Week Ended February 4, 2011
Stocks recorded a solid
advance thanks to gains early in the week. A 2.3% rise helped the Dow cross the
12,000 mark for the first time in 2½ years, but gains were even stronger for
the Nasdaq and smaller-cap indexes. On Monday, investors put aside worries
about political unrest in Egypt and celebrated news that consumer spending in
the U.S. had increased substantially in December. Energy stocks were particularly
strong thanks to a rise in oil prices to a two-year high. Prices moved sharply
higher again on Tuesday, when the Institute for Supply Management announced
that its gauge of manufacturing activity had risen in January to its highest
level since May 2004. A strong fourth-quarter revenues report from United
Parcel Services also suggested the economy was benefiting from heightened
business and retail activity. Stocks moved mostly sideways for the remainder of
the week as investors appeared unmoved by economic data. Thursday brought good
news about factory orders and retail sales data, along with a substantial drop
in weekly jobless claims. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that
employer payrolls had grown by only 36,000 in January, a fraction of the increase
many had expected. Investors may have been comforted by a rise in average
hourly earnings, however, along with more encouraging data from the household
employment survey.
|
U.S. Stocks1 |
|||
|
Index2 |
Friday's Close |
Week's Change |
% Change |
|
DJIA |
12092.15 |
268.45 |
4.45% |
|
S&P
500 |
1310.87 |
34.52 |
4.23% |
|
NASDAQ
Composite |
2769.30 |
82.32 |
4.39% |
|
S&P
MidCap 400 |
944.95 |
27.21 |
4.16% |
|
Russell
2000 |
800.12 |
23.92 |
1.89% |
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 February 4, 2011
Mixed results on the labor
front emerged during the week as the unemployment rate fell from 9.4% in
December to 9.0% in January, but companies added only 36,000 net new jobs to
their payrolls. Analysts had been expecting a larger increase in job creation.
Much of the blame can be put on the weather as snowstorms throughout much of
the U.S. put a damper on hiring. Two bright spots were manufacturing and
retail, which added 49,000 and 28,000 jobs, respectively. Manufacturing in the
U.S. has been strengthening in recent months, and the pickup in hiring in that
industry was the largest since August 1998. Construction employment shed 32,000
jobs, and the transportation and warehousing industries also lost ground.
Treasury yields rose sharply in anticipation of better economic data in the
months ahead.
|
U.S. Treasury Yields1 |
||
|
Maturity |
February 4, 2011 |
January 28, 2011 |
|
2-Year |
0.75% |
0.55% |
|
10-Year |
3.64% |
3.33% |
|
30-Year |
4.74% |
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, February 4, 2011.
___________
Week Ended January 28, 2011
International
Stocks
Foreign stock markets closed higher for the week ending January
28, 2011 with the broad international measure, the MSCI EAFE Index (Europe,
Australasia, and Far East), gaining 0.41%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
EAFE |
0.41% |
2.28% |
|
Europe ex-U.K. |
0.62% |
4.59% |
|
Denmark |
1.77% |
2.44% |
|
France |
0.08% |
6.32% |
|
Germany |
1.01% |
4.15% |
|
Italy |
-0.11% |
10.26% |
|
Netherlands |
-0.47% |
3.89% |
|
Spain |
-0.75% |
12.41% |
|
Sweden |
1.76% |
2.89% |
|
Switzerland |
1.47% |
0.19% |
|
United
Kingdom |
-1.07% |
1.18% |
|
Japan |
1.39% |
0.77% |
|
AC
Far East ex-Japan |
0.94% |
1.71% |
|
Hong Kong |
-0.95% |
2.97% |
|
Korea |
3.32% |
5.28% |
|
Malaysia |
-1.57% |
1.24% |
|
Singapore |
1.18% |
1.15% |
|
Taiwan |
3.13% |
3.29% |
|
Thailand |
-2.81% |
-7.44% |
|
EM
Latin America |
-2.94% |
-4.70% |
|
Brazil |
-3.43% |
-4.55% |
|
Mexico |
-2.15% |
-3.00% |
|
Argentina |
-3.76% |
-2.04% |
|
EM
(Emerging Markets) |
-0.88% |
-2.09% |
|
Hungary |
-0.39% |
11.60% |
|
India |
-4.15% |
-12.58% |
|
Israel |
-0.16% |
0.12% |
|
Russia |
-0.04% |
4.75% |
|
Turkey |
-6.83% |
-10.33% |
International bond markets in developed countries were higher
this week, with the J.P. Morgan Global Government Bond Less U.S. Index gaining
0.12%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
Developed
Markets |
0.12% |
-0.74% |
|
Europe |
|
|
|
Denmark |
0.13% |
0.34% |
|
France |
-0.09% |
0.32% |
|
Germany |
0.11% |
0.04% |
|
Italy |
-0.38% |
1.83% |
|
Spain |
-0.66% |
2.25% |
|
Sweden |
1.31% |
2.75% |
|
United
Kingdom |
-0.67% |
-0.78% |
|
Japan |
0.50% |
-2.02% |
|
Emerging
Markets |
-1.00% |
-0.89% |
|
Argentina |
-5.99% |
-4.42% |
|
Brazil |
-0.74% |
0.14% |
|
Bulgaria |
-0.31% |
-0.53% |
|
Russia |
-0.93% |
-0.45% |
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 |
82.290 |
-0.45% |
1.44% |
|
Euro |
1.36251 |
-0.30% |
-1.56% |
|
British
pound |
1.58441 |
-0.92% |
-1.20% |
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.