Money Talk Podcast, Friday, Nov. 24, 2023

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Landaas & Company newsletter November edition now available.

Advisors on This Week’s Show

STEVE GILES

(with Max Hoelzl and Joel Dresang engineered by Jason Scuglik)

In a special Thanksgiving Money Talk Podcast, Kyle Tetting, Art Rothschild and Steve Giles discuss wise ways investors can plan to charitably share their wealth. Among the topics:

Gifting appreciated securities

Qualified charitable distributions from retirement accounts

Donor-advised funds

Learn more
IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions
Charitable Contributions, IRS Tax Topic
An IRS FAQ on qualified charitable distributions from IRAs

ONLINE GUIDES FOR SCRUTINIZING CHARITIES:

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Week in Review (Nov. 20-24, 2023)

SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC INDICATORS & REPORTS

Monday

The U.S. economy continued to show signs of weakening in October, according to the Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators. The business research group reported a 0.8% drop in the index from September and a 3.3% drop since April. That compared with a 4.5% decline in the prior six months. Manufacturing orders, consumer expectations, stock prices and lending conditions all pulled the index down in October, the Conference Board said. The group repeated its forecast of a recession in the near term and predicted the economy would expand by just 0.8% in 2024.

Tuesday

The National Association of Realtors said high mortgage rates and low inventories led to another decline in existing home sales in October. The annual sales rate dropped 4.1% from September to just below 3.8 million houses and condos. That was nearly 15% below the pace in October 2022. Although the number of houses for sale nudged up from September, it was down almost 6% from the year before, which helped raise the median sales price to a record $391,800. That was up 3% from October 2022, the fourth consecutive gain in prices.

Wednesday

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders fell 5.4% in October, the third setback in four months. Commercial aircraft led the decline. Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders were unchanged from September and up 0.7% from the year before. Including transportation, demand for long-lasting manufactured items rose 4% from October 2022. Core capital goods orders, a proxy for business investments, dropped marginally from September and were up less than 2% from the year before.

The four-week moving average for initial unemployment insurance claims declined for the first time in three weeks, staying 40% below the 56-year average. The measure continued to indicate employers’ reluctance to let workers go. Total claims dropped to 1.6 million, down nearly 2% from the week before but up 28% from the same time last year.

Considered a precursor to spending, consumer sentiment, rose for the fourth month in a row in November as Americans lowered expectations for business conditions and fretted that inflation would quicken again after slowing recently. The University of Michigan said the sentiment reading reached 61.3 in November, down 4% from October but up 8% from November 2022. Though they lowered their outlook overall, consumers registered optimism for their own personal finances. They also raised their long-term expectations for inflation to 3.2%, the highest since 2011.

Thursday

Markets and government offices closed for Thanksgiving.

Friday

No major releases

MARKET CLOSINGS FOR THE WEEK

Nasdaq – 14251, up 126 points or 0.9%
Standard & Poor’s 500 – 4559, up 45 points or 1%
Dow Jones Industrial – 35390, up 443 points or 1.3%
10-year U.S. Treasury Note – 4.48%, up 0.04 point

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