Money Watch Weekly Wrap

The budget debate heated up this week, as President Obama delivered his counter to the Paul Ryan/Republican plan to slash the deficit. (Here's a Budget Cheat Sheet!) The debt/deficit/debt ceiling talk took over from other news of the week, including earnings, economic data and even gas prices. Stocks fell slightly for the second consecutive week, as investors and analysts started to reduce their growth projections for the US in Q1.

DJIA: 12341, down 0.3% on week, up 6.6% YTD
S&P 500: 1319, down 0.6% on week, up 4.9% YTD
NASDAQ: 2764, down 0.2% on week, up 4.2% YTD
May Crude Oil: $109.66, down 2.8% on week (biggest weekly decline in a month)
June Gold: $1486, up 0.8% on week
AAA Natl Avg Price for Gallon of Regular Gas: $3.82 (Record was $4.11 in July, 2008)

Total bank failures for 2011 = 34 (6 new bank failures over weekend)

FACTOIDS OF THE WEEK: Debt/Deficit edition

Current National debt: $14.23T
Debt ceiling: $14.29T (Treasury projects gov't could reach limit by 5/16)
Ryan Plan: Purports to cut $5.8T over next 10 years
Obama Plan: Purports to cut $4T over next 12 years
How Many Rich to Tax? According to the IRS, in tax year 2008 (most recent year available), there were 971,510 tax returns that paid at least some taxes at the highest rate of 35% (approx. $373K for married for filing jointly)

IN THE WEEK AHEAD: It will be a busy week for corporate earnings reports and a bunch of housing reports are likely to show a continued slide in sentiment, activity and prices.

Mon 4/18: TAX FILING DEADLINE IS MIDNIGHT!
Citigroup, Texas Instruments
10:00 Housing Market Index

Tues 4/19:
Goldman Sachs, J&J, IBM, Intel, Yahoo 8:30 Housing Starts

Weds 4/20:
AT&T, Wells Fargo, AmEx, Apple
8:30 Existing Home Sales

Thurs 4/21:
GE, McDonald's, Morgan Stanley, Travelers, Verizon, AMD, Capital One
8:30 Weekly Claims

10:00 FHFA House Price Index

Fri 4/22: Markets Closed for Good Friday (Banks open)
Earth Day

Jill Schlesinger

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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