| Market/Index |
2012 Close |
Prior Week |
As of 8/23 |
Week Change |
YTD Change |
| DJIA |
13104.14 |
15081.47 |
15010.36 |
-.47% |
14.55% |
| Nasdaq |
3019.51 |
3602.78 |
3657.79 |
1.53% |
21.14% |
| S&P 500 |
1426.19 |
1655.83 |
1663.47 |
.46% |
16.64% |
| Russell 2000 |
849.35 |
1024.30 |
1038.24 |
1.36% |
22.24% |
| Global Dow |
1995.96 |
2251.86 |
2240.44 |
-.51% |
12.25% |
| Fed. Funds |
.25% |
.25% |
.25% |
0 bps |
0 bps |
| 10-year Treasuries |
1.78% |
2.84% |
2.82% |
-2 bps |
104 bps |
Equities data reflect price changes, not total return.
Last Week’s Headlines
- Members of the Federal Open Market Committee seem as unsure as everyone else about precisely how soon quantitative easing will begin to wind down. Minutes of the FOMC’s July meeting showed that some members favor starting to cut bond purchases “in the near future” (meaning as early as September) while others advocate a delay until later in the year. However, they generally expressed support for the overall tentative timetable laid out in June, which suggested purchases might end entirely by mid-2014.
- Existing home sales were up 6.5% in July. The National Association of Realtors® said an increase in mortgage rates helped motivate buyers to try to close before rates rose further. That pushed resales to their highest level since buyers were racing to qualify for the homebuyer tax credit deadline in late 2009.
- Sales of new homes didn’t fare as well. The Commerce Department said they fell 13.4% in July to the lowest level since October, though they were still 6.8% higher than last July and followed several months of strong gains.
- The Nasdaq literally flatlined for more than three hours on Thursday after trading in Nasdaq-listed securities came to an abrupt halt because of what was described as a technical problem with connectivity at the exchange. At week’s end, no specific cause for the outage had been publicly identified, though Nasdaq OMX Group said there was no evidence that hacking was involved.
- Longtime Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he will retire within the next year once the board of directors names a successor.
Eye on the Week Ahead
Any traders still at their desks instead of on vacation are likely to view economic data, including revisions to the Q2 GDP estimate, through the prism of its potential impact on the FOMC’s September meeting.
Key dates and data releases: durable goods orders (8/26); home prices (8/27); 2nd estimate of Q2 GDP (8/29); personal income/spending (8/30).
All information is based on sources deemed reliable, but no warranty or guarantee is made as to its accuracy or completeness. Neither the information nor any opinion expressed herein constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any securities, and should not be relied on as financial advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is a price-weighted index composed of 30 widely traded blue-chip U.S. common stocks. The S&P 500 is a market-cap weighted index composed of the common stocks of 500 leading companies in leading industries of the U.S. economy. The NASDAQ Composite Index is a market-value weighted index of all common stocks listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The Russell 2000 is a market-cap weighted index composed of 2000 U.S. small-cap common stocks. The Global Dow is an equally weighted index of 150 widely traded blue-chip common stocks worldwide. Market indexes listed are unmanaged and are not available for direct investment. |
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