Monday, 8-30-10
Last Week:
- The markets had a wild ride last week. The roller coaster was zooming down before Friday’s rise back up. The Dow30 dropped below 10,000 at Thursday’s close, and rested just a little above it over the weekend.
- The Q2 revised GDP number was down significantly, but was better than expected. The original number had come in at +2.4%. Expectations had been the number would drop to +1.4%, but came in at +1.6%. While the markets did rally on this news, the revision did drop -33%.
- Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke promised to basically do whatever it takes to stimulate the economy. Bernanke’s comments came during his address to the Fed’s Kansas City Economic Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
- July new home sales went down 12 % (a record low) from an already downwardly adjusted June. July existing home sales was down 27%. Both housing numbers gave indication the economy is likely losing steam.
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This Week:
- The August unemployment number will be the big story of the week. It comes out at 8:30am on Friday morning. The July number was 9.5%, with expectations for that to climb slightly to 9.6% in August.
- The August ADP survey comes out on Wednesday.
- The August ISM manufacturers Index comes out on Wednesday as well. A decrease from 55.5 to 52.8 is expected.
- July factory orders are expected to increase from a -1.2% in June to a +0.4%. The number comes out on Thursday.
- Q2 productivity comes out on Thursday. It is seen dropping from -0.9% in Q1, to -1.9% in Q2.
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All the best,
Chris
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