Greetings!
First, I want to say thank you to everyone who came to last Friday's Holiday open house. We are blessed in countless ways by the folks we associate with, and a big event like this is a great time for all of you to meet each other.
Among the greatest gifts we have is the ability to make introductions, and I know many of you rekindled old friendships and made some new friends as well. Your friends and family are the reasons we have grown, and will continue to grow in the years ahead. I hope the rest of this season brings you everything you could ask for!
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With all the current media focused on the fiscal cliff, I don't know anyone who does not want it to be resolved. With the dramatic changes taking place in the healthcare world over the next two years, could I make a prediction that the next crisis du jour relates to healthcare? Who receives it and for how much money?
Simultaneously, we are witnessing the painful, slow unraveling of Europe; will things change here with a whimper or a bang? Lest we forget, the price of oil and the Middle East problems, because we've heard rumors of civil wars continuing to cause havoc in various African countries. And, if any of these don't sell enough advertisements, the media will turn their attention on China and we will start to worry about their incredible, unsustainable economic "bubble."
Fortunately, we are not in this alone. In the early part of the year, we will reassemble our experts and assess the post-cliff financial planning frontier. What topics would you like to hear about? Send us your ideas and comments! Have you heard a great speaker? Give us his or her name!
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| Weekly Economic Update | |
JOBLESS RATE DROPS, SURPRISING ANALYSTS
Non-farm payrolls expanded by 146,000 positions in November. Economists polled by Reuters had expected only 93,000 new jobs because of the impact of Superstorm Sandy. Yet while the jobless rate dipped to 7.7% last month, it was largely because fewer people sought work; the labor force participation rate was 63.6%, scraping an all-time low. The economy has added an average of 151,000 jobs a month in 2012, about 25% less than the growth needed to dramatically reduce unemployment.(1,2)
SENTIMENT INDEX SLIPS
The fiscal cliff issue and ferocious weather may have been big factors in the sudden 8.2% drop in the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index. November's 74.5 preliminary reading was far from the number (82.7) that economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast. (2)
MANUFACTURING CONTRACTS
For November, the Institute for Supply Management gauged service sector expansion and manufacturing sector contraction. ISM's manufacturing index fell to 49.5 for the month, down from 51.7 in October. The non-manufacturing index was at 54.7, improved from October's 54.2 mark. (3)
MIXED WEEK FOR STOCKS, NO PROGRESS AT THE CLIFF
With the fiscal cliff less than four weeks away, neither Democrats nor Republicans were citing any compromise on tax rates on Capitol Hill (though the idea of setting the top federal tax bracket at 37% rather than 39.6% had emerged). House Speaker John Boehner said that the White House had "wasted another week" due to the Obama administration's stubbornness; House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi felt that the Republican leadership was just as inflexible. The major index performance for the week: Dow, +0.99% to 13,155.13; NASDAQ, -1.07% to 2,978.04; S&P 500, +0.13% to 1,418.07. Oil ended the week at just $85.93 a barrel on the NYMEX and gold settled Friday at $1,705.50 an ounce on the COMEX. (2,4,5,6,7) |
| Market Summary |
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% Change |
Y-T-D |
1Yr Chg |
5-Year Avg | |
DJIA |
+7.67 |
+7.86 |
-0.69 | |
NASDAQ |
+14.31 |
+12.41 |
+2.01 | |
S&P 500 |
+12.76 |
+12.46 |
-1.15 |
(Source: msn.money.com, bigcharts.com, treasury.gov, treasurydirect.gov -12/07/12). Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged, and investors cannot invest in them directly. |
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Create a beautiful week!
Karl Frank, MBA, MSF
Certified Financial Planner (R)
A & I Financial Services LLC
303.690.5070
Citations:
1 - www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/07/us-usa-economy-
idUSBRE8B605F20121207 [12/7/12]
2 - www.cnbc.com/id/100289757 [12/7/12]
3 - www.ism.ws/ISMReport/NonMfgROB.cfm [12/5/12]
4 - www.cnn.com/2012/12/07/politics/fiscal-cliff/index.html [11/27/12]
5 - www.politico.com/story/2012/12/boehner-on-fiscal-cliff-
no-progress-to-report-84753.html [12/7/12]
6 - www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-07/soybeans-corn-fall-most-in-three-weeks-commodities-at-close.html [12/7/12]
7 - montoyaregistry.com/Financial-Market.aspx?financial-market=retirement-investment-funds&category=3 [12/7/12]
Securities offered through Geneos Wealth Management, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through A & I Financial Services LLC, registered investment advisor. |
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| Words for Thought |
"Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings."
Salvador Dalí |
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Riddle of the Week
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Victor is assigned to paint suite numbers on doors at an office building with 100 suites, which will be numbered from 1 to 100. How many times will he have to paint the number 8?
Last week's riddle:
Liz went into a convenience store at 1:58am on a Sunday morning to get a coffee. She drove six miles away and then returned to the store to get a lotto ticket ... also at 1:58am. The store's clock was working perfectly, so how could it be 1:58am again when she returned?
Last week's answer:
Liz made her trips to the convenience store during the morning when clocks were set back an hour at the end of Daylight Saving Time (at 2:00am).Liz made her trips to the convenience store during the morning when clocks were set back an hour at the end of Daylight Saving Time (at 2:00am).. |
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