Economic Update for the week of July 22nd, 2014

WEEKLY ECONOMIC UPDATE
WEEKLY QUOTE                “It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”       - Mahatma Gandhi            WEEKLY TIP               When you get a raise, consider it in terms of the extra money you could save, not in terms of the extra money you could spend.        WEEKLY RIDDLE              It flies, but has no wings. It slips away, but cannot be held in the hand. What is it?          Last week’s riddle: It can be told, played, and cracked and it can even be practical as well. What is it?        Last week’s answer: A joke.	July 22, 2014      STOCKS ADVANCE, EVEN WITH ANXIETIES The crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine, a ground offensive by Israel into Gaza: these headlines gave investors pause, but M&A action and earnings reports sent stocks higher for the week. Thursday, the CBOE VIX jumped 32% to settle at 14.54, yet the S&P 500 closed just 1.2% lower. The 5-day scorecard: DJIA, +0.92% to 17,100.18; S&P 500, +0.52% to 1,978.22; NASDAQ, +0.38% to 4,432.15.1,2,6      RETAIL SALES, WHOLESALE PRICES RISE IN JUNE Overall U.S. retail sales were up 0.2% last month; the gain was 0.4% with car buying factored out. The Commerce Department revised the May gain 0.2% higher to 0.5%. After retreating 0.2% in May, the headline Producer Price Index advanced 0.4% in June; the core PPI rose 0.2%. Annually, producer prices were up 1.9%.3,4         FEWER HOUSING STARTS LAST MONTH The Census Bureau noted 9.3% less groundbreaking in June, plus a 4.2% retreat in building permits. Single-family starts dipped 9.0% to the slowest annualized pace since November 2012.5    HOUSEHOLD SENTIMENT DIPS July’s preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment index came in at 81.3, missing expectations (economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast an 84.0 reading). The index was down 1.2 points from its final June mark.3    THIS WEEK: Earnings from Netflix, Skechers, Expedia, Texas Instruments, BB&T, Twitter, Royal Caribbean, CBRE, Halliburton, Hasbro, GNC, Electronic Arts, Mitek and Chipotle arrive Monday. Tuesday offers the June CPI, June existing home sales numbers and earnings from Apple, Altria, Broadcom, Kimberly-Clark, Gannett, Ingersoll-Rand, Comcast, Coca-Cola, TripAdvisor, Lockheed Martin, The Travelers, State Street, Verizon, Alleghany Technologies, Harley-Davidson, McDonalds and Microsoft. Wednesday sees earnings from AT&T, Macerich, Northrop Grumman, Varian, Whirlpool, O’Reilly Automotive, Boeing, Biogen, Citrix, Norfolk Southern, Delta Air Lines, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, Facebook, Dow Chemical, Costco, CoreLogic and General Dynamics. Thursday, June’s new home sales report and new initial claims figures accompany earnings from Ford Motor Co., General Motors, VeriSign, DR Horton, Pulte Group, Raytheon, Union Pacific, Nucor, Hershey, Ingram Micro, Dunkin Brands, Pandora, Starbucks, Dr. Pepper Snapple, Invacare, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, VISA, Jet Blue, Eli Lilly, Under Armour, Noble Energy, Amazon, Airgas, Baidu, 3M and Southwest Airlines. Friday, a report on June durables complements quarterly results from Colgate-Palmolive, Tyco, Xerox and Stanley Black & Decker.        % CHANGE Y-T-D 1-YR CHG 5-YR AVG 10-YR AVG DJIA +3.16 +9.98 +21.98 +6.94 NASDAQ +6.12 +22.73 +30.48 +13.53 S&P 500 +7.03 +17.10 +25.00 +7.97 REAL YIELD 7/18 RATE 1 YR AGO 5 YRS AGO 10 YRS AGO 10 YR TIPS 0.26% 0.38% 1.81% 1.96%   Sources: USATODAY.com, bigcharts.com, treasury.gov - 7/18/146,7,8,9 Indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be invested into directly. These returns do not include dividends.
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«RepresentativeDisclosure»   This material was prepared by MarketingPro, Inc., and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates. This information has been derived from sources believed to be accurate. Please note - investing involves risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty. This is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to purchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such. All indices are unmanaged and are not illustrative of any particular investment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks. The NASDAQ Composite Index is an unmanaged, market-weighted index of all over-the-counter common stocks traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System. The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. NYSE Group, Inc. (NYSE:NYX) operates two securities exchanges: the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) and NYSE Arca (formerly known as the Archipelago Exchange, or ArcaEx®, and the Pacific Exchange). NYSE Group is a leading provider of securities listing, trading and market data products and services. The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (NYMEX) is the world's largest physical commodity futures exchange and the preeminent trading forum for energy and precious metals, with trading conducted through two divisions – the NYMEX Division, home to the energy, platinum, and palladium markets, and the COMEX Division, on which all other metals trade. Additional risks are associated with international investing, such as currency fluctuations, political and economic instability and differences in accounting standards. This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events, or a guarantee of future results. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.  Investments will fluctuate and when redeemed may be worth more or less than when originally invested. All economic and performance data is historical and not indicative of future results. Market indices discussed are unmanaged. Investors cannot invest in unmanaged indices. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional.   Citations. 1 - blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/07/18/about-that-big-vix-spike/ [7/18/14] 2 - google.com/finance?q=INDEXSP%3A.INX&ei=44bJU-jFFer8igLgzYGgAg [7/18/14] 3 - briefing.com/investor/calendars/economic/2014/07/14-18 [7/18/14] 4 - investing.com/economic-calendar/ [7/18/14] 5 - reuters.com/article/2014/07/17/us-housing-starts-idUSKBN0FM1FT20140717 [7/17/14] 6 - usatoday.com/money/markets/overview/ [7/18/14] 7 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=7%2F18%2F13&x=0&y=0 [7/18/14] 7 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=7%2F18%2F13&x=0&y=0 [7/18/14] 7 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=7%2F18%2F13&x=0&y=0 [7/18/14] 7 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=7%2F10%2F09&x=0&y=0 [7/18/14] 7 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=7%10F2%2F09&x=0&y=0 [7/18/14] 7 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=7%2F10%2F09&x=0&y=0 [7/18/14] 7 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=7%2F19%2F04&x=0&y=0 [7/18/14] 7 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=7%2F19%2F04&x=0&y=0 [7/18/14] 7 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=7%2F19%2F04&x=0&y=0 [7/18/14]          8 - treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyield [7/18/14] 9 - treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyieldAll [7/18/14]