May 21st – May 25th
US markets are closed for Memorial Day, so take a break from holding down the grill to look back on last week in all its glory. Following the worst weekly performance in 6 months, markets were yanked up, down and sideways on European news. Like that sly kid at your high school who brought a 24-year old, partially-naked escort to prom, Greece has been getting all the attention at the European Leaders’ Summit “dance” – can Greece stay or is it getting kicked out? The mid-week meeting provided no specific solutions for how nearly-bankrupt Greece can stay in the Eurozone, but whispers & rumors resulted in abrupt stock movements. US economic data remained mixed, with “Existing Home Sales” beating expectations, yet “Weekly Jobless Claims” barely budged down, a slowdown in the improving jobs market. All eyes though were on Facebook’s struggles since their IPO, as investors sued them and investment bank Morgan Stanley for a misleading valuation and the Nasdaq stock exchange admitted botching many opening day FB trades. News of credit downgrades and a government bailout to a slew of Spanish banks kept markets down on Friday, but the Dow did register its first overall weekly gain of May.
Links Worth Snacking On:
- BusinessInsider – How FB never fell below $38 on that IPO day
- Wall Street Oasis – Maybe that “crazy” Facebook valuation was actually perfect
- CNN Money – What is the “Fiscal Cliff;” are Americans soon going to feel the bite of austerity?
This Week:
- Monday - MARKETS CLOSED FOR MEMORIAL DAY
- Tuesday - Consumer Confidence Poll for May
- Wednesday - Pending Home Sales
- Thursday - ADP Jobs Report, 1st Quarter US GDP numbers, Weekly Jobless Claims
- Friday - Labor Department Non-Farm Payrolls Report and Unemployment Numbers for May, Consumer Spending, Construction Spending….
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