U.S. Stock Market
Week Ended March 25, 2011
Stocks
finished higher for the week. Investors began the week on a bullish note, as
progress in cooling Japan's nuclear reactors helped calm fears about a
widespread nuclear catastrophe. Sentiment also got a boost from news that
telecommunications giant AT&T plans to acquire rival T-Mobile in a $39
billion deal that would create the largest wireless company in the U.S.
Investors managed to largely shrug off disturbing reports on the housing
sector. On Monday, the National Association of Realtors announced that existing
home sales had declined sharply in February, reversing a recent string of
gains. On Wednesday, the Commerce Department revealed that new home sales had
declined to their lowest level since records began in 1963. Stocks advanced on
Thursday after a number of companies reported better-than-expected earnings and
the Labor Department announced that unemployment claims had fallen to their
lowest level in nearly three years. U.S. indexes continued to push higher in the
final trading session of the week following news that the Commerce Department
upwardly revised its economic growth estimate for last year's fourth quarter
and a rosy earnings report from technology bellwether Oracle.
|
U.S. Stocks1 |
|||
|
Index2 |
Friday's Close |
Week's Change |
% Change |
|
DJIA |
12220.59 |
362.07 |
5.55% |
|
S&P 500 |
1313.80 |
34.59 |
4.47% |
|
NASDAQ Composite |
2743.06 |
99.39 |
3.40% |
|
S&P MidCap 400 |
970.43 |
27.74 |
6.96% |
|
Russell 2000 |
824.22 |
31.02 |
4.96% |
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 25, 2011
As a relative
safe haven, U.S. Treasury prices have been supported in recent weeks by the
nuclear crisis in Japan, political unrest in the Middle East, and continued
debt worries in Europe. Despite these concerns and ongoing dismal news in the
housing market, investors had a decreased appetite for Treasuries this week,
causing yields to rise (bond prices and yields move counter to one another).
Bad news was particularly evident in the housing market, where new home sales
plummeted 16.9% in February following a weak performance in January. The recent
decline puts sales of newly built single-family homes at a historic low. The
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 250,000 sales is far below the
700,000-a-year pace economists consider healthy. The median price of new homes
also fell to $202,100, the lowest since December 2003. Prices have been
suppressed by continuing high unemployment, tight credit, and a wave of
foreclosures in the occupied housing market. Last year marked the fifth
consecutive year of declines for new home sales after they hit record highs
during the housing boom.
|
U.S. Treasury Yields1 |
||
|
Maturity |
March 25, 2011 |
March 18, 2011 |
|
2-Year |
0.74% |
0.58% |
|
10-Year |
3.44% |
3.28% |
|
30-Year |
4.50% |
4.43% |
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 25, 2011.
___________
International
Stocks
Foreign stock markets closed lower for the week ending
March 18, 2011 with the broad international measure, the MSCI EAFE Index
(Europe, Australasia, and Far East), losing -2.64%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
EAFE |
-2.64% |
-0.57% |
|
Europe ex-U.K. |
-0.71% |
3.57% |
|
Denmark |
2.10% |
6.94% |
|
France |
-0.87% |
5.26% |
|
Germany |
-2.19% |
1.53% |
|
Italy |
-0.98% |
10.30% |
|
Netherlands |
-0.90% |
5.54% |
|
Spain |
1.51% |
11.33% |
|
Sweden |
0.27% |
0.31% |
|
Switzerland |
-1.34% |
-1.03% |
|
United Kingdom |
-0.74% |
1.36% |
|
Japan |
-8.48% |
-7.59% |
|
AC Far East ex-Japan |
-1.79% |
-4.30% |
|
Hong Kong |
-4.24% |
-5.59% |
|
Korea |
1.96% |
-1.36% |
|
Malaysia |
0.31% |
0.21% |
|
Singapore |
-3.82% |
-7.69% |
|
Taiwan |
-2.11% |
-7.98% |
|
Thailand |
0.30% |
-0.92% |
|
EM Latin America |
-0.76% |
-4.97% |
|
Brazil |
-0.57% |
-3.53% |
|
Mexico |
-2.48% |
-6.00% |
|
Argentina |
-2.27% |
-13.56% |
|
EM (Emerging Markets) |
-0.85% |
-4.28% |
|
Hungary |
1.67% |
12.15% |
|
India |
-1.06% |
-13.50% |
|
Israel |
-0.57% |
-6.85% |
|
Russia |
3.10% |
11.93% |
|
Turkey |
0.28% |
-7.91% |
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 1.68%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
Developed Markets |
1.68% |
2.19% |
|
Europe |
|
|
|
Denmark |
1.97% |
3.49% |
|
France |
2.18% |
4.22% |
|
Germany |
2.13% |
3.72% |
|
Italy |
3.34% |
6.80% |
|
Spain |
3.35% |
8.41% |
|
Sweden |
1.63% |
6.86% |
|
United Kingdom |
1.91% |
3.57% |
|
Japan |
0.98% |
-0.56% |
|
Emerging Markets |
0.01% |
0.58% |
|
Argentina |
0.08% |
-4.93% |
|
Brazil |
-0.06% |
0.84% |
|
Bulgaria |
0.24% |
1.11% |
|
Russia |
0.19% |
2.17% |
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 |
81.135 |
-0.84% |
0.04% |
|
Euro |
1.41381 |
-2.16% |
-5.39% |
|
British pound |
1.61841 |
-1.06% |
-3.37% |
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.