It may not have sounded like good news at first, but the nation's job losses for May of "just" 345,000 was the smallest monthly total recorded since October of last year.  Because employment experts had nervously been expecting layoffs for the month to be as high as 525,000, the revised sentiment of economists following the report's release was "the worst may finally be behind us" (source: Barron's). 
 
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress last week on a problem that is quickly becoming the "elephant in the room" issue.  Bernanke's comments focused on our nation's ballooning budget deficit and our need to reign in expenses.  "Even as we take steps to address the recession and threats to financial stability, maintaining the confidence of the financial markets requires that we, as a nation, begin planning now for the restoration of fiscal balance," Bernanke told the House Budget Committee last Wednesday (source: AP).  
 
The S&P 500 starts the week up +5.4% YTD, the best YTD performance for the stock index to begin a trading week in 2009.  The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, which had hit an all-time low in late April, has now jumped more than ½ of 1% in just the last 5 weeks, rising from 4.78% to 5.29% over that period (source: Freddie Mac).