For the week of Monday, December 26, 2011 through Friday, December 30, 2011
- Standard & Poor’s 500 Index: -0.61%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.62%
- NASDAQ Composite: -0.52%
2011 has been an interesting year. From the Arab Spring, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, to flooding in Thailand, and a Debt Crisis in Europe, the markets have faced an uphill battle this year. U.S. Treasurys were also downgraded by the rating agencies from AAA to AA+. Interest rates remain just above all-time lows. Consumer confidence is finally on the rise, unemployment numbers have recently taken a turn for the better, but U.S. housing prices have continued to fall.
Many sectors fared well this year: utilities, healthcare and consumer staples finished the year strong for defensive stocks. Financials stocks performed very poorly because of mountains of new regulations. As a surprise, high quality value stocks fell roughly 6% this year.
Next week kicks off the primary race for the U.S. presidential election. For 2012, we expect interest rates to rise and economic conditions to improve.
Economic Data
- Conference Board Consumer Confidence
- Consumer confidence rose from 55.2 to 64.5 according to the Conference Board;
- The expectations component of the index rose from 66.4 to 76.4, pushing the number higher, and
- The present situation component also rose to 46.7 from 38.3.
- This is the highest reading since April of this year, and
- The increase is much more than expected.
- Consumer confidence rose from 55.2 to 64.5 according to the Conference Board;
- Case-Shiller Home Price Index
- Home prices continue to fall, however there are some good signs in the housing market.
- Prices recovered slightly for the three-month period ending in October compared to September.
- For the period ending in October, the 10-city composite is 3% lower than last year.
- Last month’s price drop was 3.3%
- The 20-city composite is 3.4% lower over the same period.
- Last month’s drop was 3.6%.
- On a yearly measure, Las Vegas and Atlanta were hammered with new lows since the peak.
- Atlanta homes prices fell 12% compared with last year.
Interest Rates
- Rates fell significantly during 2011.
- This past week, the two-year Treasury inched up one basis point to 0.29%.
- The five-year Treasury dropped three basis points to 0.95%, still below 1% and ending the year down almost 1%.
- The 10-year Treasury fell three and a half basis points to 1.99%, finishing the year down 1.5% from January 2011’s level around 3.5%.
- The 30-year Treasury slipped five basis points to 3.01%; down from 4.5% at the start of the year.
Company News
- General Electric Company (NYSE: GE)
- The finance division of GE has agreed to purchase the U.S. retail deposit operations of insurer MetLife.
- The deal benefits both companies:
- MetLife will no longer be subject to new federal regulations for financial institutions.
- MetLife will have the flexibility to raise dividends and repurchase shares when it exits the banking business.
- GE purchased the deposits at a discount and will be able to reduce its reliance on volatile financial markets for future funding.
- GE’s lending division is now larger than all but seven U.S. banks.
- Sears Holding Company (NASDAQ: SRHD)
- Sears is struggling and Eddie Lampert may have to go back to the drawing board to save the company.
- Following the Christmas holiday, Sears Holdings announced that it will close between 100 and 120 U.S. stores.
- For the eight weeks ending on Christmas Day—which is the most important sales period for retail—same-store-sales fell 5.2%,
- Shares fell 27% on Tuesday and have lost more than half their value in 2011.
- Since 2005, shares have fallen roughly 73%.