Pat Webb - Phase 2 Advisors
 
Weekly Market Update
Week of May 9, 2011
The Markets:

More jobs and more oil - two things we have to be thankful for. When Americans are gainfully employed, they spend more and the economy grows. When there's extra oil supply, its value drops and gas prices usually follow.

The employment picture has been improving since the beginning of the year, with a total of 768,000 jobs added since January.  This momentum was carried through the month of April with the economy adding 244,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday.[1]  April was the strongest month for business hiring since February 2006, and the job gains were distributed across multiple business sectors. In fact, 73% of the nation's industries have added jobs in the last six months alone. That's the most broad-based job gain on record since 1998.[2]


Last week finally gave us a break from the recent run-up in oil prices as crude tumbled 15% to its biggest weekly decline in more than two years.[3]  In just one week, light, sweet crude fell from a close of $113.93 to a close of $97.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.[4]  After nearing $114 a barrel as fears about supplies took hold following escalating violence in Libya, a close below $100 is more than welcome.


The 15% drop in oil prices revives hope that lower gas prices will follow. And while oil usually needs to hover in this price range for a couple weeks before gas prices will fall, some analysts are predicting that prices will drop to an average of $3.75 per gallon by Memorial Day, and $3.50 by mid-summer.[5]  Some areas of the country have already seen a decrease in prices. Nigel Gault, chief economist for IHS Global Insight was quoted by USA Today as saying that "If this sticks, it's worth about 20 cents off the price at the pump."[6]


These are two areas of the economy that we have been watching closely, and it is nice to see these positive trends. If things continue moving in this direction, it will probably have a positive impact on the American financial system.

ECONOMIC CALENDAR:   
Tuesday - Import and Export Prices, Redbook
Wednesday - International Trade, Treasury Budget
Thursday - Producer Price Index, Retail Sales, Jobless Claims, Business Inventories
Friday - Consumer Price Index, Consumer Sentiment   

 


Performance


05_09_2011_graph

Notes: All index returns exclude reinvested dividends, and the 5-year and 10-year returns are annualized.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, MSCI Barra. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. NA means not available.

Headlines:

News of Bin Laden's death led U.S. stocks to trade higher on Monday morning,

but the so-called "Bin Laden Rally" quickly fizzled after investors concluded his death does little to ease global economic and political risks.[7]


G.M. Reported that their earnings tripled in the first quarter,

as revenue jumped 15%. The company's profit was more than triple what it achieved in the same period a year ago, and its fifth consecutive profitable quarter.[8]


U.S. born radical Anwar al-Awlaki is expected to become Al Qaeda leader

Bin Laden's successor. It's understood that he survived a U.S. drone attack on a car in Yemen on Thursday. U.S. born radical al-Awlaki is widely believed to be the mastermind behind a number of terror atrocities and the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.[9]


Fannie Mae reported a net loss of $6.5 billion for the first quarter

as a weakening housing market dashed hopes that the company had stabilized. Fannie said Friday it would ask the government for a fresh taxpayer infusion of $6.2 billion after paying dividends to the Treasury. The loss follows net income of $73 million during the previous quarter.[10] 


Eurozone members are debating milder recovery terms for debt-hit Greece

as it struggles to stick to a harsh austerity plan, Greek media said Saturday after emergency talks in Luxembourg. The reports said Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou had flown to a "secret" meeting among G20 eurozone states that debated giving Athens more time to repay a 110-billion-euro ($157 billion) EU-IMF loan and easier deficit reduction targets.[11]



Quote of the Week
"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Recipe of the Week

Coffee and Cookies Brownies


05_09_2011_recipe

From: Better Homes and Gardens
Use refrigerated sugar cookie dough to create the
crust for this simple coffee-flavored brownie dessert.


Ingredients:

1 16.5 to 18-oz pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 19.5 oz. pkg. milk chocolate brownie mix

1/2 cup cooking oil

1/3 cup coffee liqueur or cooled strong coffee

1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate pieces

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Press sugar cookie dough into bottom of a 13x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside.

 

2. In a large bowl combine the eggs, brownie mix, cooking oil, and coffee liqueur until just combined. Spread batter over sugar cookie dough. Sprinkle with chocolate pieces.

 

3. Bake for 40 minutes or until edges are set. Cool in pan on a wire rack. To serve, cut into bars. Makes 24 brownies.


Golf Tip of the Week

Hooking problem? Maybe it's your grip.



A hook occurs when the club face is closed in relation to your swing path, causing counterclockwise side spin and resulting in a hook to the left or right depending on whether you are left or right handed.

It could be that a simple repositioning of your hands on the club could help. When you hold your club, your non dominant hand should show the thumb and index knuckles. If you start seeing the back of your hand angling up, and/or you see the fingers of your dominant hand, your grip is too strong. To fix this, roll your hands forward towards the target so that the back of your hand faces the hole.

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The MSCI EAFE Index was created by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) that serves as a benchmark of the performance in major international equity markets as represented by 21 major MSCI indexes from Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia.

 

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[1]   http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

[2]   http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/06/news/economy/april_jobs_report_unemployment/index.htm

[3]   http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-paring-some-losses-in-asian-trading-2011-05-05

[4]   http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-paring-some-losses-in-asian-trading-2011-05-05

[5]   http://autos.aol.com/article/oil-prices-gas-prices-down/

[6]   http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2011-05-06-average-gas-prices-peak-4_n.htm

[7]   http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/02/markets-global-idUSN0220536420110502

[8]   http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/business/06motors.html

[9]   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384550/Man-tipped-bin-Ladens-successor-survived-U-S-drone-attack-Yemen.html

[10]  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704810504576307551540613850.html

[11]  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i0DDiSRNfU8-kVTjWZDX90zQsmOA?docId=CNG.a3c776d3b8de46644e7c5f74ac90dcfd.561

 

Pat Webb
Pat Webb - Phase 2 Advisors
8100 Turman Ct
Fort Collins, CO 80525
970-776-3306
[email protected]
http://www.phase2adv.com