Week
Ended March 4, 2011
Stocks
were volatile but ended modestly higher for the week. The major indexes swung
sharply as investor sentiment wavered between encouragement over strong
economic data and worry that rising oil prices might nonetheless derail the
recovery. The week's positive economic signals included reports that
manufacturing activity had reached multiyear highs, while service sector
activity was increasing at a solid pace. More notably, employers seemed to be
finally hiring additional workers to accommodate increased production. On
Thursday, large-cap stocks saw their best single-day gains in three months when
the Labor Department announced that weekly jobless claims had fallen to their
lowest level since May 2008. The positive trend was confirmed on Friday, when
the Department revealed that private payrolls had increased by 222,000 in
February, with gains spread out through most sectors of the economy. Rising oil
prices brought about by continued turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa
dampened the celebration, however. Markets fell sharply on Tuesday and again to
end the week as fighting intensified in Libya and oil prices reached levels
last seen in 2008.
|
U.S. Stocks1 |
|||
|
Index2 |
Friday's Close |
Week's Change |
% Change |
|
DJIA |
12169.88 |
39.43 |
5.12% |
|
S&P 500 |
1321.15 |
1.27 |
5.05% |
|
NASDAQ Composite |
2784.67 |
3.62 |
4.97% |
|
S&P MidCap 400 |
968.55 |
4.34 |
6.76% |
|
Russell 2000 |
824.67 |
3.99 |
5.02% |
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 March 4, 2011
The
week produced a spate of good news for a change. The U.S. economy expanded at a
"modest to moderate pace" in all parts of the country in January and
early February, according to a Federal Reserve survey. In addition, private
companies added 222,000 new jobs to their payrolls in February, and initial
claims for unemployment benefits fell to a nearly three-year low, marking the
third decline in the past four weeks. The nation's unemployment rate slipped a
notch to 8.9% from 9% the month before. The good news brought with it troubling
news about inflation. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that
oil prices soared to more than $104 a barrel, a 29-month high, and gasoline at
the pump rose to a national average of $3.47 a gallon, according to AAA.
Concerns about ongoing civil war in Libya fueled most of the increase, but rising
demand sparked by a recovering economy also played a role. Longer-term Treasury
yields rose as investors sold Treasury bonds in favor of higher-yielding assets
(bond prices and yields move counter to each other). The two-year yield closed
lower.
|
U.S. Treasury Yields1 |
||
|
Maturity |
March 4, 2011 |
February 25, 2011 |
|
2-Year |
0.67% |
0.71% |
|
10-Year |
3.48% |
3.42% |
|
30-Year |
4.60% |
4.50% |
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, March 4,
2011.
International Stocks
Foreign stock markets closed lower for
the week ending February 25, 2011 with the broad international measure, the
MSCI EAFE Index (Europe, Australasia, and Far East), losing -1.48%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
EAFE |
-1.48% |
4.71% |
|
Europe ex-U.K. |
-1.19% |
6.44% |
|
Denmark |
1.21% |
5.68% |
|
France |
-1.12% |
9.10% |
|
Germany |
-2.50% |
6.20% |
|
Italy |
-2.14% |
12.95% |
|
Netherlands |
-1.35% |
7.30% |
|
Spain |
-1.61% |
13.94% |
|
Sweden |
-0.67% |
0.33% |
|
Switzerland |
0.27% |
2.31% |
|
United Kingdom |
-2.09% |
5.26% |
|
Japan |
-1.33% |
4.00% |
|
AC Far East ex-Japan |
-3.15% |
-3.88% |
|
Hong Kong |
-2.06% |
-2.69% |
|
Korea |
-3.65% |
-2.56% |
|
Malaysia |
-2.73% |
-1.22% |
|
Singapore |
-1.98% |
-4.47% |
|
Taiwan |
-3.78% |
-5.86% |
|
Thailand |
-0.23% |
-4.41% |
|
EM Latin America |
-1.06% |
-3.48% |
|
Brazil |
-0.74% |
-2.22% |
|
Mexico |
-2.36% |
-2.69% |
|
Argentina |
-3.51% |
-9.39% |
|
EM (Emerging Markets) |
-1.99% |
-4.31% |
|
Hungary |
1.87% |
13.88% |
|
India |
-2.92% |
-15.18% |
|
Israel |
-4.63% |
-6.21% |
|
Russia |
4.21% |
8.82% |
|
Turkey |
-8.01% |
-11.58% |
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 1.6%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
Developed Markets |
1.60% |
0.24% |
|
Europe |
|
|
|
Denmark |
1.59% |
1.28% |
|
France |
1.44% |
1.52% |
|
Germany |
1.46% |
1.23% |
|
Italy |
0.41% |
2.63% |
|
Spain |
0.71% |
3.85% |
|
Sweden |
0.00% |
4.40% |
|
United Kingdom |
0.38% |
1.27% |
|
Japan |
2.37% |
-1.51% |
|
Emerging Markets |
0.33% |
-0.64% |
|
Argentina |
-2.19% |
-5.65% |
|
Brazil |
0.84% |
0.18% |
|
Bulgaria |
0.33% |
0.06% |
|
Russia |
0.33% |
0.75% |
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 |
81.735 |
-1.98% |
0.77% |
|
Euro |
1.37481 |
-0.81% |
-2.47% |
|
British pound |
1.60721 |
0.84% |
-2.65% |
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.