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President Bush was in town yesterday conducting a town-hall-styled meeting to further explain his plans for a Social Security overhaul.  His aim is to provide workers with better growth than the current system’s performance, thereby generating more income at retirement.  A further advantage is the potential to pass any remainder along to heirs.  His plan obviously faces huge hurdles as many in Congress don’t believe there is a significant problem and others feel it can be fixed with less dramatic changes.  It is the President’s hope that he can remove much of the political fire from the discussion to have an honest and open discussion of options to improve this mammoth government program.

There’s a stock market axiom that says, as January goes, so goes the year.  According to Bloomberg, since 1950, the S&P 500 has moved in the same direction during the year as it did in the first week 73% of the time.  The S&P 500's drop so far this year marks its worst start since 1990, when it fell 4% in the period through Jan. 20th.  The index lost 6.6% that year.

The U.S. economy forges on, adding jobs and improving standards of living.  It was reported today that the unemployment rate fell from 5.4% in December to 5.2% in January, a three-year low.  According to Bloomberg News, the latest revisions show that the level of U.S.jobs now exceeds those of February 2001, a month before the world’s largest economy fell into an eight month recession. 

Earnings season customarily brings stock market volatility and this one is certainly no exception.  As oil prices rise creeping toward their record highs and as several major U.S.industrials warn of earnings shortfalls, the good news has largely fallen on deaf ears.  The Dow Jones Industrial Index declined nine of the last twelve trading days for a 3.2% drop from year-end highs.  The NASDAQ is down 5.5% during a similar period.  Investors seem more cynical in January than they did in December when they chased the Dow up 11% for the month.     

The professional future-tellers, the highly respected economists and analysts who have been glamorized in recent years by CNBC, CNN, and Bloomberg News all fall in a pretty tight range saying that markets should grow about 8-10% this year, the economy should grow about 3.5% and corporate earnings, about 10%. 

So far the Holiday spending season is outshining the more pessimistic prognostications of the more Scrooge and Grinch-like analysts.  On Monday the government reported that retail sales rose for the third straight month, despite rising fuel costs.  The end of the negative political ads, the highest job growth since 1999, and the recent drop in gasoline prices have all likely contributed to the improved mood and spending.

The government’s report that the growth in non-farm productivity dropped from 4.0% to 1.8% caused investor concern as the S&P fell 1.2% this week.  It was feared by some feared that the productivity miracle of the 90’s might be coming to an end.  We believe many of the drivers of productivity remain in place and that improvements will continue, albeit at a slower pace. 

The S&P 500 is up 1% so far this week and almost 8% in November.  Perhaps the single most important factor has been the 21% decline in oil prices over the past month.  Both shrinking demand and increasing supplies have contributed to the remarkable drop in prices.  But, still high at $43.00 a barrel, energy costs continue to blunt optimism on the strength of the recovery, causing particular concern in the area of consumer spending.  But recent historical evidence has been very positive. 

Stocks on average were slightly down this week and headed for the first down week in four.  Fears about inflation fanned by the Producer Price Index on Tuesday and the Consumer Price Index on Wednesday weighed on investor enthusiasm.  Mid-week, however, Housing, Industrial Production, and growth in jobs provided good news, lifting stock prices.