Weekly Market Update, March 2 2015

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Presented by Rich Tegge

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General market news

  • The longer end of the Treasury curve has experienced a lot of volatility throughout the past few weeks. The yield on the 10-year has hovered around 2 percent, moving as high as 2.15 percent and as low as 1.90 percent. Meanwhile, the yield on the 30-year stood at 2.60 percent on Monday, March 2.
  • For the most part, equity markets moved higher for the fourth week in a row, with small-cap, technology, blue-chip, and international indices inching ahead.
  • The broader large-cap U.S. market was the outlier last week, as the S&P 500 lost 0.24 percent. Emerging and developed international market stocks exhibited the best performance, with the MSCI Emerging Markets and EAFE indices gaining 0.97 percent and 0.81 percent, respectively.
  • Quantitative easing and a short-term resolution for the situation in Greece both provided support to European equities.

 

Equity Index Week-to-Date Month-to-Date Year-to-Date 12-Month
S&P 500 –0.24% 5.75% 2.57% 15.50%
Nasdaq Composite 0.17% 7.30% 5.08% 16.74%
DJIA 0.02% 6.01% 2.22% 13.70%
MSCI EAFE 0.81% 5.71% 6.26% 0.40%
MSCI Emerging Markets 0.97% 3.44% 4.05% 5.75%
Russell 2000 0.17% 5.94% 2.53% 5.64%

Source: Bloomberg

 

Fixed Income Index Month-to-Date Year-to-Date 12-Month
U.S. Broad Market 0.00% 1.14% 5.05%
U.S. Treasury 0.00% 1.00% 4.40%
U.S. Mortgages 0.00% 0.68% 4.80%
Municipal Bond 0.00% 0.72% 6.49%

Source: Morningstar Direct

 

What to look forward to

We will be watching several important economic data releases this week, beginning with the report on Personal Income and Outlays.

 

Manufacturing activity is expected to be more or less flat in releases of PMI and ISM Manufacturing indices. No activity is expected in Factory Orders, after they dropped sharply in their previous reading.

 

The week will end with insight into the labor market and the Unemployment Situation.

 

Disclosures: Certain sections of this commentary contain forward-looking statements that are based on our reasonable expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. All indices are unmanaged and are not available for direct investment by the public. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The S&P 500 is based on the average performance of the 500 industrial stocks monitored by Standard & Poor’s. The Nasdaq Composite Index measures the performance of all issues listed in the Nasdaq Stock Market, except for rights, warrants, units, and convertible debentures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is computed by summing the prices of the stocks of 30 large companies and then dividing that total by an adjusted value, one which has been adjusted over the years to account for the effects of stock splits on the prices of the 30 companies. Dividends are reinvested to reflect the actual performance of the underlying securities. The MSCI EAFE Index is a float-adjusted market capitalization index designed to measure developed market equity performance, excluding the U.S. and Canada. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a market capitalization-weighted index composed of companies representative of the market structure of 26 emerging market countries in Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Basin. The Russell 2000® Index measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000® Index. The Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index is an unmanaged market value-weighted performance benchmark for investment-grade fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage-backed securities with maturities of at least one year. The U.S. Treasury Index is based on the auctions of U.S. Treasury bills, or on the U.S. Treasury’s daily yield curve. The Barclays Capital Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) Index is an unmanaged market value-weighted index of 15- and 30-year fixed-rate securities backed by mortgage pools of the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), and balloon mortgages with fixed-rate coupons. The Barclays Capital Municipal Bond Index includes investment-grade, tax-exempt, and fixed-rate bonds with long-term maturities (greater than 2 years) selected from issues larger than $50 million. The Barclays Capital U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) Index measures the performance of intermediate (1- to 10-year) U.S. TIPS.
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Rich Tegge is a financial consultant located at Wealth Strategy Group 300S. Front Street Suite C, Marquette MI  49855.  He offers securities as a Registered Representative of Commonwealth Financial Network®, Member FINRA/SIPC.  He can be reached at 906-228-3696 or at rtegge@wsginvest.com

 

Authored by the Investment Research team at Commonwealth Financial Network.

 

© 2015 Commonwealth Financial Network®


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