This week is going to be major for finance. The bank stress test results are due in Thursday, and more bailouts are expected. The bank stress test results will instruct which of America’s largest nineteen (19) banks will need new capital. With each and every blow our nations banking system inches closer and closer to nationalization of the weakest banks in need of capital. This means the government will have a greater stake in obvious banks. Is this a good thing? On one hand, it keeps banks from going under. On the other hand it just adds to our nation’s exponentially growing debt load.

In addition to the bank stress test results, the jobs report is due out on Friday. In March, our nation lost 663,000 jobs. I would like you to think about this number. In 2007 the city of Memphis had a population of 677,272. Look at how close those numbers are. In the month of March, 2009 our economy lost close to the entire population of Memphis. Infoplease.com indicated that during 2007, Memphis was the 18th largest city in the nation. Experts project that in April 2009 our economy lost an additional 620,000 jobs. Even though the population of Memphis is totally unrelated to job losses it serves as a powerful illustration of just how many jobs our economy is hemorrhaging. Forbes projects unemployment to come 8.9% for April. This rate is uncomfortably conclude to 10%.

Construction spending and housing stat reports are due Monday. Although I could not locate any projections, I don’t think the news will be great. Our housing market is far from recovered. If our economy is hemorrhaging jobs at an exponential rate, it’s not likely that there will be a spike in new home sales that will hold strong. However, the $8,000 first homeowner tax credit available in 2009 may wait on. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Companies expected to give earnings report this week include Beazer Homes, Centex, CVS, AIG, Allstate, Sunoco, and Cisco. Be especially mindful of anything pertaining to AIG. Stay tuned to Bloomberg, MSN Money, or Yahoo! Finance to keep up to date market news.

Despite all the financial doom and gloom we have experienced in the last year, there’s reason not to panic. This is part of the natural economic cycle. You have to take the good with the bad, stay completive, think intelligent and you will fare just fine.

References:

www.forbes.com
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com