U.S.
Stock Market
Week Ended April 15, 2011
Stocks endured
a second week of losses, but a rally late Thursday and Friday mitigated
declines. Investors kept a close eye on first-quarter earnings reports, which
were led off after the close of trading on Monday by metals giant Alcoa. While
investors were pleasantly surprised by Alcoa's earnings, they appeared
displeased by the bellwether company's revenues. Similarly, a strong jump in
profits at banking giant JPMorgan Chase was met with a mixed reception on
Wednesday, as investors apparently worried about new mortgage regulations. News
on Tuesday that Japan had raised its assessment of the severity of its nuclear
crisis also dampened traders' moods. A sharp rise in weekly jobless claims
reported Thursday morning threatened to send the indexes deeper into the red
for the week, but passage of the budget agreement for the remainder of the 2011
fiscal year in the House of Representatives seemed to revive sentiment in the
afternoon. The gains continued Friday, when disappointing earnings reports from
Google and Bank of America were offset by a strong showing in a regional
manufacturing index as well as a rise in a consumer sentiment gauge
for April.
|
U.S. Stocks1 |
|||
|
Index2 |
Friday's Close |
Week's Change |
% Change |
|
DJIA |
12341.83 |
-38.22 |
6.60% |
|
S&P 500 |
1319.68 |
-8.49 |
4.93% |
|
NASDAQ Composite |
2764.65 |
-15.76 |
4.21% |
|
S&P MidCap 400 |
982.57 |
-5.05 |
8.30% |
|
Russell 2000 |
834.39 |
-6.73 |
6.26% |
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 15, 2011
Treasury
yields fell during the week as the latest data indicated that economic growth
in the first quarter of 2011 may not be as robust as previously believed.
Claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week for the first time
in three weeks. Previously, it had looked as though the labor market was
firming. At the same time, rising gasoline prices caused the consumer price
index, which is the U.S. government's major gauge of inflation, to climb 2.7%
in March from the same period last year. This was the largest advance in 15
months, according to the Labor Department. Despite this reading, Federal
Reserve officials echoed Chairman Ben Bernanke's earlier comments that volatile
energy prices do not presage broader price increases. Accordingly, the Fed is
likely to stick to its accommodative monetary policy and stay on course with
its $600 billion debt-buying program through the end of June. Some economists
expressed concerns that the central banks should start raising short-term
interest rates to head off inflation before it gained momentum.
|
U.S. Treasury Yields1 |
||
|
Maturity |
April 15, 2011 |
April 8, 2011 |
|
2-Year |
0.69% |
0.81% |
|
10-Year |
3.40% |
3.58% |
|
30-Year |
4.46% |
4.64% |
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 15, 2011.
___________
International
Stocks
Foreign stock markets closed higher for the week
ending April 08, 2011 with the broad international measure, the MSCI EAFE Index
(Europe, Australasia, and Far East), gaining 1.94%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
EAFE |
1.94% |
5.88% |
|
Europe ex-U.K. |
2.63% |
11.86% |
|
Denmark |
2.48% |
12.43% |
|
France |
2.14% |
14.38% |
|
Germany |
2.39% |
11.93% |
|
Italy |
3.82% |
19.05% |
|
Netherlands |
1.84% |
13.54% |
|
Spain |
3.92% |
19.99% |
|
Sweden |
2.79% |
9.23% |
|
Switzerland |
2.48% |
4.23% |
|
United Kingdom |
3.01% |
8.73% |
|
Japan |
-1.58% |
-8.57% |
|
AC Far East ex-Japan |
2.16% |
5.27% |
|
Hong Kong |
3.25% |
3.29% |
|
Korea |
0.59% |
9.49% |
|
Malaysia |
0.25% |
5.33% |
|
Singapore |
2.60% |
2.37% |
|
Taiwan |
3.23% |
-0.37% |
|
Thailand |
3.39% |
9.74% |
|
EM Latin America |
0.89% |
3.18% |
|
Brazil |
1.09% |
5.14% |
|
Mexico |
0.06% |
1.96% |
|
Argentina |
1.95% |
-7.75% |
|
EM (Emerging Markets) |
1.82% |
5.24% |
|
Hungary |
7.65% |
32.77% |
|
India |
1.51% |
-3.64% |
|
Israel |
1.72% |
-0.81% |
|
Russia |
2.17% |
21.19% |
|
Turkey |
6.38% |
3.96% |
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 0.45%.
|
|
||
|
Region/Country |
Week's Return |
% Change Year-to-Date |
|
Developed Markets |
0.45% |
0.32% |
|
Europe |
|
|
|
Denmark |
1.23% |
3.72% |
|
France |
1.66% |
4.88% |
|
Germany |
1.40% |
4.20% |
|
Italy |
2.45% |
8.68% |
|
Spain |
2.38% |
10.19% |
|
Sweden |
1.51% |
7.83% |
|
United Kingdom |
1.60% |
3.06% |
|
Japan |
-1.12% |
-5.57% |
|
Emerging Markets |
0.05% |
1.13% |
|
Argentina |
-0.59% |
0.56% |
|
Brazil |
-0.40% |
0.61% |
|
Bulgaria |
0.45% |
1.61% |
|
Russia |
-0.07% |
2.46% |
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 |
85.030 |
0.81% |
4.62% |
|
Euro |
1.44351 |
-2.04% |
-7.60% |
|
British pound |
1.63841 |
-2.20% |
-4.65% |
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.