Weekly Economic Update for the Week of December 21, 2009

C.W. Copeland & Associates presents

Weekly Economic Update for the Week of December 21, 2009

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Quote of the week."Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love."- Elie Wiesel

Interesting inflation figures.November data shows a 1.8% year-over-year gain in the Consumer Price Index. That's the first positive 12-month change since February 2009. Core CPI was flat last month; it had risen for 10 straight months. The overall CPI rose 0.4% in November. Wholesale inflation (PPI) jumped by 1.8% last month, with core PPI rising 0.5%.¹

Housing starts rebound. They hit a 6-month low in October, so November's 8.9% increase was especially welcome. Building permits also increased by 6.0% from October levels.²

Fed sees no reason to raise rates.Last week, TIME's Person of the Year and his colleagues voted 10-0 to leave the benchmark interest rate alone at between 0% and 0.25%. The Federal Open Market Committee said that the key rate would remain at record lows for "an extended period" as "economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time."³

Citi, Wells Fargo will pay back Uncle Sam.The two banks will respectively repay $20 million and $25 million to the Treasury. With the Wells Fargo notice, America's largest banks have all now pledged to exit TARP. The Obama administration claims the final TARP price tag will be under $140 billion.⁴

Leading indicators up 0.9%.For the eighth month in a row, the Conference Board's index of leading indicators chalked up an advance. Economists polled by Bloomberg News had predicted a 0.7% rise.⁵

Tech stocks do well in mixed week.The NASDAQ rose 0.98% last week, pushing its YTD gain over 40%. The S&P 500 slipped 0.35% last week, while the DJIA fell 1.33%.⁶

% Change	Y-T-D	1-Yr Chg	5-Yr Avg	10-Yr Avg
DJIA	+17.69	+20.03	-0.60	-0.82
NASDAQ	+40.24	+42.47	+0.72	-4.11
S&P 500	+22.06	+24.53	-1.54	-2.24
Real Yield	12/18	1 Yr Ago	5 Yrs Ago	10 Yrs Ago
10YrTIPS	1.31%	1.85%	1.64%	4.14%

(Source: CNNMoney.com, ustreas.gov, bls.gov, 12/18/09)^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.Nancy was born in summer, yet she was born in January. How is this possible?

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

Last week's riddle: 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?

Last week's riddle answer:$200. $200 - $40 = $160, then $160 - $32 = $128.

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Regards,

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