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 |
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.
___________
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 month—something
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.
___________
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 |
Week's Return |
% Change |
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.