Benning Financial Group

YEARLY INFLATION INCREASES

Consumer prices rose 1.5% in the 12 months ending in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced last week. That is the highest annualized inflation rate seen since October 2014, up from 1.1% in the year ending in August. The headline Consumer Price Index advanced 0.3% last month; the core CPI 0.1%.¹

EXISTING HOME SALES REBOUND

September saw a 3.2% gain in resales – the first improvement since June, according to the National Association of Realtors. First-time buyers made up 34% of home purchasers, a 4-year peak. Separately, the Census Bureau reported a 9.0% plunge for groundbreaking in September, but building permits increased by 6.3%.^2,3

OIL PRICES KEEP RISING; STOCKS MAKE MINOR GAINS

Settling Friday at $50.85, light sweet crude added 1.0% for the week. Crude now has a 5-week winning streak going on the NYMEX. All three major indices advanced during the past five trading days. The S&P 500 rose 0.38% to 2,141.16; the Nasdaq Composite, 0.83% to 5,257.40; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 0.04% to 18,145.71.^4,5

THIS WEEK: Boise Cascade, Kimberly-Clark, Sonic, T-Mobile, and Visa present earnings Monday. Tuesday offers the October Conference Board consumer confidence index, the August Case-Shiller home price index and earnings reports from 3M, Apple, AT&T, Capital One, Caterpillar, Chipotle, Chubb, Eli Lilly, Express Scripts, JetBlue, Freeport-McMoRan, General Motors, Lexmark, Merck, NCR, Pandora, Panera, Peabody Energy, Procter & Gamble, Sherwin-Williams, Sprint, Under Armour, Unisys, and Valero Energy. September new home sales numbers are out Wednesday, plus earnings from Allegiant Air, Avery Dennison, Biogen, Boeing, Cheesecake Factory, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Garmin, Hilton Worldwide, Ingersoll-Rand, La Quinta Holdings, Netgear, Newmont Mining, Norfolk Southern, Northrop Grumman, O’Reilly, Penske, Public Storage, Southwest Airlines, State Street, Tesla, Universal Health Services, W.R. Grace, Waste Management, and Western Digital. Besides a new initial claims report and September pending home sales data, Thursday offers earnings from Aetna, Aflac, Alphabet, Altria, Amazon.com, Amgen, Baidu, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cabela’s, Colgate-Palmolive, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical, Expedia, Ford Motor Co., Genworth Financial, Hanesbrands, Ingram Micro, LinkedIn, Marathon Petroleum, Nokia, Praxair, Sirius XM, Twitter, and Virgin America. On Friday, the initial Q3 GDP estimate and the final October University of Michigan consumer sentiment index arrive, plus earnings from AutoNation, Chevron, Exelon, Exxon Mobil, Hershey, Phillips 66, Weyerhaeuser, and Xerox.

Randy C. Benning, CFP®, President, License # 0816882, Benning Financial Group, LLC. Investment Advisory Services offered through Benning Financial Group, LLC, A Registered Investment Advisor, Benning Financial Group, LLC, is not affiliated with Triad Advisors. Securities offered through Triad Advisors Member FINRA, SIPC
Sources: wsj.com, bigcharts.com, treasury.gov – 10/21/16^5,6,7,8

Indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be invested into directly. These returns do not include dividends. 10-year TIPS real yield = projected return at maturity given expected inflation.

This material was prepared by MarketingPro, Inc., and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates. This information has been derived from sources believed to be accurate. Please note - investing involves risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty. This is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to purchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such. All indices are unmanaged and are not illustrative of any particular investment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks. The NASDAQ Composite Index is an unmanaged, market-weighted index of all over-the-counter common stocks traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System. The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. NYSE Group, Inc. (NYSE:NYX) operates two securities exchanges: the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) and NYSE Arca (formerly known as the Archipelago Exchange, or ArcaEx®, and the Pacific Exchange). NYSE Group is a leading provider of securities listing, trading and market data products and services. The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. (NYMEX) is the world's largest physical commodity futures exchange and the preeminent trading forum for energy and precious metals, with trading conducted through two divisions – the NYMEX Division, home to the energy, platinum, and palladium markets, and the COMEX Division, on which all other metals trade. Additional risks are associated with international investing, such as currency fluctuations, political and economic instability and differences in accounting standards. This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events, or a guarantee of future results. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investments will fluctuate and when redeemed may be worth more or less than when originally invested. All economic and performance data is historical and not indicative of future results. Market indices discussed are unmanaged. Investors cannot invest in unmanaged indices. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional.

Citations.

1 – tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi [10/21/16]

2 – consumeraffairs.com/news/sales-of-existing-homes-rebound-in-september-102016.html [10/20/16]

3 – cnbc.com/2016/10/19/us-housing-starts-sept-2016.html [10/19/16]

4 – marketwatch.com/story/oil-futures-gain-1-for-the-week-2016-10-21 [10/21/16]

5 – markets.wsj.com/us [10/21/16]

6 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=10%2F21%2F15&x=0&y=0 [10/21/16]

6 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=10%2F21%2F15&x=0&y=0 [10/21/16]

6 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=10%2F21%2F15&x=0&y=0 [10/21/16]

6 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=10%2F21%2F11&x=0&y=0 [10/21/16]

6 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=10%2F21%2F11&x=0&y=0 [10/21/16]

6 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=10%2F21%2F11&x=0&y=0 [10/21/16]

6 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=DJIA&closeDate=10%2F20%2F06&x=0&y=0 [10/21/16]

6 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=COMP&closeDate=10%2F20%2F06&x=0&y=0 [10/21/16]

6 – bigcharts.marketwatch.com/historical/default.asp?symb=SPX&closeDate=10%2F20%2F06&x=0&y=0 [10/21/16]

7 – treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyield [10/21/16]

8 – treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyieldAll [10/21/16]