1.     SIX MONTHS - The second half of the year (i.e., July-December) has outperformed the first half of the year (i.e., January-June) for the S&P 500 on a total return basis during 7 of the last 10 years.  The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the US stock market (source: BTN Research).     
 
2.     MAY NOT BE AS LARGE - For the last 5 years, Congress has reported that the Chinese currency renminbi is undervalued by as much as 40%, providing an unfair advantage to Chinese exporters and a financial headwind for US exporters.  A study released earlier this month by a US research institution reduced the level of estimated undervaluation for the renminbi to 24% (source: Peterson Institution for International Economics).   
 
3.     BETTER THAN EXPECTED - The US government had anticipated that it would be able to borrow money through the sale of 10-year Treasury notes during the 2010 calendar year at an average yield of 3.90%.  The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ended 2009 at 3.84% but has fallen to 3.10% by last Friday 6/25/10 (source: Office of Management and Budget).  
 
4.     BILLIONS - Using the Treasury Department's projection of $3.72 trillion of spending, the US government is anticipating spending of $10.2 billion every day during fiscal year 2010 (i.e., the 12 months ending 9/30/10).  There are 371 Americans (out of our total population of 310 million) that are worth at least $1 billion.  1 billion seconds is equal to 31 years, 8 ½ months (source: Treasury Department, Forbes).