Presented by Mark Gallagher
General market news
• The past week has been an interesting one for the markets, to say the least. The 10-year Treasury opened last week with a yield just below 2.30 percent; by Wednesday, it had dropped to 1.86 percent before bouncing back to 2.19 percent late Friday and early this Monday morning. While a move back to 1.86 percent probably isn’t likely for the time being, the 2.20-percent level could certainly be a strong support.
• On October 29, at its second-to-last meeting of 2014, the Federal Reserve is set to end its quantitative easing program. It will be interesting to see how the financial markets react, as the end of quantitative easing in the past has had mixed implications.
• Volatility jumped dramatically in the equity markets last week, with large interday and intraday price swings. Wednesday’s action saw the S&P 500 decline as much as 57 points, putting it within basis points of a 10-percent correction, before rebounding to close down just 15 points for the day.
| Equity Index | Week-to-Date % | Month-to-Date % | Year-to-Date % | 12-Month % |
| S&P 500 | −1.00% | −4.26% | 3.73% | 11.10% |
| Nasdaq Composite | −0.41% | −5.21% | 2.92% | 11.63% |
| DJIA | −0.96% | −3.80% | 0.62% | 9.02% |
| MSCI EAFE | −1.95% | −7.10% | −7.85% | −4.93% |
| MSCI Emerging Markets | −1.93% | −3.39% | −0.93% | −3.51% |
| Russell 2000 | 2.76% | −1.72% | −6.04% | −0.52% |
Source: Bloomberg
| Fixed Income Index | Month-to-Date % | Year-to-Date % | 12-Month % |
| U.S. Broad Market | 1.47% | 5.89% | 5.12% |
| U.S. Treasury | 1.76% | 5.48% | 4.19% |
| U.S. Mortgages | 1.11% | 5.37% | 4.42% |
| Municipal Bond | 1.24% | 9.67% | 10.41% |
Source: Bloomberg
What to look forward to
This week will be relatively light in terms of key economic news. We will see data on Existing Home Sales, which are expected to increase after falling last month, as well as New Home Sales, which are expected to decrease.
The most important news of the week will be the Consumer Price Index data released on Wednesday, which will offer insight into inflation and possibly impact the Federal Reserve’s decision making in the future.
Disclosures: Certain sections of this commentary contain forward-looking statements that are based on our reasonable expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. All indices are unmanaged and are not available for direct investment by the public. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The S&P 500 is based on the average performance of the 500 industrial stocks monitored by Standard & Poor’s. The Nasdaq Composite Index measures the performance of all issues listed in the Nasdaq Stock Market, except for rights, warrants, units, and convertible debentures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is computed by summing the prices of the stocks of 30 large companies and then dividing that total by an adjusted value, one which has been adjusted over the years to account for the effects of stock splits on the prices of the 30 companies. Dividends are reinvested to reflect the actual performance of the underlying securities. The MSCI EAFE Index is a float-adjusted market capitalization index designed to measure developed market equity performance, excluding the U.S. and Canada. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a market capitalization-weighted index composed of companies representative of the market structure of 26 emerging market countries in Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Basin. The Russell 2000® Index measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000® Index. The Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index is an unmanaged market value-weighted performance benchmark for investment-grade fixed-rate debt issues, including government, corporate, asset-backed, and mortgage-backed securities with maturities of at least one year. The U.S. Treasury Index is based on the auctions of U.S. Treasury bills, or on the U.S. Treasury’s daily yield curve. The Barclays Capital Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) Index is an unmanaged market value-weighted index of 15- and 30-year fixed-rate securities backed by mortgage pools of the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), and balloon mortgages with fixed-rate coupons. The Barclays Capital Municipal Bond Index includes investment-grade, tax-exempt, and fixed-rate bonds with long-term maturities (greater than 2 years) selected from issues larger than $50 million. The Barclays Capital U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) Index measures the performance of intermediate (1- to 10-year) U.S. TIPS.
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Mark Gallagher is a financial advisor located at Gallagher Financial Services at 2586 East 7th Avenue, North Saint Paul, MN 55109. He offers securities and advisory services as an Investment Adviser Representative of Commonwealth Financial Network®, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser. He can be reached at 651-774-8759 or at mark@markgallagher.com
Authored by the Investment Research team at Commonwealth Financial Network.
© 2014 Commonwealth Financial Network®