Read our latest market update, offering news from last week and thoughts for the week ahead: Weekly Market Update, December 29, 2014 Presented by Julie Fuller, CPA, CFP® and Michelle Mahoney, CFP® General market news • U.S. Treasury yields were back up slightly last week. The 10-year was back above the 2.20-percent level, after spending about 10 days between 2 percent and 2.20 percent. The 30-year, however, although slightly higher, remained near its recent low of 2.78 percent. The short end of the curve continued to move higher, with the 2-year ending the week at 0.71 percent; it had stood as low as 0.31 percent on October 15. • The S&P 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the holiday-shortened week at all-time highs amid light trading volume. Small-cap stocks also participated in the rally, with the Russell 2000 Index establishing an all-time high. • With a lack of corporate earnings on tap for the week, the market will continue to look to macroeconomic data to gauge the overall health of the U.S. economy. Equity Index Week-to-Date % Month-to-Date % Year-to-Date % 12-Month % S&P 500 0.89% 1.16% 15.30% 15.73% Nasdaq Comp 0.89% 0.38% 16.53% 16.83% DJIA 1.40% 1.41% 11.47% 12.12% MSCI EAFE 0.47% –2.63% –3.41% –1.85% MSCI Emerg Mkt 0.68% –5.26% –2.71% –1.61% Russell 2000 1.64% 3.69% 5.76% 5.90% Source: Bloomberg Fixed Income Index Month-to-Date % Year-to-Date % 12-Month % U.S. Broad Market –0.09% 5.87% 5.45% U.S. Treasury 0.00% 4.95% 4.52% U.S. Mortgages 0.02% 6.12% 5.76% Municipal Bond 0.25% 8.83% 8.79% Source: Bloomberg What to look forward to This week will be light in economic news, beginning with the release of S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index data. We will also see data on Pending Home Sales, expected to be up, and ISM Manufacturing, expected to show a slight decrease. 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. Julie Fuller and Michelle Mahoney are financial consultants located at Generations Wealth Management, 5550 Wild Rose Lane, Suite 400, West Des Moines, IA 50266. They offer securities as a Registered Representative of Commonwealth Financial Network®, Member FINRA/SIPC and can be reached at 515-661-6353. Authored by the Investment Research team at Commonwealth Financial Network. © 2014 Commonwealth Financial Network®
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 16:54:52 +0000
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