1. BACK TO WHERE IT WAS – The S&P 500 hit a 15 ½ month closing high on Tuesday 1/19/10. The stock index closed at 1150 on that day, the highest close for the S&P 500 since 10/01/08 when it closed at 1161. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the US stock market (source: BTN Research).
2. MUCH BIGGER – The market capitalization of the S&P 500 on 12/31/09 was $9.9 trillion, exactly 3 times as large as the $3.3 trillion market cap of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a popular indicator of the stock market based on the average closing prices of 30 active U.S. stocks representative of the overall economy (source: S&P, Dow Jones).
3. BILLIONS AND TRILLIONS – The market capitalization of the S&P 500 on 12/31/09 was $9.9 trillion, equal to 75% of the $13.3 trillion total US stock market capitalization. The US stock market added $2.65 trillion of value in calendar year 2009, an average daily gain of $10.5 billion. There were 252 trading days last year (source: S&P).
4. AFTER THE BEAR ENDS – There have been 10 bear markets (i.e., peak to trough drop of at least 20%) for the S&P 500 since 1957, the 10th bear market having bottomed just last March 2009. When reviewing the first and second year performances of the S&P 500 following the bear market lows since 1957, the best first-year performance for the stock index (up +58%) from a bear market low was followed by the worst second-year performance for the index (up +2%). Not surprisingly, the worst first-year performance for the stock index (up +23%) from a bear market low since 1957 was followed by the best second-year performance (up +25%) for the index. The results were calculated based upon the change of the raw index value and do not include the impact of reinvested dividends (source: BTN Research).
5. GOVERNMENT TO THE RESCUE – 140 banks failed in America in 2009, up from 25 bank failures in 2008. The 140 failures represent 1.7% of the 8,099 insured banks nationwide. The top 4 states for bank failures were Georgia (25), Illinois (21), California (17) and Florida (14). 30 states had 1 or none bank failures (source: FDIC).
6. ONE vs. FOUR – The state of Minnesota had 6 bank failures (5th most in the country), equal to the combined total of the 4 states of Ohio (2), New Jersey (2), Pennsylvania (1) and New York (1). Minnesota has a population of 5.3 million. The combined population of Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York is 52.4 million or 10 times the total of Minnesota (source: FDIC, Census Bureau).
7. NOT LOW FOREVER – $16 billion of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are expected to be reset from their initial interest rate in January 2010, the smallest monthly total that will be reset nationwide in 2010. The peak number of resets this year will occur in August 2010 when $31 billion of ARMs will end their initial rate period, i.e., the length of time that the original ARM interest rate remains unchanged (source: Credit Suisse).
8. CAN CHANGE AT SOME POINT – 57% of loans made by US banks are floating rate loans where the interest rate is not fixed (source: Goldman Sachs).
9. MORE AT THE TOP – The 4 largest banks in the USA have 56% of all domestic bank assets. 10 years ago the concentration of assets in the 4 largest banks was 35% (source: Wall Street Journal).
10. EXTREMES – Foreclosure filings on 632,573 California properties occurred in 2009, an average of 1,733 filings per day. There were 6 states in the US that had less than 1,733 properties receiving foreclosure filings for the entire 2009 calendar year. Vermont had only 143 properties that received a foreclosure filing last year. Foreclosure filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions (source: RealtyTrac).
11. IN TOO DEEP – Personal bankruptcy filings were 1.4 million last year, the largest number nationwide since 2005. 1 out of every 79 US households filed for bankruptcy in 2009 (source: National Bankruptcy Research Center).
12. JUST DO IT – The Fed begins a 2-day meeting tomorrow (1/26/10). Ben Bernanke’s initial 4-year term as Fed Chairman ends on 1/31/10. His approval for a 2nd term is pending in the Senate (source: Federal Reserve).
13. SELLING TO THE WORLD – The 3 largest exporters of goods and services in the world are 1) China, 2) Germany and 3) the USA (source: AP).
14. DO THE MATH – The 3 best jobs in 2010 are actuary, software engineer and computer systems analyst. The study was based upon 5 factors, including income and job-related stress (source: CareerCast.com).
15. LET’S GO PLAY – Donald Trump owns 11 golf courses (source: Trump Golf).
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