M Notes: Tue, 1-20

LAST WEEK:

Markets:  In the midst of lots of Washington Noise, Market were down just a touch last week.  

S&P roller coaster last week:  Up, Down, Down, Up, and Down a touch.  

Fed Balance Sheet:  $6.582 Trillion. 

Fed Beige Book:   Overall, 8/12 Districts grew at a modest pace in the latest BB.  3/12 so no change, while 1/12 reported a small decline.  The Cleveland District was one of the eight that saw increased activity.  Manufacturing and Construction saw improved demand.  Consumer Spending dropped a bit.  And demand for Freight fell as well. 

Housing:  Existing Home Sales were up +5.1% in December, and were up +1.4% Y/Y.  New Home Sales were down -0.1% in October, but were up +18.7% Y/Y.  Two weeks ago, Starts dropped -4.6% in October, and were down -7.8% Y/Y.  The data is still messed up, schedule-wise, due to the Government Shutdown.  

Inflation:  The Consumer Price Index (the CPI), consumer Inflation, remained at 2.7% Y/Y thru December.  The Producer Price Index (the PPI), wholesale Inflation, rose from 2.7% up to 3.0% Y/Y thru November.  

National Debt:  $38.628 Trillion.  

Retail Sales:  They were up +0.6% in November, and were up +3.3% Y/Y.  

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THIS WEEK:

Focus of the week:  Inflation.   The Personal Consumption & Expenditures index (PCE) is the metric the Federal Reserve watches the most regarding Inflation.  

Calendar:   Holiday (Mon); GDP Q3 final read, and the PCE (Thu).

Earnings:  Some of the companies reporting this week:  3M, Abbott Labs, GE Aerospace, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Netflix, PNC, and Procter & Gamble. 

* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general.    The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks.  The NASDAQ Composite Index is an unmanaged, market-weighted index of all over-the-counter common stocks traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System.  Yahoo! Finance, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily and Barron’s are several of the sources used for financial information. 

* The National Debt figure comes from usdebtclock.org.   

* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance.  Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.  You cannot invest directly in an index.   Past performance does not guarantee future results. No strategy can assure a profit or protect against a loss.  Investments in the securities markets involve risk, such as loss of your principal.