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Looking at the numbers
By Agvisors LLC Each week we sort through information and data working to bring out items that you may find of interest. Most of this information falls to the floor never to be seen again, as the information is interesting but not compelling enough to write an article about. This week brought out a lot of interesting data that we think is relevant to the current situation at hand. So here is information we hope you find interesting: --Who "holds" our debt? On Dec. 31, 2011, the United States owed $15.2 trillion dollars to various entities and investors. In the category of debt held by the public the number was $10.4 trillion while intergovernmental debt was listed at $4.8 trillion. Of the "public debt" 48 percent is owned by foreign investors (source: Department of Treasury). --Greek debt. Having the honorable title of the worst-rated debt in the world by S&P the 10 year note issued by the Greek government must pay 33.71 percent (source: BTN). --Unemployment. Of the 17 countries using the euro currency unemployment was 10.4 percent in December. This is the highest rate since June 1998. In Greece, unemployment is right at 20 percent while Spain's unemployment rate is 23 percent. Portugal sits at 13.6 percent while Austria's unemployment rate is the lowest at 4.1 percent (source: CNBC.com). --Homeownership. Rates fell to around 65 percent. This is down from previous years and an estimated high water mark achieved in 2004 at 69.2 percent (source: CalculatedRisk). --Rental. Vacancies in the residential markets continue to fall from 9.4 percent to 9.3 percent in the third quarter of 2010. These levels are below those achieved in 2001 (source: CalculatedRisk). --Dollar. Measuring from its low at the end of April 2011 the NYCE U.S. Dollar index has rallied up 8.27 percent. The S&P 500 index was 3.49 percent (not including dividends), Corn continuous was down 12.62 percent and Crude Continuous was down 12.25 percent. --Superbowl spending. According to a recent article from CNBC.com spending on Super Bowl advertisements were compiled from 2002 to 2011 and ranked by company. No. 10 was Careerbuilder, which spent an estimated $36.8 million on ads. Coca Cola unloaded $66.8 million for its promotion. Not to anyone's surprise Anheuser-Busch InBev shoveled out $239.1 million, all to train a horse to kick a field goal. --Interesting. On the line of Super Bowl advertising, General Motors spent an estimated $82.8 million from 2002-2011. Although none was done in 2009 and 2010 due to a federal bailout that came in right around $50 billion of taxpayer funds. An article published on Nov. 18, 2011, by CNNMoney states that the U.S. taxpayer is still out $25.5 billion. Those are just a few of the interesting facts we came across this week. Editor's note: Agvisors provides commentary about agricultural markets, including grain, dairy, livestock, equities, financials, and energy, highlighted by a live weekly webinar discussing conditions and responding to questions. For more information, visit http://agvisors.com.
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