Market News – Week of April 17th, 2017

RETAIL SALES DECREASE IN MARCH:

Retail sales in March were 0.2% less than February, but 5.2% above March 2016.

COST OF LIVING DECREASED IN MARCH:

As retail sales declined in March, the cost of living, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, decreased by 0.3% (prices are up 2.4% from a year ago).  The decline was caused mostly by cheaper prices for cars, wireless phones and apparel (food prices rose 0.3%).  One soft month does not make a trend, but it may slow the exuberance a bit, and it will cause all eyes to be looking at April’s numbers.

ANXIETY TRIPS UP MARKETS:

It was another boring week in the markets until Friday.  Anxiety caused by soft retail sales numbers for March and a pause in inflation provided for a down day on Friday that essentially defined the week.  For this past week, the S&P 500* decreased 1.13% (up 5.21% for the year).  The MSCI All Country X US* decreased 0.55% (up 7.27% for the year).  The Barclays Global Aggregate Bond Index* increased 0.81% (up 2.67% for the year).  The HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index* decreased 0.14% (up 1.56% for the year).

JOBLESS CLAIMS INDICATE HEALTHY LABOR MARKET:

234,000 Americans filed initial unemployment claims in the most recent weekly report.  The four week moving average is now at 247,250 and has been moving downward consistently.  This number has now been below 300,000 for 110 straight weeks, the longest such streak since 1970.

WHERE SHOULD YOU RETIRE?:

Bankrate.com recently evaluated all 50 states based on seven criteria (health care quality, crime, cultural vitality, weather, taxes, senior citizens’ overall well-being and prevalence of other seniors) to determine a one-to-fifty ranking of best places to retire.  The top five were New Hampshire, Colorado, Maine, Iowa and Minnesota.  The bottom five were Louisiana, New Mexico, Arkansas, West Virginia and Alaska.  Other notable states were California (42), New Jersey (38), New York (37), Delaware (18), Florida (17), Arizona (12), and Pennsylvania (15).

References:

RETAIL SALES DECREASE IN MARCH:  http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2017/04/retail-sales-dncreased-02-in-march.html
WHERE SHOULD YOU RETIRE?: http://www.bankrate.com/retirement/states-ranked-from-first-to-worst-on-retirement-2/
COST OF LIVING DECREASED IN MARCH:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-14/consumer-prices-in-u-s-fall-0-3-first-decline-in-a-year
JOBLESS CLAIMS INDICATE HEALTHY LABOR MARKET:  http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2017/04/weekly-initial-unemployment-claims_13.html; http://www.marketwatch.com/story/initial-jobless-claims-cling-near-postrecession-low-2017-04-13