Week Ended January 21, 2011
The Dow rose, but the
S&P 500 broke a seven-week string of weekly gains and finished lower.
Small-cap shares fell sharply. Investors focused on fourth-quarter earnings
reports, which generally showed strong gains, although not up to expectations
in some cases. As trading resumed on Tuesday, following the Martin Luther King,
Jr., holiday, traders absorbed disappointing results from banking giant
Citigroup and news that Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs would be taking a
leave of absence for health reasons. Concern over earnings in the financials
sector deepened on Wednesday, when Goldman Sachs reported a sharp drop in
profits and Well Fargo missed some earnings estimates. A prominent
semiconductor firm also reported disappointing earnings, resulting in a steep
fall in the technology-focused Nasdaq. On Friday, investors received better
news from industrials giant GE, which reported large gains in profit and
revenue. The week's economic data were mostly positive. Weekly jobless claims
fell back, mostly erasing their sharp rise from the previous week. Home
construction slumped in December, but existing homes sales rose to their
highest level since last spring. Progress in European credit markets and an
all-time high in a measure of German business sentiment were also encouraging.
On the other hand, investors reacted with caution as China reported that its
economy grew by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, a blistering pace that many worried
would lead to tighter monetary policy in the country.
|
U.S. Stocks1 |
|||
|
Index2 |
Friday's Close |
Week's Change |
% Change |
|
DJIA |
11871.84 |
84.46 |
2.54% |
|
S&P
500 |
1283.35 |
-9.89 |
2.04% |
|
NASDAQ
Composite |
2689.54 |
-65.76 |
1.38% |
|
S&P
MidCap 400 |
914.36 |
-16.71 |
0.78% |
|
Russell
2000 |
773.62 |
-33.59 |
-1.48% |
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 4:10 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.
____________
Week Ended January 21, 2011
Finally, two areas of the
economy that had been in the doldrums for far too long began to show signs of
springing back to life. In the housing market, sales of existing homes in the
U.S. rose 12.3% in December 2010, according to the National Association of
Realtors. The jump was greater than expected and offered a ray of hope in an
area that had been listless after the housing debacle of the past few years. On
the labor front, claims for first-time unemployment benefits registered their
largest decline since February 6, 2010. Continuing claims also fell to their
lowest level in more than two years, signaling that the worst may be over. The
trend of the past three months is encouraging, and if it continues over the
next few months, the unemployment rate should begin to decline as well.
Treasury yields rose during the week in anticipation of stronger economic
growth in the months ahead.
|
U.S. Treasury Yields1 |
||
|
Maturity |
January 21, 2011 |
January 14, 2011 |
|
2-Year |
0.61% |
0.58% |
|
10-Year |
3.41% |
3.32% |
|
30-Year |
4.57% |
4.53% |
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 21, 2011.
___________
Week Ended January 14, 2011
International
Stocks
Foreign stock markets closed higher for the week ending January
14, 2011 with the broad international measure, the MSCI EAFE Index (Europe,
Australasia, and Far East), gaining 2.71%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
EAFE |
2.71% |
1.87% |
|
Europe ex-U.K. |
4.71% |
2.12% |
|
Denmark |
1.19% |
-0.04% |
|
France |
5.57% |
3.89% |
|
Germany |
4.74% |
1.86% |
|
Italy |
6.98% |
5.71% |
|
Netherlands |
5.03% |
2.52% |
|
Spain |
12.88% |
6.03% |
|
Sweden |
3.98% |
1.80% |
|
Switzerland |
0.98% |
-1.67% |
|
United
Kingdom |
2.36% |
3.31% |
|
Japan |
0.53% |
1.32% |
|
AC
Far East ex-Japan |
1.42% |
2.99% |
|
Hong Kong |
0.36% |
5.06% |
|
Korea |
1.69% |
4.68% |
|
Malaysia |
0.60% |
4.68% |
|
Singapore |
-0.26% |
1.08% |
|
Taiwan |
3.84% |
0.81% |
|
Thailand |
-0.70% |
-0.45% |
|
EM
Latin America |
0.85% |
0.13% |
|
Brazil |
1.50% |
0.98% |
|
Mexico |
-0.70% |
0.53% |
|
Argentina |
-1.92% |
-1.12% |
|
EM
(Emerging Markets) |
1.13% |
0.78% |
|
Hungary |
3.45% |
5.48% |
|
India |
-4.35% |
-9.27% |
|
Israel |
2.67% |
2.08% |
|
Russia |
5.64% |
4.95% |
|
Turkey |
-0.89% |
0.79% |
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
1.24%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
Developed
Markets |
1.24% |
-1.54% |
|
Europe |
|
|
|
Denmark |
2.20% |
-0.78% |
|
France |
2.43% |
-0.76% |
|
Germany |
2.08% |
-0.95% |
|
Italy |
3.86% |
0.44% |
|
Spain |
4.03% |
0.29% |
|
Sweden |
2.88% |
0.64% |
|
United
Kingdom |
1.20% |
-0.44% |
|
Japan |
0.00% |
-2.75% |
|
Emerging
Markets |
0.31% |
0.91% |
|
Argentina |
2.15% |
2.77% |
|
Brazil |
0.15% |
1.50% |
|
Bulgaria |
-0.05% |
-0.12% |
|
Russia |
0.59% |
0.92% |
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 |
82.820 |
-0.19% |
2.07% |
|
Euro |
1.33621 |
-2.92% |
0.40% |
|
British
pound |
1.58811 |
-1.99% |
-1.43% |
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.