Okay, well, we're not exactly weekly here. And what a couple of weeks to skip! Before we get to this week's numbers, we'll note that during the missing two weeks, we had the crazy market day on Thurs, May 6. And then the European bailout of Greece. And now, the Senate's passed their version of the Dodd Financial Reform mega-bill.
On a side note, we'll point out that we were out of town on May 6. And it's not the first time crazy, dramatic things happened while David's been away. Remember the implosion of Long Term Capital Management in 1998? Yeah, David was away that week, too. Apparently the health of the world's financial markets, unbeknownst to to those markets and the world itself, sits upon David's shoulders. Sorry 'bout that. Now onto this week:
Large Cap US:
DJIA: 10193 (down from 11009 three weeks ago and up 22.93% from one year ago), divs. not included
SP500: 1087.69 (down from 1187 three weeks ago and up 22.44% from one year ago), divs. not included
Small Cap US:
IWM (iShares Russell 2000 ETF): $65.07 (down from $71.65 three weeks ago and 1 yr total return: 37.86%)
30-yr fixed mortgage rate: 4.84% (Freddie Mac PMMS)
15-yr fixed mortgage rate: 4.24% (Freddie Mac PMMS)
Treasury rates: 3mo: 0.17%; 1yr: 0.35%; 2yr: 0.76%; 5yr: 2.02%; 10yr: 3.20%; 30yr: 4.07% (big rallies in treasuries in these three weeks - flight to safety - away from stocks, Euros, etc)
Treasury real rates (based on TIPs): 5yr: 0.41%; 10yr: 1.33%; 20yr: 1.79%; 30yr: 1.79% (TIPs haven't moved much - yields are a touch higher on recent news reports of lower than expected inflation. )
AAA Corporates: 5yr: 2.97%; 10yr: 3.60%; 20yr: 4.94%
AAA Municipals: 5yr: 1.82%; 10yr: 3.13%; 20yr: 4.76% (Note that munis are paying higher yields than Treasries.)
Unemployment (April 2010): 9.9% (up from 9.7% in March)
CPI-U: declined 0.1% in April, but increased 2.2% in 12 months. (reported 5/19/10)