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 |
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.
____________
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.
___________
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 |
Week's Return |
% Change |
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.