Bond interest rates continued their fall, and the 10 Year Treasury has now fallen 0.5% to 3.5%.

The Dollar lost about another cent today against the Euro.

Gold gained another $2, and finished above the magic $940 mark – let’s see if it can hold it next week.

Oil and gasoline gave back some of their recent gains, and oil finished less than $70/barrel.

In the news today……

Savings Rate Increased – for Americans last month to a 15 year high.  The savings rate is reported to be 6.9% from 5.6% in April – and was reported as negative in 2008.  The statistics show that income rose 1.4%, and consumer spending rose 0.3%.  If you subtract that amount, you will see that savings rose 1.1% (so why is this different from the 1.3% increase reported?).

The income growth is attributed to the Stimulus Package spending – but you know from other news reports that the Stimulus Package has hardly been spent (so is this a lie??), and the Stimulus Package is a one time event (so does this mean the increase will be followed by a fall??).

Remember that these are government statistics, and their purpose (at least one of their purposes) is to show that the government is doing a great job (or at least not as bad a job that the truth would show.)  In a previous economyguy, I indicated that the real statistics (derived from income tax deductions reported daily) show a decrease in income, and consumer spending, and that savings isn’t as robust as reported – that is close to the truth.

TARP money warrants – remember that we (the Treasury) got some stock warrants as part of lending banks TARP money??  Well, the banks want to buy those warrants back, and they are trying to strike a deal with the Treasury.  Here is the agreed deal….  The bank will offer something, the Treasury can counteroffer, and if there is a disagreement, both sides can bring in independent appraisers.  My opinion is that there is plenty of room for shenanigans in this method – do only the taxpayer will get screwed by the deal.

CAP and Trade – the Congress is passing legislation that will become the biggest tax increase in American history.  Get ready to pay a lot more for all the energy YOU pay.  You can bet that this will be a drag on the economy – and inhibit its recovery.

Here are the last numbers for today:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 8438 (down 34 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 3.51% (down 0.05%)
Euro – $1.4069
Gold – $941 (up $2)
Oil – $69.16 (down $1.07)
Gasoline $1.87 (down $0.02)