To help investors keep up with the markets, we present our ETF Scorecard. The Scorecard takes a step back and looks at how various asset classes across the globe are performing.
As a side note, the weekly performance is from the last Friday’s open to this week’s Thursday close.
This week, the U.S. equities market was lifted by the performance of different major companies showing strong earnings, especially in the technology sector with companies such as Alphabet(GOOG), Microsoft(MSFT), and Ebay(EBAY) beating earnings expectations. Overall markets around the world had a upward trend, encouraged by the recent European Central Bank meeting and the stimulus hopes going forward. The ECB President Mario Draghi signaled on Thursday that the central bank is contemplating the idea of undertaking more stimulus. Markets also rallied after the China’s Central bank reduced rates by 25 basis points to 4.35 for the sixth time in the past year.
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Risk Appetite Review
U.S. equity markets closed off well on Thursday. The overall market, as measured by the S&P 500 ETF (SPY ) in this case, was up 1.20%. The Low Volatility ETF (SPLV ) was the best performer of the bunch with a 2.89% increase. The High Beta ETF (SPHB ) has disappointed as it closed off low at a loss of 0.51%.
Major Index Review
Across the board, major global indexes were up for the week, with the exception of the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM ) and Emerging Market ETF (EEM ) that decreased slightly by 0.93% and 0.03%, respectively. The Nasdaq-100 ETF (QQQ ) was the “best” performer. On the rolling month, every major index has rallied. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM ) is the best performer for the rolling month at a 9.37% gain.
Foreign Equity Review
Most foreign equities continue to rally this week. The Russian ETF (RSX ) is in the red this week at a 2.34% loss and is the “worst” performer. The German ETF (EWG ) is in the lead at a 2.22% gain for the week. Overall, really good trailing one-month period performance for foreign equities. With all major foreign equities up more than 6% for the month.
Commodities Review
All major commodities have performed poorly for the week. Oil (USO ) has taken the biggest beating and is down 5.04% for the week. Natural gas (UNG ) is right behind oil with a 3.29% loss for the week. These two commodities are also the “worst” performers for the month. On a brighter note, silver (SLV ) is up for the month, at a 6.11% increase.
Currency Review
The U.S. dollar (UUP ) is the “best” performer for the week and rallied this at a 1.91% gain. The Euro (FXE ) is the “worst” performer for the week and month at a 2.24% loss for the week and 0.47% loss for the month. Wisdomtree emerging currency fund (CEW ) continues to be the top performer for the trailing 1-month period with a gain of 3.58%.
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Disclosure: No positions at time of writing.
