A one day delay this week so that I can bring you the latest medical update.  The doctor today gave me an A for my progress.  I am now able to bend my left arm to within inches of my mouth such that, with effort and some pain, I can now feed myself with a fork if I use the utensil at full extension.  The biggest handicap remains that, though I can lift weights up to five pounds, I cannot exert any weight at all against my arm, nor does the doctor want me to try for a while.  We are still looking minimally at March 1st before I can do any limited driving (she will make that assessment at my next appointment two weeks from today) and April 1st before I can do more.  Those dates may change again in two weeks.  Even though I'm being high grades for how much muscle strength I've acquired so far, from my point of view they are still so tight I find it hard to believe I'll have full function again by April.  But we'll see.


Meanwhile, I once again submit the succinct summary for week past below:

Succinct Summation of the Week’s Events 2.10.17

February 10, 2017 4:30pm by Barry Ritholtz

Succinct Summations for the week ending February 10th, 2017.

Positives:

1.Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ each hit all-time highs this week.
2.Initial jobless claims fell to 235k, the lowest reading since November.
3. Americans daily spending averaged $88, the highest average for January since 2008.
4. Export prices rose 2.3% y/o/y, the biggest increase since January 2012.
5. Mortgage applications were up – Purchases grew by 1.8% and are up 3.6% y/o/y while refi’s were higher by 2.2% (but are still down 40% y/o/y as the average 30 yr mortgage rate is up about 50 bps since this time in 2016).

Negatives:

1. The refinancing share of mortgage activity fell 1.5% to 47.9%, the lowest level since June 2009.
2.  Total student loans owned by the Federal Government as of December is at $1.05T, up 10.5% from 2015. It’s up 24% over the past two years.
3. Fed’s Q1 Senior Loan Survey saw demand fall and credit standards for mortgage loans tighten.Loan standards on commercial real estate tightened to the tightest level since Q1 ’11.
4.February UoM confidence cooled off a little, coming in at 95.7, down from 98.5 previously.
5. US import prices grew by 0.4% m/o/m and 3.7% y/o/y (fastest pace since February 2012); Petroleum import prices increased 5.2%. Prices ex food and fuels fell .1% y/o/y.