One week from tonight I see the doctor to again evaluate my recovery.  Things are going as well as can be expected and fortunately the pain is quite manageable.  I currently have the ability to bend my left arm to about a 70 degree angle, which isn't much, certainly not enough to feed myself, brush my teeth or essential daily tasks.  I need to get to at least 120 I believe before I will be able to do any of these, let alone drive.  I am curious about next Monday to find out whether 70 degrees is where I should be right now or if I am lagging behind despite a studious devotion to my exercises.  As far as I know, the verdict is still one month before I can drive, two months before full recovery.


Meanwhile, I am filling my time by rededicating myself to FastTrack.  I have reread all the manuals, watch the training videos again, and am about to relaunch into a self-imposed full-fledged boot camp 7 years after completing the course,  I know there are still people in our little Troy group for whom this is still a big mystery and, when I have unraveled it, I will be happy to offer very deliberately paced demos on how to do it, starting with the bare-bones basics and gradually progressing to more advanced strategies.  Anyone game?

I have also been giving a good deal of thought to the suggestion that I pursue the CFP elsewhere other than Oakland University.  The director has pointed to two good options, one of which is the self-paced online program at Kaplan University.  I am going to look into that.  Perhaps Tim Hudson is right; perhaps I will be better off doing this on my own.  Perhaps I'll even be able to do it faster than the 12 months structured program at OU.

Meanwhile, I continue my commitment below to supply the week's succinct summary.  Hope everyone had a great week.  I'll keep you all posted.

Succinct Summation of Weeks Events for 2.3.17

February 3, 2017 5:00pm by Barry Ritholtz

Succinct Summations for the week ending February 3, 2017.

Positives:

1.Nonfarm payrolls came in at 227k the highest number since September and well above the 175k expected.
2. Labor force participation rates rose 0.2% as 76,000 people re-entered the work force
3. Consumer spending rose 0.5% in December.
4. Pending home sales rose 1.6%, well above the 0.6% expected increase;Spending on single-family homes rose 0.5% in December.
5. Consumer confidence remains strong at 111.8.
6. PMI manufacturing index rose from 54.3 previously to 55.
7. Case-Shiller’s home price index rose 0.9% in November, the best monthly gain since 2015.
8.ISM manufacturing rose from 54.7 to 56, the highest level since November 2014

Negatives:

1. Average hourly earnings rose just 0.1% and December’s 0.4% increase was revised down to 0.2%.
2. Unemployment ticked up to 4.8%
3.Personal income rose just 0.3% m/o/m, below the 0.4% expected increase.
4. Core PCE rose just 0.1% in December and is up 1.7% y/o/y.
5. The MBA mortgage applications composite fell 3.2% w/op/w, purchases fell 6%.
6. Construction spending fell 0.2% in December.