Economic Update for the week of April 26th, 2016

WEEKLY ECONOMIC UPDATE
WEEKLY QUOTE               “The wisest mind has something yet to learn.”      - George Santayana           WEEKLY TIP               If your parent has cognitive issues that make bill paying difficult, ask them if they might want to consider arranging automatic payments, or having their mail delivered to your address or a P.O. Box, so that you may review their bills and statements.          WEEKLY RIDDLE              Sandra is running in a half-marathon and she passes the second person in the race. What position is she in?    Last week’s riddle: It may contain a thousand wheels, yet it never moves despite spending all day in the sun. What is it?       Last week’s answer: A parking lot.	April 26, 2016    HOME SALES REBOUND Bouncing back from a drop of 7.3% in February, existing home sales improved 5.1% last month. In its March report, the National Association of Realtors announced a median sale price of $222,700, 5.7% higher than a year ago.1,2     BUILDERS BREAK GROUND ON FEWER PROJECTS While home sales increased last month, the pace of both housing starts and building permits declined. Census Bureau data shows an 8.8% reduction in groundbreaking for March. Building permits were down 7.7% for the month.1,2    OIL PRICES RISE FOR A THIRD STRAIGHt WEEK WTI crude settled at $43.73 on the NYMEX Friday. Expectations of declining production helped oil gain 4.8% in five trading days. Gasoline futures were also up 4.8% on the week.3 DOW CLOSES ABOVE 18,000 For the week, the DJIA rose 0.59% to a Friday settlement of 18,003.75. The S&P 500 advanced 0.52% in five days to close at 2,091.58 as the trading week ended. The Nasdaq retreated 0.65% for the week to 4,906.23.4    THIS WEEK: March new home sales figures appear Monday, plus earnings from Express Scripts, Halliburton, and Xerox. Tuesday features the Conference Board’s April consumer confidence index, February’s Case-Shiller home price index, and earnings from 3M, Aflac, Akamai, Apple, AT&T, Capital One, Chipotle, Coach, Corning, eBay, Eli Lilly, Freeport-McMoRan, HealthSouth, Hershey, Ingersoll-Rand, JetBlue, Office Depot, Panera, Procter & Gamble, Public Storage, T-Mobile, Twitter, U.S. Steel, Whirlpool, and Wynn Resorts. Wednesday, a new Federal Reserve policy statement and NAR’s March pending home sales index complement earnings from Ameriprise, Anthem, Blackrock, Boeing, Cheesecake Factory, Comcast, Facebook, Dr. Pepper Snapple, Garmin, GlaxoSmithKline, Goodyear, Hilton, Lear, Marriott, O’Reilly, PayPal, and Texas Instruments. The BEA’s first estimate of Q1 GDP arrives Thursday, plus initial claims and earnings from Aetna, Altria, Amazon, Amgen, Baidu, Beazer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical, Dunkin’ Brands, Domino’s, Expedia, Ford Motor Co., LinkedIn, MasterCard, Pandora, Raytheon, Time Warner Cable, UPS, Waste Management, and Western Digital. Friday sees the release of the University of Michigan’s final April consumer sentiment index, March personal spending figures, and earnings from AMC, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Philipps 66, Praxair, and Royal Caribbean Cruises.   % CHANGE Y-T-D 1-YR CHG 5-YR AVG 10-YR AVG DJIA +3.32 -0.19 +8.79 +5.87 NASDAQ -2.02 -2.56 +14.79 +10.77 S&P 500 +2.33 -0.78 +11.28 +5.95 REAL YIELD 4/22 RATE 1 YR AGO 5 YRS AGO 10 YRS AGO 10 YR TIPS 0.25% 0.12% 0.83% 2.39%   Sources: wsj.com, bigcharts.com, treasury.gov - 4/22/165,6,7,8 Indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be invested into directly. These returns do not include dividends. 10-year TIPS real yield = projected return at maturity given expected inflation.
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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 - investors.com/news/economy/existing-home-sales-rise-in-march-as-tight-supply-lifts-prices/ [4/20/16] 2 - investing.com/economic-calendar/ [4/22/16] 3 - marketwatch.com/story/oil-rises-on-weaker-greenback-signs-of-slowing-production-2016-04-22 [4/22/16] 4 - markets.on.nytimes.com/research/markets/usmarkets/usmarkets.asp [4/22/16] 5 - markets.wsj.com/us [4/22/16] 6 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=4%2F22%2F15&x=0&y=0 [4/22/16] 6 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=4%2F22%2F15&x=0&y=0 [4/22/16] 6 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=4%2F22%2F15&x=0&y=0 [4/22/16] 6 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=4%2F21%2F11&x=0&y=0 [4/22/16] 6 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=4%2F21%2F11&x=0&y=0 [4/22/16] 6 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=4%2F21%2F11&x=0&y=0 [4/22/16] 6 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=4%2F20%2F06&x=0&y=0 [4/22/16] 6 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=4%2F20%2F06&x=0&y=0 [4/22/16] 6 - bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=4%2F20%2F06&x=0&y=0 [4/22/16]                7 - treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyield [4/22/16] 8 - treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyieldAll [4/22/16]