Money Watch Weekly Wrap
The budget debate heated up this week, as President Obama delivered his counter to the Paul Ryan/Republican plan to slash the deficit. (Here's a Budget Cheat Sheet!) The debt/deficit/debt ceiling talk took over from other news of the week, including earnings, economic data and even gas prices. Stocks fell slightly for the second consecutive week, as investors and analysts started to reduce their growth projections for the US in Q1.
- DJIA: 12341, down 0.3% on week, up 6.6% YTD
- S&P 500: 1319, down 0.6% on week, up 4.9% YTD
- NASDAQ: 2764, down 0.2% on week, up 4.2% YTD
- May Crude Oil: $109.66, down 2.8% on week (biggest weekly decline in a month)
- June Gold: $1486, up 0.8% on week
- AAA Natl Avg Price for Gallon of Regular Gas: $3.82 (Record was $4.11 in July, 2008)
FACTOIDS OF THE WEEK: Debt/Deficit edition
- Current National debt: $14.23T
- Debt ceiling: $14.29T (Treasury projects gov't could reach limit by 5/16)
- Ryan Plan: Purports to cut $5.8T over next 10 years
- Obama Plan: Purports to cut $4T over next 12 years
- How Many Rich to Tax? According to the IRS, in tax year 2008 (most recent year available), there were 971,510 tax returns that paid at least some taxes at the highest rate of 35% (approx. $373K for married for filing jointly)
Mon 4/18: TAX FILING DEADLINE IS MIDNIGHT!
Citigroup, Texas Instruments
10:00 Housing Market Index
Tues 4/19:
Goldman Sachs, J&J, IBM, Intel, Yahoo
8:30 Housing Starts
Weds 4/20:
AT&T, Wells Fargo, AmEx, Apple
8:30 Existing Home Sales
Thurs 4/21:
GE, McDonald's, Morgan Stanley, Travelers, Verizon, AMD, Capital One
8:30 Weekly Claims
10:00 FHFA House Price Index
Fri 4/22: Markets Closed for Good Friday (Banks open)
Earth Day
