Money Watch Weekly Wrap

US stocks fell for the sixth straight week, the longest losing streak since the fall of 2002. When judged on a time basis, the drop seems interminable, but the actual damage has been bad, but not terrible, with the Dow down 6.7 percent from its April 29^th high.

The most frequently asked question from news radio anchors all week was: "Why is the market falling?" The answer is: investors fear that the global economic recovery is slowing and unlike last year, when similar fears were pervasive (you can be forgiven for blocking out the 14 percent drop in the Dow from late April 2010 until early July), this time around, the Fed is unlikely to come to the rescue with QE3.

DJIA: 11951, down 1.6% on week, up 3.2% YTD
S&P 500: 1270, down 2.2% on week, up 1% YTD
NASDAQ: 2643, down 3.2% on week, DOWN 0.3% YTD
July Crude Oil: $99.29, down $0.93 on week
August Gold: $1529.20, down $13.20 on week

AAA National Average Price for Gallon of Regular Gas: $3.71 (Record was $4.11 in July, 2008)
Total bank failures for 2011 = 45 (0 new bank failures over weekend)

FACTOIDS OF THE WEEK: How You Doin'? (Hat tip Wendy Williams)

The Federal Reserve released the Q1 2011 Flow of Funds report, which is a quick snap shot of US household wealth. Here are some of the results:

Q1 2011 Total Net Worth: $58.06 trillion, up 1.65% ($943B) from Q4
Household stock holdings: +6.7% to $8.79 trillion
Household stock holding peak (2007): $9.63 trillion
Household mutual-fund holdings: +6.7% to $5.05 trillion
Household residential real estate holdings: -2.1% to $16.1 trillion
Household residential real estate assets: -$6.6 trillion from peak of $65.8 trillion in Q2 2007
Household real estate losses are almost twice as large as stock market losses
Home loans: -0.7%, to $9.99 trillion, nearly back to 2007 levels

IN THE WEEK AHEAD: Investors will focus on inflation readings and retail sales

Mon 6/13:

Tues 6/14:
8:30 PPI

8:30 Retail Sales

10:00 Business Inventories

Weds 6/15:
8:30 CPI

8:30 Empire State Manufacturing Survey

9:15 Industrial Production/Cap Utilization

10:00 Home Market Index

Thurs 6/16:
8:30 Weekly Claims

8:30 Housing Starts

10:00 Wholesale Trade

Fri 6/17:
9:55 Consumer Sentiment

10:00 Leading Indicators

Quadruple Witching

Jill Schlesinger

View all articles by Jill Schlesinger on CBS MoneyWatch »
Jill Schlesinger, CFP®, is the Emmy-nominated, Business Analyst for CBS News. She covers the economy, markets, investing and anything else with a dollar sign on TV, radio (including her nationally syndicated radio show), the web and her blog, "Jill on Money." Prior to her second career at CBS, Jill spent 14 years as the co-owner and Chief Investment Officer for an independent investment advisory firm. She began her career as a self-employed options trader on the Commodities Exchange of New York, following her graduation from Brown University.

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