Dow lost 3, decliners over advancers almost 3-2 & NAZ fell 18. The MLP index was fractionally lower to 432 & the REIT index rose 1 to 319. Junk bond funds edged higher & Treasuries had modest gains. Oil crawled above 60 & gold is back above 1200.
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
Consumer purchases unexpectedly stalled in Apr as Americans used income gains to shore up savings, raising the risk the biggest part of the economy may take time to gain momentum after a slow start to the year. The unchanged reading in purchases followed a 0.5% gain the prior month that was larger than previously estimated, according to the Commerce Dept. The forecast called for a 0.2% rise. Earnings increased 0.4%, more than projected, & the saving rate climbed. Consumers, who’ve been using the money freed up by low gasoline costs to pay down debt or rebuild their balance sheets, would be more inclined to shop as wages accelerate. Sustained improvement in household spending, which accounts for almost 70% of the economy, is needed to ensure growth rebounds as Federal Reserve officials project. Consumer spending grew in the 12 months thru Apr at the slowest pace in over 5 years. Disposable income, or the money left over after taxes, rose 0.3% after adjusting for inflation. It fell 0.2% in the prior month.
Wages & salaries climbed 0.2%. The saving rate increased to 5.6% from 5.2%. The report also showed that adjusting consumer spending for inflation, which generates the figures used to calculate GDP, purchases were also little changed in Apr after a 0.4% increase in Mar that was the biggest in 4 months. Spending’s stop & go nature helps explain why the growth has slowed.
Microsoft, a Dow stock, is preparing Windows 10 for release on Jul 29, in time
for the back-to-school personal-computer season, as the company tries
to boost an ailing PC market & revive its own fortunes in mobile
devices. The operating system will be available for PCs & tablets as a free
upgrade to people using Windows 7 & Windows 8.1, or on new Windows 10
devices, MSFT said. Windows 10 for other
devices will be available later this year. The company said in Apr it expects a billion people to be using its
Windows 10 operating system in the software’s first 2-3 years
on the market, signaling optimism in its push to revive Windows & make
it more useful on smaller devices. Still, market research firm IDC is
predicting that PC shipments will drop 6.2% this year as a
corp PC purchasing cycle runs out of steam. Windows 10 has a design that blends some aspects of Windows 8 with the older, more popular Windows 7’s appearance. It adds a new browser called Microsoft Edge, to succeed Internet Explorer. The update
to Windows will also bring the Cortana voice-controlled assistant to PC
desktops, & will have touch-enabled Office applications such as Word & Excel built in for smartphones & tablets. The stock lost pennies. If you would like to learn more MSFT, click on this link:
club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/MSFT?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7
Talks on breaking the impasse over Greece’s financial lifeline took on new urgency as the nation faces a debt repayment at the end of this week with a deal to ease its cash crisis seemingly as far away as ever. An intl official said creditor institutions were working on a common proposal that would be presented to Greece as a way of breaking the deadlock in coming days. Technical negotiations on economic measures Greece must take were resuming & an agreement is closer, though not ready, a gov spokesman said. With discussions in their 5th month, deadlines have come & gone with meetings, calls & summits yielding little as disagreements over pensions & labor laws persisted. The difference now is that Greece must make 4 payments totaling almost €1.6B ($1.78B) to the IMF this month starting on Fri, & its bailout package from the euro region expires at the end of the month. Officials representing creditors spent the weekend working to converge among themselves on all issues related to the Greek bailout review. The common position may be communicated to Greek Prime Minister Tsipras by European political leaders.
The new month brings more data on the economy & it will probably be a mixed as it has been during this long recovery. Consumer spending data was uninspiring. Then there is the Greek debt mess which may come to a head by the end of this week. This drab environment is being felt in the stock market.
Dow Jones Industrials
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
| CL.NYM | ...........Crude Oil Jul 15 | ...59.86 |  ....0.44 | (0.7%) |
| GCM15.CMX | ...Gold Jun 15 | .....1,199.50 | ...10.10 | (0.9%) |
Consumer purchases unexpectedly stalled in Apr as Americans used income gains to shore up savings, raising the risk the biggest part of the economy may take time to gain momentum after a slow start to the year. The unchanged reading in purchases followed a 0.5% gain the prior month that was larger than previously estimated, according to the Commerce Dept. The forecast called for a 0.2% rise. Earnings increased 0.4%, more than projected, & the saving rate climbed. Consumers, who’ve been using the money freed up by low gasoline costs to pay down debt or rebuild their balance sheets, would be more inclined to shop as wages accelerate. Sustained improvement in household spending, which accounts for almost 70% of the economy, is needed to ensure growth rebounds as Federal Reserve officials project. Consumer spending grew in the 12 months thru Apr at the slowest pace in over 5 years. Disposable income, or the money left over after taxes, rose 0.3% after adjusting for inflation. It fell 0.2% in the prior month.
Wages & salaries climbed 0.2%. The saving rate increased to 5.6% from 5.2%. The report also showed that adjusting consumer spending for inflation, which generates the figures used to calculate GDP, purchases were also little changed in Apr after a 0.4% increase in Mar that was the biggest in 4 months. Spending’s stop & go nature helps explain why the growth has slowed.
Consumer Spending Stalled in April as Americans Saved More
Microsoft Readies Windows 10 for Next Month in PC, Tablet Push
Microsoft (MSFT)
Talks on breaking the impasse over Greece’s financial lifeline took on new urgency as the nation faces a debt repayment at the end of this week with a deal to ease its cash crisis seemingly as far away as ever. An intl official said creditor institutions were working on a common proposal that would be presented to Greece as a way of breaking the deadlock in coming days. Technical negotiations on economic measures Greece must take were resuming & an agreement is closer, though not ready, a gov spokesman said. With discussions in their 5th month, deadlines have come & gone with meetings, calls & summits yielding little as disagreements over pensions & labor laws persisted. The difference now is that Greece must make 4 payments totaling almost €1.6B ($1.78B) to the IMF this month starting on Fri, & its bailout package from the euro region expires at the end of the month. Officials representing creditors spent the weekend working to converge among themselves on all issues related to the Greek bailout review. The common position may be communicated to Greek Prime Minister Tsipras by European political leaders.
Greece Warns as Endgame Nears
The new month brings more data on the economy & it will probably be a mixed as it has been during this long recovery. Consumer spending data was uninspiring. Then there is the Greek debt mess which may come to a head by the end of this week. This drab environment is being felt in the stock market.
Dow Jones Industrials
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