WILL THE DEBT LIMIT BE LIFTED SHORTLY?
Friday, House GOP leaders announced a new proposal to authorize a three-month extension of federal government borrowing authority. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) summed up the plan in four words: “No budget, no pay.” Under the terms of the proposed legislation, members of Congress would end up working for free if they failed to approve a federal budget by April 15. The GOP still wants major spending cuts as a condition of any long-term debt limit increase.1
NO MONTHLY CHANGE IN CONSUMER PRICE INDEX
December’s CPI was flat, with core CPI rising only 0.1%. A 2.3% dip in gas prices helped, even as food prices rose 0.2%. The overall Producer Price Index posted a 0.2% decline for a third straight month. Inflation was tame in 2012: the CPI advanced only 1.7% last year compared to 3.0% for 2011, while the PPI rose just 1.3% for its smallest annual increase since 2008.2,3
RETAIL SALES STRONG IN DECEMBER
The Census Bureau notes that they increased 0.5% last month, bringing the yearly advance to 4.7%. Purchases made through non-store retailers rose 12.6% in 2012.3,4
CONSUMER SENTIMENT DECLINES
The University of Michigan’s preliminary January consumer sentiment index came in at 71.3 Friday, well under the 75.0 consensus forecast of economists surveyed by Reuters. This represents a 13-month low.5
STOCKS REACH A 5-YEAR PEAK
After a 0.95% weekly advance, the S&P 500 settled at 1,485.98 Friday. The DJIA (+1.20% to 13,649.70) and NASDAQ (+0.29% to 3,134.71) also extended their win streaks. On the COMEX Friday, gold settled at $1,687.00, oil at $95.56.5,6
THIS WEEK: All U.S. markets will be closed Monday as the nation observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day; the Presidential Inauguration will also be held in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, data on December’s existing home sales arrives plus earnings from Verizon, DuPont, Texas Instruments, Johnson & Johnson, Travelers, Google, IBM and AMD. Wednesday is another big earnings day, with Apple, McDonald’s, United Tech, Abbott Labs, Coach, WellPoint, Amgen, Netflix, SanDisk, Symantec and Western Digital all reporting results. On Thursday, Microsoft, 3M, Bristol-Myers, Nokia, Xerox, AT&T, E-Trade and Starbucks offer earnings reports. The Census Bureau releases December new home sales figures Friday, and earnings will be announced at Kimberly-Clark, P&G, Halliburton and Honeywell.
% CHANGE Y-T-D 1-YR CHG 5-YR AVG 10-YR AVG
DJIA +4.16 +8.51 +2.56 +5.90
NASDAQ +3.82 +13.18 +6.79 +12.78
S&P 500 +4.19 +13.60 +2.43 +6.48
REAL YIELD 1/18 RATE 1 YR AGO 5 YRS AGO 10 YRS AGO
10 YR TIPS -0.66% -0.15% 1.42% 2.34%
Sources: cnbc.com, bigcharts.com, treasury.gov, treasurydirect.gov – 1/18/125,8,9,10 Indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be invested into directly. These returns do not include dividends.
WEEKLY QUOTE
“Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.”
– Paul Saffo
WEEKLY TIP
See if you can keep your essential expenses down to about 50% of your after-tax income.
WEEKLY RIDDLE
You can rearrange the letters in insatiable to make another ten-letter word that starts with the letter b. What is this ten-letter word?
Last week’s riddle:
It has avenues, rivers and parks – but no grass, water or asphalt. What is it?
Last week’s answer:
A map.
Citations.
1 – www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/18/us-usa-fiscal-budget-idUSBRE90H11H20130118 [1/18/13]
2 – www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/01/16/consumer-price-index-december/1838907/ [1/16/13]
3 – news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=581091 [1/15/13]
4 – www.census.gov/retail/marts/www/marts_current.pdf [1/15/13]
5 – www.cnbc.com/id/100390628 [1/18/13]
6 – www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-18/natural-gas-rises-on-cold-weather-forecast-commodities-at-close.html [1/18/13]
7 – montoyaregistry.com/Financial-Market.aspx?financial-market=retirement-investment-funds&category=3 [1/18/13]
8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=1%2F18%2F12&x=0&y=0 [1/18/13]
8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=1%2F18%2F12&x=0&y=0 [1/18/13]
8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=1%2F18%2F12&x=0&y=0 [1/18/13]
8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=1%2F18%2F08&x=0&y=0 [1/18/13]
8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=1%2F18%2F08&x=0&y=0 [1/18/13]
8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=1%2F18%2F08&x=0&y=0 [1/18/13]
8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=1%2F17%2F03&x=0&y=0 [1/18/13]
8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=1%2F17%2F03&x=0&y=0 [1/18/13]
8 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=1%2F17%2F03&x=0&y=0 [1/18/13]
9 – treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyield [1/18/13]
9 – treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyieldAll [1/18/13]
10 – treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/press/preanre/2003/ofm010803.pdf [1/8/03]
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