Week
Ended January 20, 2012
Stocks
rose for the week and reached toward levels last seen in the summer as investors
continued to take encouragement from economic data and proved generally
satisfied with early fourth-quarter earnings reports. On Tuesday, the first day
of trading after the holiday weekend, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
reported that its regional manufacturing index had reached its best level in
nine months. Data released later in the week generally confirmed a nationwide
pickup in factory activity. A rise in a gauge of homebuilder confidence,
together with a good pace of existing home sales in December, helped brighten
the outlook for the housing sector. On Thursday, the Labor Department reported
that weekly jobless claims had plunged by 50,000 to 352,000, near a four-year
low. Overseas economic developments were also generally supportive, even as the
World Bank lowered its global growth forecast for the coming year. Greece
appeared to be making progress in reaching a deal with creditors to lower the
face value of its debt by half a "haircut" that many view as
necessary for Greece to avoid default on its sovereign debt. The International
Monetary Fund also announced plans to bolster its lending resources by $500
billion. Earnings reports were mixed during the week. In the financials sector,
disappointing earnings from Citigroup appeared to confirm weakness among banks,
but better-than-expected results from other financial giants later in the week
eased concerns. Similarly, in the technology sector, robust but
below-expectations earnings from Google appeared to be offset by a strong
outlook from IBM.
U.S. Stocks1 |
|||
Index2 |
Friday's Close |
Week's Change |
% Change |
DJIA |
12720.48 |
298.42 |
4.12% |
S&P 500 |
1315.38 |
26.29 |
4.59% |
NASDAQ Composite |
2786.70 |
76.03 |
6.97% |
S&P MidCap 400 |
930.64 |
24.04 |
5.82% |
Russell 2000 |
784.70 |
20.49 |
5.93% |
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 20, 2012
December
housing starts fell 4.1% from November into December, but the numbers are
somewhat deceiving. The weakness occurred primarily in the volatile multifamily
sector, which should begin to expand as rental vacancies decline. A more
telling figure for housing overall is single-family housing starts, which rose
4.4%, indicating that a gradual recovery in this area is under way.
Single-family housing construction has been increasing since fall 2011 and, if
the trend continues, could contribute 0.3 percentage points to real gross
domestic product growth in 2012, according to T. Rowe Price
estimates. In the labor market, initial jobless claims declined by 50,000 to
352,000 during the week ended January 14. Other data released during the week
show that consumer core inflation remains moderate, which allows the Fed to
continue its low interest rate policy in its effort to foster economic growth.
Treasury yields rose during the week, against the backdrop of slow but steady
progress on the economy.
U.S. Treasury Yields1 |
||
Maturity |
January 20, 2012 |
January 13, 2012 |
2-Year |
0.24% |
0.22% |
10-Year |
2.03% |
1.87% |
30-Year |
3.10% |
2.91% |
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
20, 2012.
___________
International Stocks
Foreign stock markets closed higher for
the week ending January 13, 2012 with the broad international measure, the MSCI
EAFE Index (Europe, Australasia, and Far East), gaining 0.62%.
|
||
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
EAFE |
0.62% |
0.21% |
Europe ex-U.K. |
0.81% |
-0.84% |
Denmark |
-0.41% |
-0.32% |
France |
1.55% |
-1.25% |
Germany |
1.17% |
1.89% |
Italy |
1.84% |
-2.63% |
Netherlands |
-0.22% |
-3.54% |
Spain |
2.23% |
-3.35% |
Sweden |
-0.16% |
0.26% |
Switzerland |
0.03% |
-1.09% |
United Kingdom |
-1.08% |
-0.55% |
Japan |
0.84% |
0.70% |
AC Far East ex-Japan |
3.05% |
3.63% |
Hong Kong |
2.13% |
2.49% |
Korea |
2.99% |
2.94% |
Malaysia |
1.25% |
1.38% |
Singapore |
3.55% |
6.11% |
Taiwan |
2.21% |
3.28% |
Thailand |
0.45% |
0.04% |
EM Latin America |
2.79% |
5.29% |
Brazil |
3.89% |
7.04% |
Mexico |
-0.09% |
0.52% |
Argentina |
0.85% |
11.76% |
EM (Emerging Markets) |
2.80% |
4.03% |
Hungary |
9.99% |
1.76% |
India |
4.71% |
8.43% |
Israel |
1.04% |
6.94% |
Russia |
1.88% |
5.62% |
Turkey |
4.08% |
2.64% |
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 0.58%.
|
||
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
Developed Markets |
0.58% |
-0.94% |
Europe |
|
|
Denmark |
-0.20% |
-2.75% |
France |
1.59% |
-2.83% |
Germany |
0.23% |
-1.98% |
Italy |
1.74% |
-1.11% |
Spain |
2.19% |
-2.61% |
Sweden |
-0.25% |
-2.01% |
United Kingdom |
-0.24% |
-1.54% |
Japan |
0.29% |
0.06% |
Emerging Markets |
-0.41% |
-0.80% |
Argentina |
0.25% |
3.55% |
Brazil |
-0.68% |
-0.97% |
Bulgaria |
0.15% |
0.27% |
Russia |
0.54% |
0.77% |
International Currency Markets
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar
was stronger against the major currencies for the week.
|
|||
Currency |
Close |
Week's Return |
% Change |
Japanese yen |
76.980 |
-0.18% |
0.05% |
Euro |
1.26671 |
0.37% |
2.43% |
British pound |
1.52851 |
0.80% |
1.65% |
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.