Indices
DJIA: 26,412.30 (-0.05%)
NASDAQ: 7,984.00 (+0.57%)
S&P 500: 2,907.00 (+0.49%)
Commodities
Gold: 1,294.00 (-0.12%)
Copper: 288.70 (-0.26%)
Crude Oil: 63.81 (+1.16%)
ETF Model Portfolios
For those of you that are ETF fans, we have added seven model ETF portfolios to the library. All of the ETFs used in the portfolio have low fees, are actively traded and have strong Morningstar rankings. Read more about it in our latest blog post [1].
Economy
Continuing a year long trend, the number of job openings [2] in February exceeded the number of available workers, but fell to 7.1 million (-538,000), the largest drop since August 2015, after an all time high of 7.625 million openings in January. The largest decreases in openings were for accommodation and food services (-103,000), real estate (-72,000), and transportation/warehousing (-66,000). Hires were relatively unchanged at 5.7 million, with fewer hires in construction (-73,000), nondurable goods manufacturing (-33,000), and education (-22,000). The number of separations was similarly stable at 5.6 million, as a rise in separations for educational services (+30,000) was offset by decreases for nondurable goods (-32,000) and real estate (-26,000). Over the 12 months ending in February, there were 69.3 million hires and 66.6 million separations, resulting in a net gain of +2.7 million jobs.
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index [3] rose +0.1 points in March to 101.8 as growth in employment and earnings trends balanced out drops in inventories and expected credit conditions. Excessive inventory was more commonly reported to be a problem for wholesale trades and retail, while agriculture showed a slight tendency toward seeing stocks as too low. Finding qualified workers was identified as the “Single Most Important Business Problem” by 21% of respondents, and 39% reported being unable to fill job openings, with a net 33% reporting that they were providing higher compensation.
A 16% jump in gasoline prices and a +1.0% gain in final demand prices were largely responsible for a +0.6% increase in the overall producer price index [4] in March. Service prices increased +0.3% as a -0.8% drop in transportation services balanced out a +1.1% increase in trade services. Nearly a third of the trade services increase was due to a 4.3% increase in the margins for apparel, jewelry, footwear and accessories. The core producer price index, which excludes food, energy and trade services, was flat after edging up +0.1% in February, and the yearly core price index dropped from +2.3% to +2.0%.
Upcoming Economic Reports:
Tuesday April 16 – Industrial Production
Thursday April 18 – Retail Sales
Earnings Calendar:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citigroup (C) [5] |
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) [6] |
PepsiCo (PEP) [7] |
Philip Morris Intl (PM) [8] |
Steve Madden (SHOO) [9] |
| Goldman Sachs Group (GS) [10] |
Bank of America(BAC) [11] |
Abbott Laboratories (ABT) [12] |
Union Pacific (UNP) [13] |
Mobile Mini (MINI) [14] |