There have been various developments over the past several weeks which investors may consider relevant in allocating their resources or evaluating alternatives that are available to them. Some of the more significant developments include, but are not limited to, the following:
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened the week at 9996 and, on Monday, the market rose 96 points.
- On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 51 points.
- On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 92 points.
- On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 132 points.
- On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sunk 109 points and closed the week at 9972.
- In September, unemployment rates rose in 23 states while declining in 19 states. Michigan remains the state hardest hit by unemployment with a 15.3% unemployment rate.
- NCR Corp. announced that it was cutting its work force by approximately 10% or 2,200 jobs.
- International Paper Co. is cutting 3% of its payroll and eliminating 1,600 jobs.
- Electrolux will close two plants in Iowa and eliminate 850 jobs.
- Sun Microsystems announced plans to eliminate approximately 3,000 jobs.
- Strong corporate earnings were posted by Apple, Intel, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs. Hasbro, Blackrock, Pfizer, Wells Fargo, Eli Lilly, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Gannett, Merck, UPS, McDonald’s, Microsoft, American Express, and Amazon, among others.
- Weaker than expected corporate earnings were reported by Regions Bank, Boeing, and SunTrust.
- National home prices are predicted to shrink another 11%. While some locales will see rising or stabilizing prices, 342 out of 381 markets are expected to experience further declines.
- Markets expected to experience further declines in home prices include Miami, Orlando, Las Vegas, Naples, Phoenix, New York, and Los Angeles.
- Default notices on California home mortgages were 19% higher in the third quarter of 2009 and during the same quarter of 2008.
- Freddie Mac announced that delinquencies continued to rise in its mortgage portfolio last month.
- The government’s tax credit has lifted sales of existing homes to their highest level in two years.
- In 2009, there have been 137 municipal bond defaults involving over $4 billion,
- The Special Inspector General overseeing the Treasury Department’s handling of the $700 billion bailout program blasted the Treasury Department for the lack of transparency. The Inspector General also reported that the bailout had little impact on Wall Street’s culture of reckless behavior.
- McKinsey & Co. reports that almost one-third of American households don’t have any retirement savings.
- The Organization for Economic Co=operation and Development claims that almost 24% of Americans over 65 have incomes below poverty levels.
- Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winning economist, believes that an extended period of deflation is likely.
- Invesco announced that it would acquire the retail asset management business of Morgan Stanley.
- The Fed announced plans to aggressively regulate compensation at thousands of lending institutions and to require deep compensation cuts at seven companies that received the greatest amount of federal aid.
- Seven more banks were closed by banking regulators this week. The number of banks closed this year now stands at 106, the highest in two decades.
- Bank failures are projected to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation $100 billion by 2013.
- The President has declared swine flu to be a national emergency.
- The State of New Jersey continues to pay Goldman Sachs $1 million per month on an interest rate swap agreement involving auction rate securities that were redeemed a year ago.
- Revised statistics estimate that approximately 47 million Americans are living in poverty. This is approximately 15.8% of the population.
Page Perry’s Market Monitor is published periodically to give investors an overview of certain recent developments impacting the economy and/or the investment markets.