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January 19th, 2024
Insight on Plan Design & Investment Strategy Every Weekday
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| ECONOMIC EVENTS |
In the week ending January 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 187,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 203,000, the Department of Labor reported. This is the lowest level for initial claims since September 24, 2022 when it was 182,000. The four-week moving average was 203,250, a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 208,000.
Interest on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.60% for the week ending January 18, down from last week when it averaged 6.66%, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.15%. Interest on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.76%, down from last week when it averaged 5.87%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.28%.
Privately-owned housing starts in December 2023 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,460,000, the Census Bureau reported. This is 4.3% below the revised November 2023 estimate of 1,525,000.
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| MARKET MIRROR |
Thursday, the Dow rose 201.94 points (0.54%) to close at 37,468.61, the Nasdaq rose 200.03 points (1.35%) to close at 15,055.65 and the S&P 500 rose 41.73 points (0.88%) to close at 4,780.94. The Russell 2000 gained 10.49 points (0.55%) to close at 1,923.65, and the FT Wilshire 5000 Index gained 405.14 points (0.85%) to close at 48,142.22.
The 10-year Treasury note decreased 25/32, bringing the yield to 4.143%. The 30-year Treasury bond decreased 31/32, bringing the yield to 4.370%.
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PRODUCTS
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Investment Product and Service Launches
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Morningstar, iCapital expand access to alts; Manulife announces longevity innovation challenge with World Economic Forum’s UpLink; Nassau Financial Group launches fixed-indexed annuity product. 
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ON THIS DATE: In 1943, singer Janis Joplin, known for her fierce and uninhibited music style, was born. In 1946, country music singer, guitarist and actress Dolly Parton was born. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower held the first televised presidential press conference. In 1966, following the sudden death of Indian Premier Lal Bahadur Shastri eight days earlier, Indira Gandhi became prime minister of India, assuming the office first held by her father, Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1977, President Gerald Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D’Aquino (Tokyo Rose), a Japanese-American broadcaster from Japan to U.S. troops during World War II, who, after the war, was convicted of treason and served six years in U.S. prison; mitigating information later raised questions about her guilt. In 2000, Austrian-born actress Hedy Lamarr, who was often typecast as a provocative femme fatale and later achieved recognition as a noted inventor of a radio communications device, died in Florida. In 2012, the popular file-sharing computer service Megaupload was shut down by the U.S. government after several people associated with the site, including founder Kim Dotcom, were charged with violating antipiracy laws. In 2013, baseball player Stan Musial, one of the game’s greatest hitters, died at age 92.
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