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It's day 2 of a crucial week of economic data.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 13,008, -64.3, -0.4%

S&P 500: 1,379, -5.9, -0.4%

NASDAQ: 2,939, -6.3, -0.2%

And now the top stories:

  • According to the latest Case-Shiller index data, home prices climbed 0.91 percent in May. This exceeded the 0.5 percent increase that economists were looking for.  "We have observed two consecutive months of increasing home prices and overall improvements in monthly and annual returns; however, we need to remember that spring and early summer are seasonally strong buying months," wrote S&P's David Blitzer.  Nevertheless, prices were only down 0.66 percent year-over-year, and they could soon start showing year-over-year gains.

  • The June income and spending numbers were essentially inline with expectations.  Personal income climbed 0.5 percent while spending was flat at 0 percent.  Economists were looking for gains of 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.

  • The Chicago purchasing manager's index (PMI) unexpectedly climbed to 53.7 from 52.9 last month.  This was better than the 52.5 economists were looking for.  Hopefully, this is a good sign for the slew of global PMI numbers we will be getting from the major countries around the world.

  • One of the major conversations today came from PIMCO bond king Bill Gross, whose latest letter bashed stocks.  His major argument was that it did not seem economically sound that stocks could generate over 6 percent in real returns in the long-term, while long-term GDP growth is closer to 3.5 percent. Gross specifically called out the work of legendary finance professor Jeremy Siegel, author of Stocks For The Long Run, one of the most important finance books ever written.

  • Siegel wasn't having that.  "You definitely can have a return greater than GDP growth. There is nothing uneconomic about it," he said in a CNBC appearance today. "The thing is that capital gives out dividends, it gives out interest, it gives out return. When you add that all together, it's going to be greater than GDP growth. Even in a non-growing economy, you have situations where return is greater than GDP growth."  It would appear that Gross has made some very basic errors in his argument. 

  • Like we said earlier, tonight is a big night for economic data.  All of the major countries will be releasing their manufacturing PMI numbers, which will give us an intimate look at the health of the economies around the world.