SHRINKING ADVISORS – According to Cerulli Associates, the number of U.S. financial advisors decreased by about 4,000 in 2011, and the total is likely to decline an additional 18,600 during the next five years. "The continual aging of the industry is not being offset by the influx of new talent. The wire houses are starting to train people again, but it's just not enough to make up for the number of advisors retiring and leaving the industry."
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JOBLESS CLAIMS DOWN, CONFIDENCE UP - Two key U.S. economic reports are at their best levels in five and a half years. Weekly initial jobless claims fell 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000, the lowest level since January 2008. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index fell slightly for the week ended 4 May, but remained just shy of the previous week's mark, its strongest reading since January 2008.
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DOW HIGH - The Dow Jones Industrial Average has passed the 15,000 mark. The sentiment on Wall Street may be that our long national fiscal nightmare is finally over, but the stock market is just one barometer of prosperity, many economists and consumer experts argue. The problems that have plagued the U.S. in recent years, declining household income, surging prices for many key goods and services, low interest rates for savings, are still in place. However, the unemployment rate, currently at 7.5%, is well below its past-decade high of 10% in October 2009. While consumer prices have climbed since October 2007, they have done so at a fairly normal annual clip of 1.9% and 401(k) portfolios have grown on average from $78,000 in 2007 to $86,000 in 2012.
