U.S. Stock Market

Week Ended January 6, 2012

Stocks moved higher for the week thanks to a rally to start off a new year of trading. Investors bid the market sharply higher on Tuesday, following news that the U.S. manufacturing sector had expanded at a faster pace than expected in December. News that European manufacturing was contracting at a slower pace than anticipated was also encouraging. Stocks gave back a portion of their gains to end the week, however. The Labor Department reported on Friday that employers had added 200,000 jobs in December, in excess of most estimates, while the unemployment rate had fallen a bit to 8.5%, its lowest level in nearly three years. While the news appeared to confirm recent signs of strength in the U.S. economy, investors appeared to focus instead on continued troubles in Europe. A rating agency cut Hungary's credit to "junk" status, and the euro fell to its lowest level against the dollar since the fall of 2010. Worries about a potential disruption to oil supplies from rising tensions between Iran and the U.S. may have also limited gains for the week.

U.S. Stocks1

Index2

Friday's Close

Week's Change

% Change
Year-to-Date

DJIA

12359.92

142.36

1.17%

S&P 500

1277.81

20.21

1.61%

NASDAQ Composite

2674.22

69.07

2.65%

S&P MidCap 400

891.38

11.93

1.36%

Russell 2000

749.67

8.93

1.21%

This chart is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent the performance of any specific security. Past performance cannot guarantee future results.

1Source of data Reuters, obtained through Yahoo! Finance Closing data as of 4 p.m. ET.

2The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index of blue chip stocks, the Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 Index, and the Russell 2000 Index are unmanaged indexes representing various segments by market capitalization of the U.S. equity markets. The Nasdaq Composite is an unmanaged index representing the companies traded on the Nasdaq stock market and the National Market System.

 

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U.S. Bond Market

Week Ended January 6, 2012

Upbeat news on the labor market greeted investors during the first week of 2012. The Labor Department reported that employers added 200,000 new jobs to the nation's payrolls at the end of 2011, lowering the unemployment rate a notch from 8.6% to 8.5%, its lowest level in almost three years. December was the fourth month in a row that the rate has declined, and it caps a six-month period during which the U.S. economy has added 100,000 jobs or more each monthsomething that hasn't happened since April 2006. For all of 2011, the economy added 1.6 million jobs compared with 940,000 in 2010. Reflecting the strengthening labor market, weekly applications for unemployment benefits have fallen to their lowest levels in more than three years. Treasury yields rose as a result, in anticipation of steady progress on the economy during the new year.

U.S. Treasury Yields1

Maturity

January 6, 2012

December 30, 2011

2-Year

0.26%

0.24%

10-Year

1.96%

1.88%

30-Year

3.01%

2.89%

This table is for illustrative purposes only. Past performance cannot guarantee future results.

1Source of data: Bloomberg.com, as of 4 p.m. ET Friday, January 6, 2012.

 

 

 

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International Market

Week Ended December 30, 2011

International Stocks

Foreign stock markets closed higher for the week ending December 30, 2011 with the broad international measure, the MSCI EAFE Index (Europe, Australasia, and Far East), gaining 0.82%.

 

Region/Country

Week's Return

% Change Year-to-Date

EAFE

0.82%

-11.73%

Europe ex-U.K.

0.80%

-14.49%

Denmark

1.55%

-15.70%

France

1.39%

-16.00%

Germany

-0.15%

-17.45%

Italy

-0.09%

-22.25%

Netherlands

1.13%

-11.72%

Spain

0.07%

-11.16%

Sweden

1.13%

-15.11%

Switzerland

1.09%

-6.05%

United Kingdom

0.50%

-2.52%

Japan

2.39%

-14.19%

AC Far East ex-Japan

-1.12%

-14.51%

Hong Kong

-0.04%

-16.02%

Korea

-2.27%

-11.76%

Malaysia

1.75%

0.12%

Singapore

-1.52%

-17.91%

Taiwan

-0.56%

-20.15%

Thailand

-1.08%

-2.40%

EM Latin America

-1.39%

-19.15%

Brazil

-1.59%

-21.59%

Mexico

-0.86%

-12.11%

Argentina

-1.36%

-38.94%

EM (Emerging Markets)

-1.20%

-18.17%

Hungary

-6.03%

-33.65%

India

-2.21%

-37.17%

Israel

-3.29%

-27.60%

Russia

-1.45%

-19.30%

Turkey

-0.67%

-35.16%

 

International Bond Markets

International bond markets in developed countries were higher this week, with the J.P. Morgan Global Government Bond Less U.S. Index gaining 0.84%.

 

Region/Country

Week's Return

% Change Year-to-Date

Developed Markets

0.84%

5.91%

Europe

 

 

Denmark

0.73%

10.25%

France

0.09%

1.71%

Germany

0.21%

6.29%

Italy

-0.58%

-8.90%

Spain

0.96%

3.16%

Sweden

1.14%

11.20%

United Kingdom

0.10%

15.98%

Japan

1.55%

7.79%

Emerging Markets

0.27%

9.20%

Argentina

0.87%

-12.42%

Brazil

0.40%

14.08%

Bulgaria

0.12%

2.34%

Russia

0.26%

6.11%

 

International Currency Markets

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar was weaker against the major currencies for the week.

 

Currency

Close
(December 30, 2011)

Week's Return
(U.S. $)

% Change
Year-to-Date (U.S. $)

Japanese yen

76.940

-1.51%

-5.41%

Euro

1.29821

0.44%

3.24%

British pound

1.55411

0.64%

0.74%

1U.S. dollars per national currency unit.

Sources: Foreign stock markets and currency sections are from Rimes Technologies, using MSCI data. International bond markets are from J.P. Morgan.

Note: All returns are in U.S. dollars. All bond indices are J.P. Morgan. All stock indices are Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI).

Equity Indices

EAFE:

MSCI Europe, Australasia, and Far East Index

Europe Ex-U.K.:

MSCI Europe ex-U.K. Index

Far East Ex-Japan:

MSCI AC Far East ex-Japan Index

Latin America:

MSCI Emerging Markets Latin America Index

Emerging Markets:

MSCI Emerging Markets Index

 

Bond Indices

Developed Markets:

J.P. Morgan Global Government Bond Less U.S. Index

Emerging Markets:

J.P. Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index Plus


All charts are for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the performance of any specific security. Past performance cannot guarantee future results.