| Economic Events | Privately-owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,297,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. This is 3.3% above the revised October estimate of 1,256,000 and is 12.9% above the November 2016 rate of 1,149,000. Single-family housing starts in November were at a rate of 930,000; this is 5.3% above the revised October figure of 883,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 359,000. | | Market Mirror | Tuesday, the Dow closed 37.45 points (0.15%) lower at 24,754.75, the NASDAQ dropped 30.91 points (0.44%) to finish at 6,963.85, and the S&P 500 decreased 8.69 points (0.32%) to 2,681.47. The Russell 2000 fell 12.17 points (0.79%) to 1,536.75, and the Wilshire 5000 was down 49.87 points (0.18%) at 27,821.94. The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased 18/32, bringing its yield up to 2.456%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 1 13/32, increasing its yield to 2.810%. | | Sponsored message from Natixis | Retirement planning for a better world 62% of plan participants and 71% of millennials surveyed would contribute more to their 401(k) plan if it advanced social good. Now they can. Introducing the Natixis Sustainable Future Funds – the industry’s first ESG-driven target date funds. Join the movement. 1815044.1.1Read more > | | Ask the Experts | Worried About Tax Reform | “I have received so many emails etc. on tax reform, including articles that conflict with each other, that I am on information overload! Should I be worried?”Read more > | | Investing | Multi-Asset Fund Research Recommends More Focused Benchmarks | Respondents to a recent survey broadly use multiple benchmarks and measures to assess multi-asset fund performance, with around three selected on average. This runs the risk of investors losing sight of the primary goal, potentially leading to disappointment, Insight Investment says.Read more > | | Small Talk | LendEDU polled 1,000 adult Americans that are making a financial resolution in 2018 and found more than half (52.2%) said their most important financial resolution for the new year is to save more money. This was followed by paying off debt (37.50%) and spending less money. More than one-quarter (28.6%) of adults surveyed indicated they set a financial resolution for 2017, and of those, 44.76% said they met or exceeded their goal.Read more > | ON THIS DATE: In 1606, the “Susan Constant,” “Godspeed” and “Discovery” set sail from London. Their landing at Jamestown, Virginia, was the start of the first permanent English settlement in America. In 1803, the United States Senate ratified a treaty that included the Louisiana Territories from France for $15 million. The transfer was completed with formal ceremonies in New Orleans. In 1820, the state of Missouri enacted legislation to tax bachelors between the ages of 21 and 50 for being unmarried. The tax was $1 a year. In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the American Union. In 1864, Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Georgia, as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his “March to the Sea.” In 1879, Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, New Jersey. In 1946, the Frank Capra film “It’s A Wonderful Life” had a preview showing for charity at New York City’s Globe Theatre, a day before its “official” world premiere. In 1968, author John Steinbeck died at the age of 66. In 1989, General Noriega, Panama’s former dictator, was overthrown by a United States invasion force invited by the new civilian government. In 1990, the world’s first website and server went live at CERN. The first website was http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html. In 1998, in Houston, a 27-year-old woman gave birth to the only known living set of octuplets. In 2001, the U.S. Congress passed a $20 billion package to finance the war against terrorism taking place in Afghanistan. WEDNESDAY WISDOM: “A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ.”—John Steinbeck | Share the news with a friend! Pass the NewsDash along and tell your friends/associates they can sign up for their own copy.Read more > |
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