Weekly Economic Update for the Week of December 7, 2009

C. W. Copeland & Associates presents

Weekly Economic Update for the Week of December 7, 2009

_______________________________________________________________________________

Quote of the week."Imagination is the eye of the soul."- Joseph Joubert

Joblessness at 10.0%.This November figure is improved from October's 10.2% mark. Another bright spot: payrolls slimmed by just 11,000 jobs last month. (Analysts expected a reduction of around 125,000.) Are we on the verge of adding jobs to the economy? The number of employed people rose by 227,000 last month, the first increase since April.¹

ISM indexes retreat a bit. The Institute for Supply Management's services sector index went from 50.6 in October to 48.7 in November (read: contraction). While ISM's manufacturing index went from 55.7 to 53.6 for November, a number above 50 means growth.²

House says no to 0% estate taxes.By a vote of 225-200, the House of Representatives voted to sustain current estate tax levels into 2010. With the other house of Congress challenged for time and focused on healthcare reform legislation, Senate aides told the Washington Post that the Senate may simply pass a one-year extension of present estate tax law.³

Pending home sales up again.They rose 3.7% in October, as buyers raced to qualify for federal credits. This is the ninth straight monthly increase.⁴

Factory orders increase 0.6%.The Commerce Department reported a healthy October gain, the sixth advance in seven months. Economists expected orders to stay flat.⁵

Stocks advance.The unexpectedly mild jobless numbers from the Labor Department helped the NASDAQ, DJIA and S&P 500 gain more ground Friday. On the week, the S&P 500 gained 1.32% to 1,105.89, the NASDAQ 2.61% to 2,194.35, and the Dow 0.76% to 10,388.90.⁶

% Change	Y-T-D	1-Yr Chg	5-Yr Avg	10-Yr Avg
DJIA	+18.37	+24.03	-0.38	-0.80
NASDAQ	+39.14	+51.80	+0.43	-3.77
S&P 500	+22.44	+30.85	-1.43	-2.28
Real Yield	12/4	1 Yr Ago	5 Yrs Ago	10 Yrs Ago
10YrTIPS	1.34%	1.98%	1.73%	4.14%

(Source: CNNMoney.com, ustreas.gov, bls.gov, 12/4/09)^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.How many 9s are in the range of numbers from 1 to 100? (Remember, the number 99 has two 9s in it.)

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

Last week's riddle: Is there a way that you can make the number seven even?

Last week's riddle answer:Yes, remove the s at the start and "seven" becomes "even".

___________________________________________________________________

Please feel free to forward this article to family, friends or colleagues.

If you would like us to add them to our list, please reply with their address
and we will contact them and ask for their permission to be added.

Regards,

C.W. Copeland
"Your Personal CFO"
404.567.3275 (cell)
www.PhDinMoney.com