Seven Things You Should Know 12/4/2009

Seven Things You Should Know

December 4th 2009

1.  Second Worst Decade For Stocks:  Since 1900, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined in price (not total returns) in just two decades — the 1930s and the 2000s.  The Dow is currently down 9.2% since the end of 1999.  In the 1930s the index fell 39.5%.  The best decade was the 1990s when the index rose 317.6%.  (source: Bespoke Investment Group)

2.  First Ever Losing Decade for S&P 500:  “Absent a 12.14% December return this will be first negative total return decade for the S&P 500,” S&P’s senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt says. The S&P has never, he adds, had a 12% gain in the month of December.  (source: Dow Jones Market Talk)

3.  Upside Jobs Surprise:  In a totally unexpected move, nonfarm payrolls fell by just 11,000 last month, from a downwardly revised 111,000 drop seen in October. It was the best showing since December 2007, when payrolls rose by 120,000. Economists had expected a payroll decrease of 125,000. The unemployment rate fell to 10.0% from 10.2%.  (source: WSJ)

4.  Sentiment is Poor:  More than 1 in 3 Americans (36%) that were surveyed in late October 2009 believe their personal economic situation has deteriorated in the last 12 months. (source: SRBI Public Affairs)

5.  However:  Nearly half of Americans (46%) that were surveyed in October 2009 anticipate that  they will be better off financially in 2010 than they were in 2009.  (source: Money)

6.  Earnings:  Next week, we’ll see reports from Kroger, Ciena and Costco.

7.  Econ Calendar:  Next week, we get November Retail Sales and October Business Inventories.

Have a great weekend!