Weekly Economic Update for the Week of December 14, 2009

C.W. Copeland & Associates presents

Weekly Economic Update for the Week of December 14, 2009

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Quote of the week."Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip."- Will Rogers

We're buying more.Retail sales rose 1.3% in November, and that is the third increase that the Commerce Department has measured in that category in the last four months of data. The gain was more than twice as large as that predicted by the consensus forecast of economists.^1,2

Confidence is increasing. At least lately it is - the newest Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey shot north to 73.4 from the previous 67.4 reading. Economists polled by Briefing.com thought it would come in at 69.0.^2,3

The inventory story.Wholesale inventories increased in October. The 0.3% gain marked the first in 13 m0nths. Manufacturing inventories expanded by 0.4% for October, and business inventories grew by 0.2% (retail inventories were flat).⁴

TARP cheaper than thought?President Obama now claims that the TARP program will cost taxpayers $200 billion less than expected. Funds previously directed to TARP may now go to small business loans and FHA programs, and efforts to pay down the $1.4 trillion U.S. deficit. TARP was extended until October 2010 last week.⁵

Pumped-up buck doesn't hurt Dow.Last week, the dollar hit a two-month high against the euro, gold slid below $1,120 an ounce and oil fell below $70 per barrel, and the DJIA managed a nice gain (0.80% across five trading days) to settle Friday at 10,471.50. As for the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ, things were pretty flat: the NASDAQ lost 0.18% during the week and the S&P 500 gained 0.04%.⁶

% Change	Y-T-D	1-Yr Chg	5-Yr Avg	10-Yr Avg
DJIA	+19.31	+22.26	-0.14	-0.67
NASDAQ	+38.89	+45.26	+0.58	-3.95
S&P 500	+22.49	+26.65	-1.37	-2.19
Real Yield	12/11	1 Yr Ago	5 Yrs Ago	10 Yrs Ago
10YrTIPS	1.41%	2.35%	1.66%	4.14%

(Source: CNNMoney.com, ustreas.gov, bls.gov, 12/11/09)^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.You spend 20% of the money in your wallet. Then you spend 20% of what remains in your wallet after that. You spend $72.00 total. How much money did you originally have in your wallet?

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

Last week's riddle: How many 9s are in the range of numbers from 1 to 100? (Remember, the number 99 has two 9s in it.)

Last week's riddle answer:20, as follows: 9, 19,29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 and 99 (note two 9s in that last numeral).

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Regards,

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