Enjoy today's issue of By The Number$,

1. FOUR ROTTEN DAYS - The 4 worst days on a total return basis for the S&P 500 during calendar year 2011 (so far) have occurred in the last 2 weeks. The S&P 500 lost 2.6% on 8/02/11, dropped 4.8% on 8/04/11, fell 6.6% on 8/08/11 and then tumbled 4.4% on 8/10/11. In fact, the stock index hasn't had a single trading day as bad as any of those 4 down days since 8/11/10 when the S&P 500 lost 2.8%. Ironically, the 2 best days for the stock index in 2011 (so far) also took place in the last 2 weeks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index of 500 widely held stocks that is generally considered representative of the US stock market (source: BTN Research).

2. WORST DAY LAST YEAR, THEN BETTER - The worst day for the S&P 500 during calendar year 2010 was a 3.9% total return loss on 5/20/10. In the 3 months following the 3.9% loss for the S&P 500 on 5/20/10, the stock index gained +0.5%. In the 6 months following the 5/20/10 tumble, the stock index gained +13.1% (source: BTN Research).

3. EXTREMES THIS YEAR (SO FAR) - The best and the worst trading days for the S&P 500 during calendar year 2011 (so far) happened on consecutive trading days last week. The stock index fell 6.6% on Monday (8/08/11) but rebounded with a +4.7% gain on Tuesday (8/09/11). Both returns are total return calculations including the impact of reinvested dividends (source: BTN Research).

4. EXTREMES LAST YEAR - The best and the worst trading days for the S&P 500 during calendar year 2010 (i.e., last year) happened 10 days apart (source: BTN Research).

5. A CORRECTION - Since closing at a bull market peak of 1364 on Friday 4/29/11, the S&P 500 had fallen 17.9% to 1119 as of the close of trading last Monday (8/08/11). A "correction" is defined as a peak-to-trough fall of 10% or more but less than a 20% decline, the threshold at which a "bear market" is achieved. The largest correction that took place during the 2002-07 bull market was a 13.3% tumble that occurred over a 4-month period. In spite of that correction, the S&P 500 still gained +101% during the 5-year bull market run (source: BTN Research).

6. ALMOST A BILLION DOLLARS - As of Friday 8/05/11, the total market capitalization of the companies in the S&P 500 was $10.95 trillion. The 500 companies held an estimated $963 billion of cash as of that day, equal to 9% of their aggregate market cap (source: S&P).

7. NOT SHORT BUT NOT LONG - The average maturity of Treasury debt as of June 2011 was 62 months or just over 5 years. The highest that the average maturity has ever been was 72 months (i.e., 6 years) in late 2001 (source: Treasury Department).

8. LOWEST EVER - The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.04% during the trading day last Tuesday (8/09/11), its lowest level ever (source: Treasury Department).

9. THE RATINGS GAME - More than 1 out of every 4 US states (26%) have a top rating (AAA) from S&P. The 2 states with the lowest credit rating from S&P are Illinois (A+) and California (A-). Since downgrading the USA on 8/05/11, S&P has not changed the rating of any US state (source: S&P).

10. BIG SPENDERS - Household debt as a percentage of GDP was 90.2% at the end of 2010. Household debt as a percentage of GDP was 61.4% at the end of 1990. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the annual market value of all goods and services produced domestically by the US (source: The Joint Committee on Taxation).

11. THOSE THAT DO AND THOSE THAT DON'T - 58.1% of working age Americans had a job as of 7/31/11, the lowest percentage recorded in the USA since 7/31/83 or 28 years ago (source: Department of Labor).

12. TWICE AS MUCH - After increasing the nation's debt ceiling limit to $15.2 trillion per the legislation signed by President Obama on 8/02/11, we have more than doubled our debt ceiling limit in less than 7 years. The debt ceiling was $7.4 trillion as of 10/31/04 (source: Treasury Department).

13. PLEASE COME BACK (OR NOT) - Congress does not return from its "August recess" until Tuesday 9/06/11, i.e., 3 weeks from tomorrow (source: House of Representatives, Senate).

14. FOOD ON THE TABLE - 45.8 million Americans receives food stamps today, an all-time record. That represents 1 out of every 7 Americans. The official name of the Food Stamps program is the "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program" or SNAP (source: Department of Agriculture).

15. GOOD SEASON - The best regular season record ever in major league baseball history was 116-36 by the 1906 Chicago Cubs. The 2001 Seattle Mariners also won 116 games but lost 46 games (source: MLB).

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