U.S.
Stock Market
Week Ended April 1, 2011
Investors
enjoyed a second week of good gains as the Dow capped off its best
first-quarter performance since 1998 and reached its best level in nearly three
years. Gains were particularly robust for smaller-cap stocks. Investors remained
optimistic about the prospects for further merger and acquisition activity. The
previous week's announced merger between AT&T and T-Mobile raised
particular hopes for further consolidation in the telecommunications sector,
and word arrived Wednesday of a major merger between pharmaceutical firms. The
week's economic news was also generally encouraging, especially regarding the
labor market. Payroll processing firm ADP boosted investor hopes by reporting
on Wednesday that its tally of private employment had increased by 201,000 in
February. This figure was confirmed on Friday by the Commerce Department's more
definitive count of private payrolls, which showed a gain of 230,000.
Government payrolls contracted by 14,000, resulting in an overall gain of 216,000.
While still well below the pace of job gains during more robust recoveries, the
increase was enough to bring the unemployment rate down one notch to 8.8%.
Investors also seemed encouraged that the Conference Board's gauge of consumer
confidence declined less than feared. Many have worried that the sharp rise in
gasoline prices over the past two months might weigh on the recovery by
discouraging consumers and causing them to rein in their spending on
other items.
|
U.S. Stocks1 |
|||
|
Index2 |
Friday's Close |
Week's Change |
% Change |
|
DJIA |
12376.72 |
156.13 |
6.90% |
|
S&P 500 |
1332.41 |
18.61 |
5.95% |
|
NASDAQ Composite |
2789.60 |
46.54 |
5.15% |
|
S&P MidCap 400 |
996.43 |
26.00 |
9.83% |
|
Russell 2000 |
846.24 |
22.02 |
7.76% |
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 April 1, 2011
Treasury
yields moved in different directions this week amid mixed economic data.
Long-term yields fell slightly while the yield on the two-year note ended
higher. The Commerce Department upwardly revised its estimate of economic growth
in the fourth quarter of last year to an annualized rate of 3.1% from a
previous estimate of 2.8%. The labor market also took a healthier turn, with
private employers adding 230,000 new jobs in March according to the Labor
Department. The unemployment rate ticked down to 8.8%, continuing a gradual
downward trend. Not all economic news was positive, however. The bad news on
the U.S. housing market continued to mount. The Standard &
Poor's/Case-Shiller Index revealed that home prices dropped in 19 major cities
from December 2010 to January 2011. Home prices in 11 cities in the index are
at their lowest levels since the beginning of the housing bust a few years ago,
and home values in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Detroit, and Cleveland are actually
lower than they were in 2000. Washington D.C. is the only city that registered
a slight uptick, rising 0.1% from December into the first month of this year.
|
U.S. Treasury Yields1 |
||
|
Maturity |
April 1, 2011 |
March 25, 2011 |
|
2-Year |
0.80% |
0.74% |
|
10-Year |
3.44% |
3.44% |
|
30-Year |
4.49% |
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, April 1,
2011.
___________
International Stocks
Foreign stock markets closed higher for
the week ending March 25, 2011 with the broad international measure, the MSCI
EAFE Index (Europe, Australasia, and Far East), gaining 3.45%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
EAFE |
3.45% |
2.86% |
|
Europe ex-U.K. |
3.59% |
7.30% |
|
Denmark |
0.20% |
7.16% |
|
France |
4.23% |
9.72% |
|
Germany |
4.15% |
5.75% |
|
Italy |
3.58% |
14.25% |
|
Netherlands |
4.03% |
9.79% |
|
Spain |
3.63% |
15.38% |
|
Sweden |
3.37% |
3.69% |
|
Switzerland |
2.87% |
1.80% |
|
United Kingdom |
2.55% |
3.95% |
|
Japan |
2.92% |
-4.89% |
|
AC Far East ex-Japan |
4.22% |
-0.27% |
|
Hong Kong |
3.30% |
-2.47% |
|
Korea |
4.59% |
3.16% |
|
Malaysia |
2.05% |
2.26% |
|
Singapore |
6.02% |
-2.14% |
|
Taiwan |
3.07% |
-5.15% |
|
Thailand |
4.25% |
3.29% |
|
EM Latin America |
3.43% |
-1.71% |
|
Brazil |
2.92% |
-0.72% |
|
Mexico |
4.96% |
-1.34% |
|
Argentina |
0.80% |
-12.87% |
|
EM (Emerging Markets) |
4.17% |
-0.29% |
|
Hungary |
6.74% |
19.71% |
|
India |
6.19% |
-8.14% |
|
Israel |
2.48% |
-4.54% |
|
Russia |
3.68% |
16.05% |
|
Turkey |
2.86% |
-5.28% |
International Bond Markets
International bond markets in developed
countries were lower this week, with the J.P. Morgan Global Government Bond
Less U.S. Index losing -0.17%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
Developed Markets |
-0.17% |
2.02% |
|
Europe |
|
|
|
Denmark |
-0.38% |
3.10% |
|
France |
-0.47% |
3.73% |
|
Germany |
-0.35% |
3.36% |
|
Italy |
-0.34% |
6.44% |
|
Spain |
0.06% |
8.47% |
|
Sweden |
-0.91% |
5.88% |
|
United Kingdom |
-1.24% |
2.28% |
|
Japan |
0.09% |
-0.47% |
|
Emerging Markets |
0.22% |
0.80% |
|
Argentina |
3.68% |
-1.43% |
|
Brazil |
0.04% |
0.88% |
|
Bulgaria |
-0.08% |
1.04% |
|
Russia |
0.12% |
2.28% |
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 |
81.130 |
-0.01% |
0.03% |
|
Euro |
1.41441 |
-0.04% |
-5.43% |
|
British pound |
1.60861 |
0.61% |
-2.74% |
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.