From the weIMG newsletter:
The week that was:
After taking Thanksgiving week off, regulators shuttered six banks on Friday. The largest, AmTrust in Cleveland, had about $9 billion in assets and is the fourth largest bank to fall this year. In total the six banks had $13.4 billion in assets and the FDIC estimates that the loss to its insurance fund will be about $2.4 billion.
Stocks:U.S. equities continued their upward march this week, spurred on by economic data that continue to point to signs of a recovery. The major news this week was the employment situation. Only eleven thousand jobs were lost, compared to consensus of one hundred thousand. Beyond that, the unemployment rate actually ticked down, from 10.2% to 10.0%. Fears from the Dubai World default also subsided as it appears that the losses will be limited and it did not set off a chain reaction of defaults.
All this good news, or lack of bad news, sent the S&P500, Dow, and Nasdaq up 0.9%, 0.8%, and 2.6% respectively.
There was significant news in terms of M&A this week. Comcast and GE struck a deal for the former to acquire a majority stake in NBC Universal. See article attached regarding this deal. In addition, Apple acquired online music company Lala and Kraft bypassed Cadbury management and took its bid directly to shareholders.
Bonds:Yields jumped as Friday's employment report led investors to believe that the Fed may have to start tightening its monetary policy sooner than expected. The 30, 10, 5, and 2 year Treasury yields jumped 19, 27, 22, and 16 bps to 4.39%, 3.47%, 2.24%, and 0.84%, respectively. The three month yield doubled to 0.02%.
What to look for next week:
7:30am Thursday - International Trade Balance
7:30am Friday - Retail Sales
8:55am Friday - Consumer Sentiment
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