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Week Ended April 9, 2010

Stocks moved higher for the week. The Dow briefly broke the 11,000 level for the first time since the fall of 2008, and the technology-oriented Nasdaq and smaller-cap indexes fared even better, rising over 2% for the week. Investors drove share prices higher on Monday, when the Institute for Supply Management revealed that its gauge of service sector activity had improved substantially in March. Services, which account for the bulk of economic activity in the U.S., have trailed manufacturing as the economy has recovered. Investors were also encouraged that pending home sales in February jumped by 8.2%, the second biggest gain on record. Stock prices fell back at midweek, as concerns grew about Greece's fiscal crisis and the Federal Reserve reported a drop in consumer credit in February. Concerns that Americans were closing their wallets were dispensed with on Thursday, however, helping lead the indexes back higher. Retail stores reported healthy gains in March sales, and one gauge showed gains rising at the fastest rate since data collection began a decade ago. On Friday, the Commerce Department confirmed that both sales and inventories had expanded in February, suggesting that businesses were seeing sufficient demand to ramp up production.

U.S. Stocks¹
Index²	Friday’s Close	Week’s Change	% Change Year-to-Date
DJIA	10997.35	70.28	5.46%
S&P 500	1194.37	16.28	7.11%
NASDAQ Composite	2454.05	51.47	8.15%
S&P MidCap 400	814.48	17.19	12.08%
Russell 2000	702.82	19.81	10.84%

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 April 9, 2010

The Commerce Department reported that both inventories and sales at wholesalers rose faster than expected in February. The sales gain marked the 11th consecutive month of rising sales. Investors were buoyed by the news, since rising inventories and sales at the wholesale level usually mean that manufacturers are receiving more orders for their products and may be willing to step up hiring in coming months. Retailers appear to be stocking up on goods as consumer demand strengthens following the debilitating recession. On a more somber note, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who is charged with directing the central bank's monetary policy, stepped into the fiscal arena during the week. He warned that the U.S. "must begin now to prepare" for the demographic transition toward an aging population. "To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits," the chairman said, "the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above." Treasury yields were stable during the week and closed near their levels of a week earlier.

U.S. Treasury Yields¹
Maturity	April 9, 2010	April 1, 2010
2-Year	1.06%	1.06%
10-Year	3.88%	3.87%
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 Friday, April 9, 2010.

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Week Ended April 1, 2010

International Stocks

Foreign stock markets closed higher for the week ending April 01, 2010 with the broad international measure, the MSCI EAFE Index (Europe, Australasia, and Far East), gaining 2.53%.


Region/Country	Week’s Return	% Change Year-to-Date
EAFE	2.53%	2.14%
Europe ex-U.K.	2.41%	-0.85%
Denmark	0.18%	10.00%
France	2.38%	-2.39%
Germany	3.22%	-1.21%
Italy	2.22%	-5.86%
Netherlands	3.41%	1.05%
Spain	1.14%	-13.67%
Sweden	1.39%	9.65%
Switzerland	2.56%	5.54%
United Kingdom	2.96%	1.28%
Japan	2.89%	8.38%
AC Far East ex-Japan	3.35%	2.67%
Hong Kong	2.34%	3.77%
Korea	3.67%	6.56%
Malaysia	3.37%	9.87%
Singapore	2.45%	0.71%
Taiwan	2.49%	-2.67%
Thailand	2.28%	15.01%
EM Latin America	4.82%	3.24%
Brazil	5.83%	1.83%
Mexico	2.04%	7.97%
Argentina	-1.69%	5.52%
EM (Emerging Markets)	3.82%	4.20%
Hungary	-0.41%	16.41%
India	1.99%	5.79%
Israel	0.18%	9.87%
Russia	6.70%	9.65%
Turkey	3.02%	6.79%

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 0.48%.


Region/Country	Week’s Return	% Change Year-to-Date
Developed Markets	0.48%	-1.89%
Europe
Denmark	1.55%	-2.41%
France	1.62%	-3.06%
Germany	1.62%	-2.85%
Italy	1.57%	-3.36%
Spain	1.43%	-3.44%
Sweden	1.35%	1.42%
United Kingdom	3.69%	-4.04%
Japan	-1.40%	-0.85%
Emerging Markets	0.37%	3.73%
Argentina	0.29%	3.95%
Brazil	0.27%	2.37%
Bulgaria	1.40%	3.29%
Russia	0.23%	4.21%

International Currency Markets

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


Currency	Close (April 1, 2010)	Week’s Return (U.S. $)	% Change Year-to-Date (U.S. $)
Japanese yen	93.970	1.36%	0.93%
Euro	1.3538¹	-1.46%	5.65%
British pound	1.5283¹	-2.68%	5.36%

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.