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Week Ended March 19, 2010

The large-cap indexes continued their advance for the week but gave back a portion of their gains on Friday. On Tuesday, investors appeared to welcome the Federal Reserve's statement following its regular policy meeting, which confirmed that policymakers were likely to keep the federal funds rate low "for an extended period." Stocks took another leg higher on Wednesday, when data showing a drop in wholesale prices in February appeared to support the Fed's decision to keep monetary policy accommodative. On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that overall consumer prices were flat during the month and only inched higher when volatile food and energy prices were excluded. Stock prices fell back on Friday in response to weakness in energy prices and concerns that a surprise rate hike by India's central bank might signal new round of global monetary tightening. The market's recent gains may have also encouraged some investors to take profits and led others to question whether the rally had outstripped real improvements in profits and economic conditions.

U.S. Stocks¹
Index²	Friday’s Close	Week’s Change	% Change Year-to-Date
DJIA	10741.98	117.29	3.01%
S&P 500	1159.90	9.91	4.02%
NASDAQ Composite	2374.41	6.75	4.64%
S&P MidCap 400	785.13	1.25	8.04%
Russell 2000	673.72	-2.06	6.25%

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.

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U.S. Bond Market

Week Ended March 19, 2010

The Federal Reserve stated that it would keep short-term interest rates at historically low levels in its ongoing effort to spur employment and foster economic growth. The central bank's assessment of economic conditions was a bit more optimistic than it had been. The Fed announced that the job market was stabilizing and business spending on equipment and software was rising. At the same time, the news on inflation was encouraging. Wholesale inflation was down 0.6% in February, and consumer prices were flat. When volatile food and energy prices are stripped out, so-called "core" inflation was up only 0.1% for the month and has fallen below a 1% annualized rate. With the economy just beginning to pick up steam and inflation subdued, there is little pressure on the Fed to begin raising rates anytime soon. Treasury yields were stable during the week, as short-term yields slightly rose while longer-term yields moved a bit lower.

U.S. Treasury Yields¹
Maturity	March 19, 2010	March 12, 2010
2-Year	0.99%	0.96%
10-Year	3.69%	3.70%
30-Year	4.57%	4.63%

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, March 19, 2010.

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Week Ended March 12, 2010

International Stocks

Foreign stock markets closed higher for the week ending March 12, 2010 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%	0.02%
Europe ex-U.K.	1.90%	-2.35%
Denmark	1.35%	7.34%
France	1.52%	-3.57%
Germany	2.29%	-4.28%
Italy	2.48%	-6.79%
Netherlands	1.24%	-0.76%
Spain	1.46%	-11.57%
Sweden	3.29%	8.99%
Switzerland	1.23%	2.82%
United Kingdom	1.11%	-1.59%
Japan	2.73%	5.82%
AC Far East ex-Japan	2.42%	-0.66%
Hong Kong	2.35%	1.17%
Korea	2.47%	1.93%
Malaysia	2.68%	6.24%
Singapore	2.94%	-1.15%
Taiwan	1.66%	-5.23%
Thailand	2.10%	3.66%
EM Latin America	1.31%	0.69%
Brazil	1.50%	-0.48%
Mexico	1.63%	3.11%
Argentina	2.31%	-0.67%
EM (Emerging Markets)	1.85%	0.60%
Hungary	6.55%	8.77%
India	1.10%	1.66%
Israel	1.15%	7.04%
Russia	1.56%	5.66%
Turkey	-0.12%	-5.53%

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 0.41%.


Region/Country	Week’s Return	% Change Year-to-Date
Developed Markets	0.41%	-0.27%
Europe
Denmark	1.11%	-1.58%
France	1.08%	-2.20%
Germany	1.09%	-2.03%
Italy	1.24%	-2.67%
Spain	1.20%	-2.62%
Sweden	0.22%	2.36%
United Kingdom	0.22%	-6.24%
Japan	-0.30%	2.68%
Emerging Markets	0.92%	3.43%
Argentina	2.49%	-2.75%
Brazil	-0.07%	2.51%
Bulgaria	0.14%	0.96%
Russia	1.06%	3.77%

International Currency Markets

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


Currency	Close (March 12, 2010)	Week’s Return (U.S. $)	% Change Year-to-Date (U.S. $)
Japanese yen	90.730	0.19%	-2.61%
Euro	1.3757¹	-1.09%	4.12%
British pound	1.5177¹	-0.51%	6.02%

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.