U.S. Stock Market

Week Ended September 9, 2011

Stocks endured another week of losses as investors worried about signs of weakness in the global economy and the ability of policymakers to respond. On Tuesday, investors returned to the office confronting steep losses in overseas markets while U.S. markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday. Growing worries about the European sovereign debt crisis and its potential impact on the health of the continent's banks led to steep declines on world markets, particularly among financial shares. Wall Street responded in kind, although losses were mitigated by a surprisingly upbeat reading on the Institute for Supply Management's gauge of activity in the U.S. service sector. The ISM index indicated a stronger rate of expansion in August, defying most expectations. Wednesday saw a rebound in stock prices as investors took encouragement from a German court ruling in favor of bailout measures for the continent. Optimism about Europe evaporated on Thursday, however, when European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet offered a bleak assessment of European growth prospects while offering little hope for further monetary stimulus. Fears that the U.S. central bank might also be unable or unwilling to take substantial new steps to bolster growth increased following a Thursday afternoon speech by Ben Bernanke, in which the Fed chairman offered no signals that further measures would be announced at the coming September 21-22 policy meeting. Concerns over Europe and its seeming policy paralysis deepened on Friday, when it was announced that a key German ECB official would be stepping down at the end of the year.

U.S. Stocks1

Index2

Friday's Close

Week's Change

% Change
Year-to-Date

DJIA

10992.13

-248.13

-5.06%

S&P 500

1154.23

-19.74

-8.22%

NASDAQ Composite

2467.99

-12.34

-6.97%

S&P MidCap 400

823.36

-9.63

-9.25%

Russell 2000

675.73

-9.13

-13.95%

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 September 9, 2011

The economic news was mixed during the week. Americans were disappointed by a report showing that the number of people applying for first-time unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly. That news came on the heels of a report released a week earlier revealing that private industry added only 17,000 new jobs to corporate payrolls and the nation's unemployment rate remained high at 9.1%. President Obama delivered a speech on Thursday, outlining a jobs creation bill that called for targeted tax cuts and infrastructure spending. It remains to be seen how much of it will be passed by Congress. On a more positive note, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed sharply in July, thanks to a 3.6% jump in exports and 0.2% drop in imports. Some analysts expressed concerns about the onset of a double-dip recession, while others thought the U.S. economy would continue to grow at a sluggish rate in the months ahead. Treasury yields slipped to their lowest levels in more than 60 years against the backdrop of weak economic data.

U.S. Treasury Yields1

Maturity

September 9, 2011

September 2, 2011

2-Year

0.17%

0.20%

10-Year

1.92%

2.02%

30-Year

3.25%

3.33%

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

1Source of data: Bloomberg.com, as of 2 p.m. ET Friday, September 9, 2011.

 

 

 

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International Market

Week Ended September 2, 2011

International Stocks

Foreign stock markets closed higher for the week ending September 02, 2011 with the broad international measure, the MSCI EAFE Index (Europe, Australasia, and Far East), gaining 2.28%.

 

Region/Country

Week's Return

% Change Year-to-Date

EAFE

2.28%

-7.85%

Europe ex-U.K.

1.89%

-9.30%

Denmark

3.73%

-17.14%

France

1.13%

-8.75%

Germany

-0.76%

-14.87%

Italy

0.90%

-17.40%

Netherlands

2.24%

-11.46%

Spain

2.06%

-5.68%

Sweden

2.63%

-13.11%

Switzerland

4.43%

1.61%

United Kingdom

3.02%

-4.39%

Japan

1.91%

-9.77%

AC Far East ex-Japan

4.38%

-6.34%

Hong Kong

2.67%

-7.20%

Korea

6.87%

-4.73%

Malaysia

3.10%

2.30%

Singapore

3.28%

-5.27%

Taiwan

4.54%

-10.27%

Thailand

3.13%

5.01%

EM Latin America

4.55%

-11.87%

Brazil

4.56%

-14.10%

Mexico

4.94%

-6.60%

Argentina

-1.29%

-24.83%

EM (Emerging Markets)

4.75%

-9.30%

Hungary

-0.59%

-9.84%

India

7.51%

-20.47%

Israel

5.37%

-20.82%

Russia

2.80%

-6.11%

Turkey

3.08%

-25.27%

 

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 -0.42%.

 

Region/Country

Week's Return

% Change Year-to-Date

Developed Markets

-0.42%

8.72%

Europe

 

 

Denmark

-0.42%

12.96%

France

-1.04%

11.18%

Germany

-0.44%

12.68%

Italy

-2.60%

4.69%

Spain

-1.81%

10.75%

Sweden

-0.71%

14.48%

United Kingdom

0.05%

12.26%

Japan

0.16%

6.94%

Emerging Markets

1.17%

8.28%

Argentina

-0.34%

-6.51%

Brazil

1.18%

11.19%

Bulgaria

0.05%

3.29%

Russia

-0.92%

7.45%

 

International Currency Markets

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

 

Currency

Close
(September 2, 2011)

Week's Return
(U.S. $)

% Change
Year-to-Date (U.S. $)

Japanese yen

76.770

-0.11%

-5.65%

Euro

1.42091

1.05%

-5.91%

British pound

1.62051

0.13%

-3.50%

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.