Last Week In Review

Equity markets drifted downward all week and the Congress enacted sweeping financial regulatory reform. Major U.S. markets closed lower for the week. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:

) closed down by 3.46% and the PowerShares QQQ (Nasdaq:

), which tracks the NASDAQ 100 Index, fell for the week by 3.68%. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:

) dropped 2.65%. The United States Oil Fund (NYSE:

) edged lower for the week. Oil was trading around $79.01 a barrel on Friday afternoon. SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:

) was relatively flat on the week. The price of gold was trading at $1,255 an ounce on Friday afternoon. The Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:

) outperformed other ETFs this week, up about 2.7%. Components of that ETF showing particular strength this week include shares of Tan Range Exploration (AMEX:

), up about 7% and shares of Golden Star Resources Limited (AMEX:

), up about 7% on the week according to

. And underperforming other ETFs this week is the Solar Energy ETF (NYSE:

), down about 7% this week. Among components of that ETF with the weakest showing for the week were shares of Evergreen Solar (Nasdaq:

), lower by about 13.1%, and shares of Canadian Solar (Nasdaq:

), lower by about 11.1% on the week. Other ETF standouts this week include the Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:

), outperforming this week with a 2.7% gain. And the First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas Index Fund (NYSE:

) was an underperformer, falling about 6.8% this week. FINANCIAL REGULATION AGREEMENT The House and Senate agreed on a financial regulation reform bill on Friday. The bill curbs risk-taking, provides limits on leverage for banks, and offers new consumer protections. Also included was the "Volcker rule," named after former Fed chief Paul Volcker, limiting speculative proprietary trading activities. Banks have seven years to comply with many of the new provisions. ECONOMIC NEWS On the economic front, existing home sales for May were released on Tuesday. The National Association of Realtors said May sales dropped to an annual rate of 5.66 million, far below consensus expectations of 6.1 million. Home sales were down 22 percent from the September 2005 peak of 7.25 million. New home sales plunged 33 percent in May from April to the lowest level ever recorded, an annual rate of 300,000 according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Sales fell 18.3 percent compared to a year ago. Observers were expecting a 400,000 annualized sales forecast for May. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor released initial jobless claims. The result surprised analysts, falling 19,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 457,000 level. This was the lowest level in six weeks, beating expectations of 465,000 initial jobless claims. Also on Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department said orders for durable goods dropped in May, sinking 1.1 percent on weaker demand for airplanes, steel and communications equipment. This was viewed as mildly positive with consensus expectations for a 1.4 percent decline. EARNINGS On the earnings front, Adobe Systems (Nasdaq:

) reported first quarter profits of 44 cents per share against a consensus estimate of 33 cents. Oracle (Nasdaq:

) earned 60 cents per share, topping analyst estimates of 54 cents. KB Homes (NYSE:

) had disappointing news on Friday, posting a loss of 40 cents per share. The consensus forecast was a loss of 30 cents. Research in Motion (Nasdaq:

) reported earnings per share of $1.38 per share, beating analyst estimates of $1.33. Contributed by: