U

Week Ended April 1, 2010

Stocks managed to record their fifth week of gains to end the first quarter. Trading for the week ended Thursday in observation of the Good Friday holiday. On Monday, the indexes received a boost from a Commerce Department report showing that consumers had increased their spending in February, keeping in place a trend since last October. Individual income growth was flat, however, which raised questions about how long the pattern could continue absent further job gains. Indeed, the strength of the labor market recovery appeared to be called into question on Wednesday, when the payroll processing firm ADP reported a small but disappointing drop in its monthly count of private payrolls. Investors worried that the ADP report boded poorly for the Labor Department's more comprehensive monthly payroll data-due to be released on Friday's market holiday-and bid stocks lower in response. Thursday brought better news about the economy, helping stocks rally to end the trading week. The Institute of Supply Management's gauge of manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in five years, suggesting that manufacturing and exports might continue leading the economy forward.

U.S. Stocks¹
Index²	Thursday’s Close	Week’s Change	% Change Year-to-Date
DJIA	10927.07	76.71	4.79%
S&P 500	1178.09	11.50	5.65%
NASDAQ Composite	2402.58	7.45	5.88%
S&P MidCap 400	797.29	10.27	9.72%
Russell 2000	683.01	4.83	7.72%

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.

____________________________

U.S. Bond Market

Week Ended April 1, 2010

The private sector lost 23,000 jobs in March following a loss of 24,000 jobs the month before. The data indicate that the labor market was not seriously affected by the harsh winter weather throughout most of the country and is beginning to stabilize to some extent. Breaking the numbers down by industries, private service and manufacturing industries actually gained jobs, while goods-producing industries outside of manufacturing lost the most. Separately, the Labor Department reported that initial claims for unemployment insurance declined a bit more than expected, adding to the possibility that the labor market may be showing signs of improvement. Treasury yields ended the week on a stable note, with yields across the maturity spectrum at or near their levels of a week earlier.

U.S. Treasury Yields¹
Maturity	April 1, 2010	March 26, 2010
2-Year	1.06%	1.05%
10-Year	3.87%	3.85%
30-Year	4.74%	4.74%

This table is for illustrative purposes only. Past performance cannot guarantee future results.

¹Source of data: Bloomberg.com, as of 4 p.m. ET Thursday, April 1, 2010.

____________________________

Week Ended March 26, 2010

International Stocks

Foreign stock markets closed higher for the week ending March 26, 2010 with the broad international measure, the MSCI EAFE Index (Europe, Australasia, and Far East), gaining 0.06%.


Region/Country	Week’s Return	% Change Year-to-Date
EAFE	0.06%	-0.03%
Europe ex-U.K.	0.36%	-3.08%
Denmark	1.17%	9.29%
France	0.61%	-4.49%
Germany	1.25%	-4.08%
Italy	0.53%	-7.43%
Netherlands	0.66%	-2.40%
Spain	-0.42%	-14.43%
Sweden	-0.30%	7.42%
Switzerland	-0.84%	2.53%
United Kingdom	0.19%	-1.93%
Japan	-0.36%	7.09%
AC Far East ex-Japan	-0.44%	0.20%
Hong Kong	-0.29%	3.04%
Korea	0.45%	3.67%
Malaysia	1.60%	6.98%
Singapore	-0.60%	-0.90%
Taiwan	-0.87%	-4.59%
Thailand	0.58%	11.42%
EM Latin America	-1.09%	-2.01%
Brazil	-1.48%	-4.29%
Mexico	0.49%	5.23%
Argentina	6.06%	6.16%
EM (Emerging Markets)	-0.47%	0.69%
Hungary	4.02%	14.40%
India	0.97%	4.86%
Israel	1.74%	9.54%
Russia	-1.46%	3.08%
Turkey	6.34%	2.74%

Back to Top

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 -1.5%.


Region/Country	Week’s Return	% Change Year-to-Date
Developed Markets	-1.50%	-2.36%
Europe
Denmark	-1.04%	-3.90%
France	-1.07%	-4.60%
Germany	-1.08%	-4.40%
Italy	-0.62%	-4.85%
Spain	-0.55%	-4.80%
Sweden	-1.33%	0.07%
United Kingdom	-1.07%	-7.46%
Japan	-2.20%	0.56%
Emerging Markets	-0.40%	3.35%
Argentina	1.80%	3.65%
Brazil	-0.38%	2.09%
Bulgaria	0.12%	1.86%
Russia	0.02%	3.97%

International Currency Markets

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar was stronger against the major currencies for the week.


Currency	Close (March 26, 2010)	Week’s Return (U.S. $)	% Change Year-to-Date (U.S. $)
Japanese yen	92.565	2.22%	-0.57%
Euro	1.3399¹	0.96%	6.61%
British pound	1.4905¹	0.74%	7.70%

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.