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Notable Numbers for the Month:
• ON THE DECLINE — Consumer interest rates are falling. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed rate-mortgage nationwide was 4.87% the week ending March 5, after going above 5% last month.
• AVERAGE BULL MARKET — The bull market for the S&P 500 that began after the stock index bottomed on March 9, 2009 is now one week since its second-year anniversary. Through February 11, 2011, the S&P 500 has gained 96.5% since March 9, 2009 (this denotes a change of the raw index, not counting the reinvestment of dividends), based on data from BTN Research. The last 10 bull markets for the stock index (going back to 1957) have produced an average “trough-to-peak” gain of 131.7%. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the U.S. stock market.
• HOW LONG? — The current bull market for the S&P 500 will reach two years in length on March 9, 2011. Of the nine other bull markets that have occurred since 1957, the shortest duration was 2.2 years. The average duration of all 10 bull markets since 1957 is 4.3 years, according to BTN Research.
• UNTHINKABLE — The Congressional Budget Office says that the U.S. is projected to average a deficit of $697 billion per year for the next 10 fiscal years (i.e., 2012-2021), equal to $80 million of deficits per hour for the next decade.
• MORE IN THAN OUT — Data from the Commerce Department showed the U.S. imported from China $3.97 worth of goods and services for every $1 we exported to the Chinese in 2010. |
