The Mark Lund Growth Report for Monday, February 1, 2016

ONE CONFIDENCE POLL RISES, ANOTHER FALLS
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose in January to 98.1, beating the Briefing.com forecast of 96.3. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index lost 0.6 points on the month, ending January at 92.0.1,2

NEW HOME SALES LEAP 10.8%
Census Bureau data showed new home buying at its hottest pace in 10 months in December – a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000 sales. New home sales were up 14.5% for 2015. In other housing news, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales rose 0.1% in December after a 1.1% November dip.1,3

FIRST ESTIMATE OF Q4 GROWTH: 0.7%
Away from that disappointing number, the Bureau of Economic Analysis presented some better data: America’s economy grew 2.4% in 2015, and household spending rose 3.1% last year. Still, another indicator affirmed recent manufacturing weakness: after an 0.5% retreat in December, durable goods orders fell 5.1% in January.1,2

STOCKS RALLY AS JANUARY ENDS
The Federal Reserve stood pat on interest rates last week, the Bank of Japan opted for negative interest rates, and oil prices stabilized. These developments sent shares higher: across five days, the Dow gained 2.32% to 16,466.30, the Nasdaq 0.50% to 4,613.95, and the S&P 500 1.75% to 1,940.24.4,5

THIS WEEK: On Monday, the December personal spending report and ISM’s January factory PMI complement earnings from Aetna, Aflac, Alphabet, AmeriGas, Anadarko Petroleum, Mattel, Rent-A-Center, Sysco, Tesoro, and Wynn Resorts. Archer Daniels Midland, Chipotle, Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, Gilead Sciences, Keurig Green Mountain, Michael Kors, Motorola Solutions, Pfizer, Pitney Bowes, Ryder, Sirius XM, and Yahoo! all offer earnings Tuesday. ISM’s latest service sector PMI and ADP’s January employment change report appear Wednesday, plus earnings from Allstate, Buffalo Wild Wings, Comcast, Exelon, General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, GoPro, Marathon Petroleum, Merck, MetLife, Noble Corp., Shutterfly, Spectra Energy, Take-Two Interactive, and Yum! Brands. Thursday, the January Challenger job-cut report and a new initial claims report accompany earnings from Beazer Homes, Cigna, Clorox, ConocoPhillips, Dunkin’ Brands, Genworth Financial, GrubHub, Kemper, LinkedIn, Lions Gate, Magellan Midstream, News Corp., Occidental Petroleum, Philip Morris, Piper Jaffray, Ralph Lauren, SkyWest, Snap-On, and Valero Energy. The Labor Department’s January jobs report and earnings from Estee Lauder, Tyson Foods, and Weyerhaeuser emerge Friday.

% CHANGE Y-T-D 1-YR CHG 5-YR AVG 10-YR AVG
DJIA -5.50 -5.46 +7.85 +5.11
NASDAQ -7.86 -1.48 +14.34 +10.00
S&P 500 -5.07 -4.01 +10.40 +5.10
REAL YIELD 1/29 RATE 1 YR AGO 5 YRS AGO 10 YRS AGO
10 YR TIPS 0.53% 0.55% 1.09% 2.03%

Sources: wsj.com, bigcharts.com, treasury.gov – 1/29/166,7,8,9
Indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be invested into directly. These returns do not include dividends. 10-year TIPS real yield = projected return at maturity given expected inflation.

WEEKLY QUOTE

“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”

– George Washington

WEEKLY TIP

When you eliminate a high-interest debt, direct the money that was once going toward it into an emergency fund, a college fund, or your retirement savings.

WEEKLY RIDDLE

Karen parks her car beside a hotel and instantly recognizes that she is bankrupt. How does she know this?

Last week’s riddle:
The more of them you will have, the longer you will live – but as you have more and more of them, the less you have left. What are they?

Last week’s answer:
Heartbeats.

Citations.
1 – briefing.com/investor/calendars/economic/2016/01/25-29 [1/29/16]
2 – bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-29/fourth-quarter-growth-sentiment-cool-u-s-economic-takeaways [1/29/16]
3 – usnews.com/news/business/articles/2016-01-27/us-new-home-sales-soar-in-december [1/27/16]
4 – reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-kaplan-idUSKCN0V7293 [1/29/16]
5 – markets.wsj.com/us [1/29/16]
6 – markets.wsj.com/us [1/29/16]
7 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=1%2F29%2F15&x=0&y=0 [1/29/16]
7 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=1%2F29%2F15&x=0&y=0 [1/29/16]
7 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=1%2F29%2F15&x=0&y=0 [1/29/16]
7 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=1%2F28%2F11&x=0&y=0 [1/29/16]
7 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=1%2F28%2F11&x=0&y=0 [1/29/16]
7 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=1%2F28%2F11&x=0&y=0 [1/29/16]
7 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=1%2F30%2F06&x=0&y=0 [1/29/16]
7 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=1%2F30%2F06&x=0&y=0 [1/29/16]
7 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=1%2F30%2F06&x=0&y=0 [1/29/16]
8 – treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyield [1/29/16]
9 – treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyieldAll [1/29/16]

This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty. 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. The Standard & Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. NYSE Group, Inc. (NYSE:NYX) operates two securities exchanges: the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) and NYSE Arca (formerly known as the Archipelago Exchange, or ArcaEx®, and the Pacific Exchange). NYSE Group is a leading provider of securities listing, trading and market data products and services. The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (NYMEX) is the world’s largest physical commodity futures exchange and the preeminent trading forum for energy and precious metals, with trading conducted through two divisions – the NYMEX Division, home to the energy, platinum, and palladium markets, and the COMEX Division, on which all other metals trade. Additional risks are associated with international investing, such as currency fluctuations, political and economic instability and differences in accounting standards. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. All economic and performance data is historical and not indicative of future results. Market indices discussed are unmanaged. Investors cannot invest in unmanaged indices. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional. This material was prepared by MarketingLibrary.Net Inc., for Mark Lund, Mark is known as The 401k Advisor, Investor Coach, The Financial Advisor, The Financial Planner and author of The Effective Investor. Mark offers investment advisory services through Stonecreek Wealth Advisors, Inc. an independent, fee-only, Registered Investment Advisor firm providing 401k consulting for small businesses and financial Advisor services for professional athletes and individuals. Stonecreek is located in Salt Lake City, Murray City, West Jordan City, Sandy City, Draper City, South Jordan City, Provo City, Orem City, Lehi City, Highland City, Alpine City, and American Fork City in Utah.

Category: Blog, Growth Report