March Madness

This will discuss the week's news and what it means for an investor.

Vanguard

Gradual improvements in the labor market helped lift the Federal Reserve's outlook for economic recovery, though construction remains a drag. Food and energy prices jumped, with core inflation still modest. But investors were perhaps more distracted by declines in stock prices during the week in the wake of Japan's earthquake-tsunami-nuclear woes. For the week ended March 18, the S&P 500 Index fell 1.9% to 1,279 (for a year-to-date total return—including price change plus dividends—of about 2.2%). The yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 12 basis points to 3.28% (for a year-to-date decrease of 2 basis points).

March Madness

This week the news media was working overtime on topics including: Japan, Libya, US budget, Wisconsin law, nuclear meltdown, radiation poisoning, tsunami, earthquake, etc. As the news was reported the markets would try to figure out what it meant and would go up and down. The EPA did not help us by reporting that radiation was on the airplanes leaving Japan which added to the hysteria, they forgot to add the part that it was an insignificant amount.

What got lost in all of the news was the Federal Reserve stating that the economy continues to improve. I visited a supplier this week that makes electrical conductor for different industries who is hiring and training people to handle their growing business. Everything that I see continues to suggest that our economy continues to improve.

Last week I state that I believe that the events in Japan are devastating on a human level and good from an economic level in the longer term. I continue to believe this and I view that the decline in the stock market has created a buying opportunity.

Facts - Human Body

• The skeleton of an average 160-pound individual weighs 29 lbs.
• Skin is the body’s largest organ.
• The average adult has between 40 and 50 billion fat cells.
• The average digestive tract of an adult is 30 feet long.
• The thighbone is the strongest bone in the body. (Ounce for ounce, it has a greater pressure tolerance and bearing strength than a rod of equal size in cast steel.)
• The tongue is the strongest muscle in the body.
• The average human eyelash lives about 150 days.
• The average human heart beats about 100,000 times every 24 hours. (In a 72-year lifetime, the heart beats more than 2.5 billion times.)
• The average human liver is more than five times the weight of the human heart.
* There are 22 bones in the adult human skull.