Economy
-Orders for Manufactured goods fell 0.6% in April for the third drop in the first four months of the year. 6/5
-Nonmanufacturing sector expanded at an increasing pace in May surprising analysts. 6/6
-Productivity fell in the first quarter at a 0.9% annual rate and helps explain the sluggish GDP number of 1.9%. 6/7
-The ECB did not make any changes to interest rates despite the worsening conditions in Europe, but said it was “ready to act” in the future if needed. 6/7
-Initial jobless claims fell by 12,000 for the first drop since April. The 4 week moving average rose slightly to 377,750. 6/7
-Ben Bernanke, in a testimony before the Joint Economic Committee, said the Fed was ready to act when needed, but did not hint at any imminent stimulus moves for the Fed. The announcement disappointed some who thought, after other very bullish comments by Fed Governors, that the Fed was primed to take new steps to support growth. 6/7
-The average rate of a 30 year fixed mortgage fell to a new record low of 3.67%. 6/7
-China’s central bank cut its target lending rate by 0.25% to 6.31% in hopes to ease the economic slowdown occurring in the country. 6/7
Corporate
-Best Buy’s founder, chairmen and largest shareholder resigned from his post. 6/7
Market
-Spain’s Budget Minister said that the country potentially faced losing access to the financial markets as interest rates for the country have reached high levels. It inferred that the country would need Europe’s help in rescuing its struggling banking system. 6/6
-World markets surged on Wednesday on expectations that central banks will intervene and help stimulate economies in Europe and the U.S. The Dow had its best day since December gaining 2.4%, the S&P 500 jumped 2.3%, and Europe leapt up 2.3%. The yield on the 10 year Treasury jumped back up to 1.651%. 6/7
-Equity markets in the U.S. continued to rally on Friday on expectations that Spain will receive a bailout to help shore up its ailing banking system. The S&P 500 gained 0.8% and the Dow rose 0.7% for the day and is up 3.6% for the week, its best weekly performance since December. International markets ended the week down as Europe fell 0.3% mostly on news of a decline German exports and Japan and China fell 2.1% and 0.5% respectively. Spain was up for the day with the news of the likely bailout, stocks rose 1.8%. However, for the week, Europe was up 2.9% and Japan rose 0.2%. The 10 year Treasury bill yield gained rising to 1.640%. 6/9
-Moody’s announced it is likely to downgrade the credit ratings for 17 large global financial institutions. 6/9