10YrTIPS	1.15%	2.38%	1.75%	4.14%

(Source: CNNMoney.com, ustreas.gov, bls.gov, 11/27/09)^8,9,10

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.Is there a way that you can make the number seven even?

Contact my office or see next week's Update for the answer.

Last week's riddle: A mall parking lot has 1,000 parking spaces, and 40% of them are for compact cars. This morning, there are 200 compact cars and some standard-size cars in the lot, which is 75% full. How many standard-size cars are in the lot?

Last week's riddle answer:750 - 200 = 550 standard-size cars.

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Regards,

C.W. Copeland
"Your Personal CFO"
Atlanta Planning Group
Lifestyle Management Division
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