Presented by Mark Gallagher
General market news
• The 10-year Treasury opened with a yield of 1.90 percent early Monday morning, its highest level since the first week of February. The 10-year yield hit a recent low on February 10 at 1.53 percent and was at 1.74 percent last Monday.
• Stocks continued their surge higher last week, with the S&P 500 Index gaining 2.71 percent to close at 1,999.99. Once again, the positive momentum was highly correlated with an increase in oil prices, as sentiment about the global economy continued to improve.
• Last week’s economic reports showed ongoing strength in employment. The economy added more than 242,000 new jobs, although the unemployment rate held steady at 4.9 percent. In addition, a small rebound in the ISM Manufacturing Index suggested that the weakness of the last several months could be short lived.
| Equity Index | Week-to-Date | Month-to-Date | Year-to-Date | 12-Month |
| S&P 500 | 2.71% | 3.54% | −1.73% | −2.63% |
| Nasdaq Composite | 2.82% | 3.54% | −5.53% | −3.79% |
| DJIA | 2.24% | 2.98% | −1.84% | −3.58% |
| MSCI EAFE | 4.68% | 4.66% | −4.61% | −9.58% |
| MSCI Emerging Markets | 5.45% | 5.40% | −1.62% | −17.86% |
| Russell 2000 | 4.34% | 4.67% | −4.55% | −10.83% |
Source: Bloomberg
| Fixed Income Index | Month-to-Date | Year-to-Date | 12-Month |
| U.S. Broad Market | −0.36% | 1.73% | 2.14% |
| U.S. Treasury | −0.71% | 2.30% | 3.28% |
| U.S. Mortgages | −0.14% | 1.53% | 2.89% |
| Municipal Bond | −0.44% | 0.90% | 4.09% |
Source: Morningstar Direct
What to look forward to
Few economic data releases are scheduled for this week.
We will get some news on international trade, with Import and Export Price data coming out on Friday.
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.
Mark Gallagher is a financial advisor located at Gallagher Financial Services at 2586 East 7th Ave. Suite #304, North Saint Paul, MN 55109. He offers securities and advisory services as an Investment Adviser Representative of Commonwealth Financial Network®, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser. He can be reached at 651-774-8759 or at mark@markgallagher.com.
Authored by the Investment Research team at Commonwealth Financial Network.
© 2016 Commonwealth Financial Network®