2024 | June 24

The Markets

Stocks Edge Higher

The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ nudged their record levels higher again, posting fractional gains and recording their eighth positive week out of the past nine. The Dow climbed more than 1% but remained more than 2% below its record high set a month earlier.

U.S. retail sales fell short of expectations in May, barely rising from the prior month’s figure. Sales rose 0.1% in May after recording a 0.2% decline in April. In contrast, sales rose 0.6% and 0.9% in March and February, respectively. 

High mortgage rates appear to be weighing on the U.S. housing market, as sales of previously owned homes fell for the third month in a row. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes fell 0.7% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.11 million.

The United Kingdom’s central bank held its key lending rate at 5.25% for the seventh straight meeting, although policymakers signaled that they could cut rates in coming months. The Bank of England and the U.S. Federal Reserve are among the major central banks that have recently been reluctant to cut rates, in contrast with the European Central Bank, which lowered its key rate on June 6.

U.S. companies spent more than 8% more to buy back their shares in this year’s first quarter compared with last year’s fourth quarter. Share repurchases by companies in the S&P 500 climbed to nearly $237 billion, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Compared with the same quarter a year ago, buybacks were up nearly 10%.

A report scheduled to be released on Friday could clear up some of the recent uncertainty over inflation’s trajectory. The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index is the U.S. Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge for tracking inflation. The index recorded annual rates of 2.5% in both January and February before rising to 2.7% in March and April.

Source: John Hancock Investment Management

Dollar Cost Averaging v. Lump Sum Investing

Regards? Sincerely? All the Best?

What do you do with loose change? Many people have informal collecting stations: a money jar in the kitchen, a slide of coins on the dryer, or a jangle of change in a backpack. Oyin Adedoyin of The Wall Street Journal reported via MSN:

“Coins are as good as junk for many Americans. Buses, laundromats, toll booths, and parking meters now take credit and debit cards and mobile payments. Using any form of physical currency has become more of an annoyance, but change is often more trouble than it is worth to carry around. The U.S. quarter had roughly the buying power in 1980 that a dollar has today.”

Sometimes, coins are exchanged for dollars at the bank, but a lot of change ends up in the trash. A waste management company in Pennsylvania recovers $500,000 to a million dollars in coins each year as it sorts metal from other waste.

And that’s just the face value of the coins.

U.S. coins often cost more to make than they are worth. The biennial report from the United States Mint showed that, in 2022, the United States spent:



•  2.7 cents to make a penny,
• 10.4 cents to make a nickel,
• 5 cents to make a dime, and
• 11 cents to make a quarter.

“Currently, Congress must pass a law to either specifically make changes to statutory coin composition or provide authority for the Mint to change to an alternative metal under certain conditions,” stated the report. Depending on the solution, a change could save the government $12 to $24 million.

The Mint recommended that Congress take steps to remedy the issue. Legislation was introduced to the 116th Congress, which governed from 2019-2021 (the Coin Metal Modification Authorization) and the 117th Congress, which governed from 2021-2023 (Cost Savings Act). So far, it has not been passed.

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eMoney

Charles Schwab

Advyzon

Emily Triano

Operations Manager

emily@ajadvice.com

Maya Laws

Operations Associate

maya@ajadvice.com

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