Crew Capital Management Thoughts on Investment

Welcome to the Crew Capital Management Thoughts on Investment blog. At Crew Capital, investment education is key to how we work with our clients. We hope our conversation and analysis entice you to think further on your investment strategies and planning. For further discussion, please contact us at rjung@crewcapital.com

Thank you!
Robert F. Jung, CFA CPA*

*CPA inactve

Friday, September 5, 2008

Financial News Headlines

Bank loans from Fed set new high. U.S. banks hit a new record this week in the amount of funds borrowed from the Fed. The daily average of $18.98B beats last week's record of $18.47B. The increase in how much banks borrow from the Fed signals that banks are increasingly reluctant to lend to each other, making it more difficult for private and commercial consumers to obtain financing for home purchases and business operations.

More jobless claims. Initial jobless claims reached 444,000 vs. consensus of 420,000, up 15,000 from last week's 429,000 (revised from 425K). The Four-week average dropped 3,250 to 438,000. Economist Michael Gregory said, "we're continuing to get sort of a grinding slackening in the labor markets... Businesses are becoming more cautious about hiring and layoffs continue. At some point this begins to weigh increasingly heavily on the consumer."

Productivity rises. Q2 Productivity rose 4.3% vs. +3.5% consensus, revised up from 2.2%. Unit labor costs were -0.5% vs. 0%, revised down from +1.3%. Hourly compensation increased 3.7%, but declined 1.3% after accounting for consumer price inflation. Says economist Peter Morici: "Rapidly rising productivity growth coupled with easing oil prices will bring down headline inflation, as well as the closely watched core index."

Non-Mfg Survey shows signs of expansion. The ISM Non-Manufacturing Survey showed economic activity in the non-manufacturing sector grew in August, following two months of contraction. Its service sector index reading of 50.6 (50+ = expansion) exceeded estimates of 49.5.

BoE leave rate unchanged... Bank of England kept its benchmark rate at 5%, as expected. Policy makers judged the fastest inflation in more than a decade outweighed the possibilty the U.K. economy is wading into recession.

and ECB follows suit. Following in the footsteps of BoE, the ECB left its benchmark rate at 4.25%. President Jean-Claude Trichet weighed inflation of 3.8% against recent evidence that some eurozone nations are on the brink of recession.

Source: Seekingalpha.com/wallstreetbreakfastmustknownew

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